Carrie Penley spent her childhood playing outdoors in rural western Georgia. She loved nature and animals. A successful interior design career in Atlanta gave her two boys a vastly different upbringing. “They were city people,” Penley says.
Family vacations included New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and the beaches of the Florida panhandle. “In 2019, I realized my kids had never been out West or to a national park,” Penley recalls. Her familiarity with the West outside of Los Angeles wasn’t much better. “I knew nothing about any of the national parks. I got out a map and went, ‘Huh, I’m going to go to Jackson Hole because we could hit two parks at one time, the Tetons and Yellowstone. That’s the sole reason why I picked it.”
What Drives Her Forward, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
Penley wasn’t sure what her teenagers would think of all that wilderness, but she was determined for them—and her—to experience something different.
“We landed in Jackson Hole; I was not prepared for how gorgeous it was,” she remembers. “The kids were mesmerized. They fell in love from day one, and we’ve gone back every year. When you ask them where they want to go, that’s where they want to go.”
Penley’s son Lyall was so taken with what he saw, he’s become a wildlife photographer.
Romancing the West, acrylic and collage on canvas, 24 x 48 in.
The family adventures in the wild have inspired new work from Penley that will be shown at a solo show at Gallery Wild in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from October 24 through November 7, with an artist reception on October 25 from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Penley, who considers herself “a wildlife artist focusing on Western wildlife,” was introduced to Gallery Wild at the Southeastern Wildlife Expositionin Charleston, South Carolina. That same fall, after taking the family vacation to Jackson Hole, a Gallery Wild rep scouting the expo for talent was impressed with Penley and asked her to participate in an invitational show the gallery was hosting.
The World is Turning, collage and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
Penley’s new work will highlight her unique use of collaged paper cutouts backgrounding animal portraits. She finds the collage pieces scouring antique stores and thrift shops. Look closely: most of her collage backgrounds have a subtle theme. All of them in the upcoming Gallery Wild show, The Vintage West, will have a historical Western narrative.
Penley’s artworks begin, however, with the animals. They tell stories too. Personal stories. Including her bison.
Glamour Girl, acrylic and collage on canvas, 30 x 30 in.
“They move into the storm, they don’t walk away, and that’s a big part of my journey being a woman in a male-dominated art world and being a single mom,” Penley explains. “That resonates with me.”
So do the butterflies.
“That whole image of reinventing yourself, and a lot of times it comes from suffering. That’s what makes you stronger,” she says. —
Gallery Wild 203 Canyon Road » Santa Fe, NM 87501 » (505) 467-8297 » www.gallerywild.com
Powered by Froala Editor
