Past Exhibits

Gayle Tustin’s upcoming exhibit “Ceramic Vessel Sculpture & Mixed Media Art” features her most recent red earthenware vessel sculptures using terra sigillata with oxide patinas, along with mixed media on painter’s canvases. “Tustin finds inspiration from her environment, long walks, dreams, and sketches from traveling. Books, conversations, trash treasures picked up from the street, gesture sketches, antique stores, and swimming are other sources. Sometimes her ideas are planned out in the sketchbook, but more often her process represents a spontaneous flow.”

Gayle works out of her home studio and has been a fixture in the Wilmington arts scene for 30 years. She is one of the original founders of No Boundaries International Art Colony that happens annually on Bald Head Island.

Click here to preview the work that will be available during her show.

About the Artist

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, read “Freedom, Fluidity, and Flow: The Life and Work of Gayle Tustin” by Fritts Causby in Wrightsville Beach Magazine, September 2023.

On view along with this exhibit will be “Poet’s Garden: New Paintings by Helen Mirkil” and “Intentional Camera Movement (ICM): Photography by Robert Beauchene”. These new shows by our featured artists will be on view from October 5 – November 19, 2023, with an opening reception on Sunday, October 8th, from 2-5pm featuring live music by solo jazz guitar, Roger Davis!

 

Helen Mirkil’s upcoming exhibit “Poet’s Garden”features her newest paintings inspired by the artwork of her sons and grandchildren. Helen’s ‘conversations with art’ honor the works they adapt while visualizing her relationships with her family. Helen sees her creativity as a gift and an outlet, and uses art and poetry to express what inspires or weighs on her soul. Helen Mirkil moved from the Philadelphia suburbs to Wilmington in 2019. Along with their spacious studios at the ArtWorks, she and her husband have established roots in NC and enjoy being near her children and their families.

Helen will also be hosting an Artist Talk on Sunday, October 22 as well as a Poetry Reading on Sunday, November 12.  Stay tuned for more details and times!

Click here to preview the work that will be available during her show. 

About the Artist

Helen Mirkil moved from the Philadelphia suburbs to Wilmington in 2019. Along with their spacious studios at theArtWorks she and her husband are sinking down roots in North Carolina and enjoying being near her children and their families. Helen is a Certificate/BFA recipient from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Pafa) and the University of Pennsylvania. At Pafa she also completed an MFA.

Helen was awarded a British American Travel Grant from the Wales/Philadelphia Exchange for a two-month residency. Her Penllyn Series landscapes were exhibited at Walter Wickiser Gallery in NYC. Landscape painting also earned her the Valerie Lamb Smith Painting Residency as well as being twice awarded first prize in the Scenes of the Schuylkill Exhibition.

Works by Helen can be seen at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in NYC, Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Bryn Mawr College Library Collection, James A. Michener Art Museum, Villanova University Art Collection, University of Mary Washington Galleries, Monmouth Comprehensive School in Wales, U.K., Teaching Collection of PAFA, and Woodmere Art Museum.

On view along with this exhibit will be “Intentional Camera Movement (ICM): Photography by Robert Beauchene” and “Ceramic Vessel Sculpture & Mixed Media Art by Gayle Tustin”.   These new shows by our featured artists will be on view from October 5 – November 19, 2023, with an opening reception on Sunday, October 8th, from 2-5pm featuring live music by solo jazz guitar, Roger Davis!

 

 

The gallery is excited to show new work by photographer, Robert Beauchene, in the upcoming exhibit “Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)”

Unlike many ICM photographers who choose to retain the recognizable forms and subjects of their photos – simply “blurring” fairly traditional subjects (like landscapes, wildlife, portraits and street scenes), Robert Beauchene centers his attention on light – it’s shape, tone, texture and intensity. The results of this approach are images that are often absent of any recognizable form but are full of interesting lines, colors and patterns. Think abstract expressionist painting – but with a camera.  As with any photographic technique, Beauchene utilizes light, location, camera settings, etc. to intentionally arrive at a pre-conceived “vision”. In other words, these photos are not “accidents” – they are the result of careful planning and the precise use of the tools at hand. All of his images are created in camera with very little, if any, post processing or digital manipulation of any kind.

On view along with this exhibit will be “Poet’s Garden: New Paintings by Helen Mirkil” and “Ceramic Vessel Sculpture & Mixed Media Art by Gayle Tustin”.   These new shows by our featured artists will be on view from October 5 – November 19, 2023, with an opening reception on Sunday, October 8th, from 2-5pm featuring live music by solo jazz guitar, Roger Davis!

Click here to preview the work that will be available during his show. 

About the Artist

Robert Beauchene is a lifelong photographer and musician originally from Poughkeepsie, NY. His black & white work can be seen throughout the area under the brand CAPE FEAR NOIR and his abstract work has received international recognition. He also builds custom furniture! He lives in Wilmington with his wife, Polly. 

 

 

 

Join us for a look at the new work of Wilmington’s own, Elizabeth Darrow. “On the Road to Find Out” will feature a selection of work fresh out of the artist’s studio.  The art includes Elizabeth’s figurative work and abstract expressionist works.

Elizabeth Darrow has made Wilmington her home since 1977. She works in a variety of styles depending on her medium, but usually does not work “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. Darrow enjoys working with color, repeating patterns and embedding humor (and angst) into her work. Each piece takes her on a journey of discovery where she hopes to lose herself to the process.

Click here to view the brand new work in this exhibit! 

On view along with this exhibit is our featured photography show with new work by Allison Bowman. These new shows will be on view from May 25 – July 2, 2023, with an opening reception on Thursday, June 1st  from 5-8pm featuring live music by violinist, Shirley Lebo.

 

“Cape Fear’s Ocean Dwellers” is a showcase of impactful photography by, Allison Bowman, whose work tells the stories of some of the ocean dwelling creatures in the waters around Cape Fear.  From sleeping loggerhead turtles wintering in ship wrecks to the local art of sunrise wave chasing, Allison presents a body of photography printed on metal depicting the habits of “Cape Fear’s Ocean Dwellers”.

On view along with this exhibit is our feature show “On the Road to Find Out: New Art by Elizabeth Darrow”. These new shows will be on view from May 25 – July 2, 2023, with an opening reception on Thursday, June 1st  from 5-8pm.

 

“Revisiting” by guest photographer,  Jennifer Mace, is a brand new body of silver gelatin prints reflecting on the artist’s past.  This collection of images serves as symbols of Jennifer’ life. They represent locations, events and experiences from her world that have been embedded in her mind. They are reminders of  happy times. Working on this collection of work allowed Jennifer to separate the stress of her daily life and find a new path for her artwork.

On view along with this exhibit is a special exhibit, “Dorothy Gillespie Art – A Celebration”. These new shows will be on view from July 6 – August 13, 2023, with an opening reception on Thursday, July 6th  from 5-8pm featuring live music by solo jazz guitar, Roger Davis!

About the Photographer
Jennifer received her BFA in Photography from Colorado State University in 1994 and my MFA in Photography from James Madison University in 2003. She moved to Wilmington in the summer of 2008 where she’s been teaching photography at Cape Fear Community College. Over the years  Jennifer has created several different bodies of work. She work with the film process and digital photography just as often. In the last decade as there are advances with technology, she find herself turning away from that progress. This collection of images was shot with medium format black and white film.

Hearts & Souls is Jeri Greenberg’s newest body of work featuring her amazing pastel paintings.

Click here to preview  some of the work that will be on view and for sale.

On view along with this exhibit will be the “Ceramic Creations: Featuring Brian Evans and Dianne Evans”, accompanied by our photography feature, David Norris.  These new shows will be on view from August 17 – October 1, 2023, with an opening reception on Sunday, August 20th, from 2-5pm featuring live music by solo jazz guitar, Roger Davis!

About the Artist

After many years as a fashion illustrator and sportswear designer, Jeri Greenberg turned her love of graphic design and color into a new and exciting “next act”, working as a full-time painter and teacher.

Feeling that “Pastels are an immediate tool to express feelings” and the perfect medium in which to “Make the Ordinary, Extraordinary”,  Jeri works to tell stories in her work enabling her to draw the viewer in . With her background in illustration, Jeri helps her students get a strongly drawn foundation down behind their color work.

Jeri loves painting still lifes, urban interiors, figures and fabrics, and the occasional landscape as well. Recently relocated, Jeri teaches weekly classes at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington NC, and holds demos and workshops around the country, as well as jurying national and international pastel exhibits.

Debra Bucci is known for her vibrant and engaging floral and abstract 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 has showing work at The Cameron Art Museum. She currently has paintings on sale at True Blue Butcher & Table Restaurant and has exhibited at the Wilmington International Airport.

Debra 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”.

On view along with this exhibit is our featured photography show “Interconnected” with new work by Barbara Snyder.  These new shows will be on view from April 13 – May 21, 2023, with an opening reception on Thursday, April 13th  from 5-8pm.

Click here for a preview of the work that will appear in this exhibit! 

This new exhibit celebrates the 3 dimensional ceramic work art of Brian Evans and Dianne Evans.

Click here to view the work that is available.

On view along with this exhibit we will be also featuring the new exhibit “Hearts & Souls: Pastel Paintings by  Jeri Greenberg“   accompanied by our photography feature, David Norris.  These new shows will be on view from August 17 – October 1, 2023, with an opening reception on Sunday, August 20th, from 2-5pm featuring live music by solo jazz guitar, Roger Davis!

About the Artists

Brian Evans‘ work conveys inspiration that he finds in his surroundings. Sometimes something as simple as the blade of a saw or a bellows used to blow on a fire can inspire an entire series of work. This body of work conveys simple found objects that inspire minimal or complex linear forms. Brian Evans was born in Beaufort, SC, but was raised in Western Pennsylvania.  He graduated in 1993 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Studio Art.  He moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 1995.  He studied 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,  Hiroshi Sueyoshi. Brian is currently serving as President of the Coastal Carolina Clay Guild.

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.

David Norris has been a long time Art in Bloom Gallery artist whose work continuously evolves.  From his earlier monoprints, engravings, drawings, watercolors to his most recently painted oil on canvas.  David loves to experiment with multiple processes but has almost always worked from the photographs he has taken of landscapes and place, which serve as his muse.

Stay tuned to preview the work that will be available.

On view along with this exhibit will be “Hearts & Souls: Pastel Paintings by  Jeri Greenberg“  along with “Ceramic Creations: Featuring Brian Evans & Dianne Evans”.  These new shows will be on view from August 17 – October 1, 2023, with an opening reception on Sunday, August 20th, from 2-5pm featuring live music by solo jazz guitar, Roger Davis!

About the Artist

Wilmington artist, David A. Norris, has a BFA degree from the East Carolina University School of Art.  Long settled in the Port City, he finds the historic atmosphere of Wilmington and the natural beauty of the Cape Fear River and the coast provide limitless sources of artistic inspiration.

Most of David’s work reflects the landscapes of the places where he has lived or visited.  Through his interest in art history, his work has absorbed influences such as English watercolors, 19^th century engravings, Japanese woodblock prints, Dutch Baroque landscapes, and Van Gogh’s reed pen drawings.

 

In collaboration with The Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation, Art in Bloom Gallery is pleased to present the work of, painter, sculptor and installation artist, Dorothy M. Gillespie (1920-2012), in a special exhibit of her work.

Wilmington celebrates the legacy of artist & activist, Dorothy Gillespie, in collaboration with The Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation. Gillespie had close ties in Wilmington through a long-time friendship with Thalian Hall’s, Tony Rivenbark, who worked as her studio assistant in the 1970s. Rivenbark brought Gillespie and her art to the Cape Fear Region. Gillespie’s legacy lives on in Wilmington and the additional public venues showcasing Gillespie’s art, including the Cameron Art Museum, the New Hanover County Arboretum, Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Cape Fear Community College’s Wilma W. Daniels Gallery and the Wilson Center, and UNCW’s CAB Gallery.

The Foundation proudly presents the works and history of the 20th century American Artist, Dorothy Gillespie, which included abstract expressionism, decorative abstraction, site-specific installations, the women’s movement and art in public spaces. She was a pioneer in the new directions of metal sculpture and best known for large-scale, highly colorful painted arrangements of cut aluminum with enamel strips radiating, undulating, or curling in giant arrangements of ribbon, enchanted towers, and even the burst of fireworks piece. Dorothy Gillespie is well known as a painter, sculptor and installation artist whose work incorporated many significant 20th-century trends in art.

Click here to preview the work on view at Art in Bloom Gallery from July 6 – August 13.

Click here to view our DG Interactive Brochure featuring Dorothy Gillespie’s permanent art in public places around Wilmington!

