March 13 – May 15, 2023 | Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery
Arrowmont is pleased to exhibit Spring Wildlfower Pilgimage Artist of the year, Audry Deal-McEver in conjunction with the 73rd Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The SWFP, which takes place April 26 – 29, 2023, is an annual nonprofit event that features professionally-guided walks, exhibits, and other learning opportunities to explore the region’s rich natural and cultural resources. Pilgrims from more than 40 states and several countries make the pilgrimage each year to learn more about fungi, ferns, wildflowers, trees and shrubs, medicinal plants, insects (terrestrial and aquatic), salamanders and snakes, birds, mammals (bats to bears), journaling, art and photography, and park history.
Perfectly suited for the SWFP, Deal-McEver’s work is heavily inspired by botanicals, and the Wolpert gallery has been transformed into a field of flowers found on beautifully shaped vases, tulipieres, pouring vessels, wall vases, and more. She has this to say about the inspiration for her work and process:
In the wild, plants have evolved their scent and color to help attract creatures to pollinate them, with the end goal of propagation. In a similar way, artists and designers throughout history have adapted their floral motifs to attract consumers that will acquire and spread their new patterns and designs. What starts out as a life-like botanical illustration can evolve drastically over hundreds of years (much like the cherry blossom and the rose share common ancestry but are now completely different flowers). Since many of the designers worked from memory, the translation from reality to a 2-D print or pattern is full of oddities and is often far removed from nature. I find the analysis of this visual evolution increasingly relevant as humans spend less time outdoors and our botanical inspired decor becomes a surrogate natural experience.
Over the past several years, I have been doing studies of the different botanical symbols seen throughout history and carving them onto white clay vessels. I enjoy the way the patterns and forms engage each other. Though I spend many hours looking at historical motifs, I carve from memory and make my own interpretations.
Audry Deal-McEver is a clay artist based out of Nashville, TN. In addition to earning a BFA in Ceramic Studio Arts from Ohio University, Audry’s education also includes studies at Burg Giebichenstein School of Art and Design (Halle, Germany), and short-term residencies at Red Lodge Clay Center, Hot Springs National Park, the University of Alaska, and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts’ Pentaculum Program. She has had work in over 50 solo and group exhibits across the US including venues as diverse as the American Museum of Ceramic Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Disjecta Contemporary Arts Center (as part of the 2017 NCECA Annual Exhibit), the Nashville International Airport, and various nature centers/botanical conservatories. She has also received numerous grants including an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission and an Individual Artist Career Opportunity grant from South Arts. Her studio practice has been featured in Ceramics Monthly, Nashville Public Television’s Tennessee Crossroads, and the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler podcast. Audry has taught at Belmont University, Middle Tennessee State University, Vanderbilt University’s Sarratt Art Studios, and at workshop centers across the country.
