Lesley Cartwright - Love Tokens and Bad Pennies

Lesley Cartwright Bad Penny

Does love endure forever? Does a bad penny always turn up? During this Valentine month the artists and writers from CollectConnect explore this flip-sided theme with an exhibition of 32 miniature sculptures. These objects are placed in public places (#unsettledgallery), helping us to remember those who we hold dear - or cast off those who we would rather forget. Every day throughout February we will be featuring one of these tokens/pennies on this website. A writer will also use the art as inspiration to create something new and fresh.

Art - Lesley Cartwright / Words - Francesca Albini 

Fragile, ephemeral, trickster,
Shape-shifter,
With a hint of a smile
You tell me, 

It’s not all as it seems. 

Lesley Cartwright's Bad Penny at the

 #unsettledgallery Walthamstow

Lesley's Bad Penny sits on a plinth in Wood Street Plaza, which was revamped a few years ago to contain a series of water fountains for children to play in during the hot summer months and a bespoke adventure playground for the local children and young people. More recent developments have seen new flats built on the site, just one of the many building projects in the area. It remains to be seen whether the latest incarnation of the Wood Street Plaza will continue to provide a play space for children.

Lesley Cartwright was born in Liverpool but later moved to Essex to run a Hostel for homeless teenagers. She made her name in the commercial graphic field and music photography until she developed MS and now paints portraits from her Billericay studio. Cartwright is a multitalented artist who is not bound by genre nor convention. Cartwright has been exhibiting with CollectConnect since the Cardboard City exhibition in 2013.

https://twitter.com/ley9

Francesca Albini divides her life between literary and artistic endeavours. She is a PhD in Classics, and has worked in publishing for her entire adult life, as a translator, author and editor. She is a self taught artist and photographer. Her work is inspired by folk art, but also by design. Albini is a collector of memories, and uses any medium that allows her to remember and share, express feelings and narrate stories. From line drawings to plastic cameras, from collage to upcycled jewellery and dolls. "My work is playful and dreamy, child-like but also philosophical. I fall in and out of love with many styles and tools, but I'm always me, whatever I do."
https://www.francescaalbini.com/