Each one of us is on a solo journey through life, according to Lesleigh, despite having had one special long-term relationship and many other romantic liaisons. Because of her chosen nomadic lifestyle, Lesleigh has no pets in her life except for the large potted plants which adorn her seaside balcony.  Lesleigh has named each of them after a Roman god or goddess, and finds they bring her great pleasure. Indoors is where the flowering plants get to reside, including a magnificent display of orchids, which Lesleigh loves. It was while living in Paris that Lesleigh first experimented with photography, and flowers were her first subject, Lesleigh having a strong affinity with the natural world. To Lesleigh, flowers are potent symbols of all that is feminine.

Lesleigh’s apartment, which also houses her studio, was specifically chosen for its brilliant sea views.  For Lesleigh, the call of the sea is strong, indeed, she describes it as magnificent, wonderous and unlimited. Lesleigh has been resident in Hua Hin for just on three years now, after spending seven years in Bangkok.  The sea called to Lesleigh and she was compelled to respond, but had to find the perfect place to live, work and create, and luckily it appeared before her. In her clean, tidy studio, which Lesleigh confided is the polar opposite of her mind, she can lose all track of time and her bodily needs, while in the almost meditative state of creating, which for Lesleigh is as natural as breathing. Lesleigh believes the purpose of art is to stimulate the imagination and emotions of the viewer, and to provoke a feeling of wonderment and awe. Lesleigh likes to juxtapose images, to counterpoint them across time and cultures and has often been complimented on the total originality of her work.

Hua Hin, Thailand, is a long way from Lesleigh’s birthplace of Denver, Colorado, and couldn’t be more different, since Denver is in the very centre of the United States, just about as far from the coast as you can get. Lesleigh knew instinctively from a very early age that Denver was not the place where she wanted to live out her life, and that she would need to plan an escape.  She described her birth family, where she was the middle child of three, as typically dysfunctional as many families are, and although she was born and raised a Jew, has never felt Jewish.  Lesleigh has a distinct recollection of remonstrating with her father, “Daddy, I’m not Jewish, I’m just a human being.”, as though the two things were mutually exclusive. Lesleigh felt she received less than her fair share of attention as the middle child of the family. There has always been an element of rebellion within Lesleigh’s spirit, and her parents had to deal with her drawing on walls and not wanting to attend Sunday school.  At school, Lesleigh was not fond of following rules and gained a reputation for not falling readily in line like other children. As an adult, this rebellious streak clearly manifests in the feminist nature of her artwork, which offers a critique on the way that women are still experiencing inequity in all aspects of their lives. Lesleigh is not an adherent of any particular religion, though she sees her relationship with the majesty of nature as being somewhat akin.

Lesleigh’s favourite childhood memory is of climbing in Red Rocks, an open-air ochre sandstone amphitheatre not far from her home. It was the start of her passion for climbing and collecting rocks, which now with her coastal lifestyle, has morphed into collecting shells. All of Lesleigh’s family were creative individuals, her father even taking up sculpture when he retired. While Lesleigh’s childhood may not always have been idyllic, it afforded her the opportunity to fully develop her self-reliance, of which she is still proud today. Lesleigh eats a healthy diet of many vegetables with chicken and fish and takes preventative medicine and health care seriously, because she intends to remain in this world, in a healthy state, for a long time yet. Lesleigh is also determined to retain her autonomy. While Lesleigh’s stature may be slight, her independence is fierce.  She has practiced yoga for many years and has bi-weekly pilates sessions to maintain her core strength.  Lesleigh has a “never-say-die attitude” and a tenacity which she acknowledges has not always been to her advantage, causing her to continue to persist when it might have been more strategic to let go. Earlier in her life, Lesleigh considered herself impulsive, but this has become muted with maturity and as a result of lessons well-learnt. One characteristic she has maintained from childhood is that she will not settle for second-best, in any aspect of her life.

Lesleigh completed a Bachelors and then a Master’s degree in Fine Arts, majoring in sculpture, at the University of Pennsylvania, and was aware from quite early on that as a female artist she would face additional hurdles to be taken seriously.  Indeed, it was quite a struggle to be accepted into her Master’s, because women were viewed as transient, on their way to marriage and motherhood, and many in the faculty believed her place would have been better allocated to a man. Lesleigh found herself as the sole woman in a cohort of a dozen artists.

