April Issue 2002
Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC, Features Works by Nancy Darrell & Bernie Rowell
Featured in the Folk Art Center's Focus Gallery now through Apr. 16, 2002 are works by ceramist Nancy Darrell (Marshall, NC) and fiber artist Bernie Rowell (Candler, NC). Both women have been active, long-standing members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Immediately evident in these new bodies of work are the sophisticated techniques that are the product of decades of fine-tuning in their respective media. Also observable in this exhibition are inspired advances toward a new distinction, a personal freedom that reaches to incorporate disciplines from other media.
Bernie Rowell has spent most of her adult life in the southern Appalachian mountains, observing the rocky landscapes, unique biodiversity, and annual changes in nature. Her observations of the images and processes of nature have played a role in the evolution of her contemporary quilts. While quilt making historically implies coverings for beds, Rowell's elaborate "painted quilts", heavily embellished with metallic threads, vivid acrylic paints, and found objects like postage stamps, don't invite one to snuggle under them. Her work, however, still retains much of the essence of a quilt's purpose. They connect the viewer to textile references of home and family by maintaining some basic quilting techniques. Her quilts have also been made as "shields" or "friendly armor." As bed quilts protect us from the cold, Rowell's quilts have offered a sense of psychological protection from environmental threats, or as "badges of courage" for those battling hardships. This new series of quilts focuses on landscapes, recreating the gentle flows and patterns that nature follows. The repeat patterns reflect nature's many layers, created season after season, cycle after cycle. One piece abstractly illustrates the stratum of the forest floor, another brings the eye through a series of concentric frames toward a nest of bird eggs. Metallic fabrics and canvas provide the basis of these quilts, upon which layers of forms are stitched. Her innovative stitching and painted details give the images a depth not often found in traditional quilts. The use of acrylic paints lend both brightness and durability. Rowell has been a Guild member for over 25 years.
For over 30 years, Nancy Darrell has worked in clay, and for all but the first few she has concentrated on porcelain tableware from her own pottery in the Shelton Laurel area of Madison County, NC. In the early 1970s, Darrell apprenticed with famed craftsman Charles Counts in Rising Fawn, GA. Her wheel-thrown wares are distinguished by an articulate thinness, a simplicity of line, with naive images of mountain landscapes against a creamy clay surface. This exhibition shows new developments that depart from her trademark patterns as she responds to fresh interests. In 1997, with encouragement from her partner John Kraus, Nancy began experimenting with wood block printmaking, an art form which had held a lifelong fascination. Carving images into wood led to carving into clay when she explored porcelain lampshades. Thin walled clay becomes translucent when carved, she discovered, prompting a line of porcelain lamps, lanterns and sconces. "When I carved lines into the thin porcelain forms and saw how the light came through... I was reminded of the dark and light patterns created in block prints," she recalls.
Art has always been intrinsically tied with function for Darrell. The joy of creating something beautiful naturally flows out of the need to make something useful. In her vessels and lamps, which bear visually creative innovations in this show, Darrell introduces new designs serving functions in the home.
For more information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call the center at 828/298-7928.
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