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December Issue 2004
Waterworks
Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC, Features Invitational Exhibition
and Sale
The 2004 Artists' Invitational Exhibition and Sale at Waterworks
Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC, will feature a wide array
of works by fifteen local and regional artists. The exhibition
will be on view in the Center's Young People's Gallery through
Jan. 8, 2005. All work displayed in the exhibition is available
for purchase and may be taken at the time of the purchase.
Artist Rebecca Clodfelter of Mooresville, NC, works with truly
natural materials, creating artwork out of gourds she grows in
her backyard garden. Although she has experience with other mediums,
she has said she always felt "separated" from her art
until she discovered the electricity of gourds. She states, "My
life-long art journey has been a trip with no destination, no
reliable vehicle, and no map... Gourds can be used as the canvas
for interpreting ideas and emotions but they can also be simply
a piece of decorative art. I have found that I need to do both
for balance." Clodfelter has found her map, knows her destination,
and has found the means of reaching that end. The artist is a
graduate of Catawba College and has been a teacher for fourth
and ninth grades, as well as a resource teacher for the learning
disabled and an elementary art specialist for grades K-5.
Gastonia, NC, oil painter Rickard Cronland is a self-proclaimed
self-taught artist. He has been a practicing artist for over 30
years and "considers his art therapeutic relaxation. His
subject matter reflects his love for the outdoors... Rickard frequently
travels to Vermont, New Mexico, and the Virgin Islands, as well
as his native Carolina mountains and seashores, for inspirational
subject matter" (from artist's statement). He has been exhibiting
his work since 1995. Cronland earned a BA from East Carolina University,
after which he joined his family's business.
Olivia D. Dowdy of Wagram, NC, once owned her own ladies' accessories
boutique called Le Papillon Noir (The Black Butterfly), where
she designed her own merchandise under the name Odd Designs, which
was derived from her initials. Now she works on larger pieces
of porcelain and clay pottery. Dowdy states that she fell in love
with clay and pottery while in college and that working with this
medium is "a spiritual journey" for her. Dowdy earned
her Associate of Fine Art degree from Sandhills Community College
in Pinehurst and her Bachelor of Art degree in Visual Art from
the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Currently she is
studio artist and designer for her company Odd Designs, where
she creates and markets original pottery and jewelry.
Hillsborough, NC, artist Zoie Holzknecht received her Bachelor
of Science degree in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota.
She believes "there are three necessary (and never completed)
components to mature artistic expression: knowledge, practice,
and thoughtfulness." Her current work has developed especially
out of knowledge and thoughtfulness. She explains, "In the
last few years I have become aware of a loss of custom in my life
due to several relocations. It is a loss of ceremony, a loss of
attention to the small changes in life in our world where everything
can change overnight and patience is counted in minutes. Custom
and ceremony bring attention. Attention leads to a feeling of
connectedness to place (soil, plants, and wildlife) and to community
(family, neighbors, and co-workers). In response to these losses,
and my desire to find these things again, I am creating my current
body of work that includes ceremonial bowls, eggshaped prolates,
and cocoon forms."
Jack Homer of Richmond, VA, is a professional stock broker and
certified financial planner with a talent for watercolor, oil,
and pastel painting. He has very little formal art education aside
from a few varied art classes. Homer credits his creative abilities
to persistence and determination. Through these two methods of
functionality he has found the capability to produce brilliantly
colored landscapes and seascapes.
Salisbury artists Lorraine and Tom Ives specialize in the mediums
of beeswax, fiber, and wood. Originally the couple had established
careers in teaching and medical transcription, but in 1998 they
started their own business, Cherry Valley Designs, with a retail
shop in their New York home and a website. Through the shop and
website, the two offered quality handcrafted 100% pure beeswax
candles, woven textiles, and wood products. The Iveses moved to
Salisbury from New York in 2003 and have re-established Cherry
Valley Designs under which they created the products for sale
in the 2004 Artists' Invitational Exhibition and Sale, although
they have no intention of opening a retail shop in there home
here.
Steel artist Fred Kessler of Mount Pleasant, NC, is a native of
the Angola Bay Swamp area in eastern North Carolina. He has been
around water all his life and his interests have adapted to that
scene. Kessler's craft began at the age of 12 when he built his
first wooden boat, a creation that led to his building steel tug
boats years later. Alone he has built five ocean-going tugs, three
small cruising tugs, and one barge. He now creates steel animals
solely, an art which originated by his cutting out similar animals
from the scrap metal left over from building boats. Kessler contends,
"Water and the creatures in, on, and above it have always
been important to me... Most of the ideas for the pieces I make
come to me while on the water." The artist's shop is located
in Mount Pleasant, and his craft work is now his full-time occupation.
