Nestled in the heart of Eastern Kentucky, where the mountains softly share stories and the landscape holds generations of memories, Lacy Hale shines as a remarkable artistic talent. Growing up amidst the splendor of this area, her path as an artist is intertwined with elements of heritage, the natural world, and a deep bond with the land.
This interview provides a glimpse into Hale’s connection to the land and its rich cultural heritage. The mountains, reminiscent of Robert Frost’s charm, serve as a wellspring of inspiration. The creatures that inhabit this enchanting realm, such as crawdads and owls, contribute to her symbolism. Lacy incorporates her grandparents’ legacy as coal miners, moonshiners, and quilt makers, weaving a narrative that honors the past of Eastern Kentucky and preserves the present.
Hale’s art goes beyond the canvas; it serves as a source of inspiration for the region. Through artworks featuring icons and by infusing traditional Appalachian influences into modern forms, she strikes a delicate balance between embracing heritage and expressing her own artistic voice. This interview invites you to explore the cultural landscapes that have shaped Lacy’s deeply rooted artistic vision, in the splendor and pain of Appalachia.
Can you share a bit about your background and upbringing in Eastern Kentucky? How has this region shaped who you are as an artist?
I was raised in southeastern KY on land that several generations of my Hale family lived on and tended. That also meant that we visited our family graveyard a lot. I saw names of Hales that went back a hundred plus years. I think that really helped me form a connection with the land here. We were also very poor, so we were constantly having to create and invent the things we wanted to play with. We played in the mountains or creeks all the time. My mom would take us on nature walks to teach us about the plants and their uses. We were raised to be proud of being from eastern Kentucky. All of this contributed to a reverence for the land and a love for the place.
How do you draw inspiration from the cultural and natural elements of Eastern Kentucky in your artwork? Are there specific themes or symbols that frequently appear in your creations?
The mountains are kind of magical to me. And mysterious. It reminds me of the line, ‘The Woods are lovely, dark, and deep,’ from the Robert Frost poem, ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Day’. From the time I was small they enchanted me. And all the creatures therein did as well. Crawdads, owls, salamanders, turtles, frogs and their tadpoles, foxes, and so on. They were all too beautiful. I felt and still feel honored to share these mountains with them. The cultural aspects also inspire me. My grandpa on my mom’s side was a coal miner and moonshiner. He died before I was born so I always heard stories about him. He spent time in jail for running moonshine. His wife made the best apple stack cake at Christmas. My dad’s parents had a huge garden when I was little and so my dad kind of took over after they could no longer garden and I always helped him. My grandma on this side made quilts. I still have some of hers. My grandpa on this side played banjo and dulcimer. There were many evenings at their house sitting outside on their porch and listening to my grandpa Hiram and my dad playing music together. As for specific themes or symbols, after my dad passed, I saw owls all the time. Still to this day it seems that every time something is making me sad or anxious, I’ll see an owl and think of him. That always makes me feel better. So, I’ve done several pieces with owls in them. Birds, copperheads, coyotes, frogs, they all feature in my work at points. They all have their own symbology as well.
In what ways does the local community or landscape influence your artistic choices? Can you give examples of how you incorporate elements of Eastern Kentucky into your art?
Much of my art is made to uplift our region. One of my favorite Van Gogh quotes is, ‘I make consolatory art for distressed hearts’. Of course, not all of my work falls into that category, but I do hope that my public art will do just that. I’ve done public artwork that features coal miners, local artists and authors, local plants, dulcimers, the mountains, quilt patterns, a possum, etc. If I’m doing a piece of art, public art especially, I consider the community it’s in, the surroundings, and I want to work in a visual language that the people will understand and feel proud of.
Are there any traditional artistic techniques or crafts from Eastern Kentucky that have inspired your work? How do you balance traditional influences with your personal artistic vision?
As mentioned above, I have used quilt patterns in murals, I have greeting cards with possums, cornbread, cast iron skillets, apple stack cakes, etc. I am very much a product of my raising and my community. I think that I can still create contemporary looking works of art even though they feature traditional and cultural influences. It’s all in the way the pieces are handled.
Many artists find a sense of community and support within their local art scene. How has being in Eastern Kentucky contributed to your artistic growth and development?
