Meet 2022-2024 Resident Artist Shieka Leslie-Eke!
Shieka Leslie-Eke, a Denver-based artist & educator, is forever mystified about life's interconnects.
Reared by several generations of black American artists & spiritual teachers with Southern roots, she’s guided by both ethereal & tangible elements. Heavily influenced by Nigerian culture, she's pulled towards her own ethnic realities & traditions in a most modern convention.
As an eternal nerd, Shieka delves deep into history, science, pop culture and anything with a hidden meaning. Searching for a balance of truth, reality, pain, love, & light, her work always reminds her that learning is done best through purposeful play & often bright colors.
Reflecting on her ethnic heritage & American culture, Shieka digests & confronts what she sees as western brainwashing using materials such as paint, clay, beads, photography, & organic elements through various mediums such as animations, sculpture, print, music & curation.
Watch the video of Shieka in her RedLine studio below to learn more about her and her practice!
"My name is Shieka Leslie-Eke, and my practice is kind of a collage of my life—because I'm an art educator, and I'm always learning new things.
"Most of what I do is either a reflection of almost like a journal of what I'm going through or what I'm learning. A lot of what I do in my work is kind of recording my own journey of discovering who I am.
"My specific DNA is African American, reclaiming things from African Americans that have been appropriated. It's kind of like a healing process, and also I feel like it's kind of restoring justice and equality to the people that came before me.
"I do a lot of collage. I do a lot of graphic stuff in digital work. I do video, traditional painting, and woodworking. As an educator getting a lot into STEAM—so that's science, technology, engineering, the arts and math—experimenting with the whole steam aspect to teach others, mostly children, just naturally flows into my practice, which is why I'm also doing things with light and electricity."
“I guess the reason that I'm excited about being a RedLine is because I've been a part of the RedLine community for quite a few years, and just always being around other artists that I saw as professionals. It took me a while to see myself as a professional artist. It's always kind of being my dream to have my own studio and have a dedicated space where I can work. So, I'm excited to have this space.”
“One of the things I learned in education is that play is very important. They're having fun while they're learning and experimenting, and so that's basically the gist of my practice is playing as I learn.”
Meet 2022-2024 Resident Artist Yazz Atmore
Yazz Atmore is a community organizer, creative & educator in Denver, Colorado where she continues to mentor and create with young artists as they explore their lives, stories, and passions through the beauty of art.
