Addair artwork focuses on bright imagery, motherhood

A colorful, thought-provoking art collection by local visual artist, Ashley Addair, is
currently on display in the Clayton Center for the Arts’ Blackberry Farm Gallery.
Featuring 22 pieces of work, the exhibit is free and open to all interested spectators
through Jan. 31. The viewing hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Addair incorporates unique materials such as bed sheets, pins, plywood, stamps and
a variety of other unusual items used to convey the intricacies, realities and emotions of
motherhood and humanity through the eyes of a woman.

“This collection of work was made as a way to address and understand the
transformation into motherhood,” Addair said. “My conception of what it means to be a
human and certainly a woman changed over the course of my pregnancy, delivery and
first year of motherhood.”

Throughout the collection is a balance between abstraction and recognizable imagery,
including a bear and a bull in two different pieces.

“There is a language significance of domestic verses wild. I think it is revealing that
we idolize wild animals as powerful, while viewing domestic animals as tame and often
pathetic,” Addair said. “Especially since we often think of domesticity as the woman’s
realm.”

She is deliberate in her placement of bright imagery throughout the collection, using
vibrant colors as metaphors for the details of daily life in motherhood.

Maryville College senior Celeste Delarosa said that, as a mother herself, she could
especially relate to the artwork.

“The colors are beautiful and her ability to use art to capture the details of daily life as
a mother are especially inspiring,” Delarosa said. .

“The subtle shifts from one color to another teach me about nuances and the inability
to completely capture a thing with language or quantities,” Addair said. “Color seems
magical and fluid and I like the exploration of mystery.”

Addair also incorporates poetry within her artwork, using words and phrases in a six-
piece display to describe the relationship between a mother and her child.

“The six pieces are both individual pieces and a collective string of word,” Addair
said. “They document moments between mother and baby, each piece representing one
moment. But of course, they can also be viewed together as a season of life.”

“I really like the way the words and the images work together,” said Cory Lingerfelt, a
senior at MC. “It is intriguing.”

Addair will be attending a reception for her artwork on Fri., Jan. 25 from 6-8 p.m. in
the Blackberry Farm Gallery for anyone who interested in asking questions about her
artwork, or purchasing a piece from the collection.

More information regarding Addair’s artwork can be found at
www.noroomforhipsters.com and www.ashleyaddair.etsy.com. She can also be contacted
via email at [email protected].