ART ON OUR WALLS
Leslie Sasaki is a long time tenant at the Cotton Factory. His studio is located in a quiet corner on the 2nd floor at the cross roads of the Office building and the Dyeworks building.
There are 5 buildings which make up The Cotton Factory complex, each has been named after the work which took place in each of the buildings when it first opened in the 1900’s.
Back then, “The Imperial Cotton Company” was the second largest cotton mill in the city of Hamilton. The company manufactured heavy grades of cotton duck, used for making vessel sails, mechanical belting and hose, railway car roofing, binder canvasses, tarpaulins, tents, awnings, filters and cotton paper dryers. The products of the company were sold mainly to manufacturers, cutters-up, railways, implement and paper makers. The mill building, which housed 1,220 spinning spindles, 3,735 spindles, 98 duck looms and looms for the manufacture of cotton drayer felts.
Installation overlooking the inner courtyard at The Cotton Factory
Learning about the many people who worked in the building at the beginning of the century, Sasaki wanted to create an installation which would both acknowledge and pay homage to the types of work and workers who filled the buildings in the past.
Sasaki visited the Hamilton Public Library where he found copies of “The Fabricator” a newsletter published and distributed to staff and management of the Imperial Cotton Factory. The Fabricator highlighted the marriages, births, and deaths and recounted vacation stories by the mill employees including news of the newly purchased lunchroom piano by the Entertainment Committee!
The transparent window installations are “invisible” portraits developed from an original prototype that explored the use of non-traditional materials – in this case, Scotch Brand Magic Tape as the primary drawing medium on the windows of The Cotton Factory.
In 2018, Sasaki created 5 invisible portraits which appeared as part of Hamilton Now: Subject at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. For each portrait, the sitter was interviewed and asked if they had ever felt invisible. The text that accompanies each portrait was an excerpt from the interview. (see this work on Sasaki’s website, link at bottom of article)
BIOGRAPHY
Leslie Sasaki is a visual artist and educator living in Hamilton, Ontario.
He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1953.
His artistic expertise includes oil painting, acrylic painting, drawing and mural work. His work can be found in private collections in Canada and in the collections of The Canada Council Art Bank, The Department of Foreign Affairs Government of Canada, Dalhousie University Art Gallery, The Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Province of Nova Scotia.
Installation view showing the clock tower in the background
As an educator, Leslie Sasaki has designed and taught curriculum in drawing, painting, two dimensional design, art history and foundation studies at the university and college levels. He has taught at the University of Victoria, the University of Manitoba, NSCAD University (formerly the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design), Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador and Sheridan College (Trafalgar Campus).
To see more of Leslie Sasaki’s work please visit his website https://lesliesasaki.wordpress.com