As The Eyes Close We Lose Sight – from Michael McCardwell’s “The Death Snake.”

"The Death Snake" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW — *"The Death Snake" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW*

Michael McCardwell’s drawings are dense in their collective linear construction yet loose enough to clearly communicate the fantastical imagery. The artist plays with our expectations by drafting forms that are highly suggestive of spaceships – science fiction forms from a bygone era in which stalwart heroes with bulbous ray guns occupied the galaxy. His forms conjoin to form larger, interconnected spaces, and at times, a long, snake-like shape. It all seems very playful.

Yet can we be absolutely certain of what McCardwell has on his mind? The use of clearly defined line and shape in virtually every square inch of the field is also a formal academic exercise in composition, and in “The Death Snake,” his statement considers mortality in stages reminiscent of Shakespeare or Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. Either way, there is an almost giddy emotional quality to these pieces, and perhaps the one certainty is that, even in the darker themes, this artist seems to find joy in his work.

"Orange Cross" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW — *"Orange Cross" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW*

Besides being a studio art and humanities teacher for 27 years at Henry County High School, McCardwell has taught art at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System campus in Shelbyville, Spalding University in Louisville, at the former Shelbyville branch of Lindsey Wilson College, and taught basic skills such as reading, math and English at the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange. He was twice a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow.

McCardwell has work in private collections in the United States, Europe and Japan, and has been accepted into juried shows in California, Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Hometown: Shelbyville, Kentucky
Education: BFA Murray State University, Kentucky, 1971; MA (Drawing), Morehead State University, Kentucky, 1974

"Shadow" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW — *"Shadow" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW*

"YHWA" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW — *"YHWA" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW*

"Picture" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW — *"Picture" by Michael McCardwell, 18x24in, ink and colored pencils (2017), $350 | BUY NOW*

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Fiber

Vignette: Vallorie Henderson

Josh Jenkins · March 14, 2017

“Being part of the earth, its secrets are part of our fiber, our purpose, our memory, and our spirit.” — Vallorie Henderson

"A Bigger Piece of the Pie" by Vallorie Henderson, 2x3ft, hand-dyed and felted Merino wool with silk organza, machine stitching, $675 | BUY NOW — *"A Bigger Piece of the Pie" by Vallorie Henderson, 2x3ft, hand-dyed and felted Merino wool with silk organza, machine stitching, $675 | BUY NOW*

Because they are created by human hand, we are tempted to think that textiles are less connected to nature than some other mediums. Yet the work of Vallorie Henderson captures the tones and textures of the natural world with certainty. Her Appalachian heritage has always imbued her artist’s sensibility with a feeling for the land, but isn’t there something inherent in the fibers of the material, which are born of the fluid, organic quality of biology, that carries the earth with it through any process?

“My work will always have its origins in nature, if not by the inherent qualities within wool that allow it to felt, then perhaps by the preference for a particular line or form found only in the natural world. I enjoy creating landscapes with an abstract expressionist approach, hoping to represent the essence of the chosen vista through transparent layers of silk and wool, allowing a visual blending of complex colors when the viewer’s eyes see multiple hues through other hues.”

"Bottom Land" by Vallorie Henderson, 7x35in, hand-dyed and felted Merino wool with silk organza, machine stitching, $575 | BUY NOW — *"Bottom Land" by Vallorie Henderson, 7x35in, hand-dyed and felted Merino wool with silk organza, machine stitching, $575 | BUY NOW*

“With my most recent body of work, Birds Eye View, I chose to focus on aerial views of the farmlands in southern Indiana, western Kentucky and some areas of southern and eastern Kentucky where I am from. At first glance, these works may appear to represent a fascination with geometric shapes, patterns and repetitive grids. Viewing the landscape from higher altitudes does not allow a full understanding of the ongoing process that give form to the land below or of how its appearance reflects human occupation and the day-to-day engagements involving people, land, material, and circumstances. Beyond its dramatic scenery, our landscape is remarkable for the cultural activities and ideas it represents.”

"Gray Day along the Pike" by Vallorie Henderson, 14.5x28in, hand-dyed and felted Merino wool with silk organza, machine stitching, $625 | BUY NOW — *"Gray Day along the Pike" by Vallorie Henderson, 14.5x28in, hand-dyed and felted Merino wool with silk organza, machine stitching, $625 | BUY NOW*

“My Cherokee ancestors did not think it possible to own land, believing instead that we are born from Mother Earth. As an artist, I accept that we are made of this earth and in some manner, have always known the earth and its environs. Being part of the earth, its secrets are part of our fiber, our purpose, our memory, and our spirit. We are this place and all of its stories and events. Making connections between our experiences, their location and time is to be part of a greater whole while living in the present.“

Vallorie Henderson’s Bird’s Eye View series is currently featured in the Louisville Visual Art exhibit, Tessile Ora, along with work by Denise Furnish and Elmer Luciell Allen. It will be on display at Louisville’s Metro Hall through May 26, 2017.

