Before I showed up to our painting date, I’d been feeling burnt out, out of practice, and disconnected from the art community in Chicago. Leslie’s kind words and sharing about our mutual experiences at the Glasgow School of Art brought back so many fond memories and left me feeling completely refreshed and re-invigorated with my work. I feel very grateful to have been a part of this project and hope to see it continue.
September 3, 2018
Garfield Park Conservatory
I remember walking into the Garfield Conservatory seeing Leslie with all that she had prepared for the group of people we were planning to meet, she was a bit flustered because some not everyone who said they would be there came – she had taken such great care to provide for all involved – in this moment I felt her heart on her sleeve. That for tied into to whole experience we had together that day. A kind of breaking through any part of the day that might have brought disappointment, distress and just stopping – letting go, resting on a single plant, or in my case, a piece of architecture and how visitors navigated the space. I was so grateful to Leslie for her honest and generous presence, with her you don’t have to wonder, you can just be. A gift.
-Iris.
I remember when we did our plein air painting date with the Spertus fellows. It was more than two years ago, right? We went to Garfield Park Conservatory and maybe half of the group showed up. I remember feeling a little nervous since painting or art making in general is really not what I do but I pushed myself to walk around the conservatory and choose a couple of spots to sit on and try it out. It was very refreshing and meditative, and I’m thankful for the opportunity you gave me to explore that. It would be great to repeat something similar with the group one day!
-Ionit.
You think that you know how to paint/ You go to the conservatory/ You realize that you don’t know how to look
– Roni.
I mostly chose to hang in the desert room at the conservatory because I am from the desert and, simply, that room fills me with longing and belonging, even as it constitutes a fantasy space. Unable to depict what it looks like, my time there also yields a fantasy space. I was truly honored to see some of my little shapes and pareidolic moments in Leslie’s works later. To reconsider art history as our history feels radical and generous and that can be more than enough for an afternoon, for a stray text, for a night in the studio.
As an unconfident but constant drawer, painting with Leslie is a delight — I have such faith in her eye and hand and find myself endlessly impressed by her makings, even when talkative me is left wordless in front of them. We share many traits but continual practice and better-or-worse endlessness is one of them. To share in that sharing and to tether together, well, you know what they say: it’s not nothing to be really quite something.
– Jesse
October 22, 2017
Garfield Park Conservatory
Avery, Max, and I loved the virtual plein air painting date with Leslie. It was a perfect activity during the Stay At Home order.
April 22, 2020
Remote Chicago
August 24, 2019
Little wolf Wisconsin
a small sits dog between two.-KG
August 1, 2018
Back Balcony Chicago
I remember seeing a curious little mouse in the cactus room of the Garfield Park conservatory while we chatted and painted. Not sure if you saw it too. I wonder what kind of life it is to be a little mouse in such a magical place.
Made me think of a poem by Stephen Crane that goes a bit like this:
In the desert
I saw a creature.
squatting upon the ground
held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”
November 5, 2019
Garfield Park Conservatory
June 15, 2019
Craftsbury Commons Vermont
August 24, 2019
Little wolf Wisconsin
July 16, 2018
Japanese garden Hyde Park
Looking…
Where to look, what am I trying to find, where am I going to connect?
Is this even interesting, what am I looking at?
Oh! What is this shape? What are those colors? What have I found?!
July 24, 2019
Marquette park Indiana
November 27, 2019
Wisconsin Kettle Moraine
