September Issue 2001
Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC, Features Annual Members Exhibition
The Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC, will feature its Annual Exhibition: New Members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, in the Center's Main Gallery through Sept. 23, 2001. The exhibition features the work of the Southern Highland Craft Guild's newest Constituents. Craftspeople of all media accepted as members of the Guild within the last year proudly share samples of their abundant talents.
All forty-two artists represented in this show live and work in the southern mountains from Alabama to West Virginia. Outstanding furniture makers like Tim Hintz (Smithville, TN) who fashions fine bark-seated chairs from local red oaks, or cabinet maker Michael T. Maxwell (Bedford, VA) whose historic furniture designs convey a functional elegance, are two of the nine members working in wood. Other woodworkers include Jim McPhail (Fairview, NC), an innovative wood turner who creates miniature mixed-wood bowls on a lathe, and Rodney Hopkins (Penland, NC) whose charming spoons and other wood carvings show a world of imagination.
A number of new members working in fine jewelry offer fresh ideas in the field of metalsmithing. The highly innovative jewelry designs of Ruthie and Mike Cohen (Arden, NC) are the result of hours of collaborative creativity dedicated to each new piece. Asheville, NC bead artist Amolia Willowsong surrounds precious and semi-precious stones with dazzling beadwork, creating the appearance of a shimmering creek flowing around a rock in a streambed.
A new knife maker in the Guild, David Beasley (Marshall, NC) presents his mastery of Damascus steel making, the art of forging high carbon steel with low carbon steel in a hundred or more layers to make a super-strong knife blade.
Two new polymer clay artists will have pieces in this show. Irene Dean of Goodnight Irene studio (Weaverville, NC) has a million clever ways to manipulate polymer clay using tools as unlikely as a pasta machine. Author of the 2000 Lark Books publication Polymer Clay, Dean shows how to imprint sheets of clay with leaf impressions and small objects, bringing distinctive surfaces to practical items such as switch plates and notebook covers. Knoxville, TN polymer clay artist Teri Byrd concentrates on sculpting figures. Her detailed portrayals of nymphs, fairies and dancing sprites all embody a message, bearing names like "Ecstasy, Geometry, and Joy".
Two new leather artists have joined the Guild, and share their own innovations in this historic art form. Rodney Kindlund (Alexander, NC) tools intricate designs in his leather pieces, with Celtic, Renaissance, Viking and western American influences. Karen Noggle (Knoxville, TN) has devised techniques to make three dimensional sculptures from hand-dyed leather from various hides.
A number of clay, fiber and natural materials artists have also taken their places in the ranks of Guild membership. Ceramic tile maker Mimi Strang (Asheville, NC) and mosaic artist Pamela Brewer (Banner Elk, NC) show amazing talent in their specialized area of ceramic art, while Weaverville, NC ceramicist Anna Vogler offers notable talent in throwing large, thin walled vessels on a potter's wheel.
All forty-plus new members have a valuable
gift worthy of involvement in the Southern Highland Craft Guild.
This may be the first time, but certainly not the last time, their
work can be seen in a Guild sponsored program. As members of the
organization, artists can market through the Guild's four shops
and participate in the semi-annual Craft Fairs. For many, Guild
membership means career opportunities; for others it signifies
professional recognition. The Guild acknowledges to all participants
in this show that their work has reached a high level of accomplishment,
and as accepting them as one of their own, the Guild supports
their continued craft making.
The new members participating in this show from the November 2000
Jurying are David Beasley - metal, knifemaking; Edward Burdett
- paper, serigraphs; Pamela Brewer - mixed media, mosaics; Charles
and Sheryl Donaldson - glass; Jennifer Heller - fiber; Jack Jackson
- wood; Stan and Sue Jennings - wood; Nancy Kubale-Wicker - mixed
media; Kent McLaughlin - clay; Jim McPhail - wood; DeDe Styles
- fiber, spinning, dyeing; and Gretchen Wurth - fiber.
New members from the March 2001 Jurying are Susan V. Morris - fiber; Dennis Bern - clay; Teri Byrd - mixed media - polymer clay; Kathleen Cantin - paper, etchings; Ruthie and Mike Cohen - jewelry; Irene Dean - mixed media, polymer clay; Daniel DiCristino - wood; Wendy Elwell - clay; Gloria Felter - fiber; Marlow & Diana Gates - natural materials, brooms; Eileen Hallman - fiber; Yvonne Hegney & Thorn Kittredge - mixed media; Donald & Harriet Herrick - glass; Tim Hintz - wood; Rodney Hopkins - wood; Susan Ellen Jones - fiber; Rodney Kindlund - leather; Michael Maxwell - wood; Jim McGie - wood; Ernst Meyer - clay; Karen Noggle - leather; June Patterson - fiber; Chris Ramsey - wood; Anne Rob -jewelry; Tim Roberts - clay; Lizabeth Shannon - fiber; Yates Spencer - metal; Mimi Strang - clay; Anna Vogler - clay; Amolia Willowsong - fiber; and Pamela Zimmerman - natural materials.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call the center at 828/298-7928.
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
Subscriptions are available for $18 a year.
Carolina Arts
is published monthly by Shoestring
Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2001 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts
Online, Copyright© 2001 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved
by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use
without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina
Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.