Until Aug. 14, the Carbondale Arts Gallery is featuring two local, eclectic artists, each with a unique method to finding inspiration and creating their art.
“People say people are artistic or not. I think it’s most everybody’s artistic, and then somebody tells them that they’re not, and then they think they’re not,” said Vallee Noone, one of the two artists on display. Noone’s exhibition is called “The Muses Don’t Tell Me Shit.” Her artwork is psychedelic, freeform and seems to draw on forms from out of this world.
“It’s hard to explain, but throughout human history, people have known that there’s some higher-up creative force, and we have talked about it in different ways,” she told The Sopris Sun. “For me, they’re kind of like a panel of just spirits, and they push the art through me and use me as some kind of tool.”
She continued, “It just feels like there’s this kind of committee of muses creating the art apart from me. And that’s why the show is called ‘The Muses Don’t Tell Me Shit.’ I feel like I watch what’s happening and it feels like they have a plan, often, and I’ll discover the plan after the drawings are done, and I’ll see the throughline. There’s some that I have zero recollection of doing.”
Noone credits these muses for all her art in the show. Although “the muses” do not disclose much, she said, they informed her there’s a self-portrait somewhere within the show. While unsure which piece it is, she has a hunch, as there’s one painting that depicts a figure with wide eyes and crazed hair, which Noone believes resembles her when talking about her muses.
She defined the work as follows: “I really don’t have any idea of where anything is going. I’ll have an idea, and it’ll go in an entirely opposite direction. It’s fun to watch happen, but it’s a bizarre experience.”
Noone is joined in the gallery by another local artist: a man by the name of Chad Knowles and his collection called “Oddly Familiar.” Knowles’ exhibition features mainly landscapes and natural spaces, with an emphasis on showing the beauty of average things.
“It’s a way for me to express something that feels spiritually connected to the land, the animals and the whole universe,” he told The Sopris Sun. “I want to try to capture the fact that we’re all small humans, but we’re also powerful. We’re individuals, and we’re unique, but we’re also connected to this larger thing. We are connected to the earth, the land, the animals and everything. Everything is sacred, and everything is precious, and everything is beautiful. So when I paint a rock or an animal, I feel an obligation to paint every rock or animal the best I can to honor that rock or animal. I would like for the viewer to leave with a subconscious feeling of being humbled, as well as a connection to their spirituality.”
While Knowles doesn’t have as unusual of a process to his work as Noone, he does still have some eclectic features to these paintings that he was kind enough to share with The Sun.
“I use eyes a lot in my paintings as a way of showing consciousness.,” he said. “One of my paintings is called ‘In the Flow, In the Water.’ I drew a bunch of eyeballs, and I wanted to show that the water has a consciousness, energy and feeling.”
Knowles is the first to tell you that his work varies quite a lot throughout this showcase, and for him, it all comes down to inspiration. Sometimes, Knowles has a clear image of what he wants, and sometimes he doesn’t. As he puts it, he likes “getting some mileage” under his brush, and if that doesn’t always produce something odd and mind-blowing, that’s okay.
In conclusion, the Carbondale Arts Gallery is hosting two incredible artists, and this reporter would highly suggest taking a look at what their installations have to offer. And who knows? You may find a deep connection to the land, better understand our shared reality, discover your own artistic talent and maybe even create something you had no recollection of making.
“The Muses Don’t Tell Me Shit” by Vallee Noone as well as “Oddly Familiar” by Chad Knowles will be available for the public to peruse through Aug. 14 at the Carbondale Arts Gallery, 76 South 4th Street.