Earthworks

JUDE LOBE

This year for the show Earthworks I’m continuing to use the method of building and deconstructing in the medium of cold wax & oil. However, I’m concentrating on the ‘connectedness ‘ between earth, man, fauna, plants and everything else making up the universe, and the loss that may occur if we don’t become more mindful.

The idea of us not just being a part of nature, but connected in some way through a primal web of energy intrigues me and feels calming. It makes such sense to me. How else can one explain how we feel the same awe when watching a sunset, or feel anguish when we see someone in pain, or get teary-eyed at a wedding.

My paintings in cold wax & oil, encaustics and collage are a journey to articulate on a surface an emotion I have difficulty in articulating in words. Sometimes I’m on an archaeological excursion. From building up layers of colors and textures, to scraping away, scratching and uncovering what is beneath, leads me to new places I discover.

In this show I am also exploring working with rust on silk and combining it with copper which I fold and torch fire to bring out the colors.

 
I have been involved with art in one way or another throughout my life. Presently, I work in my studio built by my husband. The studio has easels, enameling kiln, pottery kiln, pottery wheel, slab roller, encaustic equipment, an assortment of paints and mediums, and many other items that inspire me to create.

Earth Wind and Fire

JUDE LOBE

 

When I was a child, one might have called me a tom-boy. I spent endless days exploring the woods and parks, climbing trees and building forts near our home in Maryland. I continued my exploration of  wild and natural environments as an adult. Luckily, I lived equal distance from the Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge Mountains to Assateague and Chincoteague Islands. In these places I felt at home, peaceful, serene and wistful. 

These natural habitats give me a connection to a past, a history of bygone times. Being in these beautiful endangered landscapes gives me solace from stress and hope for a future. In this exhibit I revisit some of these places in my mind and attempt to capture the emotion I felt there and being captivated by the play of light on a rock cliff, or swaying grass in the wind.

 

My medium of choice for these landscapes is Cold Wax & Oil. The cold wax is a consistency of a paste wax. It is made of beeswax and resins. I mix it 50:50 with oil paints or earth pigments. It has the advantage of giving me the opportunity to show a history of the painting by building up layers of colors, then scratching through to reveal some of the obscured colored layers. To me it is a metaphor of the history of the landscape and how it has evolved over time. 

 

My paintings, rather than being a photographic likeness of the landscape, are rather an emotional interpretation of it with an abstract quality. My hope is that the viewer either gains a feeling of peace and hope I feel when in nature, or reminds them of a similar special place in their memory. 

 

Not Alone

Garry Childs

My work is formed on a potters wheel from terra-cotta clay. I glaze my pots when they have reached a state potters call “leather hard”. This is when the clay has stiffened up enough to handle but is not yet completely dry. Several coats of one or more glazes are then applied onto the piece, usually by spraying. I sometimes add more colors by brushing and spraying pigments over the glaze.  I then carve through the glaze into the still damp clay to achieve the various patterns that you see on my pots.  After completely drying, the pieces are fired in a gas kiln to 2,125 degrees.

Although the shapes and form of my work is always of primary concern to me, the pieces I’ve done for this show have a heightened emphasis on color. I am constantly tweaking my glaze formulas in order to make subtle changes in hue and texture.  This time I have also used two completely new colors in the show. One is a sky blue overspray that I apply over another glaze. It has a nice, almost lacy texture when applied at just the right thickness.

The red glaze on my red and black pieces is also a new color. I have periodically experimented with reds over the past several years and am very happy with my newest results. This particular formula seems to be working very well. It utilizes one of the new commercially available red stains that can be used at much higher temperatures than this type of red could normally be fired. Combining this color with the black is particularly effective with a bit of carving in the black areas that lets the earthy red of the clay show through.

Pottery is made with hands and should be “looked at” with hands. I want everyone who sees  my work in this show or anywhere else to feel free to touch, pick up and handle the pots. Texture is very important and the curves the of shapes are very tactile. Try it, you’ll see.

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Discoveries

 Michele Yellin

Michelangelo said, “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” For me, searching the textured, abstracted, multi-colored surface of my canvas, I ache to discover what each painting wants to reveal to me, and thus become. This is my great challenge, and when detected and captured, my great joy. I have no luck in forcing things along. There are processes I rely on and yet I have no formula guaranteed to bring the painting into being. It is only with the alchemy of materials, skills, intent and some form of magic that allows me to discover what the painting’s true nature is. To see it, I have to not look for it, or rather look in an oblique manner, and then, if I am lucky, I make my discovery. These paintings are what were waiting in the paint to be painted.

 

 

In this painting, THERE IN THE WILD PLACE, I started by painting in big loopy letters “I have discovered”. I continued painting until the words were no longer visible. I really revel in this part of the process. It is so pleasant, just adding color here and there. When I finally finished the under-painting and begin looking, the hindquarter and one ear of the fawn were almost immediately revealed to me. That is kind of unusual. Typically it takes a lot of searching. And because it was unusual, it was a little bit hard to trust. I had seen 3 fawns in the last couple of months, but still…to have one show up so quickly in my abstract field of color? After some drawing and erasing on the canvas, I decided not to fight the fawn. If it wasn’t meant to be, that would become apparent. I continued on painting, adding paint and then painting over things I didn’t like. I usually take photos when I am creating a painting to help me with the process of figuring out what is working and what isn’t. The camera gives me a small image that is often easier to evaluate than the full size canvas. After many hours, I was very happy with the fawn and her surroundings, and she was THERE, IN THE WILD PLACE. She is there to remind me, she is always willing to take me away from ordinary domestic life. She offers a reprieve from all the chores that have yet to be done, and a path for me to rediscover my true self.

