‘Infused with Light’
Jamestown painter Leslie Hurst is featured artist at Claremont gallery
Leslie Hurst is bathed in brilliant sunlight and perched high above Bradford Street in Studio B in downtown Sonora. The Jamestown artist, who shares a studio/gallery workspace with three other artists, is excitedly discussing her passion for light, the color yellow and Vincent van Gogh.
Surrounded by her paintings and those of her loft partners — Sherie Drake, Irene Deaver and Linda Webb — Hurst is clearly in her element.
Dressed simply in jeans, a crisp white dress shirt, running shoes and a jean apron, Hurst explains her love of the studio. The space exudes warmth, is bursting with color and invites you in to stay awhile.
Three years ago, after selling all of her paintings, Hurst decided to put her paint brushes and blank canvases away for good. She thought it would be easy to stop painting, as easy as making the decision to do so was. She was mistaken.
“This is the one thing I can’t retire from,” Hurst said. “I have to paint to keep my sanity.”
Painting was often a solitary and sometimes lonely process for Hurst. Recognizing her art was a part of her life that she couldn’t give up, she decided to seek out the company of other likeminded artists.
“I didn’t want to paint by myself anymore. They took me in,” she said of Drake, Deaver and Webb. “It just feels good. It’s fantastic to share space with them.”
Jokingly and lovingly the painters refer to the second story loft-style studio
‘Infused with Light’
As she zooms around Studio B, her energy palpable, Hurst takes the opportunity to explain what an invitation to show her work as a featured artist at Square i Gallery in Claremont, a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, means to her. The art show is entitled, “Infused with Light.”
“It’s a big deal for me. I was so tickled to be asked because I get to be in an LA setting,” she said. “It is an opportunity
to step out into a wider art world. Claremont is a college town filled with people who love art.”
The show, which runs the entire month of November, has already been a success. As of Wednesday, Hurst had already sold 18 paintings, including her favorite, “Bell Mooney Road,” an oil rendition of a road in Jamestown off of Highway 108.
On Saturday, Hurst and her husband of 55 years, Joe, will attend the reception for her show, an event they look forward to.
“Joe has always been there for me,” Hurst said. “He is always supportive of my painting, and when I need anything he always tells me to go ahead and get it.”
Hurst describes her paintings as expressionist and her art style as “open and loose,” a far cry from her early days as a painter.
“When I first started painting, I wanted to faithfully represent what I was looking at. Thirty years later, I want you to see what I feel about it,” she said.
Art school and raising a family
Hurst attended Washington State University and earned a bachelor's of fine art, with an emphasis in watercolor painting and a minor in mathematics.
Watercolor painting, which can be unforgiving and unpredictable, and one of the toughest mediums to master, did not come easy for Hurst.
“I suffered. I barely had any hair left,” she joked.
A venture into painting with pastels, which according to Hurst are “messy and dangerous,” because they contain toxic pigments that are easy to get into your eyes and ears if you are not careful, would be short-lived. Acrylic painting did not do it for her either.
“For me, acrylics are flat, not juicy enough,” Hurst explained.
Her love of painting was overshadowed after Hurst got married in 1966 and she and Joe welcomed their first of three children, Amy, in 1970. Maggie was born five years later, followed by the couple's son, Thomas, in 1978.
“My most important job was raising my three children,” Hurst said.
From 1970 to 1995, Hurst was focused on being the best mother she could be to the three children she adores. The paint brushes and canvases sat idly by, clean and blank.
It would be middle daughter Maggie who would put the paintbrush back into Hurst's hand after a 25-year hiatus.
Maggie’s struggle is everyone’s struggle
“Maggie is the reason I am painting again,” Hurst said.
Maggie, Hurst's middle child, set every record at Sonora High School for cross-country and track in middle distance running, including the section title for both cross-country and track, excelled academically, and was offered a full scholarship from UCLA, Berkeley, Baylor University, Texas, Arizona, San Diego, Oregon, Washington State and the college she chose, the University of Idaho.
