Medium

Rebecca Yeomans has lived her entire life centered around making. She learned to knit at eight years old and was considered the “class artist” in school. She studied studio art at UNC-Chapel Hill, receiving a BFA in 1974. After earning an MFA from Auburn University in 1979 she taught there for several years. Rebecca and her husband Tom moved to Wilmington, NC in 1984 and she worked as a scenic artist in the film industry. She was a founding board member for DREAMS of Wilmington and later taught classes. Her fiber jewelry can be seen at the CAM gift shop. After she and Tom raised two artsy daughters, Rebecca quickly moved into full time artist mode. Her current work combines botanical printing, knitting, and stitching with a painterly feel.

Artist Statement

The botanical printmaking process is almost always the inspiration and starting point for my work. Eco or botanical printing is the art of transferring color from natural plant material on to fabric or paper using pressure, moisture, and heat. Beautiful contact plant portraits are captured by bundling vegetation and fabric, either by rolling around a pipe or stacking in layers and binding tightly. The bundle is then steamed or immersed in simmering natural dye coaxing the pigment out of the leaves and on to the cloth. Results depend on many variables: type of fabric, water source, plant species, season, climate, and type of vessel used to name a few. Thus each piece is unique and always a surprise. The process involves many steps: scouring, mordanting, pre dyeing, printing with plant material, post dyeing, rinsing, and perhaps printing again. I enjoy the relationship with the natural world inherent in the process: foraging walks, growing my own dye plants, the aroma of cooking eucalyptus, and the opening of a bundle to reveal what gift Mother Nature has given. When a piece of printed paper or cloth excites me, I begin the slow process of embellishing. This involves tearing fabric, arranging and rearranging, pinning, basting, and deciding on a place to start. I approach this process intuitively, reacting playfully, exploring this or that, asking what if? The piece evolves and its story unfolds. Hopefully a lovely whole is created by the intricate details. In a nutshell, the beauty of the materials and the process of making are what my artwork is about. I am co-creating with Mother Nature and collaborating with the fabric, yarn, and thread.

Art in Bloom Gallery is delighted to partner with Visions of Creations Gallery in Black Mountain, NC home of renowned jewelry designer, Roberto Vengoechea.  We have a selection of Roberto’s custom-made, fine art jewelry in Art in Bloom Gallery.  Roberto also designs and creates commissioned jewelry upon request.

Artist’s Statement

One compliment I won’t forget was a few years after we moved here from Florida. A reporter penned an article about my work and titled it “Dr. Seuss meets Salvador Dali” and further described my work in the article. To this day, we still use this catch phrase as part of our advertising.

Jump forward 20 years – my work is very geometric, futuristic and out-of- the-box, words used by many visitors. When visitors come into our gallery and ‘drool’ over the jewelry, I now tell them that I came here from the 25th Century in a time machine and can’t get
back.

Inside my imagination, my respect and admiration belongs to Antonio Gaudi and Salvador Dali. I travel in parallel lines. I see through the same window but with a different vision creating pieces that are outside the box. This is why I named my business “Visions of Creation.” Those are the visions I see in the Creation. We recently celebrated 20 business years at our Gallery here in Black Mountain, NC. We created a photo collage of work from our opening spanning 30 years. When we first viewed the collage, we realized that those early pieces are as timeless then as they are now. You cannot tell the difference between the progression of time.

I consider my designs to be Avant-Garde – they defy traditional forms and genres, yet are practical in their form and fit. Like Gaudi, I like to fuse organic with architectural design in a futuristic manner, confounding the conventional and pushing the boundaries of ‘thinking outside the box.”

Kirah Van Sickle is an adventurer at heart. Her early years set a foundation for travel, exploration and visual storytelling. Her acrylic and mixed media works explore incorporating found objects and papers with the paint glazes. These are deeply personal expressions of her memories and dreams. In addition to her studio practice, Kirah is a dynamic instructor and lecturer, leading custom studio courses through museum schools and local art associations, directed to both beginner and seasoned artists. She is an award-winning illustrator, graphic designer and studio artist, a certified Golden Artist-Educator, and active in community arts programming, preservation of cultural resources and enhancing arts education. Kirah lives on the Cape Fear Coast of North Carolina and is a staff instructor at the Cameron Art Museum, Johnston Community College, and Cape Fear Community College. Details on workshops, exhibits and work can be found at her website: www.kirahfineart.com

Artist Statement
The silence between words defines them, gives them meaning. This is Caesura…a notable pause. It is a threshold or vast sea over which one crosses, both literally and metaphorically on the journey to self. Visually exploring this theme creates a record of my travels, memories and dreams.