 

 

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Discoveries

Make New Discoveries At The Hillsborough Gallery Of Art

As a landscape painter, Lolette Guthrie seeks the essence of a place in order to create visual metaphors celebrating the incredible beauty and diversity of our world. “My paintings are always paintings of light and atmosphere” says Guthrie “and I strive to capture the ephemeral nature of light at a moment in time that transcends the subject and captures a mood that is timeless.”  Working in both oils and in pastels she applies countless layers of pigment one on top of the other, allowing each layer to show through, giving a wonderful richness to the surfaces.

For this show, Guthrie concentrated on painting skies that by themselves give the viewer a sense of space, light, time of day, temperature, and weather. In most pieces, the foreground is the accent note.

Mark Kinsella has been working with glass for more than 10 years and continues to develop his technique. Incorporating new processes into his work, he is always evolving and changing, trying new styles, and producing fresh and different work. Kinsella draws inspiration from nature, movies and life experiences, using his photography background for interesting composition and color combinations. His work is sometimes functional, sometimes sculptural and often both.

Most of the work in this show will have a combination of transparent and opaque glass, which look very different depending on whether light is reflected off the surface or transmitted from behind. Says Kinsella, “Some of my work also contains optical illusions. Discoveries are possible in so many ways! I hope that everyone will pick up and touch the glass and feel its texture. I truly believe that working with glass is a metaphor for life. Things can be very random and seemingly disconnected but with patience, creativity, and a little hard work one can pull it all together into something beautiful. I’m motivated to leave the world in better shape than when I arrived and feel that I can do that by creating art that could possibly last hundreds of years.”

Michele Yellin has this to say about her work. “Michelangelo said that every block of stone has a statue inside it and that it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. For me, searching the textured, abstracted, multi-colored surface of my canvas, I ache to discover what each painting wants to reveal to me, and thus become. This is my great challenge, and when detected and captured, my great joy. I have no luck in forcing things along. There are processes I rely on and yet I have no formula guaranteed to bring the painting into being. It is only with the alchemy of materials, skills, intent and some form of magic that allows me to discover what the painting’s true nature is. To see it, I have to not look for it. I have look in an oblique manner, and then, if I am lucky, I make my discovery. These paintings are what were waiting in the paint to be painted.”

 

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Attention to Detail

Linda Carmel

Having a Featured Artist show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts is an opportunity to present a body of work. I love to work in series using different themes. For this show I have continued with my theme of Women in the World, using idioms as inspirations.

This year I have bought more global influences into the mix. I have looked at style design details from around the world and have used them in each of the paintings in this series.   In some of the paintings you will see tartans and in some I have used designs based on African kuba cloth.   Some of the paintings were inspired by molas from Panama and some by Aboriginal dream paintings. Another is based on Asian silkscreen painting. These are the puzzle pieces I began with in each piece, women, cultural designs and idioms.

Even though I started each painting with this set of information it is the attention to the detail in the actual painting as it progresses that becomes dominant. My work is in finding the balance of color and form with the puzzle pieces that began the piece. Sometimes the women become the dominant part of the painting and in one case there are no women. In other paintings it is the design that dominates the piece.

I work with acrylic modeling paste that I form on canvas to create three-dimensional paintings. I want viewers to become intimate with the painting by feeling the contours of the surface.

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The Fifth Element

Pat Lloyd

This past year presented some challenges that temporarily limited my ability to turn wood. I needed to find new ways to express my frustrated creativity. Woodturning was set aside, while photography took the lead. Then, a chance encounter led to my discovery of Kumihimo braiding and braided jewelry design, a rather unexpected turn I must say; strange twists and turns.

While in Oregon last fall, I visited the Portland Japanese Gardens. The guide pointed out a large Japanese stone lantern and described the 5 traditional elements in Japanese Buddhism of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void. I was most intrigued by this Fifth Element of Void. Void represents spirit, thought, creative energy and inventiveness, the “here,” or the center.”

Once I let go of the need to control the uncontrollable and accepted the “here” and found my center, I was able to release the creative energy and inventiveness resident in my inner spirit, in that Fifth Element of Void. The discovery and exploration of the ancient art of Kumihimo braiding gave me a new voice.

In this new year, I am back to woodturning, with a renewed energy and passion. And, the discovery of Kumihimo that energized that creative emptiness last year, has taken on a life of its own. Kumihimo design is filled with endless possibilities. Of course, photography continues to influence my everyday life. Some days it is just hard to know what to do first, it’s such a blessing.

purple stone

Our new show “The Fifth Element” is inspired by Japanese Buddhist philosophy. According to this belief, everything in the universe is a manifestation of five great elemental building blocks. Nothing in existence is seen soley as one element or another but is a complex combination of all five. To each element are linked many qualities and attributes.   The Five Elements in ascending order of power are:

 

• Earth:   hard, solid things which give substance and are resistant to movement or change.

 

• Water: fluid, flowing, formless things that adapt, grow and change.
• Fire:   energetic, forceful, moving, transformative things.

 

• Air: things that grow, expand and enjoy freedom of movement.

 

• Spirit, the Fifth Element: Also translated as Sky, Heaven or Void, it is the highest of the elements and encompasses those things beyond everyday experience, things comprised of pure energy like thought or creativity. It is power, spontaneity, inventiveness and connection with the creative source.

 

The metalsmith’s art is uniquely suited to this elemental theme.   The metal is extracted from the earth, air is needed to fuel the flame, which is used in the soldering process to connect metal to metal. Water cools the metal after heating and the fifth element, creative energy or inspiration, is what the metalsmith contributes to the process.

 

When choosing stones for my jewelry pieces in this show, I considered color, pattern, texture and how closely these aspects matched how I envisioned each element, as well as where the stone originated and the emotional and medicinal benefits people have attributed to stones over the centuries.

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