Painting

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.

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.

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.

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.

More of his works can be found on his website.

Jessie Robertson is a multimedia artist who creates equally scientific and inviting depictions of animals. Jessie’s best known for her focus on frogs, which alongside art has been her lifelong passion. By painting and sculpting the diverse species she researches, Jessie works to promote their conservation.

Jessie donates 10% of her sales to the international amphibian conservation organization SAVE THE FROGS!.

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 powerful movements and adaptions, amazes me. That’s what’s inspired me to capture their diversity through art. However, this passion took on a much greater meaning when I discovered the international frog conservation organization SAVE THE FROGS! In 2012, and learned of the enormous threats that frog species face. Of the more than 7,000 known species of frogs and toads, it is estimated that over 70% are in decline, with roughly 1/3 of all amphibian species in danger of extinction by 2050.

Ever since, I’ve been determined to use my art to help. By combining painting, sculpture, and infographics to present frog species’ stories, I hope to spread awareness of the overwhelming threats they face. By sharing my art at Art in Bloom Gallery, I work to raise funds for their global conservation. And by expressing the beauty I’ve always seen in frogs, I hope to encourage viewers to love them as well. The tragedy of frogs’ dramatic declines is that every threat they face, from climate change to infectious disease, is human caused. But that’s exactly why I have so much hope that we can work together to save them. Frogs are our friends, and I hope we can learn to be better friends to them.

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. While continuing her education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Jessie worked as a gallery assistant and filmmaker at Art in Bloom Gallery, where her work is represented. Now, having graduated from UNCW with bachelor’s degrees in Studio Art and Digital Arts in 2023, she continues to explore artwork through painting, sculpture, and digital multimedia. 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://jrfrogs.com/

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.”

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.

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

Dynamic color palettes, moving compositions and diversity in applications 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 also been the poster artist for The American Craft Walk in Wilmington for 8 years. 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.  She is honored to be the only artist to continually show at True Blue Butcher & Table for the past 3 years. In addition to the Art in Bloom Gallery, she can be found at The Orange Street Festival and the Arboretum Show in Wilmington.

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