Click here to download our List of Current, Temporary Exhibits featuring Dorothy Gillespie’s art in public places around Wilmington!

About the Artist

Dorothy Gillespie (1920-2012, American) was a painter and sculptor born in Roanoke, VA. She enjoyed an artistic career that spanned over 70 years before her death at 92. She studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art, MD then moved to New York City in 1943 where she studied at the Art Students League of New York and Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17.

Gillespie was also an important player in the women’s art movement. Known for her tremendous output of colorful, joyful sculptural art, she was among those who helped blaze a path for women artists during the feminist art movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Always experimenting and trying new materials and techniques, Gillespie mastered many mediums, including painting, paper, sculpture, printmaking, environment and happenings, ceramics, jewelry and set designs.

As a painter, sculptor and installation artist, Gillespie’s art encompasses many significant 20th Century trends in art, including abstract expressionism, decorative abstraction, site-specific installation, the women’s movement, and art in public spaces.

Education was always very important to Dorothy Gillespie, and during her life she visited over 50 colleges and universities where she gave public lectures, coached and taught young artists. She was a Distinguished Professor of Art, Radford University, and a Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellow for many years. In 1990 she was recognized for her commitment to education when she received a Doctor of Pedagogy, Niagara University.

Dorothy Gillespie is the subject of numerous reviews, scholarly articles, television and radio interviews and the book Dorothy Gillespie.

This selection on view, and for sale, is organized and sponsored by The Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation. The work is directly from the late artist’s studio located in Narrowsburg, NY.  The Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation fosters the legacy of Dorothy Gillespie’s life and work. The Foundation supports artists, initiatives, and institutions that embody the same innovative, inclusive multidisciplinary approach that Dorothy Gillespie exemplified in both her art and philanthropic endeavors.

Visit The Foundation’s website for more in depth information on the artist and her larger than life works of art.

 

In April, we welcome a new photography show “Interconnected” with new work by Barbara Snyder.

Barbara states that “There is often a commonality in what we think of as our individual past.  As a lens- based artist, I seek to reposition my past as an operative with a broader context. In exploring its impact, both active and benign, memory becomes metaphorical and ritualistic. I strive for my images and assemblages to provoke, engage, and inform a universal memory with influences of contemporary life, reinventing the narrative of the stories and rituals which continue to live on with a deeper, broader, context than the obvious. These new works referencing strength are being influenced by the interconnectedness of the natural world.”

Barbara Snyder is a self-educated lens-based artist, working with digital, film and alternative processes. She has shown nationally and internationally and was a recipient of the 2014 and 2017 North Carolina Regional Artists Grant. Snyder lives and works in Wilmington, North Carolina.

On view along with this exhibit is our featured painter, Debra Bucci.  These new shows will be on view from April 13 – May 21, 2023, with an opening reception on Thursday, April 13th  from 5-8pm.

Click here for a preview of the work that will appear in this exhibit! 

“Bold and Bright” is our newest exhibit with fresh new works by long-time gallery artists, Mark Gansor and Gale Smith.  Mark is a landscape painter using impasto surfaces to capture fleeting moments caught in the light. His works are playful and full of color!  Complimenting Mark’s paintings are the sculptural metal works by, mixed media artist, Gale Smith. Gale’s work in this exhibit is about the transformation of sheets of copper into complex assemblages that create a distinctive visual impact while allowing the intrinsic beauty of the metal to shine through.  Vibrant colours dance across the copper pieces and create abstract geometrical shapes.  These intricate works contain rich textures and reveal extraordinary manifestations of colour and formations.

On view along with this exhibit is Monochrome Moments: A Photographic Glimpse into Nature by Tim Smith. These new shows will be on view from January 12 – February 26, 2023, with an opening reception on Thursday, January 12th from 5-8pm.

Click here for a preview of the work that will appear in this exhibit! 

About the Artists

Mark Gansor is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Out of several decades of work as a decorative finisher and classical musician, Mark Gansor’s career as a painter was born. Entirely self- taught he is now secure enough to tell people that he is an artist. He works in acrylics thickly applied to the

canvas with knives, fingers, and occasionally brushes.  Since moving to Wilmington five years ago he has been caught up in the artistic vibe of the city, and the historical structures, nature, and the downtown all figure in his work. He has painted or restored original work in several structures on the National Registry which have added to his love of all things old or unusual. The beautiful old churches speak to him, bringing his love of sacred music and the pipe organ back time and time again.  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 Director of Music Ministries at St Andrews Covenant Presbyterian Church in downtown Wilmington.  Mark Gansor is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Having studied at UNC Chapel Hill, Gale Smith considers painting as an ongoing study.  She 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.

“Monochrome Moments: A Photographic Glimpse into Nature” is a new exhibit by photographer, Tim Smith.  Tim’s images, shown here in black/white, illustrate a keen interest in light and composition. His visual voice is often one of quiet reflection and introspection. He is skilled enough to give the viewer those same emotions.  His talents have convinced local and regional photo editors as well as the movie industry to use his photographs on their magazine covers, TV shows and movies, often as light-hearted and beautiful scenes. ~Jerry Blow, AIAP, Raleigh, NC

On view along with this exhibit is Bold and Bright: New Work by Mark Gansor & Gale Smith. These new shows will be on view from January 12 – February 26, 2023, with an opening reception on Thursday, January 12th from 5-8pm.

Click here for a preview of the work that will appear in this exhibit! 

About the Artist

Tim Smith, a native North Carolinian, is one of those rare people who has known his direction in life from childhood.  As the provocative writer, Henry Miller, said: “The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.”  Tim’s personal photographic direction in life has been to give close attention to and to photograph his world. His interest began around the age of 8 after becoming fascinated with his uncle’s Polaroid camera.  He completed his first formal photography course during high school in Asheboro, NC where he contributed many photographs for his yearbook.  After that came a photography degree from Randolph Community College and then six years with the NC National Guard as a photographer. He has continued his photographic journey as a fine art photographer while living in the Wilmington area over the past four decades.

“Moments: Photography by Carlos Flores” on view in the gallery from December 4^th until January 8, 2023. Carlos states that “Life is nothing but an infinite number of moments that are in constant motion. Unfortunately, it’s quite impossible to remember it all. My camera is my greatest tool because with it I’m able to collect and store passing moments that become memories to later reminisce. It gives me great honor to share those with you. Moments.”

Carlos Flores is a contemporary photographer and filmmaker who was born in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States at the early age of two. In 2017, he discovered his passion for film photography. Ever since then, Carlos has been passionate about capturing moments to show the world what he sees through his lens.

Click here for a preview of the work that will appear in this exhibit! 

His photography has been displayed at The ArtWorks Gallery Verrazzano, Gravity Records, Leland Cultural Arts Center, Leland Town Hall, Arts on Fire, and Art in Bloom Gallery.

Gallery events are always free and open to the public. On view along with these exhibits, Art in Bloom Gallery showcases a plethora of fine art of over local 30 artists.  The gallery is open Monday – Saturday 10am – 6pm and Sunday 12-6pm and is now located in Mayfaire Town Center at 6866 Main Street in Wilmington, NC.

 

Collaborating with Nature investigates the intricate fiber art pieces created by Rebecca Yeomans. Rebecca’s current work combines botanical printing, knitting, and stitching with a painterly feel. She is a full-time artist residing with her family in Wilmington, N.C.

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.

Join us in the gallery on Thursday, November 10^th from 5-8pm for a special Opening Reception for this body of work! On view along with this exhibit is Art Made with Light: Photograms by Melissa Wilgis.

Click here for a preview of the work that will appear in this exhibit! 

About the Process

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 Made with Light is a new collection of cyanotypes by photographer, Melissa Wilgis. Melissa is a fine art photographer specializing in photograms. Her cyanotypes on silver gelatin are a three-step process that requires thoughtful planning and time spent both in a traditional darkroom and outside under the sun. For this body of work, sea whips gathered from local beaches are combined with seashell x-rays and other collected items to create images that are eye-catching and unique.

Join us in the gallery on Thursday, November 10^th from 5-8pm for a special Opening Reception for this body of work! On view along with this exhibit is Collaborating with Nature: Fiber Art by Rebecca Yeomans”.

Click here for a preview of the work that will appear in this exhibit! 

About the Artist

I’m a fine art photographer specializing in photograms.  I made my first photogram in 1986 in Mr. Fecik’s photography class at Boardman High School.  I don’t recall the specifics, but I’m fairly certain a clear cassette tape was involved.  At the time, making photograms was simply a way to learn my way around the darkroom.  It taught me how to use an enlarger and what the various chemicals do.  Leaving photograms behind, I pursued photojournalism throughout high school and college.  After graduating with a BA in English from NC State University, I started working for a branch of Eastman Kodak called Qualex.  I was in tech support, helping one-hour-photo lab operators fix their problems via telephone.  Over the next several years, I moved further away from photography and became further entrenched in corporate America.  I finally came to my senses and left that world.  I found some film photography classes at the local community college and took a few to get back into the swing of things. Soon I started working there as the darkroom assistant.  Four years later I became pregnant with my daughter and left my job at the community college to focus on being a mom.  When my daughter was about a year old, my husband completed the darkroom in our garage.  The baby-monitor picked-up a signal out there, so I was able to go into the darkroom during naptime, in addition to occasional evenings and weekends.  Making photograms gained traction for me during this time because it was photography I could do without wandering too far from my young daughter.  She was and still is my regular, full-time job.

I initially began making photograms using what I refer to as my “critters”; seahorses, crabs, butterflies, dragonflies, sea whips, wildflowers and other found curiosities.  My husband works in marine biology and helps me gather specimens.  No animals are ever harmed—they’re gathered after they’ve passed.  One day my husband came home with a deceased baby stingray.  He had been out in the field and noticed some fishermen getting ready to toss it back.  He asked if he could have the ray and they agreed.  So, the joke now is that it’s all fine and good if your husband brings you flowers.  But it’s exciting if he brings you a dead baby stingray.  Eventually, I knew I needed to expand my photogram creations beyond critters.  I’m a thrift store junky and made it a priority to search out photogrammable objects at the charity shops.  I’m drawn to antique garments, lace, and glass baubles.  My photogram compositions are simple.  This simplicity allows the viewer to find their own story, be it politics, feminism, gender, sexuality, body-image, materialism, culture, economy, history, family or simply nostalgia.  To me, they’re first and foremost, a reminder to always try to see things in a different light.

“Pursuit of Joy: Paintings by Debra Bucci + Bradley Carter” is an exhibit featuring two artist’s individual search for creative freedom through brush, canvas, and paint. This exhibit will be the first featured artist show to enliven the walls of the new gallery space, located in Mayfaire Town Center.

Join us in the gallery on Monday, September 19th from 5-8pm for a special Opening & Reception for this exhibit of work!  On view along with this exhibit is Restaurants + Art, a joint project, celebrating Wilmington’s restaurant scene, with pastel paintings by artist, Jeri Greenberg.

Click here to for a preview the work in this exhibit.

About the Artists 

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.

American Artist, Bradley Carter, is an award winning, international selling artist who grew up pursuing his passion for art in Virginia before moving to the North Carolina in 2007, where he currently resides in Wilmington, NC. He predominately works in the medium of painting with his passion in Abstract Expressionism.

 

Restaurants + Art is a joint project, celebrating Wilmington’s restaurant scene, with pastel paintings by artist, Jeri Greenberg.  This project is in collaboration with Art in Bloom Gallery, MoMentum Companies, and a delectable selection of restaurants and cafes in our community.

The purpose of the project is to celebrate and support our many different restaurants and cafes in our wonderful city through visual art. Participating restaurants include: Restaurants include: The Cafe at Cameron Art Museum (CAM Cafe), Elijah’s, Floriana, S & L Deli, Quanto Basta, Tarantelli’s, The Basics, The Green House, White Front, Winnie’s Tavern, along with others.  A portion of art sales will benefit NourishNC. NourishNC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to “Provide healthy food to hungry children, empowering them to succeed in the classroom and in their community.”

Join us in the gallery on Monday, September 19th from 5-8pm for a special Opening & Reception for this exhibit of work!  Along with this exhibit, our featured show is “Pursuit of Joy: Paintings by Debra Bucci + Bradley Carter“ Exhibit featuring the work of 2 exquisite painters.

About the Artist

After many years as a fashion illustrator and sportswear designer, Jeri Greenberg turned her love of graphic design and color into a new and exciting “next act”, working as a full-time painter and teacher.

Feeling that “Pastels are an immediate tool to express feelings” and the perfect medium in which to “Make the Ordinary, Extraordinary”,  Jeri works to tell stories in her work enabling her to draw the viewer in . With her background in illustration, Jeri helps her students get a strongly drawn foundation down behind their color work.

