“I think of my work as deconstruction and then reconstruction of something,” Colorado artist Maeve Eichelberger says, standing amid sheets of etched plexiglass and photographic fragments of acrylic in her Denver studio. “For example, I photograph something, like a guitar, and then deconstruct it and reconstruct it into a whole new vision and make it more abstract.”
From her earliest paintings to the sculptural, three-dimensional collage pieces she is now renowned for, Eichelberger’s practice has been driven by her impulse to disassemble the familiar and reassemble it with new meaning. That philosophy takes physical form inside Eichelberger’s studio at Blue Silo Studio, an affordable space for artisans located at 4701 National Western Drive.
The perimeter of her studio space is lined with colored saddles, shirts with photographs printed on them and layered collages that refract light as you pass by, all made out of acrylic. Sheets of plexiglass, some printed with photographs and others carved with delicate patterns, lean against the walls, while works-in-progress sit on tables like fragments waiting to be assembled.
It’s in this sunny studio that Eichelberger is once again preparing work for the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale, part of the National Western Stock Show. Now marking her eleventh year in the exhibition, Eichelberger has become a familiar presence within a show traditionally associated with painting and sculpture rooted in Western realism…