Featured Artist: Brad Stroman, Contemporary Realist

Brad Stroman, Contemporary Realist Mixed Media
Artist Statement:  My paintings reflect the intimate and fragile relationship between man and nature. By incorporating the Japanese Zen Buddhist aesthetic of wabi-sabi I can create a stage where both nature and man-made surfaces and objects play out their balancing act. The aesthetic of wabi-sabi encourages a contemplative look at our lives through a meditative and disciplined search for humility and an understanding of our place in the physical world. It professes a belief that all things are incomplete, impermanent, and imperfect. One will discover the interaction of those tenets throughout the images in my compositions.

See Brad Stroman's work in the Studio and Gallery located in the River Arts District at Pink Dog Creative Studios,  348 Depot Street Asheville,  Hours: Wednesday through Friday 10am to 4pm, or by appointment call: 717-799-3025

Featured Artist: Lori Theiault, Potter

Lori Theriault was filmed at last weekend's Southern Highland Craft Fair demonstrating and discussing her theme, "Homemade is better on Handmade"

Opening Reception at The Asheville Art Museum

August 3, 5:00 - 7:00 PM, The Asheville Art Museum, 2 South Pack Square in Asheville NC Opening Reception: Mel Chin: High, Low and In Between   A special presentation of The Funk & Wag from A to Z and meditations on war, religion, and politics.  The exhibit opens Friday, July 27 and continues through Sunday, November 25, 2012. The opening reception is Free with Membership or Museum Admission.

The Funk and Wag from A to Z by Mel Chin

Mel Chin's work evades easy classification. Analytical and poetic, he conjoins cross-cultural aesthetics with complex ideas. His investigations explore our natural and social ecology and the ways art can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility.

Featured Artist: Stina Andersen, Renegade Seamstress

Stina Anderson is the creative force behind ARTeries by Stina  - The Fashion Sewing Studio & Boutique located at the Wedge Studios in Asheville's River Arts District. Her contemporary clothing line is hand-built, piece by piece,  transforming old clothing into bold fashion designs. Her work is available at the Boutique, on Etsy or by custom commission.

ARTeries offers sewing classes and workshops from basic sewing to advanced patternmaking.

Featured Artist: Daniel McClendon

Artist:  Daniel McClendon
NC City:  Asheville - Lift Studios in the River Arts District
Mission Statement:  My work is rooted in the idea that the most unique and unfettered creations come out of spontaneity. The difficult part is focusing enough energy to create a cohesive final product while maintaining a free and open approach. With that in mind, the main goal of my work is to showcase the unique and energetic process in which I paint. I try to create an array of relationships between color, negative space, line, texture and sheen and then I use imagery to ground the piece in reality.

Read more about Daniel McClendon on the River Arts District Blog.

Featured NC Artist: Annie Singletary

Artist:   Annie Singletary
Media:  Ceramics
City: Black Mountain NC

Artist Statement:  "I am a functional ware potter living in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The practical focus of my work is to create utilitarian pottery with mostly porcelain clays and a wide variety of unique glazes. In my most recent work I am using a variety of colors to enhance the textural, organic surfaces. My pieces are designed for giving and they represent a convergence of the dual passions for creation and service. I imagine the works as vehicles for hospitality, as they offer and receive simultaneously. I like to consider the pots in the context of what they are destined to hold and how they will fit into ever changing design trends. Pottery has a timeless element because of its deep history and that is important to me as I strive to make the pieces that are also relevant to my love for interior design."

New NC Artists at Heartwood Gallery

Holden McCurry and Ed Byers - The Gallery is now offering their prayer towers, renowned in throughout WNC, uniquely beautiful and always a thoughtful gift. Included inside each tower is a fold of paper for writing down messages or prayers of one's choice - giving a special purpose for each sculpture. Each tower is hand built and unique with various textures, colors and symbols.

Mark Gardner - a beautiful selection of turned wood bowls from Saluda's own Mark Gardner is now available. Mark uses native hardwoods, adding a wash of milk paint to the exterior giving a unique, colorful finish. These bowls make an excellent wedding gift or artful addition to any home.


Bernie Rowell - an extrodinary contemporary quilt artis. In addition to her painted quilts, the Gallery has a wonderful selection of mixed media collage prints. The botanical images in Bernie's work capture the majesty of this beautiful NC mountains. Visit the Gallery to view these pieces in full glory.

Heartwood Gallery is located at 21 East Main Street in Saluda NC.

Featured Artist: Akira Satake

Artist: Akira Satake
Media: Clay

Location: Curve Studios, 12 Riverside Drive, River Arts District in Asheville NC

About: Satake was a music producer in New York City, overworked and stressed-out. In search of a little relaxation, he took a pottery class and as the expression goes, the rest is history. Thanks to an invitation from a cousin for a visit Asheville Satake and his family discovered the "community" they were seeking. Two years ago he moved his studio to Curves at the River Arts Districe.

His work shows the power of nature's forceswith a style representing the collaboration between himself, clay and fire. He thinks of landslides, the wind dusting through the desert, volcanoes and other natural occurrences nature continually surprises the human eye with. He is influenced by and respects traditional pottery, but strives to create his very own style, with depth over his creations. Read more about Akira Satake HERE.

Works of the Week at the Asheville Art Museum: Peggy Bacon Prints

February 24 - Featured Works of the Week at The Asheville Art Museum:  Peggy Bacon, The Copy Desk (The Washington Post), 1945, lithograph, 12 x 10 inches. 2011 Collectors' Circle Purchase. Asheville Art Museum Collection; Peggy Bacon, Model in Bellows' Class (The Art Students League, NYC), 1918, drypoint, 6 x 8 inches. 2011 Collectors' Circle Purchase. Asheville Art Museum Collection. 

The Copy Desk, Model in Bellows' Class by Peggy Bacon

The Museum's growing collection of prints related to the Art Students League of New York currently includes works by George Bellows and John Sloan.  Two works by Peggy Bacon (1895 - 1987) were recently acquired by the Asheville Art Museum's Collectors' Circle.  

Bacon is an artist known for her satirical drawings and prints illustrating the everyday lives of people around her. She became sought after for her illustrations and witty verse in magazines such as The New Yorker, New Republic, Fortune and Vanity Fair.

Complimentary Shipping from Gallery Minerva

Featured artist at Gallery Minerva: Tenessee artist, Jason Jackson  finds inspiration in the world of vintage toys. Beautifully framed, these oil paintings are available just in time for the holidays. Priced from $400-1000., these are guaranteed to make Santa smile.  Image shown is:  "Just Digging In", 12"x16", Oil on Linen

Now thru December 20th the gallery will be offering complimentary shipping via UPS to any US address. Give the gift of Art this year and save on shipping.

Gallery Minerva is located at 16 Biltmore Avenue in Asheville NC.

Heartwood Gallery Welcomes New Artists

Jim and Shirl Parmentier have been making pottery together for 35 years.  Their studio is nestled on a hillside in Mars Hill,NC. Jim and Shirl work as a team in both the design and the making of the pieces with their own custom high fire stoneware clay. Using both extruded coils and slabs they make forms,  then alter and carve them to get the final shape. An ash glaze flowing into the crevices adds the final touch. Their lamps and altered vessels are currently adorning the windows of Heartwood.


Ed and Kate Coleman have had their hands in clay since they were 15 years old. Their home studio on Big Flats Mountain in North Carolina is home to the couple's whimsical designs. Their large and small wall tiles and ceramic clocks feature colorful designs with both abstract and recognizable forms, reflecting their charming and fun style.  

Hank Goodman recycles large amounts of wood ash collected from families who heat with wood, which in turn gives his stoneware the subdued and sensuous glazes that are its trademark. These functional stoneware pieces make the perfect gift, fitting into both traditional and contemporary settings. They may be used in the microwave and regular oven below 400 degrees and are dishwasher safe and safe to use with all foods.  

Heartwood Gallery is located at 21 East Main Street in Saluda NC

River Arts District welcomes artist Desiree DeMars

Encaustic artist Desiree DeMars frcently opened Sassafras Studio in the Riverview Station studio at 191 Lyman St. with fellow artists Bet Kindley & Mary Alice Ramsey.

Desiree's mystical encaustic pieces bring nature to mind with rustic colors, representing canyons and red rocks and vibrant coral-reef creations, as if the viewer were scanning the ocean floor. Most of her pieces are abstract. DeMars enjoys hearing studio visitors’ interpretations of her work and inspiring their imaginations. During one recent visit, a fox, ancient Japan, a pulsating jellyfish and moving water were all spotted in various creations.

Visit Desiree DeMars at Sassafras Studio inside Riverview Station at 191 Lyman Street Tuesdays - Saturdays from 11-4, or by appointment at 312.437.4325. Connect online at http://www.desireedemars.com/.

Work of the Week at the Asheville Art Museum - August 29

Cabalo Valador Series #28

Therman Statom was born in Winter Haven, FL in 1953 and was raised in Washington, DC. As a young man Statom developed a friendship with Cady Noland, son of the Asheville-born abstract painter, Kenneth Noland. Statom's decision to become an artist was reportedly attributed to his acquaintance with the Noland family.

Following his early studies in glass art at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA in the early 1970s, the budding artist earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1974, and a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Pratt Institute's School of Art and Design in 1978. Read more...

Work of the week: Cabalo Valador Series #28, Screen printed and assembled glass, 14.38 x 16.38 x 4.63 inches. The work is a gift of Delphia Allen Lamberson and Hoke Smith Holt.

Asheville Art Mesuem Work of the Week

Betty Parsons (1900-1982)  Untitled, 1978. 

Color lithograph. 29.63 x 21.13 inches.   

Collection of the Asheville Art Museum. Gift of Brian E. Butler. 2007.24.01.61.

Betty Parsons, Untitled 1978

Betty Parsons (1900-1982) was born Betty Bierne Pierson. She grew up in New York City in an upper class family. At age 13 Parsons attended the 1913 Armory Show, the exhibition that introduced America to European avant-garde art. Many people found the work shocking, but Parsons embraced the work because it showed a "new spirit." This event instilled in Parsons a lifelong passion for modern art. In 1917, she even turned down a position on the U.S. Olympic tennis team to pursue her interest in art.

While Parsons never showed her own work at the Betty Parsons Gallery, she remained committed to her artistry. She began painting in the 1930s, later working in the Abstract Expressionist manner. 

 

Learn more about Betty Parsons...

Artist of the Month at the Asheville Art Museum Shop

Museum Shop March Artist of the Month is Jason Hoyes

"I started blowing glass in 2006 while living in Cary, North Carolina. It was difficult at first but the challenge kept me interested and within two years I moved to the Western Carolina Mountains to pursue glass as a full time career. Over the past three years in Asheville, I have been able to make good friends and connections in the arts, as well as the lampworking community. I am inspired by my surrounding and am excited about the future projects I have yet to create." -Jason Hoyes

Featured Artists at Gallery Minerva

Gallery Minerva is located at 8 Biltmore Avenue in Downtown Asheville.

Anne Bachelier:
Works on Paper Original drawings by Anne Bachelier
have arrived at Gallery Minerva. Japanese ink, gouache and gilding on celadon aquarelle paper highlight the fine detail of Bachelier's masterful style. Each piece is archivally mounted and ready for framing. We look forward to sharing these with you. Photographed above: "IV".


Bernie Segal:
Asheville sculptor, Bernie Segal has completed his crowning achievement
with the debut of "Ursula", the largest of his stone bear series. With this delivery, the artist is hanging up his chisel to conclude his work in stone. Contact the gallery for more information on "Ursula" or her black bear cousin, "Infantia".

Asheville Art Museum Shop Artist of the Month

Museum Shop March Artist of the Month: Sondra Dorn

Sondra Dorn is a full time studio artist living in Asheville, North Carolina. She received her MFA from the

University of Washington in 1996. Following graduate school, Dorn went on to a one year Artist in Residency at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and then a three-year Artist in residence at Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina. She was also a CORE fellowship student at Penland between the years 1992 through 1994.

Celebrate St Patrick's Day with "green" Art

Featured Artist: Kelly Welch Phipps
a Signature Member of
Western North Carolina Plein Air Painters. 

Learn more about Kelly's Welch Phipps' work at
Skyuka Fine Art at 133 N Trade Street in  Tryon, NC

Home fo the Perfect Christmas Tree Featured Artist

Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree Shop in Spruce Pine NC Artist Spotlight: Alice Houser. Having completed a course in kaleidoscope making and design at Penland School of Crafts, Alice is looking at the world with a new perspective. Trying to capture the delicacy of a snowflake or the intense variety of fall leaves and "bottling" it in a kaleidoscope has given her a new appreciation for the infinite imagination and awesome resourcefulness of God.
Click Here to read more about Alice and her kaleidoscopes

Photo Credit: Our State Magazine

Asheville Art Museum Artist of the Month

The Asheville Art Museum Shop has announced its December Artist of the Month: Bickley Studios.   Phil and Veda Bickley are self-taught artists who were drawn to the medium of glass for artistic expression at a young age.  They work independently, but also in collaborative projects. Veda's glass takes on whimsical, fluid and sensual lines while Phil's work is always confident and rich in sophisticated expression. Having worked and supported themselves as artists for more than six years, their ability to live a life fostered by their art resonates in their pieces.

Their home in the graceful rusticity of North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains is also their artist's studio, so creativity is deeply etched in their everyday life. Blending the techniques of both ancient glass artisans and more modern masters, the Bickleys have developed their own systems within the flameworking community.