“Interiors,” says Edith Caywood, “are the hallowed halls of a person’s life.” Visits with the Saints and Granny’s Yarn are small, private worlds, which are created by Caywood. Within the walls of elaborate, richly furnished rooms, she explores the isolation and anguish of daily life. “When I finish, I look at my work just like the audience does,” she says. “There is no story line in my head. I ask other people what they see in the painting, and that’s where I get the title.”
“I come from the school of the intimist,” Caywood says, quickly simplifying the elements of Impressionism, German expressionism, and Edouard Vuillard-style intimacy, which infuse her paintings. “I take an emotional, intuitive approach to the
canvas.”
Caywood was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and currently lives and paints in Memphis, Tennessee. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1986 from Memphis State University. Caywood has received numerous awards, including the Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show (1999) and the Art South Biennial (1985). Her work is in private and public collections, including the Brooks Museum, Memphis.
Art & Antiques, September 2002
