A Room of One’s Own

Composition 0124
2025
Wood panel, canvas, acrylic paint, ChromaLife100+ ink, paper 
36 inches diameter
Approximately 3,321 paper pieces 

A Room of One’s Own, Composition 0317 by Lesley Luce is a layered exploration of creativity and the lives of female artists—past and present. Composed of thousands of designed and hand-placed paper fragments, the piece draws from art history, literature, and personal memory to reflect on what it means to make room for creative expression.

Arranged in concentric circles, the composition weaves together visual references—from Virginia Woolf and the Guerrilla Girls to Barbie. Each ring speaks to the tension between domestic life and artistic ambition, and the long history of women claiming freedom on their own terms. Created in shades of blue with yellow accents, the central image is inspired by The Chintz Sofa (c.1912) by Canadian Impressionist Helen McNicoll—a nod to solitude, focus, and the quiet power of uninterrupted work.

The title references Woolf’s 1929 essay, and the piece becomes both homage and assertion—recognizing those who came before while asking what creative independence looks like now. From a distance, the work appears abstract, but a closer look reveals a chorus of familiar shapes and stories—hidden, layered, waiting to be found.