Hometown: Somerset, Kentucky
Age: 59
Education: BA in Art, Berea College, Berea, KY; MFA in Fibers, Miami University, Oxford, OH
Website: http://www.valloriehendersontextiles.com

"Amber Waves of Grain" by Vallorie Henderson, 2x3ft, hand-dyed and felted Merino wool with silk organza, machine stitching, $675 | BUY NOW — *"Amber Waves of Grain" by Vallorie Henderson, 2x3ft, hand-dyed and felted Merino wool with silk organza, machine stitching, $675 | BUY NOW*

*"Woodland Vessel" by Vallorie Henderson*

Painting, Drawing

Vignette: Jenny Shircliff

Josh Jenkins · February 28, 2017

"Creekside" by Jenny Shircliff, 24x36in, oil on canvas (2017), $1500 | BUY NOW — *"Creekside" by Jenny Shircliff, 24x36in, oil on canvas (2017), $1500 | BUY NOW*

Artists turn that introspective gaze towards themselves; it’s not at all unusual - most art reveals something of the person who creates it. Jenny Shircliff makes herself the subject as a way of investigating age and, by implication, mortality.

"Cavea" by Jenny Shircliff, 18x15in, pastels on paper (2016), $650 | BUY NOW — *"Cavea" by Jenny Shircliff, 18x15in, pastels on paper (2016), $650 |* *BUY NOW*

Her earlier paintings were naturalistic renderings of the figure, but her new work is a departure, in which she dramatically abstracts human form nearly beyond recognition, and equates it with landscape forms.

“Our culture's idea of figurative beauty is predicated on youth, smooth skin, and rosy complexions,” observes Shircliff, “I am inverting that tenet and looking at my own aging flesh as a recording of my life, much in the same way that time is visually marked on the landscape. Thus, I have turned to viewing various parts of my own body as elements of land formations and use them as a derivation for abstract landscape. And I draw my color from nature itself. In a way, this new body of work could be described as ‘flesh-scapes’.”

What results from this focus are images of startling graphic impact. They appear to be abstract but are, in reality, intense, close-up views of the human form that embrace and reveal their humanity. The discovery of organic pattern and shape is so universal that we mistake them for images of other animals or natural rock formations. Through this highly candid, nearly forensic self-portrait series, Shircliff reminds us that we are a part of a larger natural world.

"Outcrop" by Jenny Shircliff, 20x24in, pastels on paper (2016), $950 | BUY NOW — *"Outcrop" by Jenny Shircliff, 20x24in, pastels on paper (2016), $950 | BUY NOW*

Shircliff has returned to painting after a long period devoting herself to the studying and teaching art history. “One of the most important things I learned from that experience is that assumptions should be challenged, inverted, and viewed in a different light.”

Shircliff has taught previously at Kentucky College of Art + Design at Spalding University, KSAH, Bellarmine University, University of Louisville, IUS, JCTC, and Midway College.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 62
Education: PhD in Art History, May 2014 University of Louisville, Louisville, KY; MA in Painting, 1994 University of Louisville, Louisville, KY; BFA in Drawing, 1976 Murray State University, Murray, K

"Cavern" by Jenny Shircliff, 31x36in, oil on canvas (2016), $3000 | BUY NOW — *"Cavern" by Jenny Shircliff, 31x36in, oil on canvas (2016), $3000 | BUY NOW*

"Gorge" by Jenny Shircliff, 48x48in, oil on canvas (2016), $1500 | BUY NOW — *"Gorge" by Jenny Shircliff, 48x48in, oil on canvas (2016), $1500 | BUY NOW*

"Cliffside" by Jenny Shircliff, 24x36in, oil on canvas (2016), $750| BUY NOW — *"Cliffside" by Jenny Shircliff, 24x36in, oil on canvas (2016), $750| BUY NOW*

shape

Vignette: Michael McCardwell

As The Eyes Close We Lose Sight – from Michael McCardwell’s “The Death Snake.”

Vignette: Vallorie Henderson

“Being part of the earth, its secrets are part of our fiber, our purpose, our memory, and our spirit.” — Vallorie Henderson

Vignette: Jenny Shircliff