Dana DeLarme

I have too often dashed through my life like an autonoman, distracted from what is natural and arresting.  Art has been my antidote against colorless routine. With this understanding, I paint to ask the viewer to pause and engage with the subject. I request that the viewer regard a familiar subject with fresh eyes. Simplistic and inspired by nature, my paintings are created with acrylic paint, inks and pens. 

Henry Smith

My artistic journey and focus began in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where I was raised. Painting served as a means to document my explorations around little House Mountain and the greater landscape of Southwest, Virgina. As my art making progressed through high school and college, painting as documentation began to shift to an interpretive process. I began to approach Appalachian landscapes as a way of reflecting on, and interpreting the stories of the people who inhabited them.

When I came to Memphis for college I fell in love with the landscapes of the Delta, and it broadened the scope of my inspiration from Appalachia and my own family stories, to the land and people of the South as a whole. Landscape would be a lens through which I could attempt to make sense of the South, in all of its terrible beautiful complexity. Mainly working in acrylic on canvas, found objects, and the occasional textile I came to focus my creative process on disentangling the threads of Southern identity, using landscape to capture the intersection between the physical and the spiritual South. 

Today, my process involves a balance of premeditated and impulsive line creation, layering textures and colors while simultaneously peeling them back to expose the deeper stories embedded within the land. I hope that viewers understand each piece as a portrait of a place and it’s people.  

Leigh Sandlin

Leigh was born in Blytheville, Arkansas and lived in Memphis, Vicksburg and New Orleans before returning to Memphis to attend The Memphis College of Art. After college she moved to Long Beach, California where she taught all mediums of art to K-8th graders as well as adults.

"While I have spent many years teaching art, it wasn’t until I returned to Memphis and built an art studio on the family farm in Rosemark that I became focused on my own art.

Most recently my art has focused on color, form, and texture while exploring the relationships between light, shadow, and mood.  I work primarily in oil on paper or oil on wood and use cold wax or encaustic to create depth, layers and brilliance.

I start with abstract lines and shapes with india ink, charcoal and marking pens.  I feature loosely interpreted landscapes, sunsets and flowers.  My pieces attempt to join the joy of abundance with color to create bold, bright works.

I love to travel and I find the most meaningful inspiration in the landscapes and gardens I see from around the world.”