The Yeiser Art Center opens a show of Jimmy Nichols Clay Botanicals with a reception Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. Along with exhibiting clay botanicals from private collections, for this show the artist is also making a container of life-sized Hollyhocks, a gardenia topiary as well as a garden size container holding a peony bush. On Sounds Good, Kate Lochte asks Dr. Rob Robertson, an avid collector of Jimmy Nichols' work, about his regard for the artist.
Writing for Paducah Life's "Wedding Book" Genevieve Postlethwait traces Jimmy Nichols' creativity through making wedding garments in Paducah, attending culinary school in Louisiana and after that working at Western Kentucky Ceramics back at home some two decades ago. That's when Jimmy Nichols started experimenting with making life-like flowers made of hundreds of individual pieces out of clay from Mayfield's Old Hickory Clay company.
Dr. Robertson has over 50 pieces in his personal collection. He says his favorites are a set of foxgloves on his dining room table. They're so authentic, he says, that when people come over they lean over to sniff the flowers. He has to instruct house sitters not to water them. Each blossom is comprised of many individual handmade pieces, including the moss at the base of the plant.
The Yeiser Art Center hosts Jimmy Nichols Clay Botanicals exhibition of hand created flowers through March 28. The Yeiser Art Center, 200 Broadway on Market House Square, shows the Botanicals through March 28, with an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. this Saturday. Works from the Yeiser's permanent collection complement the Botanicals exhibit for the duration.