Jeri loves painting still lifes, urban interiors, figures and fabrics, and the occasional landscape as well. Recently relocated, Jeri teaches weekly classes at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington NC, and holds demos and workshops around the country, as well as jurying national and international pastel exhibits.

 

Art in Bloom Gallery is celebrating our artists with a brand-new exhibit, Making A Move: New Art Featuring Art in Bloom Gallery Artists, at our new location in Mayfaire Town Center. The Gallery is pleased to present the work of our featured artists showcasing an abundance of creativity with a feast your eyes.

The gallery presents an eclectic mix of original, traditional, and contemporary works of art, represents over 30 artists, many of which are local to the Wilmington area. Our offerings include fine art paintings, functional and decorative ceramics, jewelry, fiber art, blown glass, photography, mixed media art, limited-edition prints and more!

Click here to view the art on view in the gallery!

Featured artists include:  Bradley Carter (painting), Debra Bucci (painting), Richard Bunting (blown glass), Judy Hintz Cox (abstract painter), Karen Paden Crouch (sculpture), Elizabeth Darrow (painting), Brian Evans (ceramics), Dianne Evans (ceramics), Susan Francy (photographer), Mark Gansor (painter), Joanne Geisel (painting), Jeri Greenberg (pastel artist), Curtis Krueger (photographer), Dave Klinger (photography),   Joan McLoughlin (painting), David Norris (printmaker),  Jameka Purdie (jewelry), Jessie Robertson (painter), Gale Smith (painter), Traudi Thornton (ceramics), Gayle Tustin (ceramics), Angela Rowe (painter), Kirah Van Sickle (painter), Roberto Vengoechea (jewelry), among others!

Celebrate with us during our official Grand Opening Event and Reception on Wednesday, August 18^th from 5 until 8pm. Meet our artists, purchase fine art and feast your eyes on the offerings of the gallery during this event.   This opening event will be on view until September 11^th.

“Primordial Lines: Brian Evans & Kirah Van Sickle,” will feature artists working in contemporary ceramics and mixed media art.   These 2 Wilmington based artists are collaborating in this new exhibition. Brian is a ceramic artist who plays with light and shadow on three dimensional surfaces in his functional and decorative pottery.  Kirah’s acrylic and mixed media works explore incorporating found objects and papers with paint glazes.  The show will also feature new ceramic works by Dianne Evans.

Along with this exhibit our photographic exhibit is “Visual INTROspection: Photography by WAZgriffin“. WAZ’s show features images meant to evoke self reflection, challenge the viewer, and inspire an emotional response.

Join us in the gallery on Friday, May 27 from 6-9pm, in downtown Wilmington, as part of the Fourth Friday Gallery Night hosted by the Arts Council of Wilmington for the 2022 Season.  Visit with the artists and purchase original art!  Fourth Fridays Gallery Nights are an after-hours celebration of art and culture. Art-savvy locals and visitors flock to downtown Wilmington galleries for a fun, free, family-friendly experience.

About the Artists

Brian Evans‘ work conveys inspiration that he finds in his surroundings. Sometimes something as simple as the blade of a saw or a bellows used to blow on a fire can inspire an entire series of work. This body of work conveys simple found objects that inspire minimal or complex linear forms. Brian Evans was born in Beaufort, SC, but was raised in Western Pennsylvania.  He graduated in 1993 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Studio Art.  He moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 1995.  He studied 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,  Hiroshi Sueyoshi. Brian is currently serving as President of the Coastal Carolina Clay Guild.

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.

 

Visual INTROspection is WAZ’s first show at Art in Bloom. The show features images meant to evoke self reflection, challenge the viewer, and inspire an emotional response. Some will experience amusement at a gathering of ballerinas, warmth watching a young girl dance on the beach, or amazement at a swarm of bees eight inches long. Whatever the reaction, the desire is that the viewer has enjoyed a moment of contemplation through these images.

WAZgriffin has more than forty years experience as a photographer. A graduate of the University of South Carolina, where he studied photojournalism, television production, and media arts, WAZ has worked both in California and North Carolina as a teacher, teaching computer literacy, photography, and video production. His work has won numerous awards both nationally, locally, and internationally through shows and competitions. He lives in Wilmington, NC.

Along with our photography feature will be the exhibit, “Primordial: Brian Evans& Kirah Van Sickle,” including contemporary ceramic and mixed media art.

Join us in the gallery on Friday, May 27 from 6-9pm, in downtown Wilmington, as part of the Fourth Friday Gallery Night hosted by the Arts Council of Wilmington for the 2022 Season.  Visit with the artists and purchase original art!  Fourth Fridays Gallery Nights are an after-hours celebration of art and culture. Art-savvy locals and visitors flock to downtown Wilmington galleries for a fun, free, family-friendly experience.

“Intimate Interiors: Pastels by Jeri Greenberg & Ceramics by Traudi Thornton” is an exciting new exhibit featuring the colorful work of two very different artists. In addition to her pastel paintings of intimate interiors, Jeri will be featuring several of her newest works from “Restaurants + Art 2022:  Celebrating Wilmington’s Restaurant Scene“, a joint project in collaboration with Art in Bloom Gallery, Terry Espy of MoMentum Companies, and different restaurants and cafes in our community. A portion of art sales from Restaurants + Art 2022 will benefit NourishNC.

After many years as a fashion illustrator and sportswear designer, Jeri Greenberg turned her love of graphic design and color into a new and exciting “next act”, working as a full-time painter and teacher.  Jeri loves painting still lifes, urban interiors, figures and fabrics, and the occasional landscape as well. Recently relocated, Jeri teaches weekly classes at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington NC, and holds demos and workshops around the country, as well as jurying national and international pastel exhibits.

Traudi Thornton is a ceramicist currently showing Raku and Stoneware at Art in Bloom Gallery. She was born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Germany.  Traudi first studied music at Creighton University before studying ceramics with Henry Soreco at Creighton, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and then moving back to Germany.  The artist relocated to Wilmington in 1983.  Additionally, Traudi completed a Raku workshop with Paul Soldner in 1974 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Along with this exhibit our photographic feature will be, “The Water of Life: Photography by Allison Bowman”.

Join us in the gallery on Friday, April 22nd from 6-9pm, in downtown Wilmington, as part of the Fourth Friday Gallery Night hosted by the Arts Council of Wilmington for the 2022 Season.  Visit with the artists and purchase original art!  Fourth Fridays Gallery Nights are an after-hours celebration of art and culture. Art-savvy locals and visitors flock to downtown Wilmington galleries for a fun, free, family-friendly experience.

“The Water of Life: Photography by Allison Bowman” is a showcase of impactful prints created during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Allison’s photography highlights the unique experience we all shared in the isolation. While I lived in the Outer Banks through the course of the pandemic, the manifestations of these experiences seem to be idealized in the forms and relationships I built with the bodies of water around me. Please enjoy “The Water of Life”.

Along with this exhibit “Intimate Interiors: Pastels by Jeri Greenberg & Ceramics by Traudi Thornton” is an exciting new exhibit featuring the colorful work of two very different artists. In addition to her pastel paintings of intimate interiors, Jeri will be featuring several of her newest works from “Restaurants + Art 2022:  Celebrating Wilmington’s Restaurant Scene“, a joint project in collaboration with Art in Bloom Gallery, Terry Espy of MoMentum Companies, and different restaurants and cafes in our community. A portion of art sales from Restaurants + Art 2022 will benefit NourishNC.

Join us in the gallery on Friday, April 22nd from 6-9pm, in downtown Wilmington, as part of the Fourth Friday Gallery Night hosted by the Arts Council of Wilmington for the 2022 Season.  Visit with the artists and purchase original art!  Fourth Fridays Gallery Nights are an after-hours celebration of art and culture. Art-savvy locals and visitors flock to downtown Wilmington galleries for a fun, free, family-friendly experience.

Join us in the gallery on Friday, February 25th from 6-9pm, in downtown Wilmington, as part of the Fourth Friday Gallery Night hosted by the Arts Council of Wilmington for the 2022 Season.  Visit with the artists and purchase original art!  Fourth Fridays Gallery Nights are an after-hours celebration of art and culture. Art-savvy locals and visitors flock to downtown Wilmington galleries for a fun, free, family-friendly experience.

The gallery is open Monday – Thursday 10am-4pm, Friday – Saturday 10am-5pm, and by appointment.   If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S.

The 2021 Holiday Season and Art in Bloom Gallery will celebrate with a rotating exhibit featuring over 30 of Art in Bloom Gallery’s Artists!  Feast your eyes on new work directly out of the artists’ studios. Shop for unique works of art that come with an abundance of creativity, which will bring smiles all year round!  All of our artists are offering fine art under $250.

Along with this exhibit we will feature  “Night: Photography by Jeff Chase”.  Jeff is a photographer and painter who lives in Wilmington, NC.  This body of work continues an ongoing theme…capturing a moment in time gone unnoticed by others.

Featured artists include:  Bradley Carter (painting), Debra Bucci (painting), Richard Bunting (blown glass), Judy Hintz Cox (abstract painter), Karen Paden Crouch (sculpture), Elizabeth Darrow (painting), Brian Evans (ceramics), Dianne Evans (ceramics), Susan Francy (photographer), Mark Gansor (painter), Joanne Geisel (painting), Dumay Gorham (sculpture), Jeri Greenberg (pastel artist), Curtis Krueger (photographer), Dave Klinger (photography), Brooks Koff (stained glass), Helen Lewis (encaustic painter),  Joan McLoughlin (painting), David Norris (printmaker),  Jameka Purdie (jewelry), Jessie Robertson (painter), Gale Smith (painter), Traudi Thornton (ceramics), Gayle Tustin (ceramics), Angela Rowe (painter),  Michael Van Hout (sculpture), Kirah Van Sickle (painter), Roberto Vengoechea (jewelry), among others! 

The exhibit opens on Friday, November 12 and continues through January 9, 2022.

Click here to preview the work that will be featured in this exhibit and sale!

The gallery is open Monday – Friday 10am-4pm; Friday – Saturday 10am-5pm; Sunday 12-4pm and by appointment.  If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S. Art in Bloom also offers complementary gift wrapping.

“Night” features the work of  Jeff Chase, photographer and painter who lives in Wilmington, NC.  This body of work continues an ongoing theme…capturing a moment in time gone unnoticed by others.

Jeff states that “Photography has been a passion for me since I got my first camera at age 6.  It was a Brownie Box Camera which introduced me to the idea of capturing a moment in time which, most likely, no one else saw.  At age 14, I set up my own darkroom and would spend hours trying to edit and perfect what I had seen through the camera’s lens.  In high school and in college I furthered my education by taking all the photography classes available.  Once digital photography became the norm, I continued to advance my skills by learning Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.  These tools have furthered the way photographers can use their photos to “paint” imagery that they saw in their mind’s eye, images that were only imagined while looking through the lens of a camera.   This level of advancement has opened a new world for me, allowing me to not only capture images but also to interpret what I see.  However, after all these years, I am still after the same thing – trying to capture a moment in time that has gone unnoticed by anyone else.  It is truly a passion that will keep me fascinated the rest of my life.”

Along with this exhibit will be the “The Holiday Art Exhibit + Sale”  with over 30 of Art in Bloom Gallery’s Artists!  Feast your eyes on new work directly out of the artists’ studios. Shop for meaningful, original and special gifts of art that will bring smiles all year round!

The gallery is open Monday – Friday 10am-4pm; Friday – Saturday 10am-5pm; Sunday 12-4pm and by appointment.   If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S. Art in Bloom also offers complementary gift wrapping.

Joanne’s love of drawing and painting began as a child. After completing a degree in Art Education, she enjoyed careers in human services and higher education. She received a Masters in Public Administration using her creative skills in program development, marketing and helping others with career and educational goals. Since 2006, Joanne has been a full time artist; painting, teaching, exhibiting and selling  artwork. Her goals in creating oil paintings include capturing the feelings, sights and sounds of her subject. She continues to experiment with texture, edges, brushstrokes, and palette knife and the layering of color to create depth, luminosity and beauty. Joanne is on the faculty of The Cameron Art Museum School, Wilmington, NC, and the Leland Cultural Arts Center and conducts workshops for many organizations.

Along with this exhibit, our featured photography show is “Seeing Art Through the Camera: Joe P. Wiegmann”.  This show features photographs that combine technical and artistic aspects of what he sees through his camera lens.

Join us in the gallery on Friday, January 28th from 6-9pm, in downtown Wilmington, as part of the Fourth Friday Gallery Night hosted by the Arts Council of Wilmington for the 2022 Season.  Visit with the artists and purchase original art!  Fourth Fridays Gallery Nights are an after-hours celebration of art and culture. Art-savvy locals and visitors flock to downtown Wilmington galleries for a fun, free, family-friendly experience.

