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The 19th Annual Art in the Garden Sculpture Invitational

The 19th Annual Art in the Garden Sculpture Invitational "For 19 years we are both humbled and honored to have shared our gardens with some of the most exceptional contemporary sculptors we know." We would like to extend an invitation to all of our Eno Gallery patrons and friends to join us for this exceptional sculpture show at our home gardens and grounds. As always in this special exhibition at our home and gardens, each artist receives 100% of their sales without commission to the gallery

New Horizons

Nancy Tuttle May: New work - combined media on canvas
Opening Reception: Opening Reception: Friday February 22, 2013 from 6 to 9 pm
Exhibition Dates: February 22,2013 March 24, 2013

This very special reception for Ms. May will include special guests Brad Newell on guitar, and Ken Vint on bass, - having shared the stage with notable musicians such as Clark Terry, Bill Watrous, Suzanne Vega and Mellisa Ethridge, they will bring their warm jazz as accompaniment to Nancy Tuttle May's bold new work

A solo exhibition of new paintings utilizing combined media.

Nancy Tuttle May has been working as a professional artist for over 37 years and her work is exhibited and collected internationally. Her work is in numerous private and public collections.

Although Nancy Tuttle May is a well established collectible artist, she doesn't rest on her laurels,she continues to push her practice forward. Her new work in combined media successfully pushes her signature abstract paintings in a dynamic new direction.,

Nancy says: "My current work involves a process that I began in the 80's using copper and putting it in a bath of salt and vinegar. I stopped the process when the copper reached the desired colors with varnish. I then collaged them into my works on paper.

"With this new body of work, I'm using copper granules; which began a new series on canvas. While the paint is still wet and using methyl cellulose for adhering, I incorporate the crystals into the paint"

While Ms May continues to convey spontaneity in her abstract expressionist works, in fact her canvases involve careful planning. There is a palpable physicality to this new work... the reactive process between the elements that Ms May is currently using imbue her canvases with an exciting new dimension of texture and depth.

Art of the Contemporary Still Life

7 Southern Artists interpret the Contemporary Still Life
Opening Reception: Friday January 25, 2013 from 6:00 to 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: January 25 - February 17, 2013

Inspired by the Still-Life exhibition that the North Carolina Museum of Art brought this winter from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston we asked 7 Southern Artists for their interpretations of the contemporary still life.

The still life is a structure of art that has existed through millennia, from ancient times through today. A still life can immortalize humble but beautiful subjects for their own sake. The still life to a greater degree than the landscape or historical painting, owes its composition to the painter as the painter has the opportunity to 'arrange' the composition

Some of the works in this exhibition are exuberant while others invite quiet contemplation. These paintings will invite you to enter the dimensions of the space, both visually and emotionally. The artists in this exhibition have addressed the way inanimate objects speak to how we live in the here and now... to permanence and transition, abundance and scarcity.

Exhibiting Artists

• Morag Charlton
• Lisa Creed
• Mike Hoyt
• Kristin Gibson

• Jennifer Miller
• Karen Shelton
• Anthony Ulinski

Transcendent Journeys

Tinka Jordy: featured ceramic artist in the lower gallery
Opening Reception: Friday, October 26 from 6:00 to 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: October 26 - December 30, 2012

'Transcendent Journeys' is an exhibition of new life size and smaller figurative sculptures in high fired stoneware.

A native of New Orleans, Tinka Jordy has been working as a professional artist for 35 years and her work is exhibited and collected internationally. Her work is in numerous private and public collections. Ms. Jordy received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977 after attending The Cleveland Institute of Art and The Kansas City Art Institute.

Jordy has received the 'Best in Show' award at the 21st Annual Sculpture exhibition at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Another of Jordy's installations is a public commission of a life size figurative bronze sculpture for the City of Oxford Mississippi. However, Jordy's primary medium and the medium on display in this exhibition is high fired stoneware clay that is suitable for outdoor installation.

