“Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy!”

“I bring ye wine from above,
From the vats of the storied sun;
For every one of yer love,
And life for every one.
…
I bring ye laughter and tears,
The kisses that foam and bleed,
The joys of a million years,
The flowers that bear no seed.”

We endure hardship with the hope of future thriving; fueling the toil of sowing with hope of harvest. One of the greatest hardships we face as humans is losing someone we dearly love(d). And in those moments where our hearts are like a barren land, it can feel impossible to perform the labor of sowing active good into the world. Empty without the capacity to be filled, perhaps the offerings that we should be sowing are to our inner selves. 

So, what happens when, in the darkest depths of grief, we make seemingly small choices that could, with repetition, bring about future growth? What should you do when you feel buried along with the person you lost? Sōw [in sorrow] invites your heart, mind, body and soul to imagine how it could look to thrive in the midst of grief.

For some, God is a near and present help in their time of trouble and their keeper of peace.  And for some, it is food and drink that carries them away from their present pain and gladdens their hearts. And this is a contrasting binary for many: faith vs. revelry, feelings vs. food, the immaterial vs. the natural world. In this exhibition, I seek to merge sacred and secular as we explore the best seeds to sow in sorrow. All of life can help us metabolize grief-induced change if we are willing to bear witness to the opportunities for growth around us. 

This exhibition is my visual exploration of my own grief journey. On June 2, 2003, my oldest sister Cassandra died very suddenly from breathing complications. She has been dead for the same amount of time that she was alive – 22 years. In these 22 years since her passing, I have lost a best friend, cousins, uncles, grandparents, students, friends, a dog, a job, and relationships with people who are still living. I have half jokingly self-identified as “the grief friend” for quite some time. And I realize that, although it is a universally shared experience for all humans, it is simultaneously the most unnatural feeling to lose something or someone of significance. 

The loss of my sister Cassandra shook my entire family and community. And because I was 10, I didn’t fully process the significance of losing a sister for years after it happened. My daddy, mama, and second sister (Katrina) have all been journeying with me as they process this incredible loss, as well. This exhibition is more about displaying the beauty that we 4 have been able to create and maintain even in such great loss. 

Hailing from “The Camp” in Grove Hill, Alabama, I never even imagined pursuing an art career. After dabbling in flowers turned into launching my own floral design business in Chicago (Planks & Pistils), I realized that the types of installations I desired to create spanned beyond florals. A self-taught floral designer, yes. But I attribute my ability to create art to my beautifully generous, loving and kind parents – Fernell and Brenda Pendleton. I followed my dad around his woodshop my entire childhood learning the basics of design and witnessed my mom create a lot of beauty from all types of materials for decorations at the daycare center she ran and the church where my father pastored. It is with this artistic heritage that I explore the practice of what was once a seed – wood and flowers – and creating something new and beautiful. 

My ability to create is founded and shaped by my parents’ work and life together. My inspiration to create these works is from my won battle with grief and loss. My encouragement to keep going is from my sister Katrina. My joy to create is in my heart and expressed in my work. 

John was an overachiever and lover of academic excellence all throughout childhood but didn’t consider artistic expression as a vital part of his life until after he got married and began arranging flowers for his wife. 

What started as a hobby has become a honed skill which has led him to be the founder and creative director of Planks & Pistils design studio. John’s work has been featured by Newfields: Indianapolis Museum of Art, Driehaus Museum, National Museum of Mexican Art, People Magazine, ABC7 Chicago, WGN, New City Design Magazine, and was was included in “125 Florists To Be Celebrated in 2022” by Florists’ Review Magazine. Aside from leading his design company, John has been building a more structured studio practice as he prepared for hid first-ever solo gallery show with us.