Art in Bloom Gallery is collaborating with Ginger Interiors by Jo Howell to furnish the 2026 Southern Living Showcase Home! Located at 4206 Watersail Drive, Mason’s Farmhouse is where heritage meets tailored intention. We’ve partnered with Jo Howell to display nearly 50 original creations by gallery artists Debra Bucci, Elizabeth Darrow, Judy Hintz Cox, Clarence Mayo, Joan McLoughlin, Constance Pappalardo, Angela Rowe, H.M. Saffer, Pam Toll, Kirah Van Sickle, Melissa Wilgis, Rebecca Yeomans, and guest artists Fabio Napoleoni & Yana Slutskaya!
Join one of four Home Tours on April 11-12 & 18-19, 9-5pm to be captivated by the custom designs of Schmidt Custom Builders, Ginger Interiors, C3 Studio, and fifteen of our artists! All ticket proceeds benefit The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina in their mission to rebuild and restore areas affected by Hurricane Helene.
Learn more & purchase tickets here!
Southern Living Showcase Home: Mason’s Farmhouse
4206 Watersail Drive, Wilmington, NC 28409
“Pink Cake” by Lisa Mullkin & “Crest” by Hannah Fridholm
Art in Bloom Gallery is eager to introduce you to the ceramic sculptures and paintings of guest artists Hannah Fridholm & Lisa J. Mullikin – two recent arrivals to our area with fresh perspectives to share! Ceramicist Hannah Fridholm explores the fragility of memory and the fleeting moments that shape our lives, using clay as a medium to embody transformation and impermanence. Through hand-built sculptures and textured forms, she captures the delicate nature of human experiences. Painter & architect Lisa J. Mullikin focuses on the relationships we have with regional landscapes, and the cultural connections we have to place. Since moving to Wilmington, Lisa’s oils have reflected the area’s unique relationships between the placid land, dynamic sky and the formidable ocean.
In the landscape of human experience, a “desire path” is the unplanned route carved by choices, losses, and transformations. Through incorporating mixed media into their creations, Hannah & Lisa explore the intersections between nature, history, and imagination – the transitory moments when we move from one space to the next. This is not unlike our lives in transition, when we are heading down a certain path but suddenly feel compelled to walk through the untrodden meadow searching and hoping for something wild and unexpected. Altogether, “Desire Path” honors memories and the trail we carve into the earth when we stray from the path.
Clay, for Hannah Fridholm, is not just a material but a vessel of memory. It has a life of its own, requiring attention and care throughout its journey. Like us, it is vulnerable—subject to cracking, breaking, and sometimes even exploding. The process of working with clay becomes a sanctuary, a space where emotions can be expressed and explored. The fragile results of this process mirror the fragility of our own lives. In creating these precarious objects, Hannah’s aim is to make a statement about the precious, fleeting nature of existence.
Hannah’s newest works are a testament to the precious, fleeting nature of life and the resilience found in nature’s lifecycles. Hannah works with clay because it is a material that embodies memory, mirroring the fragility of life. These sculptures act as shrines to moments lost, realized, or imagined. By turning the scars of life into decorative regalia, these figures wear their histories as adornments.
Lisa J. Mullikin’s painting career has been a continuation of her architecture career. She continues to be intrigued by nature, light, and space, and what decisions we make when we are passing through “in-between spaces” – those moments when we move from one space to the next, when the light opens up or closes down and we become hyper aware of our surroundings.
Many of Lisa’s pieces explore these dreamlike experiences where will and acceptance collide. Her recent series add a layer of exploration into the interconnectedness of life. To Lisa, the women in these paintings quietly hold up the world and protect us. They are a part of nature, as are the animals, who are always messengers, storytellers, and deep thinkers. They free us to trust our intuition. They compel us to be our wild selves. Through making, Lisa investigates a world where she can be the animal.