The gallery is open Monday – Thursday 10am-4pm, Friday – Saturday 10am-5pm, and by appointment.   If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S.

Along with this exhibit is “Unique & Precious: Our Coast’s Irreplaceable Landscapes” featuring the newest paintings of Joanne Geisel, who lives in Wilmington, NC. Joanne began a new series of paintings commenting on how unique our particular geographic area is.  She illustrates this through local coastal scenes and her paintings of Venus Flytraps.

Join us in the gallery on Friday, January 28th from 6-9pm, in downtown Wilmington, as part of the Fourth Friday Gallery Night hosted by the Arts Council of Wilmington for the 2022 Season.  Visit with the artists and purchase original art!  Fourth Fridays Gallery Nights are an after-hours celebration of art and culture. Art-savvy locals and visitors flock to downtown Wilmington galleries for a fun, free, family-friendly experience.

The gallery is open Monday – Thursday 10am-4pm and Friday – Saturday 10am-5pm and by appointment.   If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S. Art in Bloom also offers complementary gift wrapping.

What We Keep is an exhibit with a continuing conversation between two old friends Karen Paden Crouch and Angela Rowe.  Along with this exhibit we will display the work of our photography feature Audrey Kriss Berkowitz.

Events of this past year drew us inside, kept us inside and made us look inside. We have examined our history, our symbols, and what matters most to us when so much of what we considered essential became inaccessible. Evolving from that experience, “What We Keep” is a continuing conversation between two old friends Karen Paden Crouch and Angela Rowe who have relished the blessing of time to make art and make sense of what has sustained us and what we will take with us as we emerge from this complex experience. The work includes individual and collaborative pieces in clay, bronze, paper and canvas.

The exhibit opens on Friday, August 13 and continues through September 19, 2021.

The gallery is open Monday – Thursday 10am-4pm and Friday-Saturday 10am-5pm.  If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S.

Art in Bloom Gallery is delighted to partner with Opera Wilmington to celebrate the production of The Magic Flute Opera.  Harmonious Relationships: Art Inspired by Music celebrates the convergence of music and visual art.  This exhibit will include works of art by artists Debra Bucci, Bradley Carter, Elizabeth Darrow, Helen Lewis, Lori Joy Peterson, Jameka Wrisbon Purdie, Traudi Thornton, and Pam Toll among others.  In addition to this exhibit our photography feature is Gary Allen.

The exhibit opens on Friday, June 25, during Fourth Friday Gallery Night and continues through August 8, 2021.

A portion of art sales from the Opera Wilmington Shop on the Art in Bloom Gallery website will be donated to Opera Wilmington.

Stay tuned for more details and to preview the work that will be featured in the exhibit.

About Opera Wilmington

Founded in ­­­­2013 as the area’s only live, fully staged professional opera company, Opera Wilmington has become a cultural touchstone in the coastal Carolina region. Artistic Director Nancy King, along with a board of dedicated community supporters and devoted opera lovers, envisioned a dynamic company that would provide excellence in operatic performance and education, as well as inspire appreciation of the art form within the Wilmington community and surrounding areas.

To bring this vision to life, Nancy King (a voice/opera professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington) brought together a collaborative artistic team of fellow UNCW faculty members: Assistant Artistic Director and costume designer Mark Sorenson, scenic designer Max Lydy, conductor and chorus master Joe Hickman, and choreographer Nancy Podrasky Carson.

Cast members include nationally emerging singers along with local talent and advanced UNCW students, and the Opera Wilmington Orchestra is composed of UNCW faculty and other professional musicians from across the state.

The gallery is open Monday – Thursday 10am-4pm and Friday – Saturday 10am-5pm.  If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S.

 

Springtime Celebration with New Elements Gallery is a collaboration presenting an eclectic mix of paintings capturing elements of Spring – when life is alive with everything! The artists included that are represented by New Elements Gallery are Kristen Dill, Fritzi Huber, and Sheila Keefe Ortiz.  Art in Bloom Gallery artists include Debra Bucci,  Bradley Carter, Mark Gansor, Laurie Greenbaum Beitch, Jeri Greenberg, Joan McLoughlin, and  Kirah Van Sickle.   In addition to our featured painters, our photography feature is by Nydheri Brown.

The exhibit opens on Friday, March 19 and continues through May 2, 2021.

Click here to preview the work that will be featured in the exhibit.

The gallery is open Monday – Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 11am-4pm.  If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S.

Beauty in Everyday Life: Photography by Nydheri Brown is a photography exhibit in conjunction with Springtime Celebration with New Elements Gallery.

Nydheri Brown is a contemporary multidisciplinary artist based in southeastern North Carolina. Experimenting with different materials and mediums and exploring her interests, Nydheri enhances her ability to see the spectacular and create new things reimagining what inspires her. Being homeschooled allowed her to explore different avenues of creative expression and to experiment with different mediums. She has been featured in several group showings. She is currently enrolled at Cape Fear Community College.

In her artist statement, Nydheri states “I am passionate about creating and exploring art. For as long as I can remember, and certainly before I could articulate it, I have taken a multidisciplinary approach to art. My parents share fond memories of me combining unlikely things to create new textures, colors, and shapes. As an artist, I endeavor to capture the beauty of everyday life. Most people miss the spectacular because they do not slow down to appreciate the beauty surrounding them in real-time; at the moment. I have found that photography is the most accessible way to capture and share the spectacular beauty that draws my eye.”

The exhibit opens on Friday, March 19 and continues through May 2, 2021.

The gallery is open Monday – Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 11am-4pm.  If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S.

 

Canvas and Clay: Creating Art with Expression is a new exhibit celebrating the two and 3 dimensional art of Debra Bucci, Brian Evans and Dianne Evans along with featured photographers.

The exhibit opens on Friday, May 7 and continues through June 20, 2021.

Debra continues to experiment with abstract and nature-based images to build emotional connection. She is exploring the rhythm of repeating elements with high contrast to build depth and explosive color to lift up and empower the viewer.

In his recent work, Brian explores complex geometric, linear, and abstract forms. He focuses on how they relate to each other and how they entice the viewer’s eye to explore the intricacies of each piece.

In her recent work, Dianne continues to focus on the relationship of dynamic graphic patterns and forms. She is interested in how the interplay of these individual elements elevate each other into a more harmonious design.

Click here to preview the work featured in the exhibit.

The gallery is open Monday – Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 11am-4pm.  If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S.

Birdsong features the work of artist, Helen Mirkil alongside Kelly Starbuck‘s photographic works in Full Circle.

Birdsong is a continuing series of art by artist, Helen Mirkil. Birds can put a song in our hearts when there’s no song to be found. Each bird species is entirely different, and for Helen each journey into the world of birds is different too.  She never quite knows where it’s leading her. It’s not unlike the life of following and listening to the music of the Holy Spirit.

The exhibit opens on Friday, September 24 and continues through November 7, 2021.

 

Full Circle features the photographic of Kelly Starbuck alongside the paintings of artist and poet, Helen Mirkil, in her featured show Birdsong.

Deeply inspired by memories, documentation and the feeling of a specific moment, Kelly’s personal work seeks to capture a sense of time and space by playing with light and shadow. Growing up in Wrightsville Beach, then experiencing the intensity of New York City, her latest collection honors her relationship with both nature and city life. “New York is where I became a photographer. This exhibit is all about utilizing the energy of the city, the bright lights and connecting it to where I am now, back at my roots, back at the beach,” explains Starbuck.

Kelly Starbuck, a native of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, moved to New York City where she resided for 14 years. During those years Kelly found her calling to become a photographer. Fernando Bengoechea, an international celebrity, interior and lifestyle photographer gave Kelly her start as his studio manager. She assisted on photo shoots and worked as a teaching assistant at The International Center of Photography. Kelly began her work as a photographer soon thereafter with a focus on portraiture, interior, product, travel and lifestyle projects as well as personal fine art projects. At the end of 2009, Kelly returned to Wilmington, NC to be near her family at the beach and to make Wilmington her home base for business. Starbuck made her mark in the Wilmington art community by curating fine art photography shows at her gallery, SALT Studio Photography, in the Brooklyn Arts District.

 

“Elements: Bob Bryden” is a showing of art dedicated to the idea that simplicity can reveal great complexity. This show is featured in the gallery along with “Wm. Fridrich: Cyanotype Print Collection”. The exhibits open on Friday, February 5 and continue through March 14, 2021.

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 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.

Click here to view the work that will be featured in the exhibit.

The gallery is open Monday – Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 11am-4pm.  If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S.

 

“Wm. Fridrich: Cyanotype Print Collection“ is an exhibit of photography based works by our first photography feature of the 2021 Exhibit Season. This show is featured in the gallery along with “Elements: Bob Bryden”.  The exhibits open on Friday, February 5 and continue through March 14, 2021.

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.

Click here to view the work that will be featured in the exhibit.

The gallery is open Monday – Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 11am-4pm.  If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S.

This month’s photography feature is focused on artistic photographer, Frank Fierstein. The exhibit opens on Friday, December 11 and and continues through January 24, 2021.

A friend of  Frank’s, a world renowned doctor of pharmacology, once asked him a question with regards to his artistic photography; “What is your purpose?“. For decades, Frank has tried to understand, answer and pursue what that purpose has been. “To visually see my feelings in images, that represent myself as a child and young adult, has given me a  better connection, a deeper understanding, and a clearer meaning  in my personal life. Even as I have become a photography dinosaur, still working in my “chemical darkroom” and still using film for all of my artistic work, I continue to seek images that represent and connect with my heart and soul. Making prints that emit light from the silver they are made from is as important today as it ever was in this digital age of ink and sensors. After being given clear guidance by a great teacher about creating art with my photography, my artistic quest to find wonderful images has never ceased and to this day remains amazingly strong.”  Currently, Frank teaches a class in Artistic Photography at Brunswick Community College, where he encourages his students to connect with who they are through their own photography.

Click here to view the work that will be featured in the exhibit.

Now you can view and shop the gallery virtually!

 

The 2020 Holiday Season is here and Art in Bloom Gallery is celebrating with a rotating exhibit featuring over 28 of Art in Bloom Gallery’s Artists!  Feast your eyes on new work directly out of the artists’ studios. Shop for meaningful, original and special gifts of art that will bring smiles all year round!  All of our artists are offering fine art under $250.

The gallery is open Monday – Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 11am-4pm.  If you prefer to shop from home the Art in Bloom Gallery Website (www.aibgallery.com) is always open!  Purchase art online and pick up at the door or take advantage of our free local delivery.  Plus we can also ship anywhere within the U.S. Art in Bloom also offers complementary gift wrapping.

Click here to view the work that will be featured in the exhibit.

Featured artists include:  Bradley Carter (painting), Debra Bucci (painting), Richard Bunting (blown glass), Judy Hintz Cox (abstract painter), Karen Paden Crouch (sculpture), Elizabeth Darrow (painting), Brian Evans (ceramics), Dianne Evans (ceramics), Susan Francy (photographer), Mark Gansor (painter), Joanne Geisel (painting), Dumay Gorham (sculpture), Jeri Greenberg (pastel artist), Liz Hosier (encaustic painter), Curtis Krueger (photographer), Dave Klinger (photography), Brooks Koff (stained glass), Helen Lewis (encaustic painter),  Joan McLoughlin (painting), David Norris (printmaker),  Jameka Purdie (jewelry), Jessie Robertson (painter), Gale Smith (painter), Barbara Snyder (photographer),  Traudi Thornton (ceramics), Gayle Tustin (ceramics), Angela Rowe (painter),  Michael Van Hout (sculpture), Kirah Van Sickle (painter), Roberto Vengoechea (jewelry), Virginia Wright-Frierson (painter), Rebecca Yeomans (fiber artist), among others! 

 

“One More Moment: Art by Bradley Carter, Elizabeth Singletary & Jen Johnson” is a new exhibit pairing contemporary artists with painting and paper. The exhibit opens on Friday, September 11 and continues through October 18, 2020.

One More Moment with Bradley Carter, Elizabeth Singletary and photographer, Jen Johnson features artists working with a wide range in media from paintings, collage and photography.  Bradley Carter’s unique style of painting is based predominately in Abstract Expressionism. Complementing Brad’s paintings are the exquisite and color filled “paintings with paper” by collage artist, Elizabeth Singletary.   Our photography feature is Jen Johnson.  Jen creates photographs that are a contemplative inquiry into psychological space, place, memory, loss, and longing.

The exhibit will be in the gallery and will have many virtual components including a virtual tour, artist videos and more. View the virtual tour!

Click here to view all of the work featured in the exhibit.

