Lesley Dill has been giving form to the poems of Emily Dickinson for over seventeen years. A book of Dickinson’s poetry that was a birthday gift from her mother prompted this extended engagement. Although she had worked with the body and clothing using natural materials, the introduction of language greatly expanded Dill’s exploration of the human condition. For instance Glee with Tears, with pearl-like tears projecting from the eyes, makes physical and visible the extremity of passion so often expressed in Dickinson’s poetry. In Only, Dill’s use of bronze plays with its associations of permanence and tradition. The circular perforations give the figure a transient invisibility, yet the strength of the material itself gives the figure substance. While closely associated with Dickinson, Dill has also been attracted to the writings of Franz Kafka, Pablo Neruda, Rainer Maria Rilke, and contemporary poets.

Lesley Dill is a painter, printmaker, sculptor, photographer and performance artist who explores the relationship between language and the body through projects that range from books to billboards. Her work can be seen in current solo exhibitions Tremendous World at the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY until June 3, 2007, and A Fine Line at the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, Niagara Falls, NY through April 18, 2007. Her work is found in many public and private collections and she has exhibited widely with solo shows at George Adams Gallery, New York, NY; Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA; Dieu Donne Papermill, New York, NY. A traveling 10 year survey of her work in 2002-03 originated at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz, NY. Dill is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She earned her BA from Trinity College, Hartford, CT, her MAT from Smith College, Northampton, MA and her BFA from the Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD. More information can be found at www.georgeadamsgallery.com.