Lesley Bricknell ‘Ice maiden’ (2009)
Diversion over the Christmas period. Inky wedding dress and lace bodice entombed in ice. Pond (no wildlife!) and bucket respectively. Bodice like an alien foetus held to the light. Dress a disappointment and assigned to the washing line. What did I expect? The ink stains haven’t moved at all. The plants that engulfed it fell off of course in the thaw. Of interest, however, was the desolate inky dress I intend to explore further. 
Photographs taken during a 2 month period. This work virtually makes itself. I just need to observe changes each day in the containers collecting rain water, silt and flotsam in the garden. A continual process of emptying and re-filling indicative of another British summer. By way of contrast one of my ‘Preservation’ pieces is currently online at ArtClothText. I’m not intending to put any further work related to ‘preservation’ anywhere online at the moment. I need to keep this under wraps for a while. Assemble, explore new materials, etc. Maybe some more of work that simply makes itself without my intervention is an attractive one.
Lesley Bricknell (2009) ‘Orb’ series (work in progress) photographs
In the process of putting together samples connected to ‘Cardinal’ recent series of photographs. Everything red related. A sense of urgency about it. I’m up to my old tricks and accumulating visual and written information on several areas, i.e. sod gown, disrepair, purity, stains etc. I know from experience that out of all this accumulation final pieces will emerge. I am also aware of how rich and beneficial the research process is in the making of those final pieces but I do sense a need to step back at some stage and re-assess.
‘the shirt we make is stained with our words, our stories’ Margaret Atwood ‘The Red Shirt’
‘her white dress was stained red from pocket to hem for the key was slowly weeping drops of dark red blood’ p.42 C.P. Estes
noticeboard
russet sample
red sample