Judy Gibson King of Lexington, NC, is a clay artist who focuses
primarily on nativity scenes. She explains, "I work in the
tradition of the santeros (saint makers), artists who create devotional
images for homes and churches. I work primarily in polymer clay
designing saints, angels, and nativities that are inspired by
and reflective of sacred narratives." The artist is a native
of Texas. She has studied at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX,
the Dougherty Art Center in Austin, the initials. Now she works
on larger pieces of porcelain and clay pottery. She states that
she fell in love with clay and pottery while in college and that
working with this medium is "a spiritual journey" for
her.
Potter Michael Kline of Bakersville, NC, has been a studio potter
since 1993 when he founded the Okra Pottery Studio. Kline taught
pottery at the Westside YMCA in New York City prior to joining
Mark Shapiro in Worthington, MA, to build a studio and kiln at
Stonepool Pottery. He now works with both porcelain and stoneware
and has "developed a body of larger scale stoneware pottery
inspired by the traditional stoneware of the Catawba Valley and
Seagrove areas of North Carolina". He explains regarding
his work, "By some combination of optimism and risk, my collaboration
with the natural properties of clay and wood fire continues to
lead me through this potter's life, at times exasperating and
at others exhilarating."
Judy Mallow of Carthage, NC, carries on her family tradition of
pine needle basket making, a craft she learned as a young girl
when she helped her grandmother collect pine needles to weave
into baskets. She gently intertwines the pine needles, often incorporating
slices of walnuts, to create intricately detailed baskets that
are both functional and artistic. Judy has written and published
two books on pine needle basketry and was included in the 2003-2004
edition of no's no in Executives and Professionals. She was also
named "Woman of the Year" by the American Biographical
Institute in 2004.
Potter June Miller of Shelby, NC, retired from a twenty-year career
in counseling "to begin [her] own therapy - 'playing in the
mud'." The artist has studied pottery and ceramics at Gaston
College, Isothermal Community College, and Gardner-Webb University,
and she continues to take classes and workshops, as she says,
"to learn more techniques and be with other potters for the
feedback, critique, and fun fellowship." She has found that
she enjoys experimenting with different glazes, techniques, throwing,
and hand-building as a means of developing her skill as a potter.
The diversity of her work reveals how fruitful this experimentation
has been to Miller as an artist. Miller has participated in over
four dozen group art exhibits throughout North Carolina and in
Ohio.
Molly Pasca of Durham, NC, became fascinated with pottery at the
age of 5 when she first watched someone throw a pot on the potter's
wheel. The medium and method of creating "seemed magical
to me then and it continues to be magical for me today."
Today she is both teacher of pottery through the Durham Arts Council
and owner of a pottery shop, Pasca Pottery. The artist founded
Pasca Pottery in 1992, where she creates unique decorative and
functional pottery. Through Pasca Pottery she also established
summer pottery camps for children ages 5-15.
Glassware artist Kenny Pieper of Burnsville, NC, specializes in
the tradition of Italian glass. He is "intrigued with the
use of color, patterns in cane work, and sensibility of form,"
the artist explains. His work "combine[s] historic glassware
techniques with Pieper' s personal vision". The artist is
a native of Birmingham, AL, and grew up in the North Carolina
mountains.
Potter Ken Sedberry of Bakersville, NC, has lived, worked, and
studied in several places in the United States, including Rhode
Island, Montana, Washington DC, and Loafers Glory, NC. Through
visits with his family to Central America his work has evolved
from the influence of "the colors and imagery of the rainforests,
the tropical flowers, and the coral reefs of the Caribbean"
. Sedberry finishes the majority of his work in a wood burning
kiln rather than electric or gas. This type of firing takes more
than twenty hours and requires constant attention. Sedberry contends,
"I love the process of stoking the furnace. There's a connection
there. You stay right with it from beginning to end. Wood firing
means allowing this process to take some part in the aesthetics
of the work. The variables are infinite and one gives in to chance...
It's continual risk... My goal... has been to achieve color in
wood firing [because wood firing normally results in subdued earth-tones]".
Even a brief look at his work shows the success of his attempts
to do so. Each piece reveals brilliant blue, green, orange, and
red hues.
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Waterworks
Visual Arts Center is funded by individual memberships, corporations
and businesses, foundations, the City of Salisbury, Rowan County,
the North Carolina Arts Council, and the National Endowment for
the Arts.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery
listings, call the Center at 704/636-1882 or on the web at (www.waterworks.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.