When asked about what compels her to create, she speaks of deeply felt emotions and her compelling desire to express those emotions through her work... "The surfaces of my sculptures are full of surface cracks, fissures and imperfections that express the earth, the passing of time, our mortality, the stresses of life, and endurance both physical and emotional. For over 35 years I have worked in clay as it the one material that, if I listen closely, communicates these sentiments so beautifully."

Artist Favorites

Artists Favorites: a group exhibition in the upper gallery of new paintings that gallery artists have chosen as one of their current favorite works
Opening Reception: Friday, October 26 from 6:00 to 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: October 26 - December 30, 2012

Artist Favorites is an exciting exhibition of work that has been selected by each exhibiting artist as one of their current favorite works of art. Each exhibiting artist will be including one to two works in this group exhibition. This will be a unique opportunity to learn why each artist feels that a particular work that they have selected for the exhibition is a strong work of art.

Exhibiting Artists

• Michael Brown
• Morag Charlton
• Jacob Cooley
• Lisa Creed
• Salinda Dahl
• Jeff Dodge
• Robert Gardner
• John Geldersma
• Virginia Gibbons
• Kelly Guidry
• Chrystal Hardt
• Molly Cliff Hilts

• Mike Hoyt
• Nick Joerling
• Donna Polseno
• Claudia Schmitz-Esser
• Nancy Tuttle May
• Jennifer Miller
• Melissa Miller
• Jay Pfeil
• Jolene Powell
• Alberto Ortega Rodas
• Kathy Triplett
• Anthony Ulinski

Inked Yarn

Claudia Schmitz-Esser: New woodcut prints
Opening Reception: Friday, September 28, 2012 from 6:00 to 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: September 28 - October 21, 2012

Inked Yarn' is an exhibition of original new woodcut prints hand printed and signed by the artist and representing the very first print of a limited edition of only 9 prints, 22" x 30". There will be one of each woodcut available at this exhibition In the 'Inked Yarn' woodcut series, Claudia Schmitz-Esser manipulates and dips yarn shapes into ink and applies the inked yarn to large woodblocks to create abstract shapes textures and patterns. She then carves out the patterns that remain on the woodblock to make her beguiling prints.

Schmitz-Esser says:"These very hard black and white ink prints originated in the soft trace of a tiny rolling ball of yarn, went through a process of working solid wood with metal tools, and finally, by forceful hand-printing, are carried by a soft and flexible sheet of beautiful paper." For Esser, these works portray the balance between weak and strong, between the unyielding and the adaptable.

She goes on to say: "Combining hard and soft materials has always held a strong fascination for me - to see how one depends on the other and how something weak can create something strong and something hard can become flexible."

Near and Far

Mike Hoyt: New oil paintings
Exhibition Dates: August 31 - October 21, 2012

Mike Hoyt studied design at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has studied with several notable impressionists including Lois Griffel of the Cape Cod School of Art and at the Scottsdale Artists School under award-winning plein-air figurative artists, Peggi Kroll-Roberts, Kevin MacPherson and Kenn Backhaus.

Hoyt refers to himself as a southern impressionist. Like the French Impressionists, Hoyt prefers to paint everyday subjects and capture their luminosity. Simple objects, warmth and color are the essence of Hoyt's work. He says: Since almost all of my work is done in plein-air, light, shadow and mood are essential subjects in my paintings.

Mike Hoyt's works range from still life and figurative paintings to luminous landscapes that as Hoyt explains, 'portray the temporal effects of light and color, applied in an impressionistic style... in the end, though, I end up in an almost-constant chase for the bold, bright and exciting color. I strive for a certain luminosity in my paintings and so I like to work in the early morning and late in the day when the warmest and most vibrant colors dance through a scene.'

Hoyt finds beauty in the most mundane of subjects... a few pans on the stove or an old truck in an abandoned barn. Where conventional eyes see the ordinary, Hoyt's ability to portray what can only be described as joyous color shows us the beauty in the ordinary that we might otherwise take for granted.

