Stacey Huddleston AKA
Radhika - This Spring a marvelous fine art show took place in early May. Stacey
Huddleston debuted many pieces of sculpture and painting that she had
been creating in her studio on Ledoux Street. In Taos,
Stacey's friends call her Radhika, a name she was given by a saint in India some years ago, and she uses that name to sign some of her pieces.
To say that
Stacey Huddleston can emerge as one of the important artists of Taos is
easy. Her paintings are both lovely and haunting at the same time. The
theme of many paintings in her 'Love is Blind' series reflect poetic
stanzas to the romantic notion of love. Her color palette is unmatched
and demands a wall in any smartly designed house. Ms. Huddleston's
sculpture is groundbreaking and 'new school' with shape and imagery
that takes the mind into museum collections from ancient cultures. Her
style is not imitatable. Radhika's subject matter is off the
beaten path giving fresh vistas to familiar scenes.
As a child and young
adult into
college dancing was Stacey Huddleston's creative expression. Mostly a
self-taught artist although she took classes associated with
architecture. She wanted to be an Interior designer and decided to
major in Architecture but found that they taught designs that wasted
functional space and found it frustrating. She became bored with the
geometric shapes assignments in her design classes and asked to use
body parts. After her semester of handing in body part design
assignments her design teacher begged her to take a painting class. She
took one painting class and dove into taking classes in every medium
that interested her.
She has also designed and made clothing and
jewelry, been an environmental activist, taught children recycled art,
organized art fundraisers, served as an active board member of a
spiritual organization, simultaneously survived years of illness,
worked making functional ceramics and mono prints, and enjoyed being a
single mother. She moved to Taos 23 years ago on a whim and has pursued
her life and art. She focuses most of her time now with mixed media
paintings and clay sculpture living and working healthy and happy on
the historic street of Ledoux in Taos, NM.
Stacey opened Human Line Studio, Inc. officially on May 12th, 2007 showing of
her anthropomorphic paintings and sculpture. She has worked on a few
series of paintings in the past year. Love is Blind is a series of
paintings dealing with basic human emotions and common bonds that all
humans face. She has used stereotypical stencils to give the viewer an
instant reminder of something they have seen or experienced some time
in their lives.
The first piece of this series is a woman with a
blindfold with a background grid of pink elephants. The woman is
transparent to signify that she and what is in the background are part
of each other. The pink elephants symbolize drunken hallucination which
is what the feeling of deep love for another or ourselves often
resembles. The Love is Blind series is about being human and feeling
empathetic to the human similarities and remembering that we all belong
to each other and are the same.
Stacey Huddleston has also been working on a series called The Moods of
Flowers and Women. The flower paintings are brightly colored and
Huddleston relates to them as human relations. The vases symbolize the
limited time we have with each other. As a cut flower in a vase of
water. The flowers colors and moods of gesture relate the feelings of
different groups.
In some vases the flowers face forward, or all of the
flowers are facing away from the viewer or only one looks forward while
the other flowers in the vase looks at something else in the
background. Two flowers looking at each other showing the same color
touching petals. The flower paintings are suggestive of human
interaction and emotion within the same time and space of the colored
vase.
Stacey Huddleston's sculpture is made of coiled clay. Most of the
vessels are non functional vessels. Her latest sculpture is based on
traditional Greek vessels. The pieces feel ancient and contemporary.
The surface of her pieces are eclectic even though the entire piece is
coil. She smoothes, carves and presses objects into the surface of the
coils as she builds the piece.
Huddleston loves the natural color and
surface so she chooses to fire some pieces without glaze. She uses
stains mixed with slip for color and applies glaze to parts of the
surface design also. She likes the genuine gesture of the pieces as
they create themselves and feels they are perfect in their imperfection
in that it shows a bit of humor and beauty to the fact of life that is
beautiful and exciting in its individual imperfection, and is still
showing its own balance and perfection.
Human Line Studio, Inc. is located at 230A Ledoux Street. The studio is
generally open by appointment and welcomes inquiries by phone
505-737-0590 or email
. the studio will be
open occasionally Thurs. - Sun. afternoons throughout the summer. Give
a call and stop by for a bright colorful human time...at Human Line on
Ledoux.
Photographs from the Recent Show
at Ledoux Street
Love is Blind, Drunken Hallucinations and Greek Water Vessel
Love is Blind, Mourning Love, Greek Water Vessel, Beautifully
Content
View of exhibition in back room
Walking in India 26" x 38"
Peach Vase 14" x 17"
Greek Water Vessel, coiled clay sculpture
Love is Blind, Mourning Love 65" x 53"
Love is Blind, Drunken Hallucinations 50" x 63"
Greek Water Vessel, coiled clay sculpture
Beautifully Content 20" x 24"
Thick Vase 17" x 14"
Double for Humming, coiled clay sculpture
Peachy Flowers 12" x 15"
Red Flowers, Yellow Vase 15" x 27"
Vessel of Time, A Lot of Red Flowers
Vessel of Time, coiled clay sculpture
A Lot of Red Flowers 23" x 19"
Small Vase White Flowers 12" x 15"
Oversized Red Bloom 19" x 24"
Water Vessel, coiled clay sculpture
View of exhibition in Center Room
Taupe Vase, Violet Daisy 12" x 15"
Reminds Me of Wagner 29" x 41"
Goblet for Honey Bees, coiled clay sculpture
Love is Blind, Red, White, Blue & Pregnant Too 43" x 33"
Red Flowers 48" x 72"
Bright & Mellow 23" x 23"
Love is Blind, Co-Creating Race 42" x 42"
View of exhibition Middle Room
Love is Blind, White Corn Leaves Home 25" x 33"
Feels Clear 11" x 19"
Love is Blind Motherhood, White Flowers, Love is Blind White
Elephant, Hookin' Up
As a child and young
adult into
college dancing was Stacey Huddleston's creative expression. Mostly a
self-taught artist although she took classes associated with
architecture. She wanted to be an Interior designer and decided to
major in Architecture but found that they taught designs that wasted
functional space and found it frustrating. She became bored with the
geometric shapes assignments in her design classes and asked to use
body parts. After her semester of handing in body part design
assignments her design teacher begged her to take a painting class. She
took one painting class and dove into taking classes in every medium
that interested her.
Stacey opened Human Line Studio, Inc. officially on May 12th, 2007 showing of
her anthropomorphic paintings and sculpture. She has worked on a few
series of paintings in the past year. Love is Blind is a series of
paintings dealing with basic human emotions and common bonds that all
humans face. She has used stereotypical stencils to give the viewer an
instant reminder of something they have seen or experienced some time
in their lives.
Stacey Huddleston's sculpture is made of coiled clay. Most of the
vessels are non functional vessels. Her latest sculpture is based on
traditional Greek vessels. The pieces feel ancient and contemporary.
The surface of her pieces are eclectic even though the entire piece is
coil. She smoothes, carves and presses objects into the surface of the
coils as she builds the piece.
