leslie temple

Leslie A. Temple became interested in art and design as a child and thus, begin to win regional and state art competitions at the age of 14 and was awarded a summer scholarship to study art at Oklahoma City University at the age of 16. Because Leslie was born with a heart murmur, her mother enrolled her in dance study at the age of three; she continued the rigorous study of classical ballet, including other dance disciplines (she was the only selected ‘White’ in an otherwise, all ‘Black’, African Dance troupe) and choreography, two to three times per week for twenty years. Leslie credits her dance experience as her introduction and core inspiration for her abilities to feel, further perceive and create human composition and design in space. She was a highly successful fashion model for a number of years, earning funds for her private, formal education. Her formal education includes Colorado Women’s College, now part of Denver University, Oklahoma City University, from which she graduated, with concentrations in: Education, Art, Psychology and Dance; and the University of Central Oklahoma, located in Edmond, Oklahoma, where she did graduate work in fine art. Leslie to this day feels very fortunate to have been able to have supported both of her children primarily with her own art career; and formed her own Concrete Construction Co. which she ran for a few years, following a bad automobile accident (that had caused her arms and hands not to work for a time, due to severe nerve damage). Leslie Temple was noted as the first (legitimate) woman certified with both the City of Denver and the State of Colorado in the broad area of Concrete Work. Leslie elected to choose this area of construction since it was very similar to sculpture in many ways and as she had grown up in a family who discussed construction and city planing as a matter of course every Sunday at family gatherings. During these years Leslie served on C.D.O.T.’s Advisory Board, the Colorado Board of Transportation and was both an officer and founding member of the Colorado Chapter of W.C.O.E., Women Construction Owners and Executives. Her construction company contained both commercial and residential divisions. Leslie missed her time creating art and returned to it after three years. Leslie Temple is an “Artist of People”, also referred to by serious art collectors and others as, “Artist of The People”, who works with many different tools, in many mediums. She has won awards and notoriety as a sculp