Coal Miner, bronze, Miners Park, Big Stone

Gap, VA

Marvin Tadlock is a sculptor and retired

sculpture Professor of over thirty-six years
at Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Vir-
ginia. Tadlock in interested in exploring envi-
ronmental and societal issues through metal
sculptures.
Marvin Tadlock
 Moments after I begin to explore his studio,
Marvin Tadlock encourages me over and asks me to
pull a lever on a sculpture in his office. As I do, sparks
(below) Altered of electricity shoot through and light up a frog in an
execution chair. Why would frogs put frogs to death?
he says, Here is capital punishment. The eyes even
light up, and it will electrocute you too. No one likes to
see an animal mistreated. So, if you use animals to get
a point across, it makes it so absurd that you see the
absurdity of it. Every time we allow it to happen in this
world that we live in, we are throwing the switch in not
saying anything about it.
Such anthropomorphism is present in several of
the sculptures around Tadlocks studio. What it does is
pulls a question out of someone. First thing you know;
youve got a conversation going. About a piece depict-
ing a lynching, Tadlock explained, I had frogs dressed
up like the Ku Klux Klan members and persecuting a
horn toad because it was different. This KKK member
has his arm around the big bad guy, the henchman,
whos flipping the bird at this guy. Hes got his arm
around the Chaplin. It always got me that the KKK had
a Chaplin. Here we are, Christians, but we are condon-
ing this kind of stuff. I think with tongue and cheek you
get a message across better. Tadlocks artworks make
statements about the world around us, current events,
and human reaction. Tadlocks need to speak on soci-
etal issues is very evident in his art.
 I think using tounge-in-cheek,
you get tough messages across
easier.

(left) Roadkill Tribute

(right) Humpty Dumpty
 Tadlocks work also speaks to his life and experi-
ences in Appalachia. Ive been here for the last 42...45
years but one of the first things I did when I got here was
to embrace the coal people and I did a lot of coal people.
There was a ladies group in Big Stone Gap, VA who
wanted a bronze statue so bad. I did it for basically noth-
ing, near minimum pay and now weve got a nice statue
standing there. They washed cars and everything to get
it done. A lot of these statues that I had seen, the coal
miners were standing there with a big chaw of tobacco
in their mouth, kind of making fun of these people, and
I was trying to get away from that and make them more
heroic. One thing I learned from Ted Blevins (late hus-
band of Carole Blevins, Appalachian watercolor artist)
was that making fun of Appalachian people was taboo.

For Tadlock, Appalachian culture and his surround-

ings inevitably influenced his sculptures. Growing up,
he drew from his own experiences and was especially
inspired by a trip into a coal mine and his emotional re-
sponse to the job of coal miner. I got the chance for the
first time to go in a coal mine and go back in the ground
for about a mile and half. Ill tell you it brought a new
respect to me to coal people and what they go through to
make a living. I was back there when they blew the walls
up. Exploding that dynamite when youre a mile under-
neath there is just frightening as it can be. It gave me a
different feeling about things. I did several coal mining
pieces after that visit.
 Taking a stand and looking at the realities of the world
around us is integral to Tadlocks artwork. Tadlocks own
work addresses historical events, but also connects to con-
temporary times. He recognizes the environmental impact of
coal mining and the economic impact coal mining regulations
have had on the culture and art of Appalachia. I wonder if
when Appalachian kids go out like I did and leave their home
towns and look back on what they thought was right because
they were brought up like that. What are you going to think
one day when you realize that there used to be a mountain
there and there isnt a mountain there anymore. It was torn
down too. I think we are all going to have to come to terms
with what may be.

For Tadlock, his artworks commemorate a lifetime of

responding to local, regional, and world events. Using found
objects, he builds a narrative through his reaction to the
world around him. Tadlocks artwork seeks to bring attention
to injustices in the world and encourage viewers to generate
their own opinions about these events.

(left, opposite page) Got Oil?

(right) Lest We Forget
 The Tavern, watercolor, 2015

I grew up in fields and

woods, so thats what I
painted...

Blevins cites her hometown as one

of the best art communities around.
Abingdon, in her opinion, is one of
friendly competition, genuine car-
ing for one another, and coopera-
tion between art organizations. To
her, the spirit of Appalachia is one of
collaboration and support.

