—“Leslie has a strong sense of community and wants to give back to what nurtures and supports her.” —- Mark Levy, Feb/Mar 2020
The Art Glass Association of Southern California celebrated the Life of Leslie Perlis in 2021. Leslie was a Founder of the AGASC, President (for many years), Show Chairperson, and leader in educational experiences. We were very fortunate to benefit from her caring friendship and leadership. She donated her time and talent to us and to others to assist in raising funds.
Leslie graduated in 1971 from UCLA. She opened a studio in West Hollywood and explored the possibilities of glass as an artistic medium. In 1974 she moved to San Diego and opened a studio in her grandmother’s garage! An article about Leslie written by Mark Levy (her glass artist friend from LA) in “Glass…Craftsman” issue of Feb/Mar 2020 told her story and that her grandmother made her lunch everyday while she was working there. She moved to other studios over her career and especially enjoyed renovating her parents' home with her perfect studio for building commissions and making her favorite artworks.
Continuing in the exploration of glass, making many commissions and personal artworks she became a founding member of the AGASC in 1981. She continued serving us for her entire life with publication of our exhibits in the Glass Art magazine. She also found interesting locations for our exhibits in various places over the years including Pt. Loma Library, the Villa Montezuma Museum, downtown Federal Building, and others.
Her artwork became a journey of exploring processes of colors, patterns, frit and stringers creating images with layers of various materials she would search for. She was a lover of dancing and music and incorporated those experiences into her fun submissions to our exhibits for many years. One of our exhibits incorporated her dancing friends and musicians in the format of our exhibit at Pt Loma Library. It was very well done!
Leslie also participated in the Glass Craft Expo in Las Vegas entering shows, speaking on topics, and working with Wardell Publishers to publish books of her works with some teaching processes she had developed. In addition, she organized trips to wherever we could visit glass art studios from the Judson Studio in LA to the Northwest bus tour of many glass art scenes and her longtime favorite of Uroboros Glass factory. She made friends everywhere she went with her bubbly personality and caring for others.
After losing her to Covid in 2021, we learned from her kind family that she had donated funds to us. We are very grateful and believe she will benefit our members by bringing us educational opportunity events, trips, and classes.
