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June Issue 2005
Transylvania Arts Council in Brevard, NC, Features Invitational Exhibition
The Transylvania Arts Council in Brevard, NC, will present the exhibition, Rural Roots: Appalachian Woodworks and Handwovens, at the Transylvania Community Arts Center in Brevard, NC, from June 2 through July 11, 2005. Participating artists in this invitational exhibit include members of Carolina Mountain Woodturners, French Broad Weavers, Southern Highland Craft Guild and Transylvania Handcrafters Guild.
The exhibit will feature handcrafted furniture, turned vessels, bowls, boxes, intarsia, fretwork, scrollwork, and other turned objects and carvings. Woven wall hangings, rugs, scarves and shawls will bring additional color and texture to the display.
The 27 artists who will exhibit their works include Ken Ayers, (Brevard); Warren Carpenter, (Seneca, SC); Darrell Copeland, (Weaverville, NC); Wes Dunkelberg, (Brevard); Ed Ehmann, (Brevard); Robert Garrett, (Marietta, SC); Ray Jones, (Asheville, NC); John King, (Pisgah Forest, NC); Susan Link, (Asheville, NC); David McCall, (Brevard); George Petersen, (Lake Toxaway, NC); Jack Rogers, (Huntsville, AL); Gary Wells, (Pisgah Forest, NC); Jack Edmonston, (Asheville, NC); Dean Ramus, (Brevard); Barbara and Ray Rink, (Brevard); Joe Ruminski, (Fairview, NC); Ralph Tilley, (Pisgah Forest, NC); and eight members of the French Broad Weavers.
Many participants in the Rural Roots exhibit are members of Carolina Mountain Woodturners, the largest woodturning club in the country with 350 members. President Warren Carpenter, who also is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and the American Association of Woodturners, was instrumental in selecting participants for the Transylvania Arts Council exhibit.
Carpenter says of the craft, "Woodworking has always been a part of my life, but what else would you expect from a Carpenter?" Since 1999, his passion has been turning wood. "I am always watching for those special trees or parts of trees that may someday become a unique turning. There are few things better than finding a burl and figuring out the best way to turn it into one or more pieces of artwork." Carpenter creates "normal or natural" bowls, but also enjoys experimenting with new shapes and forms to help release the beauty of a piece of wood.
Participants in the Rural Roots exhibition come to their craft from a variety of backgrounds.
Darrell Copeland
Darrell Copeland became interested in woodturning when he arrived in Western North Carolina. In his prior experience as a stone sculptor in New Orleans, Copeland relied on the slow and deliberate use of a hammer and chisel, but, in 2002 he attended his first wood turning demonstration and witnessed a stark contrast razor sharp gouges, spinning wood and ribbons of shaving flying across the room. Copeland was instantly fascinated with the energy of the process. Today, he is a wood sculptor creating three-dimensional works of art inspired by the minimal line and texture typical of Constantin Brancusi and Isamu Noguchi. Copeland is a member of the Southern Highland Crafts Guild, Carolina Mountain Woodturners Association and the Association of American Woodturners.
Ray Jones makes boxes entirely of wood, including the hinges, fasteners, latches, and drawer slides. "Wood is not only aesthetically pleasing, but it gives the lids, doors and drawers a wonderfully smooth action," he says. Jones uses sustainable harvested, plantation-grown, salvaged or otherwise "environmentally friendly" woods whenever possible and his works are made without stains or dyes. Trained as an aeronautical engineer in California, Jones began creating and exhibiting woodturnings in the early 1990s, and since then has exhibited across the US, most notably at the International Lathe-Turned Objects: Challenge IV, Philadelphia, PA; the Smithsonian Craft Show, Washington, DC; Turned for Use, San Antonio Museum of Art; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. Jones is a member of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, American Association of Woodturners, Carolina Mountain Woodturners and American Craft Council.
Susan Link grew up in Brevard and attained a degree in Sociology from UNC-Asheville in 1993. She now works primarily in the psychiatric field, but also has established herself as a furniture maker, working in a small shop in Waynesville, NC. Link became interested in wood when she enrolled in a cabinet-making class at Asheville-Buncombe Technical College almost five years ago and since then has focused on creating furniture influenced by the Craftsman Revival Period of the 1970s to the present. Link will contribute several furniture pieces and large-scale framed mirrors to the exhibit.
For more information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Arts Council at 828/884-2787 or at
(wwwtcarts.org).
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