'There's something magic about an old barn or or a broken-down tractor. Not only do they have interesting forms, these subjects capture our warm, southern sunshine in interesting ways. A collector once told me she liked my work because it "makes me happy". I also had a French nun in Aix approach my easel and comment, "you paint from your heart, don't you". I have thrived on these two simple remarks. They are why I paint."

Cooley & Polseno

Opening reception: Friday June 29 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Exhibition dates: June 29 to August 25, 2012
Read the review of this exhibition published in the Chapel Hill News
Read the review of this exhibition by Blue Greenberg published in the Durham Herald Sun

This exhibition presents the figurative ceramic sculpture of Donna Polseno and the landscape oil paintings of Jacob Cooley. Each of these artists presents a coherent vision free of unnecessary decoration by their ability to subtract the non essential.

Pascal once apologized to a correspondent saying: "The present letter is long, as I had no time to make it shorter." Likewise, in painting and sculpture one can distill a work to it's essential elements. Both Cooley and Polseno have an aesthetic that eschews superfluous embellishment to elegantly reveal the absolute and necessary.

Jacob Cooley received his BFA from the University of Georgia in 1990 an his Masters degree at the University of North Carolina in 1993. His work is in numerous national and international collections including The Kenan Institute for the Arts, the U.S. Embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro, and the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham, NC. See more of Cooley's work.

"The glowingly soft treatment of the surface and the lyrical compositions make Cooley's transcendental landscapes speak softly, but powerfully"
Kate Dobbs Ariail

Donna Polseno received her BFA at Kansas City Art Institute and her Masters degree at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1974. Her work is in numerous important collections including The American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona CA, the Kansas City Art Institute, the Mint Museum in Charlotte NC and the St. Louis Museum of Art.

"Donna Polseno is a ceramic artist of consequence - an artist of distinction..."
Wayne Higby - Chair of Ceramic Art, Alfred University.

Nick Joerling

Opening Reception: Friday, June 29, 2012 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm
Exhibition dates: June 29 - August 26, 2012

Nick Joerling received his MFA in ceramics from Louisiana State University in 1986 and is a full time studio potter and educator. His work is in numerous important public and private collections.

Joerling's pottery has always had a sculptors sensibility. More than simply creating a functional vessel, Joerling's pottery captures and portrays a lyrical sense of movement. Joerling says: "Profile is ... a strong attraction, a strong dictate, as are the smaller spaces within spaces. And of course that sense of animation. My pot reference is most often you and I, our bodies. It's where my cues come from: dance, people seated on a park bench, the cleavage that forms on the inside of a bent elbow." With a saucy gestural motion Nick Joerling's pots embrace a sense of dance and rhythm.

Joerling's earlier work gained this sense of movement from his sculptural references to figures in motion. His newer work portrays that sense of movement not only through form but with the use of his surface treatment utilizing drawn glaze patterns.

In a 2011 interview in Ceramics Monthly Joerling explains: "...with the recent work, the surfaces have gotten more active. That has to do with my attempt to draw on the pots, and those shadow figures break up the surface in a much different way than a brush stroke does. I'm finding out that running multiple figures across a pot sets up a rhythm."

Right & Left

Opening reception: Friday May 25, 2012 from 6:00 pm to 9:00pm
Exhibition dates: May 25 to June 24, 2012

In the lower gallery, we're excited to present an exhibition of Jennifer Miller's new paintings including watercolors from recent months of healing and change.

In the late 1960's the American psycho-biologist Roger Sperry famously theorized that the human brain has two very different ways of thinking.

One (the right brain) is visual and processes information in an intuitive way. The other (the left brain) is verbal and processes information in an analytical way. This theory has since been found to be more complex than this but is still a part of our collective vocabulary.

Jennifer Miller had an injury this past winter and severely broke her upper right arm at the shoulder... her painting arm.

However, Jennifer continued to paint. ..with her left hand and with surprising results.

Speaking about the differences of right brain vs. left Jennifer says:

"I believe that the sides of my brain are connected. …when I am working, I feel the connection -- the intellect guides the brush through analysis, planning and various techniques, while unconscious creativity flows in and out."

Miller took up her brush in her left hand. Initially she felt that the results were out of control. She then came to a realization...

"I fell in love with the accidentally running colors. As I experimented, my colors became brighter. My right arm slowly healed, such that I painted in a sort of continuum between my sides: the brush would start in my left hand and end up in my right. Some of the paintings thus are a combination of that looseness and brilliant color and that insistence on some control of details."

We often speak of different techniques and styles in various terms. One of the terms I often use to compare styles is 'tight' vs. 'loose'. Of course, neither style is necessarily better - they are simply two different ways of working. One is more controlled or 'tight' and one is more impressionistic or 'loose'.

We will include some older paintings of Jennifer's for comparison of styles - we hope you'll come to the opening - and join the dialogue...

Surface Tension

Opening reception: Friday May 25 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Exhibition dates: May 25 to June 24, 2012

The upper gallery will feature a compelling two person exhibition with the book based sculptures of Daniel Essig and the
fine hand woven fiber installations of Vicki Essig.

'Surface Tension' is a two person exhibition of new work by Vicki and Daniel Essig.
The waters edge is source of inspiration for Daniel's book based sculptures, barely above or below the skin of the waterline.

"Like artifacts from antiquity, Essig's works feel monumental in their complexity." Matt Zigler

"Nuanced with shallow textures, carved, painted, and layered, Essig's sublime surfaces appear softened by time. His unforgettable pieces challenge traditional ideas abut the medium as they straddle the line between book and sculpture."
Masters: Book Arts:
Major Works by Leading Artists
by Eileen Wallace, University of Georgia

Vicki Essigs use of silk and other ultra fine threads and materials, results in a translucent fabric that reflects and distorts light.

"Vicki Essig ...cuts out small lines of text and blends them with natural and artistic elements to create delicate and ephemeral constructions. Her pieces are like messages in a bottle, or tiny time capsules unearthed in a future time..."
Matt Zigler

Daniel and Vicki Essig are an enigmatic and extraordinarily talented couple that each bring their own unique vision to this exhibition. Their common use of the written word, and natural materials references and emphasizes the theme 'Surface Tension'.

Vicki and Daniel invite you to "explore and discover a world lying just beyond the surface."

Lines of Communication

Opening reception: Friday April 27,2012 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Exhibition dates: April 27, 2012 to May 22, 2012

About this exhibition

Having just finished our "Totems and Talismans" exhibition we mount an exhibition around the theme "Lines of Communication". It's not hard to see the ubiquitous telephone pole as a totem a spirit guide of communication. Sentinels of communication bearing the weight of the lines that connect us.

The iconic telephone lines that link us together seemed like such a marvel of technology just a short time ago, but now appear quaint as we look at the future of the information highway. Signals transmitted from cellphone to microwave tower to satellite and back point to the redundancy of our telephone lines that we now refer to as land lines the horse and buggy of the communication infrastructure.

Telephone poles with lines strung from pole to pole, from house to house, from city to city.
Connecting us, the lines hum and vibrate in the night.
Imagine the conversations - dozens, hundreds, thousands of voices.
A cacophony of communication seen but unseen as one gazes from below the lines.
Lines of laughter, lines of tears. Connections made and lost.
A call unanswered waiting for connection.
All transmitted from pole to pole, from house to house, from city to city.

Paintings are one of our most ancient and enduring forms of communication and of course preceded the early telephone networks. Paintings still remain a tangible and effective mode of communication. In this exhibition eight artists share their interpretations of "Lines of Communication". We hope you'll join the dialogue. Mark Donley, April 2012

• Michael Brown - Chapel Hill, NC
• Molly Cliff Hilts - Portland, OR
• Mike Hoyt - Raleigh, NC
• George Marks - Arnaudville, LA
• Melissa Miller - Gaithersburg, MD
• Alberto Ortega - Raleigh, NC
• Jenifer Padilla - Carrboro, NC
• Anthony Ulinski - Raleigh, NC

Totems and Talismans

Notable regional and nationally recognized artists include John Geldersma from Santa Fe, NM and Alice Ballard from Greenville, SC whose work is included in the Renwick collection at the Smithsonian Museum.

Totems and talismans is an exhibition of sculptures that are created with clay, wood, metal, and symbols that in their relationship to each other evoke a spiritual meaning.

The making of objects that evoke or contain special power, either in the spiritual or physical world is an ancient ritual of humankind. In Native American culture a totem is a spirit guide. Artifacts which were buried deep in the earth and recovered, reveal that making totems and talismans is an ancient human tradition going back thousands of years.

Pre-industrial societies harnessed their collective energy through their art and rituals. Some of the exhibited works in this exhibition invite meditation and solitary contemplation. Others appear filled with the primitive energy of the unconscious that flows through us all. What all the works in this exhibition share is that they are alive with a tribal, elemental feeling that is strong and direct. One feels a connection with the primitive energy of the collective unconscious that exhibiting artist John Geldersma calls "contemporary tribalism". Geldersma states that totemic works are created "through the unconscious attempting to transcend into a place of understanding."

This exhibition doesn't attempt to replicate the ancient Totems. Rather it is a contemporary interpretation that gives voice to the inner creativity of each individual artist.

Metaphors of Containment

Donna Polseno: Featured ceramic artist in the lower gallery
Opening Reception: Friday, February 24, 2012 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm
Exhibition dates: February 24 - April 22, 2012

"Artists contextualize and create a point of view that informs the viewer. They tell us what to think, to feel, to understand. They reveal. We know about the sunset because artists have revealed it to us. Likewise, we know about utility in this case because Donna Polseno reveals it so poetically."
Wayne Higby - Chair of Ceramic Art, Alfred University

Spring Forth

Shannon Bueker: Featured visual artist in the lower gallery
Exhibition Dates: March 30 - April 24, 2012

New work portraying the grasses, woodlands and flowers of Spring in North Carolina. Shannon Bueker's loose impressionistic style brings the intimate landscapes in this exhibition alive with atmosphere and movement.

Shannon shares her thoughts on her work and process as follows..."This life we have is a gift. It is a wonder to me that it comes in so many shapes, sizes and forms. My drawing and painting have long been motivated by the need to respond to the beauty I see around me. The amazing grace of trees and plants, the fluidity of animals, the outrageous colors of the earth all provoke me to paint and draw."

"For me, the most compelling puzzle artistically has been and continues to be orchestrating line and color. The process of my painting is layering color and line, keeping wispy lines of charcoal, describing movement and strengths, and developing a rich, varied surface. I see my work as trying to reveal nature¿s grace and unfold the layers of interactions, interconnections and its surprising overlaps."

Shannon Bueker

Steel Canvas

A solo exhibition by Robert Gardner.
Opening Reception: Friday, January 27, 2012 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm
Exhibition Dates: January 27, 2012 to February 21, 2012
See more work here.

Robert Gardner's sculptural paintings blur the boundaries between painting and sculpture. He creates wall mounted sculptures of welded and fabricated steel. Gardner's geometric forms and sculptural surfaces are used as a canvas for his layers of paint, breaking with the historical art tradition of illusionistic space in two dimensions. Gardner says "I apply my paint as an overlay... to portray the process of time, erosion and aging."

Gardner's works create a spatial narrative with architectural references. In fact Gardner's work appears inspired by minimalist architecture as he utilizes basic geometric shapes as outlines, using only a single shape or a small number of like shapes as components for design unity. Architectural geometric outlines are the canvas that Gardner works with.

When I asked Robert if he was inspired by architecture he replied that one of his many influences is the work of the Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The architect's buildings are often characterized by three-dimensional circulation paths. These paths interweave between spaces formed both inside geometric shapes and in the spaces between them. Likewise, the three dimensional constructions of architecturally inspired outlines are the canvas that Gardner works with.

