By
Leslie Holt
Piece description from the artist
My “Brain Stains” series of embroidered paintings reference brain scans of people experiencing mental health conditions. Comparing PET scans reveals striking differences between brains affected by different conditions through the presence and proportion of certain hues in kaleidoscopic patterns. I examine emotions and mental states that are cloaked in the language of clinical technology. Some images in this series include text that is stitched on the back of the canvas to reveal an illegible coded language on the front. My interest lies in this combination of objective data with more poetic interpretation as a reflection of both corporeal and clinical experiences of mental health.
Leslie Holt is a mixed media artist and educator who exhibits nationally and is represented by David Lusk Gallery in Memphis. In 2021 she looks forward to solo exhibits in both Amsterdam and at NIH in Bethesda, MD. In addition, her work was selected by the Phillips Collection as part of a group exhibit of DMV artists responding to Covid. Leslie’s work has been reviewed and highlighted in New American Paintings, The Washington Post, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nashville Scene, The Tennessean, among other publications. She has received grants from Prince George’s County Arts and Humanities Council and the Maryland State Arts Council. She has taught on the college level for over 15 years and now teaches primarily adults with disabilities in community settings. She is Co-director of Red Dirt Studio, a warehouse studio for a group of independently practicing artists and creative professionals in Mt. Rainier, MD.
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