Stacy Lynn Waddell

Epitaph for a Darling Lady
November 13, 2015 – January 8, 2016

Recognized for her innovative use of fire, branding irons, alchemical processes and gilding, Stacy Lynn Waddell employs symbolism and allegory to dissect and illustrate American culture, history, and her own personal experience.

In this exhibition, which marked a recent shift in her studio practice, Waddell created a visual narrative featuring famed American actress Thelma “Butterfly” McQueen as her protagonist. Waddell said,,“Butterfly McQueen was an iconoclast, but a reluctant one. Despite the prevailing cultural and social force field that dictated much of her lived experience, she persisted in reimagining a life of nuance and free-range possibilities, but the quest for freedom often comes at a cost. Epitaph For A Darling Lady presented an installation of mixed-media works that spun a well-worn cautionary tale with a surprising and beautiful ending.”

Waddell’s work has been included in exhibitions at the Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC; Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Project Row Houses, Houston, TX; Studio Museum, Harlem, NY; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, among other venues. Her work is included in several public and private collections, including the Nasher Museum of Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum, North Carolina Museum of Art, Gibbes Museum of Art (Charleston, SC), and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Waddell is a 2010 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant and a 2012 recipient of an Art Matters Grant. She resides in Chapel Hill, NC.

Epitaph For A Darling Lady was accompanied by an original video documenting Waddell’s studio processes along with a catalog that included an essay written by Lowery Stokes Sims, Curator Emerita of the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC.