Announcing my first ever print drop! Originally created for the exhibition at The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, I am offering smaller 8×10″ versions of the museum editions.
Each 8×10″ archival pigment print also includes an additional 2″ white border on all sides (so 12 x 14″ in total) and is affordably priced at $100. Only the first three of the limited editions will be available in 2025 for purchase via my website shop or in studio. If you want to go whole hog, one print of each in the original 24 x 30″ (30 x 36″ including white border) while be available in 2025.
Plus, only through the month of December, check out the holiday online shop sale, for 10 – 20% off most work!
My solo exhibition Our Very Nature, has been up for over a month already! It’s hard to believe, but true. As of mid-June, there are 8 weeks left to see the show when it closes on August 10th. With that in mind, I am offering the following dates when I will be in attendance at the museum for informal guided tours.
Artist-Led Tours (no official start time; drop in anytime!)
Tuesday, June 24, 4 – 7pm: Museum After Hours (free admission!)
Saturday, June 28, 1 – 4pm
Saturday, July 12th, 1 – 4pm
Tuesday, July 22, 4 – 7pm Museum After Hours (free admission!)
Saturday, August 9th, 1 – 4pm(show closes the next day!)
The Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art 2818 Frederick Avenue, Saint Joseph, MO, 64506 United States (map)
For two of these dates, the museum is free of admission during their After Hours events, which always have extra activities and treats in store. Details on the next one are on the right.
Otherwise, general admission is: Adults 18+: $10 Seniors: $8 Under 18 & Students w/ID: $7 Kids 6 & under & Members: FREE
Can’t make any of these dates, but still want to see the show? The museum’s hours are: Tuesday-Friday: 10am-4pm Saturday & Sunday: 1pm-4pm
I had a fabulous time giving my artist talk in late-May and I wanted to provide some additional opportunities to engage with guests and offer insight into the varied media in this exhibition. I spent about two years working on this show, so I am ready to talk about it! In the meantime, here is the write-up from KC Studio and below are a few images:
This show debuts my own fabric pattern, built from five years of scanning numerous wool & thread appliques.This exhibition also features the most media that I have ever displayed simultaneously, including fiber, sculpture, painting, installation, and poetry.Horizon: Hand-dyed Shetland sheep & Huacaya alpaca wools, thread, on sculpted foam, 60 x 172.5 x 16″, 2025
Other Upcoming Events
2025 Kansas City Flatfile + Digitalfile The Emily & Todd Voth Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute Opening Reception Friday, June 20, 6-8 pm (hint: My contributions are the small artist proofs of prints that are in my museum show!)
Surface Design Association Instagram Takeover: July 18 – 20th, 2025 Follow me on Insta to catch that, I will be sharing all sorts of things around Our Very Nature: show pics, process and behind-the-scenes pics, videos, you name it!
That’s all for now, I hope to see you out and about and I truly hope you find the time to make it up to St. Joe. I am really proud of the work! In any case, have a safe and happy summer. – Rachelle
Thank you to Country Club Bank for hosting a showcase of my fiber work at their beautiful headquarters gallery. The exhibition runs through the end of March, 2025 and features both framed and sculptural fiber works featuring my signature hand-dyed Shetland sheep and Huacaya alpaca wools, depicting flora and fauna native to our Missouri / Kansas region.
This is a showcase exhibition in advance of my museum debut this year at the Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art, running from May 9 – August 10. Stay tuned for more details and event occurring for this upcoming milestone exhibition!
My work can now be purchased straight from the source and from the comfort of wherever you happen to be! For the next year, I will be focused on creating work for my first solo museum show in 2025, so purchases will directly fund the creation of this new body of work.
Whether you are first time buyer or established collector, you can access a variety of my work from fiber to sculpture. If you are local and want to see something in person before buying, always feel free to reach out to set up a viewing!
