Nature in the Folds Exhibition - Corey Godfrey, Katrina Rasmussen and Duke Skarda.
Join us for the Closing Reception of Nature in the Folds - 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm (Artist Talk begins at 6pm)
An evening that goes beyond viewing the art to engaging in a lively conversation with the featured artists:
🎨 Corey Godfrey
🎨 Katrina Rasmussen
🎨 Duke Skarda
This special closing event offers a unique opportunity to hear directly from the artists about their inspirations, processes, and the organic forms that shape their work. Come ready with your questions — this is your chance to step inside the creative journey and connect personally with the art and its makers.
About the Exhibition
On view September 16 – October 11, Nature in the Folds celebrates the quiet elegance of the natural world. Through textures, landscapes, and sculptural forms, the exhibition invites viewers to look closely at organic contours where growth, movement, and form converge.
Reception Details - 5:30 - 8:30 pm
✨ Conversation with the Artists: begins at 6:00 PM
🥂 Refreshments & libations will be served
🎶 A relaxed and welcoming atmosphere to close the show
Engage directly with the artists in an intimate setting
Celebrate the closing of a stunning exhibition
Connect with fellow art lovers in the East Dallas community
Artist Statements:
Corey Godfrey
Corey Godfrey’s work is rooted in a fascination with “craft” materials, drawing inspiration from the playful creativity of her 1980s childhood. Her discovery of yarn sparked a deep passion for its sensual process and its historical ties to women’s strength and resilience. Guided by dream imagery, her pieces act as visual storyboards—capturing memories that evolve as time softens their clarity.
Her latest series explores the solace of nature, created on uniquely crafted wood forms that unravel themes of vulnerability, strength, and beauty. Layers of yarn symbolize the passage of time, with each thread reflecting aging and mental health challenges, while evolving patterns reveal tension and harmony. These transformations invite viewers to uncover what lies beneath the surface—intimate yet expansive moments of connection, reflection, and discovery.
Corey invites viewers to engage not just visually, but emotionally, fostering a sense of “home” through tactile connection. Her work transforms spaces into ecosystems of contemplation, amplifying the enduring bond between humans and nature—especially in moments of personal or collective need.
Katrina Rasmussen
When I first painted with oils, I understood what the poet Pablo Neruda meant when he wrote, “... Something started in my soul, fever or forgotten wings.” The arts have always captivated me: dance, theatre, music, literature… but it was not until I picked up oil painting in my twenties (on a lark, and against the advice of almost everyone I knew), that I found my artistic home. That spirit quickening excitement, that magical poetry of a soul awakened… for me, it was the luminous color-glow of oil on canvas.
I am self-taught: I learned by making fantastical messes, and through the kindness of other artists. Over the past decade, I have developed a system of creating mixed media works with oil paint over Venetian Plaster. I embrace the oil’s transparent qualities, which I can manipulate so that the layers of paint, collage, or plaster underneath are either hidden or exposed.
Teaching has always informed my artistic practice; the joys of discovery that occur in the classroom carry over to my professional practice, and often my students inspire me to keep asking my own artistic questions. It was through teaching that I discovered ceramics. The tactile, earthy nature of this medium speaks to my inner 80s child: muddy, messy, and strong-willed.
This year, when I had to learn how to throw on a potter’s wheel for class, Pablo Neruda’s words echoed in my mind. Fever, forgotten wings… like coming home, the rhythm of the clay in my hands called me back to myself from what felt like a creative wilderness. I experienced intense joy in building my new body of work for “Nature in the Folds.” I created these works from an arid place, where only the most unquenchable joy survives.
I invite you to wander through deserts enfolded, on a playground of improbable texture, color, and form. These ceramic works, like my paintings, celebrate intersection points: where materials and ideas and joy come together to celebrate the sanctity of common ground, the space we hold for others, and that which we hold for ourselves. My desert of dreams has a bit of raw-edged defiance embedded among the agave. Joy, encountered in high relief, amid sun and thorns; joy, resolute.
Duke Skarda
Call it obsession or indulgence, but when certain ideas or inspirations enter my head, the only way to excise them is to build them. We all have them, these visions, and their outcome may have many forms. Steinbeck calls them “glories”. When they invade one’s thoughts, they must be dealt with: push them aside or act upon them.
My efforts are mostly focused on wood, though I also enjoy painting and ceramics. I love the warmth, workability, and randomness of wood with the unique varietal aromas of cut lumber. I love the grains that ebb and flow and the imperfections that give it life. Driven by interest in architecture and engineering, I enjoy the design and invention required to simplify complex features. I enjoy the time spent discovering how to build these little gems, even when they’re interesting only to their creator.
As an artist, I am mostly self-taught, though I have many mentors with incredible skills who dip low to show me the nadir of their abilities in hopes that I might do something with them. I vainly combine these learnings in an effort to create the ideas. I have a sizeable home “studio” (also known as a messy space) that combines woodworking equipment with a kiln, clay, paint, and canvas. Hours spin past unnoticed when I have the time to dive into the “shop”.