Joe had graduated from U of I, and he liked the idea of his daughter attending college where he had. With her senior year in the rearview mirror, the sky was the limit for Maggie as college life began.
However, college life in Idaho was plagued by depression, sadness, loneliness and fatigue for Maggie, who was increasingly overwhelmed by the social norms of college and her assignments.
Though she was still excelling at running and winning races, her mental health was declining and anxiety was building. A jagged fractured tibia while running in a race meant a full leg cast, crutches and no running.
The only thing holding Maggie together and giving her any sort of hope was over. Maggie's leg was broken, her running career had ended, and she felt extreme despair.
“She fell apart, and we fell apart with her,” Hurst explained. “I started painting again as a means to cope.”
Maggie's struggles were not just the angst of being a young person with growing pains.
In 1996, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a condition associated with episodes of mood swings ranging from depressive lows to manic highs.
Maggie's mental health journey would include hospitalization to stabilize her, balance her medication and institutionalization.
Hurst, who had always painted for pleasure, was now painting to stay grounded, to find peace of mind and to hold on to her sanity.
“The more I painted the less I worried. I never looked back after that. I just kept painting,” she said.
Maggie bravely and candidly recounted her harrowing mental health journey in her book, “Runaway Mind, My Own Race with Bipolar Disorder.”
Maggie lives in San Diego with her daughter, Allison, and her husband, Matt Reese. Older sister Amy also lives in San Diego and is a senior flight attendant with Delta Airlines.
Saint Remy and tracing van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh is Hurst's favorite painter because of his use of color.
“He pushes it,” she said regarding the Dutch post-impressionist painter. ”A far hill isn't just blue, it's hella blue!”
In 2015, Hurst rented a tiny apartment in Saint Remy, a beautiful region surrounded by lush green perfumed valleys and traveled extensively through Arles, Provence in France.
“I spoke very little French, and my land lady didn't speak any English, but somehow we made it work,” she said.
Hurst feels a connection to van Gogh as a painter herself and in part because of Maggie.
“He was bipolar or manic. They called him a maniac,” she explained. “I have a connection there. I guess I honor his pain and what it took to just keep painting.”
Following in van Gogh's footsteps, Hurst painted everywhere he painted for the six weeks she spent in France.
“In France, if you stand on the road and paint a landscape, the people think you are an artist. That defines you as an artist. The locals will discuss what is right and wrong about the painting, walk off down the road and return with a bottle of wine for you.”
Her time in Saint Remy is a treasure trove of memories she will never forget. After running out of canvas to paint on, Hurst got creative.
“I painted on pizza boxes. Pretty nice pieces, too,” she said.
Next chapter as a painter
The couple started Mchenry Feed in Modesto in 1971. They would go on to own several successful companies after that.
Through all of their business endeavors, Joe's willingness to let his wife explore herself through her painting is something Hurst is grateful for.
“Joe had to take on more with our businesses, so that I could walk away at times to paint,” she said. “He has always been supportive of me. I am thankful to have Joe.”
The Hursts are currently in the process of retiring from the businesses they ran together, including Woods Creek Olive Co. and Hurst Ranch Reds, a vineyard. Their son, Thomas, is taking over both of the businesses.
Hurst's last vintage will be a blend of all her red varietals and called, “Miss Leslie's Last Surrah.”
She may be letting go of the business' reins, but she is grabbing on tighter to her paintbrush and canvas.
“I feel the need to start over,” she said regarding the direction her art will take her in. “I don't want to get stuck.”
Pointing to a large roll of canvas propped up on the floor of Studio B, her eyes alight with energy, ”I want to go big,” she said.
Painting is a way of life for Hurst, a part of her innate being that she will never give up again. She sees art in everything. Even when she isn't consciously trying to do so.
“Something catches my eye, when I am not even paying attention. I look at how the colors interact and the next thing I know I'm planning my next painting,” she said. “Once a painter, always a painter.”
To view Hurst's paintings at the Square i Gallery in Claremont, visit www.squareigallery.com