Why the online shop? I heard an interview years ago of a woman artist who sold all of her own work and was a wild success, as opposed to the typical track of financial success through galleries. Years later, I can’t remember her name, but her example has stuck in my mind. I’ve decided to offer this option to make my work more accessible outside the typical contemporary art scene and there is also an option to pay in installments using Afterpay.
Galleries are great and I’ll certainly continue to work with galleries, especially outside my local region, but also, why not have an online shop?
Come by and say hi at The Legends Outlets on Friday, June 21st anytime from 9am – 7pm. I will be painting live all day, creating a work on canvas, inspired by my KC Parade of Hearts sculpture located by the big fountain in front of the AMC Theatres.
The painting I create on Friday will be available to bid on for purchase during an all-day online silent auction. I will livestream on Instagram periodically throughout the day, where I will post the QR code / link. I will also post the auction link on my website and on Facebook as well, so follow those accounts if you would like to tag along and bid!
Why the auction? I am trying to raise funds to support my first solo museum exhibition in 2025 at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, Missouri. As a full-time artist, creating work that you have to set aside and not sell for a year is a big undertaking and I could use your help!
Why would I bid on a work before I know what it looks like? Good question. I can’t show exactly what it will look like, but I can give you a good idea of what to expect. Below is an image of the original 30×40″ painting, Eye of the Storm, that my KC Parade of Hearts was based on and an image of the finished sculpture. I am going to make something similar on a 24×36″ canvas . You can expect bright colors, with a menagerie of wildlife and the overall feel of a landscape.
I hope to see you on Friday the 21st! Here’s a map of the location, but navigating to Five Guys will also get you very close! Come for a meal, a movie, or just to say hi!
On July 7th, the H&R Block Artspace Flatfiles Exhibition opened to the public featuring artwork by over 250 regional, emerging and established visual artists. For this time-honored biennial tradition, ten new diminutive fiber works were created through a light-hearted, spontaneous collage process.
For a closer look, visit the H&R Block Artspace:
16 East 43rd Street Kansas City, MO 64111 816.561.5563
As one of the 19 local artists selected for commissions to complement the upcoming Kansas City International Airport, on track to open in March of 2023, Rachelle Gardner-Roe is full-steam ahead on her work, Flyover Country: The Wild Side. This tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of the Midwest’s moniker focuses in on the rich world flora and fauna that can be found in our region. The work will consist of three 40 x 60″ textile panels consisting of thread and hand-dyed Shetland sheep blended with alpaca wool, from the family farm, Meadowtree. Once framed behind UV plexiglass, the work will span about 20 feet in one of the Southwest Airlines gates.
The response to the work-in-progress has been positive, with the project rendering make the front page of The KC Star on April 27th! If you have a KC Star subscription, check out the full article.
To continue to see more behind-the-scenes progress, follow the artist on Instgram or Facebook. To see updates of all the artworks in progress, see BuildKCI’s July Art Update.
Come see the final iteration of the textile exhibition PORTAL. It has been changing every week as more elements are added.
Closing Reception: Saturday, November 30th, 3-5PM
Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore Ave., KCMO
Following closely on an exhibition of sculpture, the artist returns to the textile by utilizing the sewing machine as a drawing tool. In PORTAL, Gardner-Roe infuses her method of lace making with a notable addition. Trapped between the threads is a thin layer of hand-dyed wool from the Gardner farm. Following many hundreds of hours of sewing, the resultant riotous color celebrates both beauty and decay and creates a portal into the artist’s memories of a rural upbringing.
This melding of historical handcraft, contemporary textile practice, and Midwestern regionalism will change over time as new elements are added each week, allowing these “memory portals” to change, grow and spread. In acknowledgement of memory’s mutability, the viewer’s memory of the work may differ from others, as it will be determined by when in time the work is experienced. As circles represent notions of wholeness across cultures, the dome forms contain a multitude of individual fragments, coming together to make a perhaps imperfect, yet complete whole.
Portal No. 1 / Thread, hand-dyed wool, silk on sculpted foam / 28 x 38.5 x 6″
