Alumni Profile

Clare Walker Leslie

Clare Walker Leslie, artist, naturalist, educator and author, attended The School in Rose Valley from 1950 to 1957.She attended public school in Swarthmore and went on to graduate from Carleton College with a degree in Art History.She has also studied at art schools around the world.

Clare Walker Leslie is a nationally recognized wildlife artist, naturalist, educator and author. She attended SRV from 1950 to 1957, during a time when according to Clare "children grew up outside." Clare spoke to me from her old farmhouse in Granville, Vermont. She was rushing to finish 60 drawings that were due to her publisher the next day, cradling the phone with her right hand as she drew the flock of snow geese she'd just seen fly overhead.

Clare grew up in Swarthmore. After leaving SRV in 1957, Clare went to the Swarthmore public schools. She received her B.A. from Carleton College in Art History. Her father, Bob Walker, taught in the Art History Department at Swarthmore College, and her mother, Alice, was very involved at SRV during the 40's and 50's. Clare's older sisters also attended the school, Allie from 1943 to 1953, and Betsy from 1944 to 1954. Clare studied at the Bear Tooth School of Art in Montana, as well as in France and Scotland. For more than twenty-five years Clare has conducted yearlong residencies and short-term workshops for students and teachers at many nature centers, colleges and universities, public and private K-12 schools, and professional organizations throughout the country. She helped found the Habitat Institute for the Environment in Belmont, MA and has published eight books including Nature All Year Long, Nature Drawing: A Tool for Learning, A Naturalist's Sketchbook: Pages from the Seasons of a Year, The Art of Field Sketching, The Ancient Celtic Festivals and How We Celebrate Them Today, and Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You.

Clare is clearly passionate about getting people to reconnect to nature. The seeds of her passion were instilled during her childhood at the school. At SRV Clare was "taught by doing." Animals were all over the campus. "A goat would nudge you while you played baseball." All of the classes took many early morning bird walks. "If you wanted to learn about the alimentary tract of a chicken, you cut it open and looked." Clare distinctly remembers the moment when she first realized what she wanted to do when she grew up. Clare was five years old and was with a group of children gathered in the fireplace room (now the library). Clare remembers a blonde-haired SRV mom/artist coming into the room and setting up her easel. She can still recall the smell of the paint and the look of the paint brushes. Clare remembers how the mother mixed the colors and created the story of The Three Little Pigs with pictures. Clare knew at that moment that she wanted to illustrate children's books.

In second grade Clare spent hours during "free time" at school drawing detailed pictures of farm life. The same types of detailed drawings of people connected to the land are the illustrations for her most recent book, The Ancient Celtic Festivals. Clare was influenced by the gentle kindness of teachers Lucie Stevens and Mr. Freeman. Clare came to know and love the natural world that surrounded her at SRV. "Nature was safe, a place where I could be my own person." Clare reflected on how much Lucie Stevens inspired her, and how for years she carried around a photo of Lucie, at 85, planting in her garden. Lucie taught Clare when she was 5. Clare remembers "her stable kindness when I, as a totally shy and terrified child, too young to be in school, was thrown into a classroom of children who already knew each other." She thinks that ability to identify with the underdogs may be the reason why she went into teaching. Clare also mentioned that she was influenced by Grace Rotzel's book, Twelve Turnings, as it reflects the circle of the seasons.

Clare has no studio. "All of art is my life." She works on her dining room table and divides her time between rural Vermont and urban Cambridge with her husband David, an educator who works with children who have special needs, and now grown children, Eric, 23 and Anna, 17. Clare speaks passionately about her desire to get everyone connected to nature, joining together, linking hands, and "getting children to love being out of doors again because the land needs us." She talks about how we are all one and connected to the earth and nature. She is concerned about how, in our western culture, we've broken that chain.

As a teacher Clare affects change. Her ability to combine words with images and education is a powerful tool. She is recognized world-wide and appreciated for her work. Clare receives e-mails from people from across the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Africa. John Flicker of the National Audubon Society wrote to tell her how much he appreciates her work with children. Her book, Nature All Year Long, is used by elementary school teachers to illustrate how the trees, plants, and animals change with the seasons. Clare also spoke excitedly about the handwritten postcard she recently received from Jane Goodall endorsing her book, Keeping a Nature Journal.

Clare recently returned to SRV as an Artist-in-Residence. She spent the day sharing her book and travels and talking about her passion for nature with the children.

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