“Sparkling” & “Healing Loved Ones” Oil on canvas by Joanne Geisel
This June, gallery artist Joanne Geisel exploring brand new dimensions to her designs! Painter Joanne Geisel uses oil to capture our Carolina coastlines, working from her photos or life to authentically render each scene. After an initial foray into abstraction in 2022, Joanne outwardly returned to impressionism, while cultivating the lessons she’d learned behind-the-scenes. Now, in addition to her impressionist landscapes, we can finally offer expressive landscapes from Joanne Geisel’s own imagination, using abstract colors and curves to visualize their winds, currents, and movements.
Join us in the gallery on Sunday, June 14th, 2-5pm for our Artist Reception. Enjoy special refreshments, meet our artists, and enjoy live music by guitarist Miles Moore! This exhibit will run through July 27th, alongside a new selection of featured works by our 30+ Gallery Artists.
Art by Catharine Carter & James P. Garrett
From July 31 – September 13, we’ll have the pleasure of introducing you to the landscapes of Guest Artists Catharine Carter & James P. Garrett! Growing up with fairy tales, fables and myths read by her performer father, Chapel Hill photographer Catharine Carter uses digital darkroom tools to develop dreamlike photomontage images. By overlaying her monotone images of places and models with textures or colors, Catharine imagines fantasy narratives within shadowy, inscrutable worlds. It was the discovery of Venetian plaster in the mid-eighties that inspired Atlanta-based painter James P. Garrett to explore painting as a medium for art. Moving from faux and decorative painting to the historical techniques of Venetian plaster, James layers tints of marble and lime, polishing his painting to a silky feel to create effects only his plaster can achieve. Moving between representational and abstract, Catharine and James’ natural and undefinable influences can be discovered through the variety of approaches they take to the artforms they have committed themselves to.
Join us in the gallery on Sunday, August 2nd, 2-5pm for our Artist Reception. Enjoy special refreshments, meet our artists, and enjoy live music by jazz guitarist Roger Davis! This exhibit will be featured alongside a new selection of featured works by our 30+ Gallery Artists.
Meryl Lefkovich “A Balance of Wings (Diptych)” Oil painting on canvas, 24″ x 60″
This September, Asheville-based guest artist Meryl Lefkovich will be inviting us into the magical realism of her paintings, which blend nature, animals, and symbols to evoke the soul. A self-taught painter originally from the Boston area, Meryl’s move to Asheville has deepened her connection to the natural world and the importance of its preservation. Meryl uses oil paint to unearth the hidden connections between humanity and the wild, and embrace the enchantment that lies just beyond the surface of reality. Says Meryl:
“Through my art, I aim to convey the profound sense of harmony that can be found when humans reconnect with the untamed spirit of nature.”
Join us in the gallery on Sunday, September 20th, 2-5pm for our Artist Reception. Enjoy special refreshments, meet our artists, and enjoy live music by violinist Shirley Lebo! This exhibit will run through November 1st, alongside a new selection of featured works by our 30+ Gallery Artists.
Art by Brian Evans, Debra Bucci, and Dianne Evans
Art in Bloom Gallery is celebrating this holiday season through its Annual Holiday Show, featuring the latest creations of gallery artists Debra Bucci, Brian Evans, & Dianne Evans! Painter Debra Bucci will combine forces with ceramicists Brian Evans & Dianne Evans once more to embrace the power of color, texture, and movement in every dimension. Between Debra’s dynamic color patterns and details, Brian’s sculpted forms and weathered textures, and Dianne’s paper-resist patterns and striking surfaces, these artists fuse natural inspirations with their distinct media and techniques to evoke energy, joy, and beauty.
Join us in the gallery on Sunday, November 8th, 2-5pm for our Artist Reception. Enjoy special refreshments, meet our artists, and enjoy live music by guitarist Robert Beauchene! Discover our 30+ Gallery Artists’ delightful new creations, and shop for one-of-a-kind gifts to beautify your home year-round.