Feature Articles

October Issue 2002

Somerhill Gallery in Chapel Hill, NC, Features Works by Bruce Shores, Kate Worm, Patti Zeigler and Louis Rubin

Somerhill Gallery in Chapel Hill, NC, announces a new exhibition of works on view through Oct. 25, 2002. Paintings by Bruce Shores, Patti Zeigler, and Kate Worm will hang in the South Gallery, while in the West Gallery watercolors by Chapel Hill's own Louis Rubin will be exhibited.

Artist Bruce Shores works in oils, painting bold landscapes and the indigenous architecture of the southeast - farmhouses, barns, neighborhoods, and the like. An occasional figure or waterfront scene will be included in the painting, as Shores demonstrates versatility in both technique and choice of subject matter. His paintings are a pleasure to view, and Bruce describes his own work as being "about celebration, an overflow of abundance received" Shores hails from Greensboro, and the scenes he paints are distinctly Carolinian. Receiving both his BFA and MFA at UNC-Greensboro (in 1981 and 1989, respectively) he has exhibited in scores of solo and group exhibitions, including the Piccolo Spoleto l6th Annual Juried Exhibition in Charleston, SC, and juried and group exhibitions at the Weatherspoon Art Gallery in Greensboro, NC. His work is also in numerous public and corporate collections.

Painter Kate Worm now lives in Hickory, NC, and has studied with nationally known artists Wayne Thiebaud and Wolf Kahn. Working with oil on canvas, Worm's paintings are very active, alive with color and texture. She paints still life, interiors, and an occasional loose landscape. Hinting at the work of some master post-impressionist, many of Worm's paintings border on the abstract in their impasto styling, broad swaths of color, and movement. Yet these bold techniques are used with astonishing acumen by the artist, capturing light and mood, conveying her subject matter in a way that could never be achieved with tiny realist brushstrokes. Worm has a diverse artistic career under her belt, having received her BA from Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI and her MA from Columbia Teachers College, New York, NY. She has worked extensively in arts education and in special education interests, as well as having lent her artistic knowledge to community service efforts at regional museums and arts councils. She has exhibited across the state many times, and her work is in the collections of Nations Bank, NCNB, Sara Lee, Wachovia, and others.

Patti Zeigler is a painter of small, intimate still life. Her styling is disciplined and skillful, as she paints her subject matter time and again, refining her depictions until she finds a representation she agrees with. From a distance the arrangements of fruits, vegetables, and various other foodstuffs are tight and realistic, but upon close look the viewer also realizes strong use of texture and brushstroke, a vibrant embracing of a late l9th century technique known as macchia (or "color patch"). This is by design, and the result is that Zeigler gives the viewer double the pleasure as they enjoy both the refined image and the rich use of paint. Zeigler is from the Northeast, currently residing in Vermont. She is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design, and before her work as a fine artist she worked in interior design, collaborating with several airlines both in the U.S. and abroad. Her work is represented in several galleries throughout the east and New England.

Somerhill also features a special side exhibit for October in the west gallery: the watercolors of Dr. Louis Rubin. Known first and foremost as award-winning author and founder of the famous Algonquin Books press in Chapel Hill, Rubin also proves to be a talented painter. Though he occasionally works with acrylic, the vast majority of his paintings are watercolors. They are small, simply painted works, always nautical in theme, based upon a long history of maritime observation dating back to the 1930's. Despite the simplicity of Rubin's technique, the paintings are charming and accurate, as the artist uses his solid understanding of perspective and color to illustrate the harbors and seagoing vessels of the world.

Rubin's literary accomplishments could fill many pages, and in the realm of visual art he has completed some 216 marine paintings. Rubin states that although close to 70 works have sold, he paints them only for his own diversion, adding that "it's nice to know that people think them worth acquiring." Rubin holds both a Master's and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, as well as honorary doctorates from Clemson, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Asheville, University of the South, the University of Richmond, and the College of Charleston.

This exhibition promises to be a visual feast for the art enthusiast.

For more information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 919/968-8868, or via email at (somerhill@mindspring.com).

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