I had mentioned before that I grew up very poor. When applying for colleges in high school, I was accepted to Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn. There was no way that my parents could afford that school. So, my community rallied around me and raised money to help send me that first year. That’s something that I will never forget. And something that has helped fuel my desire to uplift and beautify our communities. Moving back to this region, I’ve been blessed to work with great arts organizations who have written me into grants for mural projects or workshops, I’ve gotten the opportunity to network and meet people who are very interested in promoting the arts here. I also co-founded an arts group in 2014, EpiCentre Arts, who ended up being one of the first two Appalachian based arts organizations to receive the Robert Rauschenberg Seed Grant several years back. That gave us a lot of momentum. We’ve continued to work together as a group and finally got a gallery space in 2020. That’s where my studio is now housed. It’s been great to have a group of local artists to work with.
Are there specific challenges or opportunities unique to being an artist in Eastern Kentucky that have impacted your artistic journey?
It’s hard to be a full-time artist in eastern Kentucky. I think it is anywhere, but we live in an area that is so often below the poverty line. I never had any business training and had no idea how to be an artist/entrepreneur, but I realized early on that I was going to have to have pieces at several different price points to make a living here. So, that means I do murals, I sell paintings, I do printmaking and create cards, tees, tea towels, totes, I do pins, mugs, shoes, purses. I think that I’m very blessed to be in the area I love and be able to make a pretty good living doing what I do. I am also blessed to have a base of loyal friends and customers who have followed my journey and support me emotionally and financially. During COVID and after the flood last year, I received so much support from friends, acquaintances, people who just followed my work. It was humbling and pretty incredible. There were a lot of happy tears. I don’t know that I could find that same support anywhere other than these mountains and central Appalachia.
Your work often explores specific themes. How do these themes relate to your experiences or observations in Eastern Kentucky?
Many of my themes deal with the mystery and majesty of the mountains. This relates back to my childhood and the way that I was raised to appreciate and respect nature and our culture. I also explore my relationship to my family and ancestors in a lot of my work. My dad passed in 2008 and I felt untethered in a way. This has helped me find a way to retain his memory and keep his memory alive by letting others see that relationship.
How do you navigate the balance between preserving traditional Appalachian culture and expressing your individual artistic voice?
I mentioned earlier that I tend to use a visual language that draws on common knowledge of traditions and cultural attributes from the region. This touches on not only my childhood and adulthood but makes the themes in my work relatable to the people of eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia. I used to worry that in these themes my personal artistic voice would get lost. Then one day I realized that my voice was there and always had been. I work a lot on emotion and feeling. I also draw from my knowledge of art history. Currently, I’m doing a self-portrait that deals with the flood and also being diagnosed with a form of epilepsy. Both of these things happened in the same month last year. I am drawing on art history and literature by painting myself into a creek bed as a modern Ophelia but I’m also adding a deer and rhododendron. The rhododendron will be covering one of my eyes (symbolizing the passing out when I would have seizures) and the deer’s head will be laying down with its nose under my chin. The rhododendron and deer are going to be painted in watercolor on vellum and attached in a way that will make them transparent. I have it all worked out in my head and hopefully I can execute it in the way I hope to.
Have you found any particular stories, folklore, or historical events from Eastern Kentucky that have inspired your artwork? How do you bring these narratives to life in your creations?
My family was and still is a ghost story family. There were stories from almost everyone in my family. That hasn’t really made it into my work, but my brother Jonathan has really adopted that aspect.
How do you engage with the local community through your art? Are there any projects or collaborations you’ve undertaken that connect your work with the people of Eastern Kentucky?
I regularly (at least once a year) am asked to do a community mural project. I’ve done them in Harlan, Cumberland, Wayland, Jenkins, Whitesburg, etc. I love doing these projects because it increases buy-in from the communities and people are always really proud of the pieces and that they were part of the creation. These projects are one of my favorite things to do.
In what ways do you see the art scene evolving in Eastern Kentucky, and how do you envision your role within that evolution?
Every year I see the arts being appreciated more and more and more and more often looked to as a form of healing, beautification, rehabilitation, etc. I think making the arts more accessible to the public and getting more art education into schools and more community art projects into these spaces will just continue that growth and love for the arts. I will always be a voice promoting the arts in eastern Kentucky and hope to be involved in any way that I can be. I’m just going to keep moving onward and hopefully upward.
Paulo Coelho once wrote, “People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” These words have always resonated with me. It is evident that Hale exemplifies this truth, turning her dreams into art and scattering her talents in a region that certainly demands it. May her story inspire us to pursue our own aspirations in life, knowing that our unique journey will always lead us onwards and hopefully…upward.
Find Lacy and her work at:
www.lacyhale.com
Social Media: @artbylacyhale