Shawn Adair

The inspiration for the Flower Series grew out of an eight-year residency as a visiting artist, where I worked with children from kindergarten through fourth grade. I became fascinated by the direct and uncomplicated way children often draw a flower: a circle or oval placed on top of a vertical line.
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That simple visual language, combined with my interest in Byzantine icons, became the foundation for these works. The flowers gradually developed into a form of portraiture, reflecting my life during the years I lived alone in the Arkansas woods.
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I still live and work in those same woods, but my life has changed. My wife and our four children now share that place with me, and the meaning of the work has shifted alongside those relationships.
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The series is composed primarily of assemblages and constructions made from materials gathered on the six-and-a-half acres surrounding my home and studio. Acorns, hickory nuts, sticks, and other natural elements are combined with Texas laurel seeds, magnolia seeds, fabric, tar, oil paint, and, in some works, steel.
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The works range considerably in scale, from intimate pieces approximately 8 × 10 inches, to larger constructions measuring 30 × 48 inches, and sculptural works reaching approximately 5 × 5 × 9 feet.