Retrospective: A Rural Artist's Journey will be opening on August 23, 2024 in the Octagon Gallery in Westfield New York.
Using artwork that Audrey has produced at each stage in life, the show will take the viewer on a journey through the evolution of her artwork, Audrey as a person, her family, and how Portage Hill Art Gallery came to be what it is today.
The Early Years:
Preparing for my retrospective show has been an interesting journey down memory lane for me.
While sorting through pieces from the past I am learning things about my work that I had never noticed before. My artwork shows distinct different time periods starting with coming to the area from the Hudson Valley.
Donald and I made the decision to start out family in western New York, where most of my family lived. It all began by looking for property during our summer visits before having children. We looked at various country properties and chose to settle on about 80 beautiful acres in Westfield. Using just a chainsaw and our VW van as a camp, we built a rustic cabin on the edge of a field overlooking Lake Erie. The location provided amazing, panoramic, sunset views that live in my mind to this very day.
While living in our "back to the land" cabin we had two goats, chickens, our dog, a large garden and added two wonderful baby boys. Life was quite idyllic for me as a stay at home Mom. As a young artist during these years I was limited in the art mediums I could use because we did not have electricity. I focused on fiber arts created by contour drawing with my treadle sewing machine and block printing onto fabric. My work was mostly biographical and tells the visual story of a young wife and mother.
While living in our cabin Donald and I also fell in love with Westfield where we were welcomed by fellow "back to the landers," and fellow artists. Donald was welcomed by and became a member of the local Rotary Club. Being involved with the local community lead me to join together with a jeweler, potter and fine wooden instrument maker to form the Chautauqua Crafts Alliance. All of these years later, that organization is still operating and puts on the two juried shows at Bestor Plaza on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institution each summer.
Little did I realize at the time, my western New York artist's journey was just beginning. Look for our next newsletter for a snippet of the next phase of my journey!
~Audrey
