Lesley Seeger is an artist inspired by her love of nature as she explains here
Coming into Harbour (Image: Archant)
‘My childhood was one of roaming freely in beautiful places; dens in woods, swimming in rivers, and walking for miles along beaches; first in Northumberland and later in Yorkshire. Fountains Abbey, Brimham rocks and Robin Hood’s Bay were frequent haunts.
Lesley in the studio (Image: Archant)
I went to Ripon Grammar school where the art room and art master provided a refuge of creativity, imagination and encouragement. The River Ure and River Skell in Ripon hold the happiest memories of endless summer days and boundless nature. Whenever I visit my parents now it is the rivers I make for and I realise all this formed the person I am today and the sort of painting I do which reflects my love of earth, plants, trees, landscape and the elements.
‘I think I was somehow able to bring this background to my art residency at York Hospital where I was privileged to work for six years with patients on various creative projects including three mosaic trees now in the hospital entrance. Working with art in the hospital convinced me that art is important and that it can change people’s lives for the better. People still stop me in the street and say how much the art in the hospital lifted their spirits during a difficult time.
‘For 15 years I painted from my imagination, focusing on an exploration of colour and hot exotic places like India. Now, it is the English landscape which interests me and the area I have recently moved to, Huttons Ambo, near Malton. I have returned again to my love of landscape, nature and space. My next body of work will focus on landscape but also on rural houses and their relationship with the natural world that surrounds them.’
Lesley’s work can be seen at her studio during North Yorkshire Open Studios on June 7th, 8th, 14th and 15th and also in a new exhibition in Pyramid Gallery, York which runs until June 10th (pyramidgallery.com).
Find out more about Lesley at lesleyseeger.com
