Leslie Locketz

Leslie grew up in Denver, Colorado, and loved making art for as long as she can remember.

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When she was 9, her family moved to Alabama for 2 years, and her mother, who was only 29, discovered art. Eventually, Leslie's mother got a Masters in Painting and became an art professor at the University of Denver.

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At Barnard College, Leslie majored in anthropology with a heavy dose of art history and studio art classes. She dabbled in many media: drawing, painting, clay modeling, and stone carving. Her junior year, she went to Paris and studied printmaking at the American Center for Students and Artists. But her mother’s expertise as a painter and sculptor inhibited her, so, eventually, she turned to photography. 

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After graduating from Barnard in 1970, Leslie took photography courses from Nathan and Joan Lyons at the Center of the Eye in Aspen, Colorado. In 1971, she moved to Rochester to study with them at the Visual Studies Workshop. Leslie received her MFA in photography through SUNY Buffalo and the Workshop in 1976.

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For almost 40 Leslie worked  as an adult educator at  the Rochester Educational Opportunity Center. Writing was among her favorite subjects to teach, and she often used pictures in her pedagogy. 

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After retiring at the end off 2018, Leslie took her first workshop in painting/fabric collage from Lynne Feldman. 


Leslie enjoys using the painting/collage medium to make art. While she starts with an initial idea and composition, often from one of her photographs, the fabrics sing to her and tell her how to proceed. 

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Leslie facilitates Pictures with Stories and Collage workshops at Charlie's Place.