Rachelle Gardner-Roe

Artist Statement

My work melds my Midwestern rural roots with a multi-media practice including fibers, sculpture and drawing. The intention is to foster a curiosity and love of the natural world through exuberant color and imagery. Often resulting in a maximalist “where’s Waldo” smorgasbord of the natural world, I entice the viewer to keep exploring. This opens the door to conversations around native species, conservation, and caring for the Earth. In the face of the crippling effect of apocalypse fatigue, I hope to start that conversation from a point of love and awe. My work also embraces the figure, as the goal is ultimately to reposition our sense of being “of nature,” as opposed to the modern sense of being separate from it. This work is also indelibly impacted by a long-standing meditation practice, and a desire to integrate a deeply personal practice with the day-to-day work in the studio.

In terms of process and technique, drawing is most often the primary act, even if executed outside the route of traditional pencil on paper. Despite using layered processes, I want the viewer to be able to connect to my work on a fundamental level and drawing acts as both an accessible and primal point of entry. In some work, I write poe...

2004
B.I.Arch, magna cum laude, Kansas State University, College of Architecture, Planning & Design, Department of Interior Architecture & Product Design, Manhattan, KS
2003
University of Applied Sciences, Departments of Graphic Design, Interior Architecture, Trier, Germany

Our Very Nature, Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph, MO, 2025
Line of Sight: Selections from the Angie and Chris Long Collection, CPKC Stadium, Kansas City, MO, 2024
All Colors, St. Louis Artists Guild, St. Louis, MO, 2024
Undefined Species, Leedy-Voulkos Arts Center, Kansas City, MO, 2023
On The Horizon, Carter Art Center, Kansas City, MO, 2023
H&R Block Artspace Flat Files, Kansas City, MO, 2023
The Life You’ve Seen, Weinberger Fine Art, Kansas City, MO, 2022
Portal and Path, Lawrence Art Center, Lawrence, KS, 2022
Contemporary Textile, Salina Art Center, Salina, KS, 2021
Beyond Bounds, The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS, 2020
Portal, Leedy-Voulkos Arts Center, Kansas City, MO, 2019
Look Me In The Eye, Portraits of Kansas City, Epsten Gallery, Leawood, KS, 2019
A Certain Kind of Armor, Bunker Center for the Arts, Kansas City, MO, 2019
DRAWN, George A. Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin MO, 2019
Woman’s Work, The Bunker Center for the Arts, Kansas City, MO, 2018
River Market Regional Exhibition, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO, 2018
Fugitive Color, Weinberger Fine Art, Group Show, Kansas City, MO, 2018
70th Annual Membership Show, Spiva Arts Center, Joplin, MO, 2017
River Market Regio...