My process includes painting en plein air, exploring the immediacy, unpredictable aspects of color, time and place, as well as commitment to my studio practice. I paint vast color fields of a muted, complementary palette, seeking the geological patterns etched in nature, and memory. Incorporating ephemera between layers of acrylic glazes onto canvas provides a mixed media process that hints at experiences, producing nuances of texture and color. By marrying both my foundational, representational style with a contemporary mixed media process, my paintings speak to the duality and journey as artist. Exploring my own contemporary narrative, these works reflect the hopes and desires common to this theme – bridging the unknown, ultimately finding meaning and connection to ourselves and each other.

Gayle Tustin was born in New Castle and grew up in Sharpsville, PA. She has been fascinated with art since early childhood, cutting up old wallpaper books and magazines for pasting into collage assemblages, to making mud pies in the backyard.

Penn State University laid the foundation for her ceramic work as well as Alfred University in NY, after initially completing an Associate Degree in business from Robert Morris University, PA. Tustin is the first person to graduate with honors in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 1996.

She has participated in numerous artist colonies including Northern Macedonia, Spain, Germany, Brazil, and South Africa. She is responsible for helping to create the No Boundaries International Art Colony, a gathering of local and international artists that meet annually on Bald Head Island to make art.

Tustin has been commissioned for donor tile memorial projects in Wilmington by the Lower Cape Fear Hospice including “Celebration of Life I, II & III” and “Safe Passages”, as well as “Bountiful Life I – VI” in Whiteville. Her ceramic relief commissioned works can be seen in Raleigh at the NC State Bar Foundation, “ We are the People of North Carolina” and Novant Health in Winston-Salem, “With Compassionate Care” and “Landscapes from Memory”.

For more information about Gayle’s extraordinary art, see her Artist’s Statement below and read “Freedom, Fluidity, and Flow: The Life and Work of Gayle Tustin” by Fritts Causby in Wrightsville Beach Magazine, September 2023.

Artist Statement

Art has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I am a nonrepresentational ceramist, sculptor, painter, collage and assemblage artist. My 3-D art includes hand-building vessel sculpture, relief wall tiles, and other three-dimensional objects. My 2-D art includes mixed media art with acrylic and oil paint, graphite, collage, sgraffito, sewing, found objects, birch bark, India ink, sailing charts, and more.

When I begin a piece, a progression of conscious and unconscious decisions starts my process. Experimentation is always important … feeling the force of my imagination along the way. Much of my inspiration comes from my environment, travel sketchbooks, the great outdoors, books, dreams, conversations, museums, trash treasures found in the street, gesture sketches, swimming, long walks, antique stores and more.

My latest work is a series of ceramic narrative vessel sculptures in red earthenware, inspired by native drums. My clay process has various steps with some pieces taking months to complete. The ceramic works are multi-kiln fired with terra sigillata (earth seal) and oxide patinas as well as silica glazes. They have a beautiful “ancient” look and feel about them. I spent years testing the possibilities of “terra sig” and oxide combinations to complete a library of 100’s of test tiles that I continue to use as guides for color effects.

Pam Toll, an Associate Professor at UNC Wilmington, received a BA in Art and English Literature from UNC Chapel Hill and has been painting since childhood. Her studio is located at Acme Art Studios (Wilmington) which she co-founded in 1991, as a work and exhibition space for artists. She also co-founded No Boundaries International Art Colony (Bald Head Island, NC) in 1998, a residency program that in the last twenty years brought over 200 artists from around the world with the goal of creating a cross-exchange of cultures and artistic practices to share with our local community.

Traudi Thornton
(April 4, 1940- March 30, 2023)
Master Ceramicist

Traudi was born in Czechoslovakia in 1940. She first studied music at Creighton University before studying ceramics with Henry Soreco at Creighton, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and raku in a workshop with Paul Soldner at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1972. She returned to Germany and joined a cooperative art community in which she lived and worked on ceramics.

Love precipitated her move to Wilmington in 1983. She once again built a ceramic studio and began teaching ceramics at the Community Art Center where she influenced many budding ceramists.

Traudi said, “Working with clay validates my existence. During the plastic state, the relationship is that of master and a much beloved pet. I tell the clay to stay and push it, but often I have to listen. We have a rhythm. Clay needs heat to be transferred to a hard material. After the first fire everything turns from a state of grey to pink, and a slight estrangement takes place because they now look different than what they did before. Glazes also look pink or white or grey before they are fired. I imagine now how the optics will look in their final state, and after making choices the second fire takes over. Total surrender is demanded by heat and flame. After the firing is completed, the cooling period leaves my mood fluctuating between doubt and hope. And, then only after removing the pieces from the kiln, can I say they belong to me.”

Traudi showed and sold her work through Art in Bloom Gallery beginning in 2015.  She is survived by brother, Walt Bayer and his wife Tina, nephew Jurgen Wilde and the family she chose and loved here in Wilmington.

Having studied at UNC Chapel Hill, Gale considers painting as an ongoing study. Recently, she studied with Robert Longley at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, MA and also with Lois Griffel, the former director of the Cape Cod School of Art. The school is based upon the impressionistic teachings of Charles Hawthorne and Henry Hensche who were influenced by Monet and his observation of the ever changing effects of light on nature. She has also attended workshops with nationally acclaimed artists such as John Poon, Charles Reid, Morgan Samuel Price, Rick McClure and other fine instructors.

Gale has found a new interest in working with copper.  As a plein air painter, she began using copper panels as her canvas and loved how the copper made her colors warm and vibrant.

She experimented with different gauges of copper and mediums and discovered that inks and oils on copper made colors radiate vibrantly. Never quite sure where the colors and copper will take her, Gale paints, cuts and weaves two abstract paintings together to create a dimensional piece of art.  The soft gentle curves that she cuts into the copper, allows her to form the piece into soothing and thought provoking structural designs.  It is her desire that the viewer will experience a personal interaction with her art. Often, she writes small quotes, prayers or poems that relate to the piece of work on the back of the copper strips and weaves them into the design.  Gale donates a portion of the proceeds from her sales to various organizations and charities.

Gale is an award winning artist with her works exhibited in galleries, private collections and corporate installations.

Born in Buffalo, NY my family eventually moved outside of the city to a small town which had an antique shop. I remember at the young age of 12 going in one day and being amazed by the unique one of a kind items including some of the antique furniture in various styles made from varying species. At the age of 15 & now living in Eastern North Carolina I started working my 1st job cleaning floors. I remember being excited to work not only to make some $$ but to learn a skill. I was never one to sit around twiddling my thumbs. I like to blame this on my father who set a great example of how to provide for your family sometimes working 2 & 3 jobs at times to make sure we had a roof over us and food on the table.

Anyway after about 9 years or working in about 6 different fields of work that really didn’t suit me. I started working for my father-in-law’s auction company which I enjoyed since I got to learn so much more about antiques and furniture. I learned how to repair and refinish pieces that came in for the auction. I learned the various styles from throughout the last 200 years along with the species & techniques used to make them. I especially fell in love with Mid Century Modern designs by Knoll, Eames, Jacobsen, Nelson especially the naturalistic style of the famed George Nakashima.

Eventually with my ever growing family of 7 I needed to somehow make some supplemental income. So in 2015 I started buying well used and worn out furniture as well as some cool vintage & antique industrial pieces that I could repair, refinish, recycle or up-cycle into one of a kind pieces I would sell at various local consignment shops. Working on those pieces one day out of the week. One day someone who saw my work contacted me and asked me to make a 10’ long custom entryway table from scratch using new materials. Something I had never done before and had zero experience doing. But if you know me you know I’m always up for a challenge. And from the completion of that table I was hooked with making things with my hands from local sustainably sourced woods and recycled steel.

What started out as a 1 day a week way to make some extra money to help support my family 3 years later it became a full time job where I can work from home and be close to my family and each one of them has at one time or another come out to the garage and helped me work on projects among other things making it a full family affair. I get to work with my hands using natural materials I have always had a special place for in my heart. I always tell people I don’t make the gorgeous materials I use. I can only enhance and show off the beauty our Creator has given us. And I take something that could have eventually rotted and returned to the earth and make it into something that will last a lifetime or longer.

Artist Statement

I work primarily as a painter in oil, but also work two dimensionally in collage/mixed media and three dimensionally in ceramics and papier-mâché. When painting and when working three dimensionally, my work is mostly representational. Collage/mixed media work is largely non-representational. I enjoy going between the three freely based on which one fits what I want to say at a given time. Regardless of the medium, all share the same intention of portraying things which are more than they superficially seem. I want to suggest a story, show a certain light, a moment, a mood, a shared memory. I take my own reference photos. These are images which said something to me.

