By Laurie Welch/Staff writer
South Idaho Press
Staff photo by LAURIE WELCH Audrey Woodward of Paul reminisces about the Nebraska plains where she lived as a young woman. The Midwest was a major influence on her nearly century of art, which is depicted on the two Jones Soda bottles shown as well as in mosaic above her head.
Audrey Woodward folds her hands up in a little ball as if she can still feel the sticky clay she used to mold into little men and set on the creek bridge railing as a child in Missouri.
Her first attempt at art, she still remembers how the mailman used to stop and talk to the little figures in a playful manner.
“Art is where you find it,” she says.
Today at 98-years-old, her multi-media artwork ranges from oil and watercolor paintings to mosaics made from broken dishes and pottery. Her pieces can be found in homes throughout the country, in restaurants and on postcards as well as on postage stamps and soda bottles.
One painting called “Gee-Haw to Pitch and Yaw” reflects the progression of travel from wagon trains to aircraft, as well as a little bit of her sense of humor. Another titled “Bread and Meat” is a pheasant in a wheat field.
“I worked in mosaics when I couldn’t afford oils,” Woodward said.
Inspired by the places she has been and the people who touched her life, her work is symbolic and neatly cataloged into a portfolio of hundred’s of photographs.
“I might have been an outlaw if it wasn’t for the art,” she says.
But, she says she did not really get her start until her children were grown and had left the house.
“Before I was too busy making a home,” she said. “I got serious after the kids were gone.”
Read more here
Filed under: mosaic, mosaic art | Tagged: mosaic art, mosaics
