'Bot buddies burgeon
Leslie Born had no intention of drawing robots when she first picked up her stylus and yet here she is with nearly 200 digital portraits of them.
The Creators is a series that examines the aha moment behind ideas, images and inspiration, and the people behind them. See more in the series.
Born's first robot arrived more than three years ago, announcing its presence with just one word — curious — that popped into her head, niggling away at her until she began to draw.
Today Born's Supermurgitroid Robot Friends, all 193 of them, form the biggest branch on the artist's robot family tree. Each arrival is heralded by a random word — tinkerer, cosy, moon, scared — prompting Born to reach out for her tablet and start sketching.
She already knows No. 194 is on its way, hovering at the edge of the 'portal' to our world.
'There is no other way to describe it. The robots come from their world to our world and they try to make our world a better place,' Born explains.
Born works with colour pencils, watercolours and papier-mâché, and also digitally. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
She has also created a cluster of analogue cousins — eight watercolour paintings, five pencil-crayon drawings and six papier-mâché constructions — as part of the extended clan.
Artist Leslie Born's papier-mâché robot friends, Mr. Cookie and Mr. Hat. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
'These ones don't have names. They are similar to the digital ones but not the same,' she stresses.
Born's Supermurgitroid Robot Friends are very special; they help the artist manage her feelings.
Struggling with post-partum anxiety after the birth of her son in 2020, she focused her mind by making art.
'I felt like I was trudging through pudding. Everything was in slow motion. Nothing felt real. One of the first times I drew after my little one was born, my mind was calm. So I started to do it more often,' she says.
She dabbled in watercolours, and began sketching in earnest. But the robots weren't the first thing she drew. They only appeared to her in February 2022.
Born's creations include 193 unique Supermurgitroid Robot Friends, which she started drawing as a way to channel her post-partum anxiety. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
'When Robot No. 1 came through the portal and onto the page, I didn't know who they were, I didn't know why they came, but once I sat with them for a minute, I realized they had a story,' she says.
The stories land fully-formed. And as she writes them down — 'it sounds silly but the story is already there, it's as if it is being told to me' — the artist learns more about herself. The robots represent aspects of her.
Leslie Born's papier-mâché robot friends Box and Toque. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
'My robots are a mental release, and each is a little nugget of my soul. I connect with each piece so deeply I get lost in these stories as I'm creating them. While I felt like I needed to share their stories, I felt funny sharing, because I'd realized their stories were my stories,' she says.
'If you are to read all 193 stories you will learn all about me.'
She began by posting monthly robot pictures on her Instagram account @leslie_born_art, drip-feeding the tales to her followers.
When she started to make prints, she decided to include the stories with them.
Born says she felt vulnerable at first, but has since realized the stories are there for a reason.
Born works on her iPad sketching out a robot in her home art room. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
'I started seeing how the robots seemed to choose their own friends. I'd see someone looking trying to decide between two robots, and I'd tell them that every robot has a story, and show them the backs of the prints. After reading the stories, the person would say, 'I had been leaning toward this one, but now reading the story, this is exactly what I needed,'' she says
Born works in her art room. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
Born has compiled the first 100 robot drawings into a book. And it looks like she might have Volume 2 on her hands.
'I don't know how many more robots there are. I thought at 100 they would stop, but as long as they keep coming, I will keep drawing them and I will keep writing their stories.
'These robots are for everyone of every age, to remind us there is whimsy and magic in the world, and that being our unique selves is part of that.'
av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
AV KitchingReporter
AV Kitching is an arts and life writer at the Free Press. She has been a journalist for more than two decades and has worked across three continents writing about people, travel, food, and fashion. Read more about AV.
Every piece of reporting AV produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
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