Due to ongoing COVID-19 adjustments, this exhibit will be in the gallery and online beginning on September 11th. The gallery is now open for gallery hours.   Face coverings are required and we do have additional supplies if needed. 

About the Artists 

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

The colorful bits and pieces of Elizabeth Singletary’s life are imitated in her chosen art form of collage—a mix of down-home charm and sweeping sophistication. ​Her great appreciation for nature is incorporated in her artwork, which she describes as “painting with paper.” She works alone, with music playing in the background, and offers up a prayer that her works will be full of light and inspire happiness. She hides secret imagery in each piece, giving gazers a happy little hunt-and-find exercise each time they look at her collages. This fun and lively approach to art has garnered much attention. Elizabeth’s commissioned pieces are unique as they incorporate family photos, mementos, quotes, and personal imagery hidden within. Her artwork has been commissioned for many corporate and private collections.

Our photography feature, Jen Johnson creates photographs that are a contemplative inquiry into psychological space, place, memory, loss, and longing. Her dreamlike photographs explore the beauty and complexity of the search for home in our ever-changing interior and exterior landscape. Jen’s images reflect the metaphorical way she sees the world as a visually impaired photographer.

As of right now Fourth Friday receptions, held during the Arts Council of Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Night are on hold until January of 2020.  Stay tuned for other virtual opportunities! 

 

 

Art in Bloom Gallery is excited to partner with Pam Toll of Acme Art Studio to open a new exhibit, “Summer Reprise”.  The exhibit, opening on August 1^st, showcases Pam’s diverse paintings incorporating a variety of mixed media and found objects. The exhibit features an array of work from 2007 to the present and highlights how an artist’s works continue to connect even after years of separation.

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.

The works of art will be exhibited at Acme Art Studio and can be viewed in person or via our Virtual Tour!

Click here to view and purchase the work featured in the exhibit.

To view and purchase the art in-person, an appointment can be made by calling 910-352-4314. Acme Art Studio is located at 711 N 5th Ave, Wilmington, North Carolina 28401.  The exhibit can also be viewed virtually on the web with a virtual tour created by Angle Pros, LLC of Wilmington. The exhibit continues through October 10, 2020.

Art in Bloom Gallery offers free local delivery, curbside pick-up or shipping to other locations at reasonable rates.

Art in Bloom Gallery is excited to open a new exhibit on Friday, July 24.  The exhibit will be in the gallery and will have many virtual components including a virtual tour, artist videos and more!  The exhibit continues through September 6, 2020.

A New Exhibit with Jeri Greenberg, David Norris & Photographer, Curtis Krueger, features three artists working with a wide range in media from pastel, monoprints and photography.  Jeri Greenberg, a new pastel artist for the gallery, paints still-lifes, urban interiors, figures, fabrics, and the occasional landscape with a color-rich palate.  Complementing Jeri’s paintings are David Norris’ monoprints and drawings.  He continues to build on his long-standing series of regional cityscapes, land and waterscapes.  Our photography feature is Curtis Krueger.  Curtis has been creating work for over 25 years and has partnered with the gallery several times.  He has an eye for intricate detail and much of his work is inspired by travel.

Due to ongoing COVID-19 adjustments, this exhibit will be in the gallery and online beginning on July 24th.  While we still do not have public hours yet, we are trying to keep the gallery open when staff are in the building.  Typically, staff is on site Monday – Friday from around 10am until 4pm.  Please ring the doorbell if the lights are on!  And Art in Bloom is currently open by appointment seven days a week. Please call 484-884-3037 to schedule a time. Face coverings are required and available if you do not have a face covering.

Click here to view all of the work featured in the exhibit.

View the Virtual Tour of the Gallery!  

About the Artists

After many years as a fashion illustrator and sportswear designer, Jeri Greenberg turned her love of graphic design towards advertising for a while. Having time to devote herself to painting again – and falling in love with the pastel medium – has led to a new and interesting “next act” as full time painter and teacher. Recently relocated, Jeri teaches weekly classes at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington NC, and does demos and workshops around the country, as well as jurying pastel exhibits.

Wilmington artist, David A. Norris, has a BFA degree from the East Carolina University School of Art.  Long settled in the Port City, he finds the historic atmosphere of Wilmington and the natural beauty of the Cape Fear River and the coast provide limitless sources of artistic inspiration.  Most of David’s work reflects the landscapes of the places where he has lived or visited.  Through his interest in art history, his work has absorbed influences such as English watercolors, 19^th century engravings, Japanese woodblock prints, Dutch Baroque landscapes, and Van Gogh’s reed pen drawings.  David recently has begun a series of monoprints that combine printing techniques with color pencils and lithograph crayons. They build on and compliment a long-standing series of regional cityscapes and landscapes done in watercolor and color pencil. He also works in other media ranging from black and white pen drawings to silverpoint, scrimshaw, linoleum block prints, and collage.

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.

As of right now Fourth Friday receptions, held during the Arts Council of Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Night are on hold until January of 2021.  The exhibit continues through September 6, 2020.

“Visions of Inspiration: Featuring Artists Brian Evans, Dianne Evans & Kirah Van Sickle” features three artists working in a variety of media and two photographers creating new work.

 These three Wilmington based artists are collaborating in this new exhibition. Brian and Dianne are ceramic artists who play with light and shadow on three dimensional surfaces in their functional and decorative pottery.  Kirah’s acrylic and mixed media works explore incorporating found objects and papers with paint glazes.

Stay tuned for small ” Meet the Artist” events. The exhibit  will be virtual and in the gallery which continues through July 19, 2020.

About the Artists

Brian Evans‘ work conveys inspiration that he finds in his surroundings. Sometimes something as simple as the blade of a saw or a bellows used to blow on a fire can inspire an entire series of work. This body of work conveys simple found objects that inspire minimal or complex linear forms. Brian Evans was born in Beaufort, SC, but was raised in Western Pennsylvania.  He graduated in 1993 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Studio Art.  He moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 1995.  He studied 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,  Hiroshi Sueyoshi. Brian is currently serving as President of the Coastal Carolina Clay Guild.

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.

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.

Click here to view all of the work featured in the exhibit.

As of right now Fourth Friday receptions, held during the Arts Council of Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Night are on hold until January of 2021.  Stay tuned for other virtual opportunities!

 

We are pleased to feature the work of two local artists and photographers, Susan Francy and Barbara Snyder.   These two photographers have created work especially for Art in Bloom Gallery.

Susan Francy is photojournalist, commercial photographer and art photographer for more than 35 years. The overall theme of her 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 she 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.

Barbara Snyder is a self-educated photographer.  Her work is deeply personal and focused on the full cycle of creation to destruction. Reflecting on her Catholic upbringing her work sometimes draws on the metaphysical in life. She has shown in numerous national exhibitions and was a recipient of the 2014 and 2017 North Carolina Regional Artists Grants. Snyder lives and works in Wilmington, NC.    Barbara’s newest body of work entitled  “virtus  valor, fortitude, strength”.   

virtus is a new body of work centered on the internal strength that comes from deep within oneself.

As of right now Fourth Friday receptions, held during the Arts Council of Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Night are on hold until January of 2020.  Stay tuned for other virtual opportunities!

“A Group Exhibit”
Featuring Painters, Helen Lewis, Debra Bucci & Naomi Jones
and Photography Feature, Brian Peterson

This new exhibit featured three painters working in a variety of media along with our photography feature Brian Peterson.

Our photography feature, Brian Peterson, has been a passionate explorer of the creative life, as a musician, visual artist, museum curator, critic, scholar, and critically acclaimed author. Peterson’s photographs are in the collections of more than a dozen major museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Amon Carter Museum, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Denver Art Museum, The Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Library of Congress.

“Ancient Practice: Encaustic Art by Helen Lewis” is a new body of work investigating new directions with an ancient practice.  Helen Lewis works predominantly with pigmented beeswax, either in the form of encaustic or cold wax with oil. Both mediums involve building up many layers, then excavating, carving into and highlighting certain portions of the surface. “I love the luminosity, depth and textures that emerge,” she says. “These techniques allow me to capture subtle nuances of color and texture details that may reference an allusion to a place, an object, or simply a feeling. Elements and marks that speak of the passage of time — weathered aging brick, peeling paint, old script and ephemera, lichen on stone — are fascinating and beautiful to me and frequently inspire my artwork. My creative process is an extension of my contemplative nature, which is evidenced in my finished pieces. Always, I endeavor to convey a sense of peace and tranquility through my art — that same calm centeredness I find along the coast.” Her paintings often appear understated and minimalistic in tone, but upon closer inspection, intriguing and quiet conversations are happening within them.

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.  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.

Originally from New York, Naomi Jones currently resides in Greensboro, North Carolina with her husband, sculpture and mobile artist Jay Jones, their three sons, and dogs. She was awarded a BFA with Honors from State University of NY at Purchase. There she studied color photography, graphic design, sculpture and painting. She has worked in fashion, museum and trade show display, home furnishings and spent ten years as an elementary school art teacher. Besides painting, she loves food, reading and the ocean.

 

Dine at Pinpoint Restaurant to view the new installation by artist, Angela Rowe, as part of our partnership with CHECKER CAB productions and local restaurants.

“Homegrown” is about local food and some of the local places that offer fresh food.  The paintings explore the movement of food from farms and waters to markets and to table.  Woven through these paintings are my food memories and stories,  a sort of autobiography in food.  Our local foods are a part of who we are and what makes a place home.

Wilmington artist, Angela Rowe, is a native of Pisgah Forest, North Carolina who grew up drawing, doodling, and creating imaginary houses from shoeboxes and paper. She has done many other things until April 2013 when she had the opportunity to focus on making art. Angela began taking classes at The Museum School of Cameron Art Museum and in October of 2014, she leased studio space at ACME Art Studios. She works in acrylic, mixed media, collage and print making.

PinPoint is located at 114 Market Street in Wilmington, NC.

Join us for the opening reception for “New Path: New Art by Debra Bucci,” Friday, November 22nd, 6-9 pm during Fourth Friday Gallery Night.  Meet the artist, Debra Bucci, and experience phenomenal oil paintings so vivid you feel as if you are inside the paintings.

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.  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.

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

The exhibit will be located at 210 Princess Street and will be on view until January 19, 2020.

Please click here for a preview of the work in this exhibit.

Join us at 216 N. Front Street for a pop-up exhibit “It’s About Time – Pop Up Exhibit II”.   Experience the reworking of the unique, pop-up exhibit, which includes a wonderful selection of larger works by Art in Bloom Gallery artists. This show will be exhibited on the First Floor of 216 N. Front Street (the former Expo 216 Building) in downtown Wilmington, NC.  Plus view a selection of mid-century modern furniture, on loan and for sale, from Decades of Decor on Castle Street.

“It’s About Time – Pop Up Exhibit II” will feature additional artists including Laurie Greenbaum Beitch, Bob Bryden, Bradley Carter, Karen Paden Crouch, Elizabeth Darrow, Judy Hintz Cox, David Klinger, Joan McLoughlin, H.M. Saffer, II, Traudi Thornton, Gayle Tustin, Virginia Wright-Frierson, Visions of Creation Gallery among other guest artists.

View our Virtual Tour created by Angle Pros of Wilmington!  Preview the exhibit virtually to view all of the work in the show.

 

The exhibit will be on view during special hours until December 28.  Public hours are Tuesday – Sunday from noon until 5pm with additional hours on Fourth Friday Gallery Nights.

2020 is a new year which brings a variety of brand new art by Art in Bloom Gallery’s core artists to the gallery.  Feast your eyes on new work directly out of the artists’ studios.

Art in Bloom Gallery’s core artists include:  Bradley Carter (painting), Debra Bucci (painting), Richard Bunting (blown glass), Karen Paden Crouch (sculpture), Elizabeth Darrow (painting), Brian Evans (ceramics), Joanne Geisel (painting), Dave Klinger (photography), Brooks Koff (stained glass) Joan McLoughlin (painting), Gale Smith (painter), Traudi Thornton (ceramics), Gayle Tustin (ceramics), Angela Rowe (painter),  Michael Van Hout (sculpture), (Joe) P. Wiegmann (photography), among others! 

Our photography feature, (Joe) P. Wiegmann,  presents a group of work entitled is “Looking Beyond”created in November of last year.  Joe states “This abandoned house summoned to me as I traveled to the Outer Banks in November. I stopped and looking beyond the weathered and decaying façade, I saw a once dignified and beautiful home. Going inside, I felt the house’s unknown history, a beautiful story.”

Join us for the opening reception, held during the Arts Council of Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Night, on Friday, January 24th, from 6-9pm.   Visit with the artists and enjoy refreshments . The exhibit continues through March 8, 2020.

