Blue Ridge Country Nov/Dec 2024 - 30

OF THE
MOUNTAINS
CLOCKWISE: Jody Bradley Lipscomb: " I want Cherokee women to be able to see
themselves, their mothers and their grandmothers in my work, and be proud. "
Lacy Hale: " Art is a way to speak to and with a higher power, to capture beauty, to
create beauty. To address sadness, to conquer pain. "
Ansel Ringler: " Cleaning up a piece of wood, or milling a slab from a log, is like
unwrapping a Christmas present. "
plants, flowers ... and even happy baby
possums, " she adds with a smile. " It's all
about listening to the property owners
and/or organizations and trying to make
their visions come to life. "
Moving forward: " I hope to keep
moving onward and upward and making
beautiful and uplifting things in the
mountains of Appalachia. [Specifically],
I want to grow No Hate in My Holler
into a traveling exhibit. There have been
many communities and organizations
that have reached out to ask about it. I'm
on the funding search right now. "
lacyhale.com
NORTH CAROLINA
I can highlight the fact that there are
many people who live in our region who
are open, caring, supportive and loving,
then that's a good thing. "
Hale has also earned accolades and
acknowledgements as " the mural queen "
(according to fellow Kentucky artist Jeff
Chapman-Crane and others). For these
public art pieces, Hale says, " I use many
symbols that I find to be universal and
nature imagery like a shining sun, hands
reaching out to one another, thriving
30 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
Jody Bradley Lipscomb, Lake Junaluska.
" I want people to hear and feel the
story I tell through my paintings. And I want
Cherokee women to be able to see themselves,
their mothers and grandmothers in my work and
be proud. "
Jody Bradley Lipscomb, a member of
the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians,
proudly calls the Cherokee Indian Reservation
her birthplace and home for
much of her life. " Sometimes it amazes
me that people do not know they live beside
the reservation. I want to open their
eyes to their neighbors through my art.
I want people to think, to be amazed, to
say 'I didn't know that.' "
Bradley Lipscomb's first painting (and
many since) focus on women. " I grew up
loving and respecting Lucy Raleigh and
Emmaline Cucumber. They always carried
a Cherokee basket and wore dresses
and red bandanas on their heads. "
( " Women of the Red Bandana " series.)
She continues, " They spoke Cherokee to
each other and would laugh a lot. I have
painted over 60 paintings of these ladies
for tribal members because we all loved
them. "
This self-taught artist describes herself
as a " quiet activist and secret educator. "
She explains, " In every painting I
try to teach something. I want people to
hear and feel the story I tell through my
paintings. And I want Cherokee women
to be able to see themselves, their mothers
and grandmothers in my work and
be proud.
I want [people] to know Native
American women are lost every day to
violence. And it is a desire to convey that,
regardless of the atrocities the Cherokee
people have suffered, the Cherokee people
are still here. "
Her work is seen in exhibits, shows,
museums and galleries
across several
states and Bradley Lipscomb founded
Artists
http://www.lacyhale.com http://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
Blue Ridge Country Nov/Dec 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country Nov/Dec 2024