2011 Holiday Celebration

A group exhibit of stunning work by 30 of our finest artists.
Opening reception: Friday November 25, 2011 from 6 to 9 pm

Featuring paintings, handblown glass, fine woodwork, and contemporary ceramics.

Fragile and Strong

A solo exhibition of new hand-woven framed fiber art by Vicki Essig.
Opening reception: Friday October 28, 2011 from 6 to 9 pm
Exhibition dates: October 28, 2011 to November 22, 2011
See more work here.

Vicki Essig's new work is comprised of fine hand-woven fiber, silk, horsehair, and other natural materials. Small, found objects find a home in her subtle pieces. With an exquisite use of natural materials, her work shows the small and delicate as the powerful and significant.

Essig says: "I am fascinated with light and translucency, the contrast between the fragile, and the strong. My work is comprised of fine handwoven fiber. I incorporate into these weavings, small found objects that find a home in the subtle pieces." The work is then framed with double glass, allowing for the intricate piece to remain transparent. Shadows originating from the composition give it an extra dimension.

Carolina Landscapes

Michael Brown's inspiration comes directly from nature...he deftly captures the essence of the North Carolina landscape with his signature 'broken color' brush technique that lends his paintings a sense of spontaneity. However, this seemingly loose brushwork reveals a carefully constructed composition that invites the viewer to share the contemplative experience...

Brown's new work successfully expresses his perceptions of nature, rather than creating exacting representations.  Brown states, "It's no surprise that painters still turn to the natural world to explore their visual understanding and express their artistry. There is no richer interplay of shape and color than that found in nature."

Crossing Paths

A solo exhibition of Lisa Creeds new abstract paintings. There will be a reception with the artist Friday, September 30 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. See more work here.

The solo exhibition will feature new work created in the past two years. Creed states: "In these paintings I am returning to my roots... abstraction. I work in layers of paint and etch back and forth through previous layers to expose earlier marks and colors. Graphite allows me to draw and make notes about what is going on around me."

Creed's most recent work displays an originality and depth that reveal an artist that continues to explore but has found a maturity in her lyrical abstract paintings. Like a solid jazz riff, Creed's canvases swing with shape, color and texture. As Creed puts it "Jazz, in particular 1950's and 1960's jazz, deeply influences my work."

Her work is included in numerous personal and prestigious corporate collections. In 2009, the directors of both The North Carolina Museum of Art and Duke University's Nasher Museum selected Creed's work for juried shows.

"there is a whimsical quality, and a tactile sensibility that links Creed with Klee, Cy Twombly, Antonio Tapies, and even Miro".
"...lively and inspired."
Carol Heft, Adjunct Professor of Art, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA

Regardless of what you think...

Morag Charlton Solo exhibition
Opening Reception Friday August 26, 6pm to 9 pm
Exhibition dates: August 26 thru September 25

A solo exhibition of Morag Charlton's new paintings. There will be a reception with the artist Friday, August 26 from 6pm to 9:00 pm.

Morag's paintings are in collections worldwide, and this exhibition will feature her newest oil on linen paintings produced at her studio Atelier du Monestier in France, and her studio in Raleigh, NC. Charlton was born in South Africa and has been working as a professional artist in the United States for more than 25 years.

This is a very bold body of work using what Charlton describes as 'transient imagery' as inspiration. The exhibition will feature Charlton's large scale oil on linen portraits that are 5 or 6 times life size. The viewer will find that they are compelled into a close up and uncompromising interaction with the subject.

In a review of this work, Peter Wheeler, Professor of Fine Art at Loughborough University wrote: "...whatever the social, historical and conceptual issues that this exhibition raises, the paintings are superb."

VISION & VOICE - The marriage of pen and palette.

Eno Gallery Reception and Poetry Reading
Friday, July 29 at 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm

"If they could only speak and they do"

A poetic journey through Nancy Tuttle May's vibrant solo exhibition at Eno Gallery with Author/Poet Sheridan Bushnell and artist Nancy Tuttle May.