I like to work in multiples and within themed series as this allows me to more fully explore aspects of a subject or theme. In the past – and continuing – this has included a focus on local foods and food providers, such as produce stands and fish markets, as this gives me a way to speak about food as an expression of region and culture. Recent animal paintings include some of the earliest breeds brought to the Americas, but I am playing with other aspects such as the joy of a hog wallowing in the mud on a hot day or goats taking a sunbath in the sandy dust of eastern NC. A painting of a Devon Red cow becomes a nod to 19th century paintings of prize winning animals.

I enjoy invoking references to art history and am currently working on a new series of still life’s inspired by the work of Fede Galizia, a Renaissance female painter.

About the Artist

Angela Rowe is a native of Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. Although she grew up drawing and making objects, she took other career paths,  working an architectural historian, in arts administration, and managing high complexity global projects for IBM.

Since 2013 Angela has focused on making art, maintaining a studio practice at ACME Art Studios since 2014. She received an AFA in Visual Art from Cape Fear Community College In May 2018.

Primarily a painter, she also works in mixed media, print making and ceramics.

Virtual Tour created by Matterhorn Media.

Artist Statement

The paintings are about the act of painting. Although individually the paintings possess different intensities, opposing levels of complexity and abstraction, and perhaps a vague adherence to a narrative, the core of the process of painting remains consistent. The paintings are a reflection of the process of painting them. Every process is unique.

The magic of painting can never be totally explained. I find joy in discovering the emerging world of a new painting. Although harmony of the mind and the heart is important, the metabolic process of converting color, form and line into the forces that drive the painting is absolutely necessary.

Artist Bio

Education:
Brevard High School
Brevard, NC – 1965
University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL,USA – Marine Biology, 1965-1968
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Charlotte, NC, USA – Creative Writing Program 1970-1972
Western Carolina University
 Cullowhee, NC, USA – BFA Ceramics and Painting 1979

Employment:
Science Museums of Charlotte
Charlotte, NC, USA –  Exhibits Tech 1979-1982
North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher
Kure Beach, NC, USA – Curator of Design and Exhibits 1982 – 2008
Artist
Acme Art Studios – Wilmington, NC, USA   1979 – present
Poet
1970 – present

Affiliations:
WHQR Public Radio – Local Advisory Board
Wilmington, NC, USA
1996-2004
North Carolina Museums Council
1979 – 2002
Southeastern Museums Conference
1979 – 1985
Wilmington Railroad Museum – Planning committee chairman
Wilmington. NC, USA 1995
Acme Art Studios – co-founder
Wilmington, NC, USA 1991 – present
No Boundaries International Artist Colony – co-founder
Wilmington, NC, USA 1997 – 2010
Art Point Gumno
Sloestica, Macedonia 2005 – present
African American Heritage Foundation
 Wilmington, NC 2009 – 2011

Publications:
Southern Poetry Review
Saint Andrews Review
Kostroma Poetry Project (Russian translation)
Between the Lines – Poetry festival chapbook
Poems for Macedonia
Various chapbooks

More of his works can be found on his website.

Artist Statement

Ever since I can remember, I have been filled with a great love for frogs and toads. Everything about them, from their bright eyes and wide grins to their powerful leaps and graceful strokes, amazes me. I try to capture the beauty I see in frogs in my artwork, and to express the love and joy I feel for them with those who see my pieces. More importantly, I hope to contribute to amphibian conservation efforts worldwide, and make a real difference in the lives of the thousands of frog species currently threatened with extinction. Frogs need us, and I believe we need them too.

While I have always enjoyed creating frog artwork, it became a true passion for me when I discovered SAVE THE FROGS!, an amphibian conservation organization, and the enormous threats that frog species face. Ever since, I have used my artwork as activism, including informative fact cards about species I depict and donating 10% of my sales to SAVE THE FROGS! I use a variety of mediums, including acrylic paintings, watercolors, sculpture, digital illustrations, and animation. My pieces tend to draw heavily from real life, both because I love animals as they truly appear and so that each species is distinctly recognizable. That said, I make my pieces lively by enhancing colors and giving all of my subjects a smile. Though frogs may be suffering dramatically in the world we live in, I want to live in a world where I can find them smiling everywhere. I work to help create that world in my art, and in real life.

