thehedgeartspace@hotmail.co.uk

Biography

Lesley Cherry has been part of the Creative Exchange Collective since October 2006.  Prior to this she was based at Conway Mill, in the west of the city.  Lesley is founding member of the Hedge Art Space, a non-profit gallery that she runs from her home in North Belfast.  Among her awards and bursaries are The Palmolive Parisian Design Award in 1998, The Roundstone Arts Residency, Co Galway in 2001 as well as an Individual Artists Award from the ACNI in 2005.  She has recently been awarded a residency at The Tyrone Guthrie Centre.  Lesley has exhibited widely throughout Ireland and her work is in private collections within Europe, USA, Africa, El Salvador and Australia.  She is currently Art of Regeneration Officer for North Down Borough Council, a post which creates community inspired public artworks, while addressing the issues of paramilitary murals and slogans.

Artist Statement

Shortly after moving to Creative Exchange in October 2006, I discovered my father was seriously ill.  Due to this I found it difficult to settle into my new surroundings, as I worked towards creating images for the print section of the MILL project.  With this in mind, I decided to create a piece which reflected my personal feelings at the time, coupled with my own, short history within the building, whilst paying homage to the legacy and history of printmaking within the Mill itself.

By using the condensation in the studio as my canvas, I wrote the word ‘Dadstar’ onto the window and set up the tools of my trade below, to create a still life arrangement.  I knew the condensation would disappear the next day, which reflected my short time at the Mill, as well as highlighting the fragility of history, when not recorded or remembered.

Working with Lucy Turner from Seacourt Print Workshop, I created this screen print of the ‘Dadstar’ window, which as predicted, has now totally disappeared.  The Mill itself is now under threat of ‘disappearing’ and is likely to be demolished in the near future.  My dad also did not live to see the culmination of this project.  He passed away on 3rd November 2006.

Lesley Cherry’s recent work has probed further into the political symbolisation of Belfast, and Ireland as a whole, as she continues to explore and develop these issues, in her own quirky, thought provoking and autobiographical style.

Title: Dadstar

Medium: Screenprint

Title: Falling Down

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas