Feature Articles
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November Issue 2004

Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC, Features Works by Kathleen Doyle and Tom Reardon

Metalsmithing partners Kathleen Doyle and Tom Reardon are featured in the Focus Gallery at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC, through Dec. 7, 2004. Their latest body of work includes wall pieces and jewelry in which landscapes, architecture and objects are presented as mementos of the artistsí journeys. Their multiple talents in metalsmithing, photography and painting are combined to create layered imagery that evokes a sense of place.

For example, the wall piece Chattanooga River contains a delicately painted scene of rippling water, driftwood and stones behind frosted glass that both obscures and reveals it. Other layers are created with pierced patterns of sheet metal, which is all housed in a fabricated metal frame that is oxidized to mimic the patina of time.

The couple's design skills in metals range among goldsmithing, silversmithing and blacksmithing. Both artists have extensive training and experience in metalsmithing. Doyle received her BFA from Memphis College of Art, followed by a yearlong residency at John C. Campbell Folk School in which she taught enameling. She received an MFA at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, was an artist-in-residence at Penland School of Crafts, and taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts. Reardon received his MFA from the State University of New York-New Paltz. He was associate professor at the University of Illinois-Champaigne Urbana and later taught at California State University-Sacramento. Reardon left teaching for self-employment as a goldsmith. The couple met and married in California and formed a studio "Portfolio Metalwork" which they operate today as resident artists at the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville, NC.

The Southern Highland Craft Guild is a non-profit, educational organization established in 1930 to bring together the crafts and craftspeople of the Southern Highlands for the benefit of shared resources, education, marketing and conservation. The Southern Highland Craft Guild is authorized to provide services at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Folk Art Center under the authority of a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at 828/298-2514, e-mail at (ada@craftguild.org) or at (www.southernhighlandguild.org).


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