The Cave House, watercolor, 2015

Carole Blevins
Carole Blevins is a watercolor artist residing in Abingdon,
VA. Caroles work, which consists mostly of landscapes,
seeks to share Blevins experiences of the world around
her, through both her travel and her hometown.
(right) Frosty Morn, watercolor, 2007

Some artists are influenced by travel, fellow art-

ists, and the materials they use. Every artist I inter-
viewed stated that the Appalachian Mountains and
culture affected their artwork in profound ways.
Carole Blevins reported, Thats what I knew and
thats what I grew up with. I grew up in fields and
woods, so thats what I painted. The liveliness
of her paintings of Abingdon, Virginia reflects her
connection to the environment. Blevins was born
and raised in the area and feels a strong relation-
ship to it through both people and landscape. The
local landscape surrounded her and influenced her
artistic style.

 Blevins holds deep appreciation for the art and artists that
are found there. There is also such a wide variety of arts.
Its a good place for many different styles of art and jewelry
and photography, theatre, writers, and everything like that.
Its a very active arts community. I think the Barter Theatre
has sort of been an anchor for that. It brings in people from
different areas, like actors from New York and all over. The
arts organizations, like the Depot and William King really
contribute. Its really a good community that work with each
other and build on each other. Blevins shows her work
in several local galleries, museums, and shops, but she
hopes to expand to neighboring Asheville, North Carolina
and Richmond, Virginia.

Hemlocks, watercolor and pastel, 2010

 Blevins recently published a watercolor book
called, Abingdon: A Sketchbook (2016) featuring origi-
nal watercolor paintings of historic buildings and land-
scapes throughout the town of Abingdon, Virginia. A
local historian, Carl Mallory also provided narrative
of the history of the buildings. Blevins explains in her
introduction, By painting the portraits of prominent
structures- most which are personal favorites of mine,
it is my way of stopping time by showcasing the struc-
tural heart of the Abingdon community amidst the hills
and valleys that I grew up among. Created through
my artists eyes, I want to provide a permanent visual
reminder of a beautiful place in time, along with some
of the fascinating history that sets it apart from many
other locales.

Blevins depictions strive to capture the essence

of Abingdon, lost in space and time. The historical and
contemporary buildings blend together to create a har-
mony that is present in the town itself. Theres such
a variety of architecture. Abingdon is such a unique
place. I think we are losing a lot of it. Weve lost a lot. I
just wanted to document the things I liked about Abing-
don and the main buildings. Then it took me a while to
do the illustrations, the sketches. Then all the history
had to be researched and double checked.
 Going out and painting in the landscapein plein airis important to Blevins. For many of the
paintings in Abingdon, she set up an easel right in front of the building. Painting from photographs is
difficult because a camera doesnt see the way your eyes see. A camera flattens everything, includ-
ing the colors, and takes away all the subtleties that your eyes see. I also study nature a lot and do a
lot of sketches outside. You have to study the different moods and tones and how the atmosphere af-
fects things. The brightness and color to Blevins paintings are reminiscent of the summer sun shin-
ing through the trees.
 As you walk in, the walls in Liz Laytons base-
ment studio shimmer and glow. My studio is
downstairs, and because of being in school and
being a mom, a lot of my work is in sketchbooks,
which Ive got laid out. Our basement has half of
it as my husbands music studio and half as my
art studio, so its not the biggest space. While her
space may be limited, Layton is prolific and there
is a definite theme amongst her workthe metal-
lic fabrics and glitter paints she uses to bring mys-
tique and magic to the images she is working on.

Layton has lived most of her life in

Appalachia, but much of her work is
focused on her travels to Iceland. I
have been to Iceland twice and a lot
of my work is super influenced by
it. Layton was a resident artist for
six months in a small, rural town of
only 500 people in the northwestern
tip of the country, surrounded by
the Greenland Sea and the Arctic
Ocean.
Layton found that art is at the
forefront of the towns mind, even
though its so small, because of the
12 artists in residency.
rds- Icelandic prophetess and
fortune teller of the 10th century,
from the enigmatic village of Ska-
gastond, Iceland. Known for be-
ing a strong willed and mysterious
soothsayer who was been written
about in a myriad of mythologies
and Nordic folklore.

Liz Layton
Liz Layton is an artist residing in
Johnson City, Tennessee. She recently
finished her Masters in Teaching from
East Tennessee State University. She
works mainly in fibers and film.
 Layton found that there were connections
to her own heritage in Appalachia that she didnt
expect to find. What is really cool is that they
love storytelling. Its very similar to Appalachia
where storytelling is very important, but they are
also obsessed with heritage. They find it really
important to keep their traditions that are re-
ally old important. There is all this folklore and
all these stories. They still believe in magic, but
they are also religious.
Even though Iceland is a deeply Christian
country, traditional magic is still incorporated into
everyday life. There is also a fortune teller who
lives in the town and does fortunes, but they are
also very religious so they have a church right
next to it. A lot of the towns still have fortune
tellers, and they are mostly women. To them, its
not magic, its just part of life, its intuitive. This
intuitiveness mixed with religion is also a fixture
in Appalachian heritage. Even today, healers
and granny-witches commonly heal ailments
not treatable with modern medicine.
Layton addresses these similarities in
culture by grasping the persona of rds and
drawing this connection to herself. rds was
deeply connected to her namesake mountain
and drew her strength and magic from it. This
connection with nature and art is addressed in
Laytons repetitive mantra of multiple artworks
depicting the mountain. Walking up the moun-
tain in every season became a pilgrimage to
Layton.
 Another connection Layton made be-
tween her Appalachian heritage and Iceland
was the textile traditions. The townspeople
love textiles, and have a tradition of making
things, mostly of wool, perhaps due to their
proximity to a town about 20 minutes away
which was the origin of all the Icelandic tex-
tiles. They make wool sweaters out of Icelan-
dic sheeps wool. This deep connection to the
arts, particularly fibers let to a direct connec-
tion between Layton and the Icelandic culture.
Because of this pre-disposed connection to art and fibers, Layton found that
collaboration in art was simple for her. She found that while she made her movie in
Iceland, a lot of the locals helped. Because storytelling is so important there, people
were very open to collaborating. I had three or four little girls who helped out, one
whose name was rds in real life, so I had her play a little rds.
Magic and mystery prevail through Laytons pieces. The layers of bright color
and glitter entice the viewer to find a visual and conceptual depth to her work. Al-
though Layton uses traditional quilting methods, she expands them by using digital
video stills for her fabric designs and glitter glue for highlight areas. Layton takes her
influences from global society but still gives a nod to her own tradition through the
use of fabric.
In the town she visited, there was a mountain near her studio that became a
focal point of her art-making. The mountain is named after the woman who settled
the town in the 1300s. Her name was rds, but many people just call it Prophetess
Mountain. I became really interested in this mountain because of the shape of it. Its
not huge but it used to be a volcano, thats why it has the flat top now, but its dor-
mant. It formed all of the town that is there. The mountain became a symbol Layton
chose to interpret in multiple pieces.
Someday I would like to live there, even if its just for a year, to see all the
seasons change. To her, it was important to depict it in different times of day and
seasons to show the differences in light and color. A lot of mountain images Ive
made look similar, but I have done them in different seasons, so some have ice and
snow in the wintertime, in the summertime it gets really green with fuzzy moss.
rds was a fortune teller or soothsayer and her story is passed down through each
generation. Layton chose to interpret rds legacy throughout her time in the art-
ist residency. I thought she was an interesting character so I made some short films
about her, and some paintings and other things based on her story. Throughout her
explorations of this character, she found a fellow filmmaker to collaborate with.
The first time I went, I went with my husband, but the second time I went by
myself. It was my first time really traveling by myself there was this woman who was
a filmmaker, and I was making a short film about rds, the prophetess and she was
making a movie about people who were obsessed with her. There are people there
that love her, and she wanted to investigate these people. When I told her I was mak-
ing a short film where I was playing her, she wanted to interview and document me.
It was interesting to have that different perspective of her film and mine. Ive been
obsessed about making art about her [rds], but Im also interested in making art
through movies and videos.