Meet The Artist

The life of Yin-Rei Djuh Hicks is deeply rooted in art and an untiring love for the beauty she finds in the delicate details of nature that surround her. She enjoys sharing this love through colorful paint strokes of a fresh flower blossom in her garden, to the textured sculpting of a lively moth on an earthy clay vase.

Though her native home is Hangchou, one of the most historic cities of the Republic of China, Yin-Rei has lived near Henryville in Southern Indiana since 1959. When she came to America to study and be near her future husband, H. Grant Hicks, in 1954, she became intrigued with the idea of being a great Western artist as a painter or sculptor. Her subjects have ranged from watercolor butterflies to oil portraits, and from traditional Chinese style with vivid strokes and calligraphy, to softer blends of colorful landscapes with a Western influence.

In Clark County, she found natural, peaceful surroundings that, in their own way, reminded her of her youth in Hangchow. Mr. Hicks also had an intense interest in nature and farm life while teaching at the University of Louisville. He helped her cultivate an interest in the plant and animal life that are American in heritage, but related in delicacy and fascination to those of her native land. “When I’m out among the trees with my sketchbook, watching a butterfly, I feel like I’ve become a part of nature,” she says. “It’s like I belong there, not an intruder at all.” They raised three children that also grew to love the beauty of the nature that surrounded them by expressing this appreciation through art.

Yin-Rei earned her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and teaching degree from the University of Louisville, and spent many happy years sharing her artistic visions and talents with her students through ceramics and a variety of other media and teaching experiences.

Now Yin-Rei is still more interested in sharing her work with others than painting just for herself. “I feel as close to the earth as a flower or weed when I’m among them,” she says. “The songs of the birds are like music. If I ever get upset about anything, I can always find refuge and understanding with flowers, leaves, and the butterflies. I want to record these precious moments of nature, to make them live a little longer.”

Hsiao-Ling Sweeney was born in 1964 and always lived in Henryville, Indiana. Having grown up on a farm seeing her mother painting wildlife, her love of animals and landscape naturally found their way into her own artworks. She loves to depict creatures in their environment in many different media, whether it be sculpted or painted. Hsiao-Ling has always been drawn to depicting detailed reality of her subjects, but also now has a desire to stretch her style to become more expressive and abstracted to create a more emotional connection between herself, her subject, and also the viewer.

Coming from a family of teachers, it was a natural choice to combine her love or creating art with her love for helping young people share in this experience. This combined interest led her to pursue a Bachelors Degree in Ceramics and a K-12​th grade teaching license from the University of Louisville, and later a Masters in Secondary Education from Indiana University Southeast.

Besides teaching art since 1988 in various local and private schools to students from Kindergarten to 12​th grade, Hsiao-Ling has had many other teaching experiences involving preschool children, special needs children and teenagers, CFAC (gifted) classes and LVAA (Louisville Visual Art Association) summer art camps, church camps, art clubs, art workshops, Art in Speed Park Children’s art, and occasional showings at local galleries. Now, she is back teaching at Henryville Jr/Sr High where she had always planned to return.

Hsiao-Ling hopes to pursue an active career in private art lessons and a variety of specialized art workshops open to the public of any age. Having taught and found joy in so many different art styles and media such as pottery, jewelry-making, painting, papier-mache, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, graphic design, and fiber arts, she hopes the opportunity to shape her own art program will satisfy her creative urges and share the fun that art has always given her.