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Artists
return to roots of design
Located on South Gay Street in Knoxville, Tenn., Yee-Haw Industries is a contemporary company with a down-home feel, specializing in original “art-like” products — from letterpress posters promoting special events, musical acts and theatrical shows to handmade, woodcut prints. The company’s founders, Kevin Bradley and Julie Belcher, formed Yee-Haw in 1996. A self-described hillbilly, Belcher has served as a designer and art director for numerous Whittle Communications publications, “Seventeen” magazine and Blue Note Records. “When not holding down the fort at Yee-Haw, [I] lecture for academic and commercial institutions and hawk the Yee-Haw wares via retail and wholesale shows.” Belcher received her B.F.A. from the University of Tennessee and her M.F.A. from New York’s School of Visual Arts. According to his bio, Bradley first experimented with printmaking while studying graphic design and painting in the late 1980s at the University of Tennessee. “By engaging methods and principles from all three disciplines, [I] formed [his] own iconic style.” Among the myriad realizations Bradley made shortly after graduation were these: “painting was the best vehicle for … creative expression;” printing was an ideal means for mass-production; and the computer was “the Devil’s work.” With their idiosyncrasies fully intact, Bradley and Belcher have successfully established a hands-on company whose list of clients includes Nylon Magazine, Time Inc., Wall Street Journal, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Ralph Lauren, MTV and the Country Music Hall of Fame, among many others. Looking to expose his students to the talents of Bradley and Belcher first-hand, painting professor Richard Gere has arranged for a SCAD-based exhibition and lecture. “Yee-Haw stretched the boundaries of printmaking, which is the mission of our program here, which is why we wanted them to come,” said Gere, who has known Bradley, with whom he went to school, and Belcher for over a decade. “Watching them develop, it became apparent pretty quickly that they had started a new trend.” Gere said he expects Alexander Hall to be packed Feb. 18 for the 6 p.m. lecture because the event appeals to so many departments. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Alexander is more crowded than it’s ever been.” The lecture will be immediately followed by an opening reception to the show, which will include pieces ranging in size from 11-by-20 inches to 109-by-42 inches. “The smaller pieces are a mix of custom client work that we’ve done for folks such as the American Visionary Museum in Baltimore,” said Belcher. “The very large prints are Bradley’s storetry (a combination of story and poetry)… They are amazingly large and just gorgeous.” “Yee-Haw Industries Letter-press Posters” will be on display at Alexander Hall, 668 Indian St., Feb. 18 - March 14. |
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