By Kim J. Harmon

John Lyons is a world-renowned horse trainer and his words have inspired thousands of people, so it should come as no surprise that his words also inspired Leslie Hudson-Tolles.

But it was not in the way his words may have inspired horsemen and horsewomen around the world. No, it was his admiration of a drawing Leslie did that now has her bringing a trailer filled with art work to the Equine Affaire on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts this week.

“Ma’am,” he said, “that’s a powerful piece.”

Simple words, but a mighty impact.

“He suggested I go,” Leslie admitted this week, a day before she was set to leave for Equine Affaire in a trailer she borrowed from her neighbors. “I knew it was time to go nationally and this was the place to do it.”

More than 50,000 people are expected to visit Equine Affaire during its four-day run from Thursday, November 11, through Sunday, November 14. And there Leslie will be, in her 10-by-10 booth attracting the attention of horse- and art-lovers with her limited edition lithographs and monoprints.

This excursion, though, does not come without a fair amount of nervousness.

“This is my first step out,” said Leslie. “I’ve never been out there like this before. I’m a nervous wreck.”

But it’s not Leslie – who mostly works with children’s portraits - hasn’t had the exposure or the accolades that come from such exposure.

In 1996, she had a mural shown at the Jeffrey La Croix Animal Clinic in Wilmington, North Carolina. In 1997, she was commissioned to produce individual portraits of the Lisi family in Trumbull. In 1998, she had a commission to benefit the American Museum of the Morgan Horse in Shelburne, Vermont.

On top of that, she has been featured in a number of art shows and exhibitions from the Winter Horseman’s Conference in North Hampton, Massachusetts in 1988 to the Nationally Juried Show of the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, California in June of 1999. She has had a number of one-woman shows, has won the Dick Blick Award at a SCAN Juried Art Show in 1998, and has won first place for graphics at a SCAN Juried Art Show in 1995.

And there’s much more than that, too. She has also been a presenter, facilitator or instructor for many art programs from public schools to area conferences. In 1998, she presented Winning The Artist in Residency Grant Game at the national conference of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association in Tampa, Florida.

If that isn’t enough, Joanne Woodward Newman, Clea Newman, and actor Dennis Leary all own a piece of Leslie’s art. Like Leslie said, having people like those appreciate her work “helps a lot.”

So do the appraisals which she has gotten for much of her work – appraisals which seem to stagger her own senses enough that she had to be pushed by her neighbors, the people who have supported her so much during this time, to raise the prices on her lithographs and monoprints.

So, even though she has been out there in another degree, it doesn’t stop her from being a big nervous as she treks on up to West Springfield, Massachusetts. “It’s a huge gamble,” she said, and it has a little something to do with her monoprints, which is an art form that has yet to be experienced by many people.

Monoprints are all made from the same initial plate – in essence, they are all the same photo – but different applications on the print render each monoprint in a wholly different light.

 

(See Imprinting by Leslie Hudson-Tolles)

 

As she prepared for the experience of Equine Affaire, trying to tame the nervousness inside, Leslie says she has seen a real community spirit develop in her friends and neighbors.

“People have been so great,” she said. “They have watched this for 20 years and feel like a part of it.”