Outlook Magazine - Fall 2016

ALUMNI NEWS

UW-Stout alumna scored a “touchdown” at the new Minnesota Vikings stadium well before it even opened in fall 2016. Leslie Barlow, a 2011 graduate, was commissioned to create six paintings of former star Vikings players to hang inside U.S. Bank stadium. Barlow was one of 34 Twin Cities artists chosen for the stadium project out of nearly 1,100 who submitted examples of their work to Sports and the Arts, a California company overseeing the collection. The company has curated art for other high- profile venues, including Yankee Stadium in New York. Barlow, www.lesliebarlowartist.com, primarily creates oil paintings. A Minneapolis native, she even has a childhood memory of meeting one of the former players she has painted, Cris Carter, an NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver from the 1990s who has become an analyst for ESPN. Carter once visited Barlow’s elementary school. Barlow also painted Fran Tarkenton, Korey Stringer, Mick Tingelhoff, Jim Marshall and Alan Page. Each painting is 24 A SIX POINTS FOR ARTISTRY Barlow’s paintings of iconic Vikings will grace new stadium .

Opposite page from left: Leslie Barlow’s portrait of former Vikings star Cris Carter; Barlow in her studio; and a self-portrait.

inches by 24 inches. The stadium has 500 pieces of art, which were unveiled in late July. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at UW-Stout. “My time at UW-Stout was such a great experience. I liked the emphasis on foundations in the program, as that really helped me become confident with working with the figure,” Barlow said. Barlow has exhibited her work throughout the Twin Cities and nationally. She will do a monthlong residency in October at Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash. Earlier this year, she was awarded a $10,000 visual arts grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. She will do eight to 10 oil paintings featuring interracial families to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case of Loving vs. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage in the U.S. An exhibition is planned for a venue in Minneapolis. One focus of Barlow’s work is revealing multiculturalism, “otherness” and identity through the human figure.

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