Arkansas Artist Showcase | Norwood Creech

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Crossing Into the Bridge Into the Floodway by artist Norwood Creech

Artist's Statement

I live in a small agricultural town (pop. 2,200) in Northeast Arkansas. My home and studio are surrounded by the flat farmlands of the Mississippi River Delta. When I see this land I am captivated by the endless compositions and nuances in the patterns of row crops and ditches and the horizontalness of it all. I explore farms and levees, looking over crops of cotton, soybeans, rice and milo, watching the tree lines define the space, and watching how it changes through the seasons. When a particular setting catches my eye, I can become fixated on it, like a lustful obsession. I repeatedly study it, sketch it, paint it and photograph it. While I am working on location, I actively take in my surroundings, watching the light, breathing and feeling the air, the weather, the humidity, smelling the dirt and doing my best to imprint that sense of place on my own sense’s memory. Once I feel saturated with the experience of being in the setting, and feel I truly internally understand it, I take the image to the studio.

Untitled by artist Norwood Creech

In the studio, I can choose nearly any medium, size or surface, to express that which has captivated me. My options include oils, acrylics, pastels, watercolor crayons, watercolor pencils, printmaking methods, graphite, erasers, charcoal, pen/ink, mixing of media, and so on. Sometimes a scene just begs to burst out from within me and to be painted large, bold with lots of energy. And then there are times when an intimate sensitive oil sketch may be more in keeping with the emotion it brings out in me. I cannot say that I am devoted to any one particular painting media, say for instance only oil painting. As an artist, my mind is sometimes jolted, and usually excited, by the endless options of how to relate and express the beauty I am responding to in these farmlands and putting that on a two-dimensional surface.

For me, this rural landscape represents a piece of the myth of the South, Southern agriculture and its heritage, with stories of small lost communities, the history of cotton and the apparent effect that the evolution of technology has had on the agricultural community, the landowners and the farmers who still work the land. With all this in my heart, I am most grateful to have the opportunity to live here, paint here and be a part of it all.

Education

• Untitled by artist Norwood Creech

  The Kennedy Center, “Artists as Educators,” Memphis City Schools Teaching and Learning Academy,
  Memphis, TN 2007
• Lincoln Center Institute for Aesthetic Education, “Aesthetic Education in Rural Settings,” Crittenden
  Arts Council, West Memphis, AR 2006
• Frogman’s Press, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 2004
• Dorland Mountain Artist Colony, Artist Residency, Temecula, CA 1999
• Simply Arts Institute with Dr. Warren Newman, Crittenden Arts Council, West Memphis, AR 1997
• Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts, Master Program with Gregory Kondos, Santa Fe, NM 1995
• Arts in the Schools Institute, Memphis Arts Council, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 1994
• Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts, Master Program with Wayne Thiebaud, Santa Fe, NM 1993
• National Art Educators Convention, Los Angeles, CA 1988
• Art Educators Forum, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA 1987
• Skidmore College, Bachelor of Science: Studio Art, Saratoga Springs, NY 1985
• St. Francis High School, Louisville, KY 1981

Select Exhibitions

• Osceola Chamber of Commerce, Osceola, Arkanas, 2008
• DeltaMade Market Place, Clinton School of Public Service, Little Rock, AR 2008
  
• “A Sense of Place,” Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects, Memphis, TN 2007
  
• “Delta Perspectives,” Lincoln Center Institute for Aesthetic Education, Crittenden Arts Council,
  West Memphis, AR 2006
  
• “Summer Group Show,” Bruins Supper Club, Horseshoe Lake, AR 2006
  
• Lilly’s Dim Sum, Little Rock, AR 2003 - 2006
  
• “Artists of Arkansas,” the Offices of Senator Blanche Lincoln, Little Rock, AR, Washington, DC
  2003-2005
  
• Perry Nicole Gallery, Memphis, TN 2005
  
• Sara Howell Gallery, Jonesboro AR 2004
  
• Riverlawn Country Club, Osceola, AR 2002
  
• “How the West Won,” CMC Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 2001
  
• “Max ’98,” University of Memphis Museum, Memphis, TN 1998
  
• “Self Images 8 to 80,” Women’s Foundation of Memphis, Memphis Festival for the Arts,
  Memphis, TN 1998
  
• J. Gallagher Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 1998
  
• Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects, Memphis, TN 1997
  
• “Young Louisvillians III,” Liberty Gallery Bank, Louisville, KY 1993
  
• Hall-Barnett Gallery, New Orleans, LA 1993
  
• Eighty Main, Bisbee, AZ 1993
  
• La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA 1992
  
• Bear Street Cafe, Crystal Court, Costa Mesa, CA 1992
  
• JoyRide Snowboards, Laguna Beach, CA 1991
  
• Sawdust Winter Fantasy Festival, Laguna Beach, CA 1991
  
• Laguna Art Museum Art Auction, Laguna Beach, CA 1990-2004
  
• St. Francis High School Art Auction, Louisville, KY 1995-2004

Teaching Experience

• Lincoln Center Institute for Aesthetic Education, Teaching Artist, “Aesthetic Education in Rural
  Settings, ” Crittenden Arts Council, West Memphis, AR 2006
  
• Memphis Arts Council, Teaching Artist, Memphis, TN 1995-1996
  
• Crittenden Arts Council, Teaching Artist, West Memphis, AR 1995
  
• Laguna Outreach Community Artists (LOCA), Charter Member, Laguna Beach, CA 1992
  
• Free Arts for Abused Children, Teaching Artist, Malibu, CA 1991
  
• Boys and Girls Club of Laguna Beach, Art Director, Laguna Beach, CA 1989-1991
  
• Laguna Club for Kids, Art Director, Laguna Beach, CA 1989
  
• Bowers Museum, Outreach Educator, Santa Ana, CA 1987-1988
  
• Laguna Art Museum, Assistant to Director of Education, Laguna Beach, CA 1987
  
• Beaufort County Recreation Commission, Artist in Residence, Hilton Head, SC 1985-1988
  
• Hilton Head Art League, Artist in Residence, Hilton Head, SC 1985-1988
  
• Saratoga Springs YMCA, KinderCamp Director, Saratoga Springs, NY 1985
  
• Skidmore College, Assistant to Professor Richard Upton, Printmaking, Saratoga Springs, NY 1983-1985

Select Collections

• Harrah’s Louisiana Downs, Bossier City, LA
  
• IFRAH Financial Services, Little Rock, AR
  
• Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Washington, DC
  
• Dr. Jeannie Whayne, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
  
• William S Nixon, Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects, Memphis, TN
  
• Gene Hackman, Santa Fe, NM
  
• Alexandra Grais, Chevy Chase, MD
  
• Lulu Lennihan Davis, Louisville, KY
  
• Roy Thinnes, New York, NY
  
• Archer Custom Builders, Memphis, TN
  
• Little River Bank, Lepanto, AR

Represented By

M. Ford Creech Antiques
581 South Perkins, Memphis, TN 38117
(901) 761-1163
www.mfordcreech.com

Arkansas Arts Council, Little Rock, AR
Arkansas Artists Registry - online
www.arkansasarts.com/programs/registry

Arkansas DeltaMade
www.arkansasdeltamade.com