Joanne Geisel‘s love of drawing and painting began as a child. Her goals in creating oil paintings include capturing the feelings, sights and sounds of her subjects. She continues to experiment with texture, edges, brushstrokes, and palette knife and the layering of color to create depth, luminosity and beauty. 

Ann Hair is an award winning artist who draws her inspiration and palette from nature but enjoys tweaking the colors a bit and turning them up a notch.  She loves working en plein aire and from life.  Currently living on the coast of North Carolina, she finds inspiration everywhere.

Barbara Bear Jamison is a 4th generation Wilmington native, focusing on the beauty of her hometown in her art. She studied art at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Gale Smith studied at UNC Chapel Hill, and considers painting as an ongoing study.  Gale is an award winning artist with her works exhibited in galleries, private collections and corporate installations.

“Transference: New Art by Joan McLoughlin” is an exhibit featuring new paintings by the Wilmington based artist. This body of work includes abstract paintings as well as a new direction using photo transfers incorporated into the compositions.  This new series has evolved in order to evoke nostalgia by illustrating memories of the past alongside the contemporary art of the present.

Join us for the opening reception on Friday, September 6th from 6-9pm to meet the artist, hear about her artistic journey, enjoy refreshments and live music by violinist, Shirley Lebo.

Click here to preview the works in the exhibit.

View a dog inspired art exhibit in honor of the 30th Anniversary of Louie’s Hot Dogs, located a few doors down from Art in Bloom Gallery. Guest artists include Robert Brown, Debra Bucci, Jay DeChesere, David Klinger, Paul Muldawer and Gayle Tustin.

Join us on Wednesday, September 18 from 3-5pm to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Louie’s Hot Dogs at 204 1/2 Princess St, Wilmington, NC 2840. Meet owner, Mary Garner, and Mayor Bill Saffo who will make brief remarks. Enjoy refreshments and live music By Sylvie Lippard.

Louie’s Hot Dogs regular hours are Monday – Thursday, 11 am to 6 pm; Friday 11 am to 3 am; Saturday noon to 6 pm plus 10 pm to 3 am; and Sunday noon to 6 pm. The art exhibit will be at Art in Bloom Gallery during the month of September. Amy Grant, owner of Art in Bloom Gallery, is delighted to showcase original art celebrating Louie’s Hot Dogs and owner Mary Garner, a great neighbor on Princess Street.

ART OF THE IMAGE ‘19
a juried photographic media competition and exhibition

Art of the Image ‘19 is a juried photography competition and exhibition designed to celebrate the medium of photography and its cultural influence by engaging the photography community with a showing of exceptional photo-based works of art.  This exhibition will feature artists working in two and three-dimensional mediums showcasing original works of art with a primary focus on the photographic medium, utilizing traditional and non-traditional processes.   This year’s juror is Beth Handler Riebe, PhD, Independent Curator and Art Consultant.

Art of the Image ‘19 will be installed and exhibited at Gallery Verrazzano, a 7200+ sq.ft., gallery and event space located in theArtWorks™ of Wilmington, NC, near downtown.  Gallery Verrazzano is a brand new home for visual and performing arts.  Art of the Image ’19 is organized by Art in Bloom Gallery and theArtWorks™.  Gallery Verrazzano is located at 200 Willard Street in Wilmington.

Click here to view a Virtual Tour of Art of the Image ’19 created by Angle Pros of Wilmington, N.C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT THE JUROR:
Beth Handler Riebe, PhD, Independent Curator and Art Consultant 

Beth Handler Riebe worked in the NYC art world for twenty years, with curatorial stints at The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Paula Cooper Gallery. She served as an art consultant to Donald B. Marron (one of ARTnews’ top 200 collectors). Beth received a BA from Oberlin College, and an MA and a PhD from Yale University, with all three degrees in art history. She is a former Trustee of the Cameron Art Museum and occasionally teaches art history at UNCW.

Handler Riebe founded LOCAL: art + ideas in 2013 in Wilmington, NC.  LOCAL is a think tank that supports art and ideas flourishing BEYOND larger metropolitan areas and cultural networks.  It promotes regional artists and introduces their work to new audiences nearby and nationally through a variety of programming, including private art viewings, site-specific installations, and temporary and online exhibitions.

“Connections: New Art by Brooks Koff, Michael Van Hout, and Virginia Wright-Frierson” features three artists from Art in Bloom Gallery’s stable of artists.  These Wilmington based artists have collaborated together on many projects and are bringing new work to the gallery walls.  The artwork will range from beautifully rendered paintings, to stained-glass mosaics, to incredibly detailed tie-wire sculpture.

Join us for the opening reception, Friday,  April 12th, from 6-9pm.   Visit with our artists and enjoy refreshments with live music by guitarist, Dargan Frierson. The exhibit continues through May 5, 2019.

Brooks Koff “paints with glass” creating unique stained-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.

Michael Van Hout started creating professional art over thirty-years ago after studying Forestry at NC State University and graduating with a BSA degree in sculpture from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1980. In addition to wire and metal sculpture, Michael creates wood sculpture, woodcut prints, mixed media, mobiles, paintings, and commissioned works.

Virginia Wright-Frierson earned her BFA degree in painting from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and furthered her studies in Cortona, Italy, New York and Arizona. She and her husband, Dargan, settled in Wilmington, NC in 1977.

 

“Go With the Flow: Contemporary Art with E. Francisca Dekker and Karen Paden Crouch” is a new exhibit playfully pairing two contemporary artists with painting and sculpture. Both of these Wilmington based artists design work that evolve fluently through the creative process.

Join us for the opening reception, Friday,  May 10th, from 6-9pm.   Visit with our artists and enjoy refreshments with live music by guitarist, Roger Davis. The exhibit continues through June 9, 2019.

The paintings and drawings, in acrylics, watercolor and inks, by E. Francisca Dekker, are a direct reflection of the experience she is having. What inspires her is simply nature, listening to music and see someone being quiet or people in motion or dance. Subjects are everyday people and life-models and as a self-taught artist and native to The Netherlands, there are no boundaries and judgments, just the freedom to express herself in gestural lines, motion and colors. Her ever evolving style in fluent movements – sometimes whimsical and abstract – with contrasting lines and choice in colors is often symbolic, vibrant and bold to deepen the sense in motion in body, heart and soul.

Karen Paden Crouch creates sculpture because she must. It is her passion, and every day that she is allowed to make something, it is an unexpected blessing.  Karen’s metal sculptures are grounded in the structure and movement of living things. “When I work in bronze, I begin with a flat sheet from which I cut shapes. I heat these shapes with a torch and beat them into contoured pieces which I then weld into the sculpture’s form. Files, various abrasives and chemical patinas give the sculpture its final finish. Although I begin with a vision, the sculpture takes its own direction; if I will listen it will be a better piece. The found metal pieces grow from collected shapes. Sometimes I have an idea; sometimes I just start juxtaposing parts until an image emerges. But I have always lived by instinct and, with assembled pieces, as well as the bronzes, the sculpture will tell me where to go if I am patient and listen.”

 

“Chasing Shadow and Light: New Art by Brian Evans, Dianne Evans and Mark Gansor” features three artists working in a variety of media.  These three Wilmington based artists are collaborating for the first time in this new exhibition. Brian and Dianne are ceramic artists who play with light and shadow on three dimensional surfaces in their functional and decorative pottery.  Mark is a landscape painter using impasto surfaces to capture fleeting moments caught in the light.

Join us for the opening reception, Friday,  June 14, from 6-9pm.   Visit with our artists and enjoy refreshments with live music by Myron Harmon on piano keyboard. The exhibit continues through July 21, 2019.

Brian Evans‘ work conveys inspiration that he finds in his surroundings. Sometimes something as simple as the blade of a saw or a bellows used to blow on a fire can inspire an entire series of work. This body of work conveys simple found objects that inspire minimal or complex linear forms. Brian Evans was born in Beaufort, SC, but was raised in Western Pennsylvania.  He graduated in 1993 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Studio Art.  He moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 1995.  He studied 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,  Hiroshi Sueyoshi. Brian is currently serving as President of the Coastal Carolina Clay Guild.

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.

Mark Gansor is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Out of several decades of work as a decorative finisher and classical musician, Mark Gansor’s career as a painter was born. Entirely self- taught he is now secure enough to tell people that he is an artist. He works in acrylics thickly applied to the canvas with knives, fingers, and occasionally brushes.  Since moving to Wilmington five years ago he has been caught up in the artistic vibe of the city, and the historical structures, nature, and the downtown all figure in his work. He has painted or restored original work in several structures on the National Registry which have added to his love of all things old or unusual. The beautiful old churches speak to him, bringing his love of sacred music and the pipe organ back time and time again.  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 Director of Music Ministries at St Andrews Covenant Presbyterian Church in downtown Wilmington.  Mark Gansor is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The new year brings a variety of brand new art by Art in Bloom Gallery’s core artists to the gallery.  Feast your eyes on new work directly out of the artist’s studios.  Art in Bloom Gallery’s core artists include: Bradley Carter (painting), Bob Bryden (printmaking), Debra Bucci (painting), Richard Bunting (blown glass), Elizabeth Darrow (painting), Brian Evans (ceramics), Susan Francy (photography), Mark Gansor (painting),  Joanne Geisel (painting), Dumay Gorham (sculpture), Harold Hodges (photography), Dave Klinger (photography),  Joan McLoughlin (painting), Jessie Robertson (painting), Gale Smith (painter), Traudi Thornton (ceramics), (Joe) P. Wiegmann (photography), and Kirah Van Sickle (mixed media and painter).

Join us for the opening reception, held during the Arts Council of Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Night, on Friday, February 22nd, from 6-9pm.   Visit with the artists and enjoy refreshments with live music by violinist, Shirley Lebo. The exhibit continues through March 23, 2019.

Click here to view the work that was featured in the exhibit. 

Cinematic artistic expression is a key element of the Wilmington Jewish Film Festival. Art in Bloom Gallery expands that element with an affiliated art exhibit, “Jewish Journeys“. Original art will be on view and for sale at Art in Bloom Gallery from April 25th – May 8th.  The exhibit aims to raise money and awareness for the 6th Annual Wilmington Jewish Film Festival.

This community project is sponsored by the film festival for the second year with guest curator, Amy Grant, owner of Art in Bloom Gallery, 210 Princess St. in historic downtown Wilmington in collaboration with Miriam Oehrlein, owner of New Elements Gallery. The original artwork that will be exhibited was chosen to encourage and expand the understanding of Jewish culture and art. Each artist expresses his or her own interpretation of “Jewish Journeys: An Art Exhibit,” so the art exhibit will reflect different points of view. The exhibit will feature special guest artists, including Elisa Agami (sculpture), Judith Yael Cohen (mixed media), Robyn Gahr (mixed media), and Owen Wexler, from New Elements Gallery.

Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 6pm with special hours on Sunday from noon until 5pm and by appointment.

Click here to view the work featured in the exhibit. 

The Wilmington Jewish Film Festival has as its primary mission the presentation of films with Jewish content to advance and share common interests within the Jewish community and at the same time share Jewish heritage with the general public.

Each year, the North Carolina Azalea Festival brings hundreds of thousands of guests to our downtown business neighborhoods. This year, we want to make sure we do everything we can to ensure these guests cross through our downtown business doors. The Downtown Window Decorating Competition celebrates what makes our downtown businesses amazing by highlighting their creativity.

This is Art in Bloom’s first year participating in the contest. We are pleased to have two of our painters, Debra Bucci and Joan McLoughlin, designing and creating our window on Princess Street!

Art in Bloom Gallery’s newest exhibit features a group show of artists creating paintings with pigmented wax on surfaces such as wooden panels in “Ancient Art Revisited: A Group Encaustic Exhibit”.  The wax is fused or burned via a heat source creating luminous qualities and colorful depths of layers.  The exhibit features 5 artists working in a variety of media and techniques.  Artists include Judy Hintz Cox, Liz Hosier, Helen Lewis, Charles Robertson (New Elements Gallery), and Kirah Van Sickle. 

The Fourth Friday Gallery Night reception will be held on Friday, January 25th from 6-9pm.   Visit with the artists and enjoy refreshments. The exhibit continues through February 10th, 2019.

Click here to view a selection of work from the exhibit.

Join us for a first look at the new work of abstract artist, Bradley Carter.  This exhibit features a selection of work fresh out of the artist’s studio.

Click here to view a selection of work from the exhibit.

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

 

Join us for the new exhibit, “Traveling Light,” and a collaboration between artist, Gale Smith, and fashion designer, Alice Blake Powell. “Traveling Light” is an exhibition of both hard and soft materials, light, movement, color and structure. Fashion designer, Alice Blake Powell and artist, Gale Smith have collaborated to bring new “out of the box” ideas to this exhibit.

