The Lyon College Kresge Gallery will showcase the works of artist and educator Mandy Rogers Horton from Monday, Nov. 6, through Friday, Dec. 8, in the historic Alphin Humanities Building on the Lyon College campus, 2300 Highland Rd., Batesville.
There will be a reception and artist talk on Monday, Nov. 6, from 5-6:30 p.m. in the gallery. The event is free and open to the public.
Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Rogers Horton’s work, primarily in painting and mixed media, reflects on the ongoing formation of the world and worldview from eclectic sources. The artist’s own worldview is informed by being the youngest in a large, military family. The closeness of her family of origin in the whirlwind of a nomadic lifestyle, imprinted on her the intrigue and complexities of human cultures and ideologies. This fascination led her to many cross-cultural encounters as she traveled, lived, and studied in locations nationally and internationally.
“Integrating painting with collage and image transfer, my work reflects on the ongoing construction of our lives from eclectic and disparate sources. The process of collage parallels the process of composing both our physical lives and worldviews with pre-existing forms and ideas. Image fragments taken from magazines and catalogs serve as a vocabulary with which to negotiate my understanding of the world and a search for meaning,” said Rogers Horton. “Likewise, in my sculptural works, materials, often scavenged from demolition and construction sites, have been repurposed and recombined. The compositions often take the shape of architectural structures, interiors or spaces in which a tension exists. They offer a world that is fragile, layered and still in formation.”
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and art at Anderson University in Indiana, Rogers Horton gained her Master of Fine Arts from American University dividing her time between Washington D.C. and Italy. She also studied at The Queen’s University of Belfast and The Chautauqua Institute, New York. She is the recipient of a Tennessee Arts Commission Professional Development Support Grant and a participant in the Pentaculum invitational residency at Arrowmont, Tennessee. Her work has been featured in The Tennessean, Nashville Arts Magazine, and The Nashville Scene.
Rogers Horton is a founding member and former president (2019-2021) of COOP Gallery, a curatorial collective. She is represented by Chauvet Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, artist Rocky Horton, and their four young children. For more than 15 years, she has taught art and art history courses at several universities in the middle Tennessee area.
In 2022 Rogers Horton joined Watkins College at Belmont University as an assistant professor of art.
Kresge Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. Admission is free.