Biography

Born in Memphis, TN, Jessie Robertson moved with her family to Wilmington in 2010. Since 2017, Jessie’s award-winning art has displayed in several group and solo art exhibits, including shows at Wilma Daniels Gallery, ACES Gallery, 216 N. Front Street, the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher, and Art in Bloom Gallery. In 2019, Jessie graduated from Wilmington Early College High School as valedictorian and from Cape Fear Community College (CFCC). Today, she is majoring in both Studio Art and Digital Arts at UNCW and working as a part-time employee at Art in Bloom Gallery, where she edits their artist films. Jessie hopes that the more she learns and creates, the more successful she will be in achieving her goal of saving the frogs.

More of Jessie’s work can be found at: https://jessielrobertson.wixsite.com/portfolio

Some of the Curtis Krueger’s earliest memories are of his father and him drawing at the dining room table. He was told our television broke down when he was in kindergarten, and his parents, although they could afford to repair it decided not to.  Curtis places much of his fascination with the art-world with their encouragement and direct participation. The lack of television as entertainment is another. Curtis studied art at Eastern Michigan University, earning a BFA, along with two teaching certificates. It was in school where he took a darkroom class and got the incurable photo bug.  For the last 25 years he has earned a living selling my photos at various art festivals and galleries across America. Traveling is a big part of his schedule. Half the year is taken up with either shows or photo gathering trips. On an average year, Curtis travels 30,000 miles and shoots 50,000 images.

Brooks Koff  “paints with glass” creating unique glass mosaics that beg for a sunny window to catch and transform light into brilliant color! Unlike traditional stained-glass work, her pieces are created without the use of patterns, giving her freedom to fully explore color and design.

For nearly twenty years, Brooks volunteered as an art teacher at her children’s elementary school, New Horizons. In 2004, she was invited to be one of the contributing artists to the Minnie Evans Sculpture Garden and Bottle Chapel in Airlie Gardens. She helped over 100 local students create the mosaic stepping stones that adorn the foundation and walkway into the chapel. She also created a tribute piece to Minnie Evans–a small mosaic wall around the back of the structure.

Her work has been featured in many local magazines – Encore, WILMA, Wrightsville Beach Magazine, SALT, and Haven (the Bald Head Island Magazine) – as well as highlighted on a nationally syndicated PBS show.  She participates yearly in the Heart Art Show at the Cicada Metals Gallery, Art for the Masses, and the Spring Flea at the Brooklyn Arts Center.

She’s an army brat and the self-proclaimed “well-adjusted middle child” from a family of eleven children! She and her husband raised their five children here in Wilmington—several of whom have grown up to be artists themselves.

Doug Haas is a wood turner who creates exquisite, original works of art often from wood found on local streets.  He is a volunteer woodturning instructor and mentor at Topsail High School and an active member of the Wilmington Area Woodturners Association and the American Association of Woodturners.  Doug’s wood turning builds upon his previous experience and exploration in painting and design.

Doug graduated from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC with a BFA in Art with a studio major in painting and a minor in wood design. He also studied art at the Universidad de las Americas in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico.

In addition to his work in the arts, Doug has a 30+ year career including 20+ years as an area coordinator for the NC Division of Emergency Management and as an emergency management specialist for the US Marine Corps, in addition to other positions in training and development.

One of his favorite quotes is “Why not go out on a limb?  That’s where the fruit is.” Mark Twain

Mark Gansor is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In the early 90’s while supporting himself as a church organist and freelance piano accompanist, he began experimenting with decorative painting as a hobby.  Soon it blossomed into a full-time profession.   He now devotes his time to rendering decorative finishes, faux effects, plasters, and murals.  He works in both residential and commercial settings and has painted in several buildings that are listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.   Completely self taught, he learned the painting craft through reading books and studying the work of others. He has been trained in the application of fine Venetian plasters and has taken master classes in Trompe l’oeil painting. He has painted in commercial and residential structures throughout North Carolina and the Grand Strand of South Carolina.

For several years he has been painting works on canvas and hopes that this can be his career in retirement. His work is available at Art in Bloom Gallery. He has also recently become the Organist at First Baptist Church in downtown Wilmington.

