ARTIST: Lesley Dill
TITLE AND EDITION: Dream World of the Forest: Man Carrying the Wilderness, edition size 200 plus 1 Archive Impression, 1 Right to Print, 1 Cancellation Proof, 30 Artist Proofs, and 8 Printers Proofs
DATE: 2023
MEDIUM: Relief with thread Dimensions (h x w)
PAPER: 17 x 13 inches
PRINT DIMENSIONS: 17 x 13 inches
Lesley Dill on the development of the 2023 Presentation Print, Dream World of the Forest (Man Carrying the Wilderness):
In Dream World of the Forest (Man Carrying the Wilderness) a gentle man peers at us calmly while barely able to contain the leaping deer he’s carrying to…where? Where is each deer going? To paraphrase “The Departure” by Franz Kafka, ‘Where am I going? — out of here. That is where I am going— ‘
What wishful thinking that he might hold & contain the wildness of nature; this bundle of antlered spiky deer enthusiastically & fervently jumping out of his arms into the ether.
This artwork features Tom Sleigh’s mythical words: “Far away on the frontier Where Trees—Still Bleed- &–Birdmen Rustle feathers & Griffins Guard!” The man in this work may appear to some as a stable trunk from which mystic deer grow and leap; but to others he may look a fragile figure, trying to contain forces beyond his control.
For me it is a magical moment when poetry can affect me, can touch the vulnerable yet also violent world within. When it works, I feel I am Kin to the poetic words. This kinship arises from the waiting room of half-meaning inside me. This unknown place comes to life when reading the words of other poets, in particular Rilke, Donne, Sleigh, and Dickinson. These special words are the engine for my artwork.
For example, Emily Dickinson’s poem, “A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest- I’ve heard the Hunter tell” has inspired countless works of mine. Another poem by Tom Sleigh that I have used in my work with deer is this one: “When the deer talk to me as they mostly do in a Dream Tongue only I can Understand… they tell me without blame all the things that I’ve done wrong and will never make better.”
The men and deer in Tom’s poetry are concomitantly Innocent and Poignant … “The ears going erect in a wariness so absolute that I can’t help but hear an alarm bell ringing – -their eyes straining past me”
I spent much of my childhood following pathways in the dark Adirondack and Maine woods, on the trails cut by deer, bear, rabbits, and porcupine. Those evergreen forests of my northern upbringing are silhouettes of spires or spikes against the sky. Even the lakes of the Adirondacks have a deep almost black depth where herons, osprey and loons flash suddenly into view. I bring these memories into my on-going themes of transcendent and visionary experiences with this new print.