In my own work the sculpture is its own subject, except obviously when I am doing figurative work. I also use mathematical forms, such as the Möbius strip, as a starting point to create organic shapes and forms that are an alternative to the rectilinear grid that controls our lives both physically and psychologically.

Leslie Scruggs was fortunate to be in a woodworking program all through grammar school and high school in Chicago… slowly moving from furniture to sculpture, making his first piece of sculpture in 1959. In 1960 he went on to study at Northwestern University and then at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he mostly studied the figure. It was when he went to live in Belize to teach industrial arts that he returned to abstract wood sculpture. Leslie able to work and observe in Belize’s boat yards where the wonderful craftsmen made their beautiful mahogany sailboats. Upon his return to Chicago he became a sculptor working in almost all mediums, but usually choosing wood for creating forms that would present an alternative to the rectilinear grid and cityscapes like Chicago. Leslie has large pieces exhibited in the Chicago Public Library, Lansing Public Library, Spring Lake Public Library and Saint Margaret’s Hospital.