Gale Smith weaves RGB LED fiber optic fibers into several of her woven copper pieces that emit light into the design.  Along with the fiber optics, she uses color to express the light and movement into her sculptural pieces. Alice Blake Powell has created a series of clothing pieces using recycled materials along with new materials. This up cycled fashion is easy to travel with and reflects light through illumination and creates a feeling of buoyancy. Gale will be donating a portion of  proceeds from sales to The Arts Council of Wilmington and Alice will be  donating to Dreams of Wilmington.

The opening reception will be held on Friday, November 2nd from 6-8pm.   Visit with the artists and enjoy refreshments with live music. The exhibit will be shown in conjunction with the “Thirteenth Grade” Art Exhibit located in Gallery 2.

About Gale Smith
Gale Smith is an award winning artist, living and working in Wilmington, NC, with her works exhibited in galleries, private collections and corporate installations. Her newest interest is 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 experiments with different gauges of copper and mediums and discovered that inks and oils on copper made colors radiate vibrantly. Gale will be donating a portion of  proceeds from sales to The Arts Council of Wilmington.

About Alice Blake Powell
Alice Blake Powell currently resides in Wilmington, NC where she has worked in the film industry for nearly 25 years. Her resume includes over 40 television and major motion picture film productions such as Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, Good Behavior, The Secret Life of Bee’s, Secretariat and Iron Man 3 to name a few. When Alice is not working film, she promotes her business “By the Hands” producing charity fashion shows and designing for local artist. Alice will be donating a portion of proceeds from sales to Dreams of Wilmington.

What do you get when you have five high school artists who have worked together for five years? You get a gallery show on their Thirteenth grade year! The artists Harry Antoniades, Robby Carl, Sarah Miller, Jessie Robertson and Holly Woodcock have each developed an original style of work and continue to experiment in multiple mediums.

Owner of Art in Bloom Gallery, Amy Grant first met the artists about one year ago and recognized the originality of the art and dedication of the artists. The students developed a detailed proposal for their own art exhibit at Art in Bloom Gallery. The student artists all attend Wilmington Early College High School and are taking art classes at Cape Fear Community College. They have all been mentored since their freshman year by Dr. Janna Siegel Robertson who is their art club teacher. Besides creating art, the students have been learning about the entrepreneurial side of art by participating in craft shows and art shows this past year. The opportunity at Art in Bloom Gallery is the first time their art has been exhibited in a commercial gallery.

The opening reception is Friday, November 2, 6-8pm with the exhibit continuing through Saturday, November 24. Visit with the artists and enjoy refreshments with live music. The exhibit will be shown in conjunction with “Traveling Light” A Collaborative Exhibit by Gale Smith & Alice Blake Powell exhibit located in Gallery 1.

 

“Art of the Gift” opens on November 30th and continues through January 5th .

The art exhibit celebrates the holidays by featuring one-of-a-kind gifts selected from our collection of original art. Choose from exquisite jewelry, works on paper,  ceramics, paintings, blown glass, sculpture, mobiles, stained-glass mosaics, and more. You will find something for everyone with prices suitable for the holidays.

Gift Receipts and Gift Certificates are available just in case you can’t find exactly what that special person on your list might desire.

Original works of art by local artists including: Debra Bucci, Richard Bunting, Bradley Carter, Brian Evans, JF Jones Mobiles, Susan Laswell, Joan McLoughlin, Cathie Schumaker, Gale Smith, Traudi Thornton, Kirah Van Sickle, Visions of Creation Gallery and many more!

The exhibit and sale will also be presented alongside “Colors of Expression: Bradley Carter” exhibit with complimentary gift wrapping available.

Join us for a new exhibit “The Last Song of Summer” by ceramicist, Traudi Thornton, and painter, Pam Toll.  The opening reception will be held on Friday, September 7th, from 6-8pm.  Visit with the artists and enjoy refreshments with live music by violinist, Shirley Lebo.

About Traudi Thornton
Traudi Thornton is a ceramicist currently showing Raku and Stoneware in Art in Bloom Gallery. She was born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Germany.  Traudi first studied music at Creighton University before studying ceramics with Henry Soreco at Creighton, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and then moving back to Germany.  The artist relocated to Wilmington in 1983.  Additionally, Traudi completed a Raku workshop with Paul Soldner in 1974 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She wakes at 3:30 am to work on her ceramics.  She prefers not to rush, to take her time, to complete her work properly.

About Pam Toll
Pam Toll, an Associate Professor at UNC Wilmington, received a BA in Art and English Literature from UNC Chapel Hill 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.

Join us for the new exhibit, “Art of the Camera,” a group photography invitational exhibit curated by the Art in Bloom Gallery. This juried show invited an array of professional and amateur photographers to create a unique showcase of photographers working in a variety of techniques.

The featured photographers in this group show include: Gary Allen, Steve Bower, Ralph Colelli, Joe DiBartolo, Frank Fierstein, Susan Francy, William Fridrich, Leigh Gill, Harold Hodges, Charles Kernan, David Klinger, Kate LeCates, Barbara Michael, Jessica Novak, Daniel Rogers, Arrow Ross, Barbara Snyder, Rachel Thompson, and (Joe) P Wiegmann.

This exhibit will be on view in conjunction with the new exhibit “The Edge of Adaptation: Watercolors by Deb Kline Ahern.”

 

Join us for the new exhibit of watercolors and painting by Deb Klein Ahern. Her art is multi-faceted in its origins and its media, in its subject and its style, constant, current, and ever-evolving. She is a painter working in watercolor, oil, acrylic, print and mixed media.

Deb has enjoyed a life-long passion for art, entering and gaining recognition at several art shows early on. Her 3-year study with Dale Boatman, an accomplished watercolorist, in Sierra Vista, Arizona, in the late 1970s, and her University studies in fine arts and art history in Tuscany, Umbria, and Veneto, Italy and Egypt in the 1980s, helped her immeasurably to “see” vivid color in the world. After 30 years of living in Germany, Deb has recently moved to Amelia Island, Florida and expects the terrain and light will once again change her work. Her works can be found in numerous private collections both in Europe and the United States.

This exhibit will be one view in conjunction with the “Art of the Camera,” a group photography invitational exhibit curated by the Art in Bloom Gallery.

Join us for a first look at the new work of Wilmington’s own, Elizabeth Darrow.  This exhibit will feature a selection of work fresh out of the artist’s studio.  The art includes figurative work and abstract expressionism with oil, oil pastel, and/or collage on canvas.

Elizabeth Darrow has made Wilmington her home since 1977. She works in a variety of styles depending on her medium, but usually does not work “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. Darrow enjoys working with color, repeating patterns and embedding humor (and angst) into her work. Each piece takes her on a journey of discovery where she hopes to lose herself to the process.

Cinematic artistic expression is a key element of the Wilmington Jewish Film Festival. Now that aspect is being expanded with an affiliated art exhibit, “Jewish Art: Diverse Cultures”. Original art will be on view and for sale at Art in Bloom Gallery from April 22nd – May 6th, with pop-up exhibits at Thalian Hall on Sundays and Mondays during the film festival.

This community project is sponsored by the film festival for the first time with guest curator, Amy Grant, owner of Art in Bloom Gallery, 210 Princess St. in historic downtown Wilmington. Artists of all religions and beliefs were encouraged to submit original art for the exhibit. The artwork that will be exhibited was chosen to encourage and expand the understanding of Jewish culture and art. Each artist was encouraged to express his or her own interpretation of this theme, “Jewish Art: Diverse Cultures,” so the art exhibit will reflect different points of view.

The Wilmington Jewish Film Festival has as its primary mission the presentation of films with Jewish content to advance and share common interests within the Jewish community and at the same time share Jewish heritage with the general public.

 

Join us for the new horse-themed exhibit honoring the humble beginnings of Art in Bloom Gallery. Established in 2015, the gallery is housed in the renovated horse stable built by the Quinlivan family of farriers in 1910 using old barn walls, heart pine, and ballast stones (c. 1749-1891). The show will feature artists working in a

The artists included Debra Bucci, Bradley Carter, Elizabeth Darrow, Jay DeChesere, Joanne Geisel, Dumay Gorham, Jacqueline Jahn, David Klinger, Nick Mijak, Catherine Nicodemo, Catherine Porter Brown, Janna Siegel Robertson, Pam Toll, and Roberto Vengoechea, among others.

5% of proceeds from sales benefited the Cape Fear Equine Rescue.

 

 

 

 

 

OPENING ON FRIDAY!

“Ink on Paper by Bob Bryden” & “Photographic Reflections by Harold Hodges” is a new exhibit combining the work of two artists working in two very different media.

Ink on Paper by Bob Bryden

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 Byrden 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.

Photographic Reflections by Harold Hodges

The palette, from which all perception is formed, is not made of a bright spectrum of pigments and light, it is a palette filled with all the feelings and emotions people have toward all things. The perception a person has of things that are before him or her will ultimately be manifested from the palette of whatever media they choose to amplify the feelings and emotion they have toward the subject they have chosen.This is not by choice but it is the process of that which is truth finding light that gives vision to others of those things we see. All things of earth are of equal worth and beauty. Our perception is skewed by all our feelings good and bad. It is a wonderful life when we can see how beautiful our life is and recognize that much of the bad and negative is perception of our own mind. This earth, this life, have provided us with the broadest and most wondrous palette of imagery the universe has to offer. Rejoice, seize each moment, let not one get away from you. ~ Harold Hodges

Harold Hodges is a photographer, living and working in Wilmington, NC.

“Art Explosions by Jeffery Geller” runs through February 24, 2018.

Jeffery Geller creates outside-of-the-box art including original art with paper, clay, paint, wood, and often found objects. Experience shadow boxes and art explosions outside of shadow boxes. View paper mobiles, mixed-media collages, paintings, and ceramics.

The artist will donate Fifty percent of the proceeds of art sales from “Art Explosions” to Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).

Click here to view the art of Jeffery Geller at Art in Bloom Gallery.

Two artists, Catherine Porter Brown and Jeff Brown come together in the new exhibit Synergy. The art presents an interaction and cooperation with a combined effect, which is greater than the sum of its parts.

The upcoming exhibit includes Jeff Brown’s newest assemblages with found objects along side luminous dreamscapes and portraits by Catherine Porter Brown, a classically trained oil painter.

Experience the extraordinary oil paintings of Tatyana Kulida and Mio Reynolds.

Click here to view the work that was on view in the gallery.

ExperiMetal is a journey of delving into techniques and materials to transform metal into contemporary art forms.

Exploring the relationship between painting, weaving and sculpting, while using various materials, allows formation of colorful, textured wall hangings that take on radically new tapestries and shapes. The versatility of copper and its’ uniqueness allows Gale Smith to experiment with different creative processes.  Working with a wide range of materials can be evocative, provocative and oftentimes communicates a serendipitous interpretation by the viewer.

Energy, fusion, transformation, exploration keeps the path of the creative journey open.

Gale is collaborating with Alice Blake Powell to design, create, and wear a dress for the opening and closing receptions. Alice will make the pattern pieces, and Gale will weave the copper tapestry to those pieces using various shades of blue.  The copper dress will be displayed in the gallery during the art exhibit.

“Art of the Gift” opens on November 1st and continues through December 30th. The art exhibit celebrates the holidays and features one-of-a-kind gifts selected from our collection of original art. Choose from exquisite jewelry, paper art, hand-crafted wood, weaving, ceramics, paintings, blown glass, sculpture, mobiles, stained-glass mosaics, and more. You will find something for everyone with prices starting at $10 for woven paper art and with many works of art under $50.

Original works of art by local artists include: Debra Bucci, Richard Bunting, Brian Evans, Susan Laswell, Joan McLoughlin, Cathie Schumaker, Gale Smith, Traudi Thornton, and many more! 

The exhibit and sale will also be presented alongside “Traudi Thornton: From  the Studio to the Gallery” exhibit with complimentary gift wrapping available.

 

Meet visiting artist, Helen Lewis, during a special Pop-Up Exhibit featuring her latest encaustic paintings during Downtown Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Nights.

Helen Lewis concentrates her fine art in the areas of encaustic, cold wax and oil, and mixed-media collage.  In addition to Art In Bloom Gallery, she is represented by galleries in coastal Maine and along the shores of Lake Michigan in Door County, Wisconsin and Michigan as well as in Roswell, Georgia.

Click here to view some of the work that will be on view in Helen Lewis’ Pop-Up Exhibit. 

Art in Bloom Gallery presents a special artist showcase and studio sale by ceramic artist, Traudi Thornton. Traudi’s handmade, one of a kind ceramic work will grace the gallery with a special sale on Saturday, November 25th.  Traudi will be in the gallery from 11am until 2pm.  Guests will enjoy refreshments and get a start on holiday gift shopping.  

