We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rachelle Gardner Roe. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rachelle below.

Rachelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Thus far, an immensely rewarding project has been my commission for the new International Airport in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a highly competitive public call and to be honest, I hadn’t initially planned on applying. I just didn’t think there would be much interest in fiber art, hand-dyed Shetland sheep and Huacaya alpaca wools being one of my areas of focus. Thankfully, I got some needed prodding from one of my biggest supporters and began working on my concept proposal. The thing was, I wasn’t even sure I could do what I envisioned, a wildly colorful smorgasbord of wildlife native to the Kansas / Missouri region, executed in thread and wool. I wanted the colors to visually flow like watercolor. I had created relatively simple gradients previously, but wool is not paint and this was on a whole other level. So, I did what I suspect was unique among the applicants. I actually created one of the three proposed panels in full, more to prove to myself that I could actually develop the technique needed. Happily, it also made for a strong proposal, showing literally that what you see is what you get.

Out of 28 artists total for the airport project, 19 local artists were selected. The notification that I was one of them was a bombshell and I do mean the jumping up out of your chair with fists raised to the sky kind of bombshell. Creating the work itself, Flyover Country: The Wild Side, was admittedly, sometimes a struggle, but in the end, I think it’s one of the best, if not the best, work I’ve created. Artistically, the opportunity pushed me to develop a technique I liken to “painting” with wool. Professionally, the press was fantastic, and it still comes up in conversation and has led to more opportunities. The icing on the cake? The occasional texts I receive of family and friends taking selfies in front of the work. I do this creative work because I must, but seeing the pleasure it brings to others is no small thing either. All of this has coalesced into one of the most meaningful projects of my career.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My artwork melds my Midwestern rural roots with fibers, sculpture, and painting. The hand-dyed wools in my fiber work are a culmination of the energy and care of my family for the land and the creatures on it. My intention is to foster a love of the natural world through exuberant color and imagery where stories of the natural world can be told. I believe that spreading this love is an act of survival in the face of climate change and apocalypse fatigue. I also focus on the natural world as a method of reframing the human body as being “of” nature, as opposed to the modern sense of being separate from it. Additionally, working with fibers is a means of recontextualizing “women’s work” through blending historical craft and the generational knowledge with contemporary practice.

If you had asked me at the age of five what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was emphatically, “artist.” Growing up rural, that seemed like a stretch, so I eventually received my degree in Interior Architecture, rather than the arts. This background in design allowed me to explore various media. My initial emphasis in furniture design influenced my path in sculpture while my family’s fateful adoption of three sheep in the 1990s led to a herd and eventually a journey down the road of fibers.

I have been commissioned for private and public projects, notably for the new Kansas City International Airport, St. Teresa’s Academy, Art in the Loop Foundation and A.I.R Gallery of New York. My work is in public, corporate and private collections and I have exhibited nationally over my career and have been awarded a mix of artist residencies and grants as well. Having lived my life in the Midwest, I work out of my studio in Kansas City, MO and am starting to work on my first solo museum show scheduled for 2025 at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think all beings are creative, in one way or another. The mythos of the supposedly divinely inspired artist can create a barrier in the minds of some who proclaim they “can’t even draw a stick figure,” as if that is some kind of deal-breaking goalpost. Creativity is creative problem solving. That can look like baking, coding, pulling together a stellar outfit, or a million other things. I just don’t want folks to sell themselves short. You are creative, whether you believe it or not, because you are human.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

About a decade ago, I got hit with a double whammy of debilitating viruses, which wreaked havoc on my nervous and respiratory systems. For months, I was mostly couch-ridden, unable to stand without searing pain, exhausted and coughing my guts out routinely. I had to give up my studio that I rented, as I was unable to work. I was feeling pretty pathetic. Yet, I had to find a way to create. I had some small ceramic work lying around that I hadn’t quite knew how to finish, and so I took up beading. On my couch or in bed, armed with needle, thread and beads, I could still create and adorn these little works with trails of glistening or earthy beads. And to this day, I still find these works beautiful. I’ve never even exhibited them, but kept them for myself. I don’t look back on that time with many good things to say. This is one of them. I found a way to create.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gardner-roe.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachellegardnerroe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rachellegardnerroe
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachellegardnerroe/

Image Credits
Headshot: Debra Smith