ARTIST’S STATMENT

“I have been painting for over 25 years but have only now begun to see things in full color. Art is a journey after all: perception is not just blue sky and green grass. Bright color, thick paint, landscapes, and Wilmington architecture are all things that stimulate me. My formal training is in music which was my career prior to painting. Over the years I have dabbled in painting canvases, becoming even more passionate about it since moving to Wilmington.  Transitioning from walls to canvases I believe that finally my personal style is beginning to develop.  My dream and goal is to become solely a painter, an interpreter of the beauty around me.”

Wm. Fridrich: Photographs

Robert Hughes, referring to the DADA move­ment (and Marcel Duchamp in particular), said that “like his Bottle Rack, Bicycle Wheel and other ‘ready­mades’…the world is so full of interesting objects that the artist need not add to them. Instead he could just pick one, and this ironic act of choice was equivalent to creation.”

The camera is the definitive instrument for making these ironic acts of choice. Then the function of this device — to record what already exists — in the DADA belief, is equivalent to the act of creation.

Wm. Fridrich studied art, sculpture and photography at UCLA, motorcycle magazines and in the U.S. Army, as a combat illustrator. He then launched a successful graphic design career in the early 1970s.

Introduced to the Dada and Surrealist movements by his wife, art historian Marsha McKee, William became clinically obsessed with Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Joseph Cornell: he has not yet recovered.

More of his work can be found on his WEBSITE.

“I’ve been a photojournalist, commercial photographer and art photographer for more than 35 years. The overall theme of my art images could be described as “ordinary beauty, closely observed.” These images are often from nature and although they are focused on still life subjects, there is a dynamic sense of movement and emotionalism in them. In recent years I’ve been playing around with scanning objects, as opposed to photographing them, creating “scanographs. Scanography is a process of image capture using a flatbed scanner as the image capturing device. I work from nature, scanning live flowers, etc. I then print out the resulting digital images on high quality, archival photo paper.”

Susan lives and works in Wilmington.

Local artist and potter, Dianne Evans, has had a passion for art since childhood. She was born and raised in scenic Indiana, Pennsylvania. Dianne developed an interest in art while studying under an inspirational high school art teacher. This experience also inspired her to want to become a teacher. Dianne earned a BS in Elementary Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1994. In 1995 she moved to Wilmington, North Carolina where she began teaching in several private schools. Although she is no longer teaching, she works at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Continuing her love of art, she took art classes at UNC Wilmington in 2009-2010 where she focused on sculpture and ceramics. A field trip to Penland School of Crafts sparked an interest in pursuing ceramics as an art form.

Dianne is an active member of the Coastal Carolina Clay Guild and participates in local art shows. She predominately works in the medium of clay focusing on hand-built pottery.

Artist Statement

My current work consists of minimalistic forms that make a statement on their own and act as a canvas for designs and patterns. The form dictates the design. My surface decorations are inspired by curves, organic shapes and repetition and the relationship between form and design.  The shapes and patterns interact with each other creating movement across the surface and draws your eye around the piece. My work is meant to bring people joy, peace and serenity through form, color and design.

Artist Statement

My current body of work is inspired by contemporary and futuristic objects and architecture. My sculptural work reflects modern abstract designs that resemble architectural structures. These structures consist of curvilinear and geometric lines and shapes that move the viewer’s eyes around the piece. The negative cutouts and recesses in the sculptures resemble windows or doors that do not reveal the interior space. I am intrigued by how the light and shadow interplay while painting an interesting shadow on the pedestal or wall. The shadow is different depending on the angle at which the light approaches the piece.  The patinaed surfaces on my work reveal an aged or weathered look. I find the juxtaposition of present and past intriguing. I incorporate similar elements into my pottery with the intention of conveying modern designs with interesting lines and angles that draw the user’s eyes around and into the piece.

Biography

Brian Evans was  raised in Western Pennsylvania where he graduated in 1993 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Studio Art where he focused on sculpture and painting.  He moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 1995.  He began in ceramics through the Continuing Education program at Cape Fear Community College while searching for an outlet for artistic expression. Brian studied under a Japanese-American Potter named Hiroshi Sueyoshi. He immediately recognized the caliber of Hiroshi’s skills as an artist and took full advantage of his instruction.

From 2002 through 2008, Brian taught Pottery Classes through the Cape Fear Community College Continuing Education Program. He also became a full-time ceramic artist. Since 2002, He has received various awards at Fine Art Shows and Art Festivals. In 2003 and in 2005, Brian was awarded The Regional Artist Grant for New Hanover County, North Carolina. His work can be found in public and private collections across the nation and abroad. Brian is a founding member of the Coastal Carolina Clay Guild in Wilmington, NC which began in 2007. He is currently the Executive President of Orange Street Pottery Incorporated which is a 501c3 organization that includes Coastal Carolina Clay Guild. Brian began teaching at Orange Street Pottery in 2017 and is teaching there currently.

