Leslie Palmer
When Leslie Palmer followed the moving van down the winding roads of Chatham County in December 2000, she had no idea she was heading straight into the next chapter of her creative life. Signs in Fearrington Village for the Chatham Open Studio Tour caught her eye, so she left the movers at her new house and rushed off to visit two nearby studios. She returned with new friends, a plan to open her studio, and a strong sense that she was finally home.
Leslie and her husband Jim relocated from Jacksonville, Florida, drawn north by the birth of their first grandchild. “I didn’t want to be Grandma on the way to Disney,” she jokes. Their son’s and daughter’s families live within an hour of the home they purchased at the end of Creekwood in the Historic District. Leslie soon began to fill the home with art. In Jacksonville, she had owned a thriving advertising and marketing agency, but her training was in fine art, which has always been her true love. In Fearrington Village Leslie saw an opportunity to finally paint, draw, and create for herself. Her studio, which was once their garage, overflows with watercolors, works in graphite, and large, color-rich expressionistic, abstract acrylics. “Typically, artists create a style and become known for that style,”Leslie says. “But there are many, many sides of me, and I want to honor them all.”
Beyond her own work, Leslie is deeply committed to cultivating community through creativity. In 2005, she helped found the Chatham Artists Guild, and in 2011, the Artists Studios at Fearrington Village , a group that has grown into a vibrant, inclusive network of more than 50 visual artists in our village. “We have members who just picked up a paintbrush last week and others who’ve shown internationally,” she notes. Group members organize studio tours, display their art around the village, and host salons in members’ homes to share their work.
The Artists Studios at Fearrington Village holds rotating art exhibits at both Fearrington Cares and The Gathering Place, where the work displayed changes about every three months. “It’s a way for Fearrington artists to be seen and appreciated, and it adds beauty to the spaces,” Leslie explains. The group is planning its 2025 Fearrington Studio Tour in late May or early June.
Leslie also volunteers her design skills for community organizations. For example, she developed the banner/logo for The Belted Gazette, the newsletter for the Fearrington Homeowners Association, and created a logo for Women of Fearrington. She teaches art and will soon be teaching a beginning drawing class through Fearrington Cares.
Leslie’s own connection to Fearrington Cares is personal as well. “I’ve received so much support for my husband—a wheelchair, a walker, and other equipment when I needed it. They add wonderful value for our community,” Leslie says. “We plan to stay here forever, and Fearrington Cares is an asset which supports that.”
Leslie feels that she’s found her true home here in Fearrington Village through art. Her message to other artists looking for a new place to settle: “Consider living here. You’ll find a community of very, very supportive artists.”