Leslie Noell is an artist, designer, and arts administrator who currently serves as creative director at Penland School of Craft. 

Her studio work embraces drawing and printmaking, collage and collection. Her work is minimalist in tone and direct in means; she strives for a balance of refinement and touch. Though days in the studio are rare, creative concerns are a constant. In all projects Leslie draws from a foundation in graphic design and material craft studies, combining a love for iterative process and an inclination to collaborate with medium and method.

Leslie has been a resident artist at Caversham Press (Kwazulu Natal, South Africa), Jentel Artist Residency Program (Banner, WY), and the Hambidge Center for Arts and Sciences (Rabun Gap, GA). Her work has been shown throughout the country in a number of exhibitions including the Hickory Museum of Art, Holter Museum of Art, Asheville Art Museum, and Mobile Museum of Art. 

She earned a degree in graphic design from NC State University College of Design and an MFA in Artisanry from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. She studied typography and printmaking at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and also spent two years as a Core Fellowship student at Penland School of Craft.

Leslie lives near Penland, NC, with her husband, artist Hoss Haley, and their son James. In 2001, Leslie and Hoss renovated a commercial building in nearby Asheville that currently offers studio space to four working designers/makers—Laura Wood, Thomas Campbell, Andrew Hayes, and Reid Carlson. For several years Leslie has served as a trustee for experiential learning schools in NC.