After graduation, Lesleigh moved to New York, a hub for artists of all kinds.  This was a pivotal decision which has impacted her whole life.  It has not been her art which has solely supported her financially throughout her life, but in addition, profits she has turned, fortuitously, on a number of real estate deals. Her property in Soho, for example, became much more valuable in the time she held it, selling for 20 times its original purchase price. Lesleigh also had a profitable career in the fashion industry in New York City for 13 years, under her own eponymous label. She worked in both haute-couture and prêt-à-porter, but working in textiles, although it is an art in itself and built on her need to work in three dimensions, never truly captured Lesleigh’s imagination in the same way as her work with a large number of sculpture media, including bronze, wood, stone, clay, fibreglass, resin and canvas.  Working with new materials and new procedures, investigating and innovating within three dimensions is where Lesleigh feels most at home. She prefers more malleable materials because she likes to add to her artworks, rather than take away, as is required when sculpting with stone or wood. 

Lesleigh’s homes around the world would be the envy of many.  She built a home on an island in Croatia with her ex-partner. Despite the breakdown of their 9-year-long relationship, they both spend time there regularly, but always separately.  Lesleigh also has a renovated 18th century home in the south of France which she refers to, somewhat sardonically, as the “Lesleigh Museum” as it is the permanent repository of much of her large body of work. After her lengthy sojourn in Paris, where she continued with her fashion designing for private clients, Lesleigh spent 7 years living and creating in New Delhi, India.  She found the experience of living in India an almost overwhelming onslaught to her senses and totally immersive at the same time. It was while living in India that her relationship ended and Lesleigh found herself floundering, seemingly discombobulated. It was a four-year solo journey for Lesleigh to heal.

Lesleigh is still learning about nature, people and life, with the aim of being at peace.  She has an on-going curiosity about the world, befitting an artist, and sees money as an end to allow her to travel more, and experience more, though she has already travelled extensively. This year she will tick a further item off her bucket-list when she takes a side-trip from her regular return to her home in the south of France.  Lesleigh has planned a visit to Cappadocia to participate in its magnificent ballooning, giving her a fresh perspective of the landscape from above.

The month of March 2024 saw Lesleigh’s collaged female faces exhibited at The Standard here in Hua Hin, in honour of International Women’s Day. The General Manager of the hotel is a woman, and was looking for a way to pay tribute to women. Early on in her tenure with the hotel, the manager had asked publicly for opinions about what was missing from the local landscape, and Lesleigh had responded that much as she loved the area, it was in dire need of more cultural and artistic opportunities, including performances, showcases, galleries and exhibitions.  This comment was the germ for Nathalie’s approach to Lesleigh with the idea of an exhibition in the hotel, and Lesleigh was happy to agree, it being better to have the pieces on display rather than stored in a cupboard at her studio.

2024 was going to be a most exciting and productive year for Lesleigh.  Having participated in an "artist in residence" program in Shanghai in 2017,  Lesleigh was very much looking forward to a further residency in China, this time in Jingdezhen,the birthplace of blue and white porcelain over two thousand years ago. However, a broken bone has resulted in a postponement, for now. Lesleigh, along with a number of other invited western artists, was to have her own private studio and the opportunity to steep herself in this ancient art form, expecting it would be a very fruitful experience.  

Lesleigh is a woman who needs stimulation.  At the time of moving to Hua Hin she expressed some concern about how a woman who had always lived a big city lifestyle would transition to living in a quieter environment.  In Hua Hin, Lesleigh has noticed herself becoming more reclusive. Self-sufficient as she is, and relishing her own company, there is still a part of Lesleigh which longs for more in-depth conversation with people who have a broad knowledge base and wide interests like her own.

Lesleigh loves to laugh, and enjoys cocktails at sunset in the jacuzzi. She is partial to a red wine or two, but it isn’t a guilty pleasure as the guilt has long evaporated. Lesleigh is now able to find her happiness in the simpler pleasure of a walk along the beach or finally completing a much-anticipated artwork. She has mastered the skill of making others happy by feeding them good food and encouraging merriment. Lesleigh is eternally grateful that maturity has allowed her the awareness to profit from the magical, yet increasingly crazy, world we inhabit.