This very special evening will feature Nancy Tuttle May speaking about selected paintings and poet Sheridan Bushnell will read her poems inspired by the paintings. Join us for this unique look into the inspiration of both the writer and the artist. There will be two readings, one at 7:00 pm and one at 8:00 pm. Each reading will be approximately 15 minutes.

35 Years of Inspiration

A solo exhibition of mixed media paintings on canvas by Nancy Tuttle May.
June 24, 2011 - August 20, 2011
Artist's Reception, Friday July 29 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm with special poetry readings by Sheridan Bushnell at 7:00 and 8:00 pm.

A very special exhibition celebrating 35 years of inspiration. Nancy Tuttle May's paintings are in collections worldwide and this exhibition will feature her newest mixed media work on canvas. In a review of May's work, Louis St Louis called her paintings "Ethereal and Haunting". Her most recent work has layers of depth created by her signature collage technique utilizing acrylic, gold leaf powders, oil sticks marble dust and more. May's paintings deftly use color and form to create abstract works of such soul and substance as to win over the most die hard representational art lover.

Best in the West Clay Invitational

Akira Satake is the featured artist for Eno Gallery's Best in the West Contemporary Clay Invitational Series. The clay invitational series will feature one of the finest clay artists from Western North Carolina at each of these bi-monthly exhibitions.

Akira Satake was born in Osaka, Japan and fires his distinctive Kohiki, Yakishime, Yuuyaku-style pottery in a Japanese Kyushu-style oil kiln and a wood-fired kiln. Recently honored with a National Award for Excellence in Contemporary Clay, Akira's work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Craft Show and is in the permanent collection of the Mint Museum.

Dreamscapes

Vicki Grant will be exhibiting her evocative new sculptural wall pieces and vessels. In addition, we will be unveiling two intriguing new installation pieces. Grant's forms begin with high fired porcelain and utilize hardwoods, glass, metal, fossils, and a variety of natural found objects. Grant manipulates form, texture, and color to create her intricate sculptures.

About the artist and the exhibition...

Grant is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Architecture, and practiced for over 25 years before devoting her creative energy full time to her sculpture. The architectural references in her work are clearly evident and imbue her organic sculptural work with intricate details that draw the viewer closer. Indeed, her 'Windows to the Earth' and 'Galapagos Dreams' are at once both spiritual and totemic... they appear to radiate an almost magical essence.

Grant says "In practicing architecture I explored the complex process of manipulating form, texture, materials, and color to create an emotional response from those interacting with the space. My artwork is a continuation of that process... connecting to the viewer remains the ultimate goal."

Places We Come From

Melissa Miller depicts the un-peopled Southern landscape, often with architecture in various stages of abandonment. Miller finds beauty in the old, the decayed and the disused.

About the artist

For over 15 years Miller has been painting the North Carolina landscape. In love with abandoned farmsteads in rural Orange County, she traverses the county to capture relics of our past lives before they become completely reclaimed by the land.

Miller says "Nothing compares to the incredible beauty and light of the state of the long-leaf pine, ...the evergreens and hardwoods of North Carolina appear to glow from within." Although recently relocated to Maryland, Miller considers herself a North Carolina painter and continues to return to capture the forgotten sentinels of lives lived long ago.

I met Melissa in Hillsborough to take delivery of this exciting new body of work and as she looked wistfully at historic Hillsborough's buildings and trees she murmured "I so miss this light..."

Shared Spaces

Characterized by bold gestural strokes with a rhythm of layered color free of constraint, Bueker portrays humankind's interconnectedness with the world of plants and animals.

Artist Statement

For me, the most compelling puzzle artistically has been and continues to be orchestrating line and color. The process of my painting is layering color and line, keeping wispy lines of charcoal, describing movement and strengths, and developing a rich, varied surface. I see my work as trying to reveal nature's grace and unfold the layers of interactions, interconnections and its surprising overlaps.

Animals We Keep

Outside In