Cloudy

drawing and painting installation

by Les III 

May 27 - 31, 2025

Reception: Friday, May 30th | 6-8PM

More About Cloudy 

I go for regular bicycle rides scanning the horizon and the road before me.  The ever-present sky always has something to show me -- as does the roadway.  For over a year I have focused on daily sketch studies of clouds, a practice of the fundamentals of artmaking as a way of welcoming a renewed concept of flow.  I meditate on how to represent the clouds with making marks on collected bits of paper.  The challenge is to use what is before me -- foreign & familiar, in a way new & known to share a way of upliftingly seeing through challenges inside and outside.  It is a Cloudy departure from my normal way of practice, yet informs everything I do.

This project is funded in part by the 2025 Forsyth County Regional Artist Support Grant and the North Carolina Arts Council.

More about Les III

Les Caison III is an award-winning NC homegrown visual artist.  He prefers mixed media layers of expressive realism, often utilizing an illustrative, narrative approach -- fashioning quirky, heartfelt tales among images of people, places, and things just waiting to connect with you time and again.  His creative can-do is often seen as drawings on found paper and paintings on panel.  They find their way into storied solo & group shows all over the southeastern U.S..  Peppered among his prolific 25+ year career are numerous curatorial stints, art project manager posts, residencies, commissions, and adventures too thick to mention.  Les is more.  His work has been exhibited in regional galleries including Asheville, Greensboro, and Raleigh; museums including the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Turchin Center for Visual Arts in Boone, and The Hickory Museum of Art; and is included in numerous private collections.  Les recently completed an impressive 11 quick study portrait project during his two-week Artist-In-Residency at GreenHill’s ArtQuest.  He currently represented by Winston-Salem’s Visual Index Gallery and can be found pedaling about on his bicycle under the clouds.

To learn more, visit: www.LesIII.com or follow Les on Instagram @LesThreee  #LesIII