Traudi was born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Germany.  She first studied music at Creighton University before studying ceramics with Henry Soreco at Creighton, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and then moving back to Germany.  The artist relocated to Wilmington in 1983. Additionally, Traudi completed a Raku workshop with Paul Soldner in 1974 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

The artist showcase will be presented alongside “The Art of the Gift” exhibit and sale with complimentary gift wrapping available.

Gallery I

Artist, William Overman reflects our nation’s voracious and often misguided appetites by combining his original ceramics with salvaged materials.  Our appetites for:

• FAST FOOD resulting in obesity and ill health
• GUNS and WEAPONS that are dangerous and ubiquitous
• ENVIRONMENTAL DEREGULATION and resulting in pollution (Welcome to the Cape Fear Region)
• INVASION and WARS in other countries (and the hype from politicians about how easy the next war will be)
• HOSTILE IMMIGRATION policies: shut borders
• INDUSTRIAL/MILITARY collusion

Each piece is one-of-a-kind; hand made from carved and painted wood (buns and bullets) salvaged materials (barbed wire and bailing twine, pieces of plastic, green “flip flops” from pedicure shops) acrylic paint, inexpensive toys (guns, planes, tank, army men), clay (crown roast and game hen), china and eating utensils from thrift shops.

View the work!

Art by:  Debra Bucci, Stephanie Mobbs Deady & Joan McLoughlin

Gallery II

We are delighted to celebrate the Satellite Venue Exhibits in our partnership with CHECKER CAB productions and local restaurants to display and sell work by Art in Bloom Gallery’s artists. Join us for a sampling of the art and hors d’oeuvres by Platypus & Gnome and Pinpoint Restaurants.

Featured in Historic Downtown Wilmington

The 2nd annual, American Craft Walk Wilmington is scheduled!  This year’s craft walk will run along Front Street from Orange Street in the south end of downtown up to Grace Street.  All along you will find fine craftsmen selling their art.  On stage will be musicians, dance and demonstrations.  This event will be Wilmington’s celebration of American Craft Week.  American Craft Week is a nationally established effort to build awareness of the Arts, Craft and Culture in America founded by CRAFT.org, a non-profit.

Art in Bloom Gallery’s booth will be located on the corner of Front and Princess Streets in front of Bourbon Street Restaurants.

Special Traveling Art Exhibit
Featured at the Bell Meade Art Studio in Southern Pines
October 1 – 22, 2017

Art in Bloom Gallery will be hosting a special traveling exhibit in Southern Pines, NC, which will feature many artists of Wilmington. The Belle Meade Art Studio is located at 100 Waters Drive in Southern Pines, NC 28387.  Enter the exhibit via the Clubhouse Main Lobby.

Closing Reception: Sunday, Oct 22, 11:30 M – 3:00 pm
Regular Studio Hours: 10 am – 5 pm Daily

GALLERY 2:  Making Masks: a Collaboration
Elizabeth Darrow & Dave Klinger

Elizabeth Darrow and Dave Klinger have joined forces to create an unusual series of masks.  Dave builds the structure, then passes it on to Elizabeth, who creates the personality suggested by the shape.  David Klinger creates the basic mask form using layers of recycled paper and cloth, at times built around chicken wire, wire cloth, clay, aluminum, cardboard, and various face form armatures. For bonding the substrate, the artist uses non mold-supporting adhesives like PVA and adds plaster of paris for hardness and strength. The completed form is then air dried and sealed with acrylic modeling paste and gesso. Elizabeth Darrow uses oil and acrylic paint for color and various materials such as silk scarves, beads and stones, dryer lint, feathers, and branches, to bring each mask to life.

GALLERY 1: Sharing a Room: Plein-Air Art by Carole Osman, Pamela Mork-Keegan, and Linda Sells

An exhibition celebrating art by three friends who met in Germany after sharing a classroom and a love for plein-air painting and pastels.  Carole Osman, Pamela Mork-Keegan, and Linda Sells reunited in Wilmington to exhibit paintings and pastels.

Dine at The District Kitchen and Cocktails  to view the new exhibit of abstract expressionist paintings of Bradley Carter.

About the Exhibit
Forgotten by the days or misplaced by convenience, who we want to be becomes diluted by who we’ve become to be. My art has no reprieve from the confines of its history and journey. It is in this direct opposition that I create based on moments, that singular moment of individualism and freedom. When color carries history, lines dance loosely, and texture tells a story that only you can transcribe. In this moment the possibilities excel, limitations become irrelevant, and being who you want to be becomes who you are. Life and Art happens fast and rarely ever completed in the way you imagined, so capture the colors, dance loosely, and memorize the moments. Much love and enjoy the show.     – Bradley Carter

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

Click here to view a selection of works that will be located at The District Restaurant. 

The District is located at 1001 N. 4th Street in Wilmington, NC.

The art exhibit “Elements of Creation: New Art by Brian Evans, Georgeann Haas, and Judy Hintz Cox opened on June 2nd and continued through July 29th.

All of the artists use elements of the earth as mediums to create art even though the artists are working in different mediums. There is a playful and symbiotic relationship among the art work including Brian’s ceramics; Georgeann’s acrylic, ink, pencil, collage, and mixed media on paper; and Judy’s oil and mixed media on canvas.

The featured art exhibit, “Sibs: New Art by Michael Van Hout and Brooks Koff” continues through May 27th with tie-wire sculpture by Michael and stained-glass mosaics by Brooks (brother and sister).  Enjoy the originality and movement of this exquisite art.

Also, mark your calendar for Saturday, May 13th, 2-5 pm to meet renowned mobile artist, JF “Jay” Jones visiting from Greensboro, NC with his latest metal, polymer, and wood creations.

 

SpringHill Suites Marriott at Mayfaire, in partnership with Art in Bloom Gallery, invite you to a special reception.  A pop-up exhibit “Coastal Colors: Oil Paintings by Debra Bucci” will be on view on Wednesday, August 29th with a reception from 5-8pm. Meet the artist and enjoy complimentary craft beer provided by Waterline Brewing Company.

Debra Bucci 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”.

 

 

SpringHill Suites is located in the Mayfaire Shopping Center at 1014 Ashes Drive in Wilmington.

Join us for a champagne toast and special reception at Pinpoint Restaurant  on Wednesday, November 14th from 5:30-6:30pm to celebrate the visual narrative paintings in “The Familiar Distance in Going Home: Visual Narratives by Pam Toll” as part of our partnership with CHECKER CAB productions and local restaurants.

Enjoy the Fine Art of Dining!

About the Exhibit
My creative practice and visual language derive from a childhood steeped in family story telling. In these oral narratives, the men discussed the outside world – sometimes dark but often full of humor. Grandpa (Deputy Sheriff) Meeks delivered dark but true tales to the grownups, while my sister, cousin and I camped out nearby, listening but unseen. PaPa Wallace and his bachelor brother Floyd spun humorous stories about farming and animals and, later, vignettes about their adventures as high school janitors. The women delivered their stories while snapping beans, shucking corn or washing dishes. They covered birth and dying, and everything in between, and laced the details with gossip. Some of the women were like artists to me, working with thread, seed sacks and other found fabrics to make quilts.

These family narratives and experiences defined my childhood and are the genesis of this body of work. I set out to make a memoir, but soon the paintings develop story lines of their own. Using as source material family and my own childhood photographs (I received my first camera when I was 12), I constantly move among memory, myth, and the present, between the spoken and the unsaid, and between the conscious and the unconscious. Both photographic and mental fragments seem to swim in chaos, and characters come and go. At some juncture, the painting begins to lead the narrative, with intuition and intention resolving the various impulses. All that I am and know merge in the paintings, and I become the storyteller. ~ Pam Toll

About Pam Toll
Pam Toll, an Associate Professor at UNC Wilmington, received a BA in Art and English Literature from UNC Chapel Hill 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.

PinPoint is located at 114 Market Street in Wilmington, NC.

“Small Collage Art by Elizabeth Darrow” at Waterline Brewing Co.

Waterline Brewing Co. and Art in Bloom Gallery present “Wine at Waterline” and Art Showcase with local Wilmington artist, Elizabeth Darrow.  This exhibit presents a selection of the artist’s collage art.

Elizabeth Darrow has made Wilmington her home since 1977. She works in a variety of styles depending on her medium, but usually does not work “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. Darrow enjoys working with color, repeating patterns and embedding humor (and angst) into her work. Each piece takes her on a journey of discovery where she hopes to lose herself to the process.

Waterline Brewing Co. is located at 721 Surry Street in Wilmington, NC.

Dine at Platypus & Gnome Restaurant  to view the brand new paintings by Mark Gansor in his new exhibit “Waking from Dreams.”

Join us for a special event “Munch and Art with Mark”  on Monday, October 15th, from 11:30am – 2pm.

This exhibit is in partnership with CHECKER CAB productions.
The reception is free and open to the public. Please call 910-769-9300 for dinner reservations.

Click here to view a selection of works that will be located at Platypus & Gnome Restaurant. 

Platypus and Gnome is located at 9 South Front Street in Wilmington, NC.

 

PinPoint is located at 114 Market Street in Wilmington, NC.

 

The exhibit presents a playful and serene mix of global and local scenes by Mark Gansor and Carole Osman.

Mark Gansor presents acrylic paintings of buildings, gardens, and fields in Wilmington and France.  Carole Osman presents pastels, monoprints, collages, oil, and acrylic paintings of various locations in Japan, Germany, Turkey, and the United States.

The opening reception is on Friday, February 10th, 6-9 pm.  View original art; meet the artists; enjoy catering from Whole Foods; and listen to music by Cameron Tinklenberg, jazz pianist.

The exhibit continues through Friday, April 7th.

 

“Twice Around: The Make-Over,” with new art by Elizabeth Darrow and digital images by Susan Francy opens on Tuesday, January 24th and continues through Tuesday, February 7th during regular gallery hours, Tuesday – Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm and by appointment.

Join us for a special reception, Friday, January 27th, 6-9 pm.  View Elizabeth Darrow’s new oil and collage on canvas and Susan Francy’s digital images.  Meet the artists.  Singer-songwriter Rebekah Todd will play guitar and sing.

 

 

“Visible Spectra: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints by Janette K. Hopper & Photography by Charles Kernan” will continue through January 20th, 2017 at Art in Bloom Gallery, 210 Princess St., Wilmington, NC.

This joint exhibit presents stunning images of nature, people, and architecture transformed by light and shadow by the artists from their travels and time outdoors.  Renowned international artist, Janette K. Hopper will her exquisite paintings, prints, and drawings including sumi ink paintings on rice paper.  Emerging artist, Charles Kernan will exhibit his limited edition, fine-art photography and photographic prints.  Together, Janette’s and Charles’ art work present an evocative “Visible Spectra” spanning many medias, techniques, and subjects.

Ten percent of “Visible Spectra” art sales will be donated to Cape Fear River Watch.

 

The closing reception for “Full Circle: Elizabeth Darrow, Traudi Thornton, and Susan Francy” will take place on Friday, September 30th, 6pm-9pm at Art in Bloom Gallery, 210 Princess St., Wilmington, NC.

Meet the artists and view new work including oil and collage on canvas by Elizabeth Darrow, raku and stoneware ceramics by Traudi Thornton, and limited edition, fine-art photography and digital images by Susan Francy.

Shirley Lebo of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra will play violin.  Helen Welsh will provide creative catering.

Click here to view a slideshow of past and present art by Elizabeth Darrow.
Click here to read an article in WILMA magazine on the web about Traudi Thornton.
Click here to read an article in ENCORE magazine about Traudi Thornton.

“Looking Within:  Encaustic Paintings by Helen Lewis,” opened on Friday, May 13 in Gallery 2 at Art in Bloom Gallery located at 210 Princess Street, Wilmington, North Carolina.

The exhibit closes on Friday, September 16, with a reception from 6 – 9 pm.  Musicians Shirley Lebo (violin) and Sarah Stoloff (cello) will play at the reception and are both members of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra.

Artist, Helen Lewis is from from Carrollton, Ohio.   The encaustic process uses molten beeswax combined with resin and oil pigments that are fused with a blow torch.  Helen Lewis often includes bits of old script, text or other ephemera in her work.  She explains, “I particularly love the luminous qualities and depth of layers that emerge as I fuse the various elements and pigments together.”  The paintings in this exhibit provide glimpses and hints of those layers and invite the viewer to look deeper within.  Lewis describes her creativity as an extension of her contemplative nature, “In creating, I work to follow the nudges I sense within my spirit.  In essence, I am invited deeper and I seek to mirror that invitation through my art.”