Current Exhibits
View the 2025 Gallery Show Schedule!
New Work by Jo Ann Alford & Elizabeth Darrow
Art in Bloom Gallery is celebrating the artistic careers of gallery artist Elizabeth Darrow & guest artist Jo Ann Alford through their collaborative exhibit, “Wrapping It Up.” After pursuing a variety of artistic approaches, these lifelong artists & friends are coming together to embrace the strengths of shape, pattern and collage. Whether by layering wrapping paper over oil backgrounds, or building abstract scenes from a single paper element, both artists allow their pieces to emerge intuitively from their creative processes. So even if Jo Ann & Elizabeth are moving closer to “wrapping up” their artistic journeys … their ever innovating work will continue to develop and inspire!
Join us in the gallery on Sunday, August 3rd, 2-5pm for the Artist Reception. Enjoy special refreshments, meet our artists, and enjoy live music by Robert Beauchene!
Click here to preview the work for this show!
About the Artists
From weaving to watercolor, multimedia artist, adventurer & educator Jo Ann Alford continues to pursue her independent path. After studying fiber arts and calligraphy in the West Coast, Jo Ann returned to North Carolina to expand both her own creativity and the world views of her students. Though she finds herself more “settled” now in retirement, Jo Ann still has a wanderlust for life, within and outside of herself. She is currently focusing on nonobjective collage to offer a more open, personal invitation of her work.
About the series, Jo Ann says, “The first element that is adhered to the paper is a catalyst and may disappear as I respond to the lines, shapes, colors, textures, and negative space. As I travel across the surface, I enjoy the surprises that occur during the process. I’m always eager to see where my artistic journey will lead me.”
Multimedia painter Elizabeth Darrow has made Wilmington her home since 1977. Elizabeth has worked in oil and collage throughout her career, exploring a variety of abstract & figurative styles depending on her medium, but never works “from life” in the traditional sense. Most of the imagery that comes to her seems to hatch of its own accord, emerging from the process. Says Elizabeth about her newest works, “I enjoy playing with color and shapes and patterns, and watching their interplay … watching them take on a life of their own. It’s a magical process.”
In this exhibit, Elizabeth has incorporated patterns found in wrapping paper, and juxtaposed them with each other against a background of oil paint and gestural drawing to create something altogether new. “That may be why the show is called ‘Wrapping It Up’… Or maybe it’s because we’re wrapping up our artistic careers (a process that could take years)… Either way, it’s always fun to play and see what happens.”
Angela Rowe “Peaches, Eagle Island” Oil on canvas, 30” x 24” x .75”
Art in Bloom Gallery is collaborating with Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts to present the oil paintings of Angela Rowe! Discover Angela’s realistic foods, animals and landscapes across the 2nd Floor Lobby and Ruth & Bucky Stein Theatre.
The exhibit will be open Monday – Friday from 12-5pm, June 26 – August 27rd, as well as most evenings and via tours at 310 Chestnut St.
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.
About the Oils
Angela primarily works as a painter in oil, focusing on a representational approach. Regardless of the medium, all of Angela’s creations share the same intention of portraying things which are more than they superficially seem. Angela wants to suggest a story, show a certain light, a moment, a mood, a shared memory. She takes her own reference photos. These are images which said something to her.
Angela likes to work in multiples and within themed series as this allows her 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 Angela 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 Angela is 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.
Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts
310 Chestnut Street, Wilmington, NC 28401
Join us in celebrating our partnership between Red Arrays Light Therapy Spa, Debra Bucci Fine Art and Art in Bloom Gallery!
Red Arrays Light Therapy is a locally owned and operated red light therapy spa located directly beside Art in Bloom Gallery in the Mayfaire Shopping Center. This woman owned spa invited Debra to create and display a selection of paintings in reds, pinks, or grayscale tones. The paintings are for sale and can viewed in the spa and online.
Red Arrays Light Therapy Spa
980 Inspiration Dr, Wilmington, NC 28405
Stoneware Pottery & Raku Ware by Traudi Thornton
Art in Bloom Gallery and the Estate of Traudi Thornton are pleased to continue to represent the work of late master ceramicist and artist Traudi Thornton (1940-2023). The gallery will offer works of Traudi’s functional stoneware pottery as well as her unique raku ware. Traudi continues her unique presence at Art in Bloom Gallery, where she participated in exhibits and sales beginning in 2015.
Join us in celebrating our partnership between True Blue Butcher & Table Restaurant, Debra Bucci Fine Art and Art in Bloom Gallery!
True Blue, a local restaurant in Wilmington, NC, invited Debra to create and display a collection of her large abstract art in their dining room. The paintings are for sale and can viewed in the restaurant and online.
True Blue Butcher and Table Restaurant
1125 Military Cutoff Road, Wilmington, NC 28405