Humans of Frome-Leslie Glenn Damhus-by Ciara Nolan

Leslie was born in Quakertown in Pennsylvania USA, a place which played a significant role in the anti-slavery movement and acted as a ‘station’ in the underground railroad network which helped escaped slaves. 

She was born to an American ex-marine father and a Scottish mother, who met when the former was stationed in the homeland of the latter.  Young love saw Elaine, Leslie’s mother pack up her belongings and move to the other side of the world to start her new life in a brave new world.

Leslie describes herself as a bit of a loner as a child, an outsider who, devoted to her Scottish mother leaned more towards her cultural ways than those of others around her.  Her mother was a very good seamstress and shared her passion for great cloth with her daughter, she also introduced beautiful artbooks into the household in the early years, books that had a great impact on her child. (She still has them in her collection and cherishes them to this day).

From an early age, Leslie lost herself in her drawings. Her family lived in an apartment block where she would regularly sit drawing on the porch. At the tender age of 6, a passing neighbour spotted her talent.  This neighbour was none other than renowned artist Paul Bransom, an animal illustrator, whose work included illustrations for editions of Kipling’s ‘Just So Stories’ and Grahame’s ‘The Wind In the Willows.’

School was its own kind of hell for the young Leslie, who, already alienated through cultural differences, was further removed from her fellow students through undiagnosed dyslexia.  Domestic life had its challenges back then too; she shared a bedroom with a teen sister who was going off the rails and seemed bent on dragging the innocent Leslie down alongside her.

Leslie describes those years as very tough, and talks about lying in her bed at night wishing she could disappear inside the wall.  Those stolen moments drawing alongside Paul Bransom kept her sane, and as she explains, were the moments where she could find herself again despite the chaos of her life.

New York City loomed large on the horizon of her youth, and she went there as soon as she could.   The buzz of the big city called to her, and she lost and rediscovered herself there through a period of study at Parson School of Design and The New School (although she eventually achieved her degree at UWE in 2009) and various jobs where she associated with her chosen tribe of like-minded creatives.

At the end of her studies Leslie returned to her childhood home.  She was introduced to her future husband, Asbjorn Damhus, by her parents who were involved in a hot air balloon company.  Her husband, Asbjorn, was a Danish adventurer and explorer.  With the call of Europe still singing in her soul, it didn’t take much persuasion for her to hit the high seas with her new love.

They sailed across the treacherous Atlantic Ocean in the depths of a harsh winter, a journey which sounds exhilarating and terrifying in turn.  Her description of sailing those capricious seas on a Tall Ship with a crew of 23 are the stuff of movies.   They ran out of fuel twice as they hit many days of doldrums which meant that they had to use their engines instead of wind power.    

She describes the moment that they discovered they were directly in the path of a giant container ship, which thankfully spotted them before ploughing into them, and how their experienced skipper managed to hold their boat parallel whilst the container ship threw down a fuel hose to them, at any minute the risk of collision between the two vessels could have wiped them off the face of the earth.

The day they saw Danish soil was an emotional one for so many reasons, not least the knowledge that this marked the beginning of a whole new life, but also that they had survived such a life affirming ordeal to secure it.  Settled on  Bornholm Island, Leslie set about exploring the creative communities on the island.   In her time there she (along with others) set up an artistic community called Helicon in a beautiful derelict warehouse space. The space was gifted by a philanthropic individual who had great belief in their creative vision.   

Eventually  Asbjorn was offered a job in Wales and they found themselves on the move again.  Despite feeling happy about living in the Uk, Leslie realised that her marriage was coming to its natural conclusion. Elaine, her mother, joined her and returned to the UK. Together, they moved to Frome back in the early 2000s. She describes a very different Frome back then, but there was something very magical about the place, something that made these two women feel like they were returning and they immediately felt at home.

Leslie explains that a missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle was found when she settled here.   The establishment of her art studio provided a similar solace to that of Paul Bransom’s apartment back in the day, and all these years on, with a long list of exhibitions behind her, she can happily call herself a working artist.   

Leslie’s accomplished paintings, which couple her early love of painting animals with a deep interest in iconic paintings and the symbolism therein, came onto my radar when I worked at the Black Swan gallery in town.  Her triptych ‘Madonna and Chimp’ was chosen for the Open Arts exhibition at the time, in fact, it took pride of place on the end wall.  Within days of it being hung and the gallery opened to the general public, the gallery received their first (and hopefully) last threat of  being burnt down.   Leslie’s calm reaction to this was to offer an artist Q&A where she was happy to meet people and talk them through her work.  Her charm, gentle playfulness and great eloquence dissipated any threats and she has since gone on to both exhibit and speak about her work all over the UK.

Centre stage in a number of Leslie’s paintings you will find an iconic woman with an enigmatic smile; you might find her dressed in the garments of the renaissance, but with a pop of colour more at home in 1980s New York.  I ask Leslie if these women are representative of herself, she answers me with an enigmatic smile as she wraps her colourful silk scarf about her neck.

Pablo Picasso once said ‘All children are artists, the problem is remaining an artist when you grow up.’  I might argue that some people were just born artists, for some their art is their very soul, as I look into the eyes of these iconic women who adorn Leslie’s paintings there is a great sense of recognition…we have met many times before.

In the coming months Leslie’s work will be exhibited at: Lane House Arts Bath, Bruton Art Factory, Bruton and The RWA, Bristol.