Judy started painting while living in Peru, SA, at the age of 26.  That was over 40 years ago.

Upon returning to the USA, Judy worked as an artists’ model, where she met established artists, who critiqued her art.  This was invaluable. She was taught how to “see” color, composition and expression.  Her quest to learn more gave her the incentive to enroll at the University of Maryland for a second BA, in Studio Arts.

Ms. Hintz Cox resigned from her Psychiatric RN career to pursue art full time in 1999.  For the past 20 years, Judy has developed a unique style as an abstract minimalist.

She has exhibited extensively throughout the USA.

Artist’s Statement

Picture a blank canvas. Prior to beginning a new painting, I sit and stare at a blank canvas.  My attempt is to empty my mind.  I have no preconceived image.  After some time, I stand in front of the canvas and apply paint. The process has begun. I step back to view the canvas and take my cues from what I see.

I am interested in conveying spaciousness. I believe there is infinite space within each of us.  It is that place of stillness which brings joy. The spaciousness I attempt in my art is meant to be a reminder of possibilities, not necessarily a sense of joy.

When painting, one canvas leads to another and each is an attempt to reach my ongoing quest. When “caught up” in the mental exercise of self-validation, the painting suffers. Therefore, I attempt to let go of thoughts.

I don’t expect viewers to respond to my work the same way I do.  If any emotion is felt while looking at my work, that is enough.

American artist, Bradley Carter, is an award winning, international selling artist who grew up pursuing his passion for art in Virginia prior to moving to North Carolina in 2007. He predominately works in the medium of painting with his passion in Abstract Expressionism, but his works also include collage, paint skins, and furniture.

Bradley completed his BFA in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002. He is active in both local and national juried shows. He is active in regional Art associations and past curator of Abstract Expressionism on Fine Art America (FAA). Bradley currently has work in Eclipse Artisan Boutique, Art in Bloom Gallery, The George on the River Walk, and Port City Mortgage in Wilmington. His work can be seen on ABC’s Secrets and Lies, Season One. He currently resides in Wilmington, NC.

Actor, singer, and glass artist, Richard Bunting has shown his glass art in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Ohio.  He has created and refined his performing art for over 35 years and his glass art for over 16 years.

Richard writes, “Dancing with molten glass is like dancing with a great (but HOT) partner.  As a singer, actor, dancer, director the last four decades, glass blowing fits as a theatrical experience.”

Debra Bucci is known for her vibrant and engaging floral paintings.

Dynamic color palettes, moving compositions and translucency from layering oils all work together to enhance the depth and bring Debra’s art to life. Her inspiration comes from the high’s and low’s of the  human experience and believes this tension makes the art connectable. Her style is rooted in realism and woven with abstract elements.

Debra is a published illustrator and has achieved success as a licensed fine artist. Her art has been featured in Plow & Hearth magazine and can be found on ArtNeedlepoint.com. She has public and private collectors throughout the US including Savorez Restaurant and Wilmington Magazine. She is an anchor artist at Art in Bloom Gallery and is showing work at The Cameron Art Museum. She recently had a show at The District Kitchen & Cocktails and has exhibited at the Wilmington International Airport.

Debbie has a BFA in Design from Drexel University where she studied oil painting and enjoyed a corporate career in Package Design. She has recently moved to Wilmington, NC with her husband “Art” and dog “T-Bone”.

Bob Bryden’s work exists comfortably within the traditions of minimalism and optical art. Utilizing the simple elements of point, line and plane he creates abstract images which are highly structured and concise while at the same time are optically active and visually illusive. The perceptual experience of his work involves the interaction of seeing and understanding and is directly related to how vision functions.

Bob Bryden grew up in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. He is a graduate of Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. He went on to do graduate work in South Asian art history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His desire for a greater involvement with creative arts lead to Kentucky and graduate work at the University of Louisville where he received a Masters Degree in Art with a concentration in printmaking. In addition to art he has worked primarily in graphic design and commercial printing. Today he pursues his creative endeavors in his swamp side home/studio in Wilmington, NC.

View more of Bob’s work at: www.bobbrydenart.com