SCOPE | Leslie Holt

David Lusk Gallery LESLIE HOLT

Well known for paintings that encourage dialogue with topics of psychology, grief, and triumph, Leslie Holt’s work furthers her exploration of the visualization of mental health conditions through color and language.

Holt’s compositions on raw canvas contain clouds of sharp acrylic pigment that bleed, drip, and pool around embroidered brains and text. Culling imagery and text from scientific, historical, and personal references, she explores the visualization of mental health and the history of its treatment.

Ripple (please don’t move), embroidery and acrylic on canvas, 30x40, 2022

Holt incorporates found text, mostly from a collection of notes, lists and ephemera of her parents. The process includes meticulously copying their handwriting in embroidery thread. This work becomes a meditation about her parents’ lives and respective mental health conditions, as well as a vehicle for grieving their absence.

You must remember this (dementia list), embroidery and acrylic on canvas, 48x24 , 2023

She wears it well (manic list), embroidery and acrylic on canvas, 48x24, 2023

Hang in There (oxy log), acrylic and embroidery on canvas, 36x24, 2022

Holt’s Brain Stain series exploits the aesthetic qualities of scans of healthy brains and those affected by mental illness. Measuring changes associated with blood flow, PET scans reveal compelling differences in presence, absence, and proportion of certain hues. These hues are often attributed to specific emotions associated with mental conditions - someone experiencing depression may “feel blue” because decreased brain activity presents a visual image with more blue, green, and black than a healthy brain.

And, Holt's Neuro Bloom enamel pins will be available in the swanky Scope Store!

Depression Stain (four seasons: fog of spring), embroidery, silkscreen and acrylic on canvas, 2020

Depression Stain (four seasons: autumn), embroidery, silkscreen and acrylic on canvas, 20x16, 2021

Depression Stain (four seasons: summer), embroidery, silkscreen, and acrylic on canvas, 20x16, 2021

Depression Stain (four seasons: winter), embroidery, silkscreen and acrylic on canvas, 20x16, 2021

Leslie Holt is from Bethesda, Maryland, and in 2012 she returned to the DC area after living in St. Louis. She received a BFA in Painting at Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA in Painting at Washington State University in Pullman, WA. Holt has taught studio art, art history, and art appreciation at the collegiate level for over 20 years, and has also worked as a social worker and advocate for people with developmental disabilities, mental illness, and those receiving welfare benefits. She is the Co-Director of Red Dirt Studio, a warehouse studio for a group of independent artists and creative professionals. In 2021 she presented NEURO BLOOMS at Beautiful Distress House and the Mentrum Mental Health Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and was included in the Phillips Collection’s INSIDE OUTSIDE, UPSIDE DOWN, an exhibition celebrating the Collection’s 100th anniversary and founder Duncan Phillips’ commitment to presenting, acquiring, and promoting artists in the D.C. region.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY memphis | nashville davidluskgallery.com