A NEW DISCOVERY FOR NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAIN ART WORKSHOPS!

Cullowhee Mountain Arts Center(click for link)

Penland and Arrowmont are well known centers for taking craft workshops in the Southern Mountain Highland, but there are some excellent alternative choices and this is one of them!  Just looking at the workshops I was intrigued by quite a few very quickly.  Also not all of the workshops are crafts, some are fine arts oriented as well.

Wonderful workshops

ART AND NATURE 

from google image for art advocacy 

book arts workshops

Cold wax workshops, Painting with wax and printmaking with cold was were just a few of the workshops that excited me.

Cold wax painting

Time to Say Goodbye to the WInter Studio

No more dinners and wine on the deck till
spring now.  Lots of good memories though.

 Actually this year, my mountain studio was summer, fall, and almost winter.  I think this week is officially winter, but we have already had our first snow and the squirrels have started to fatten themselves on the corn I throw out ever morning to get them through a sparse winter spoils. I thought I would share a few pictures of this time and memories before the trek down to Florida today by way of South Carolina and family. 

Whitey Bolger Senior

This trip I discovered our squirrels had white ears and some have white paws.  So we decided to name them Whitey Bulger and family after the infamous international thief that dogged capture for almost a lifetime.  I don't think our squirrels ever intend to be captured either! 

On this trip I discovered some wonderful little art towns.  Marshall, Spruce Pine and Burnsville, North Carolina.  I also visited an art studio built on a trash dump that uses the gases generated from the trash for kilns and torches for blowing glass.  I went to Akira Satake's art opening, a wonderful potter who uses older Japanese glazing and firing techniques. I met many new craftsmen in the area.  And we bought a new tea bowl for our collection from Akira.  We have a large collection( well a beginning collection) of tea bowls. 

I learned to adapt to winter, by staying into the colder time of year and did much better than last year.  Vinci, the studio dog, did not shake nearly as much and was able to stay out longer without becoming a popsicle.  

We tried new restaurants and I will share those with you and our other new finds in case you plan to travel to Asheville, North Carolina and this area.

Snowy day vista with found object mobile

Enveloped in the clouds one day

Zafer, the studio cat, hard at work 

Enveloped in the clouds the second day

early morning on the mountain, pastel mountains poke through

The snows have melted for now, it is a week and a half before Christmas and more snow
is due next week.  The mosses on the mountain have thrived this year.   And now it is
time to say good bye for awhile, until the next time and more adventure and more creation.

Until the next time…….

Asheville Artist Journal Fall 2013

Taking a camera with where ever I go lets me keep a visual diary.  I highly suggest it for artists.  So much can catch your eye and then be forgotten later.  Just in a  few short minutes something catches you eye and then works its way into a piece of art work. So get a small camera, that you can stick in your pocket, you won't leave behind because it is too heavy or bulky.  Take quick shots and go back and edit later.  Just think of it as a visual memory journal.  Elizabeth Gordon, RMS

75  by Elizabeth Gordon

photo by Elizabeth Gordon

Photo by Elizabeth Gordon

Photo by Elizabeth Gordon

Visual Diary Spruce Pine Artist's Date

 These are some of the other photo's I took the day of the Spruce Pine Pottery Market day.  I like to make a visual diary of details and things that catch my eye.  Some times it is color or texture, or something that evokes a feeling.  Other times it is dramatic contrast or an odd composition.  I think also it is an insight into how artists see the world around them, for we are constant observers of our environment and emotional world.  We are so highly trained to sense and to observe, that a long shadow, or the emotions on a strangers face, the slouch of the farmers shoulders, or the worn arrow on the wooden floor of an old school house engages our interest and attention.  Will any of these things find there way into a work of art or only be the pathway that leads to thought that builds a piece in ones mind...these are the things of artists mind, it is not always a straight path. It is more like being a sponge that absorbs and stores away, to be recalled at another time.  Some artists are so sensitive they find it difficult to turn this off, and that is when we read of artists who turn to self destructive habits as an escape to deaden what they feel. Most artists find a constructive way to use their senses and skill in a positive way to help others see or feel or just appreciate.  

an old depot left behind in time

images of a working railway now all commercial no passenger....the red and the words just jumped out at me.

There is something so appealing about worn big chunky strong
lived used massive industrial objects...the yellow the angle lines, the deep cuts
all say I have been here, I have contributed, I have made a difference

CREATIVITY

I GO WHEREVER MY CREATIVITY TAKES ME!

         Lil' WAYNE

photo by Elizabeth Gordon           Taken at the EnergyXchange in North Carolina

GHOST OF THE VISUAL IMAGE

OUR MINDS HOLD MEMORIES IN VERY COMPLEX WAYS

A COLOR

A SUBTLE VARIATION OF A SHADE OR TINT

SHADOWS AND THE GLINT OF THE SUN

SOUNDS AND THE SOFT TREAD OF SHOES ON WOODEN FLOORS

THE FEELING OF OUR BODIES IN SPACE AS WE RELATE

TO THE NARROWNESS OF A HALLWAY THAT MAGNIFIES EVERY SOUND

SMELLS LIKE OLD LEATHER, BOOKS, AND SWEATY GYMN CLOTHES

EVEN THE SLIGHTEST CHANGE IN HUMIDITY CAN TRIGGER A MEMORY

photo by Elizabeth Gordon        Marshall North Carolina 

photo by Elizabeth Gordon               Marshall North Carolina 

This could be Anytown High School USA.  It happens to be on an Island in the middle of the French Broad River in North Carolina in a little town I have grown to love, Marshall.  This is no longer a high school, it flooded too often so a new high school was built and this wonderful old building sold.  But the good news is the building was sold and bought by an artist who turned it into art studio's for working career artists.  

NEW ARTIST SERIES

FRANCESCO LOMBARDO

Frank is a delightful young man, full of generosity of spirit and a welcoming smile.  He is passionate and energetic about his art.  There is a bit of a shyness, but charmingly so.

 He draws you in when he talks about his art, into his vision and into his world.  When I walked into his studio and looked up at the work on his easel, it was stunning, not only in size, but in skill.  The canvas was amazingly smooth, almost slick and I asked him how he accomplished that.  Without hesitation he went to the back and brought out a flat tool that he skimmed the surface with and also shared he was painting on polyester.

Francesco Lombardo/Figurative Painter 

 Polyester absorbs the acrylic differently and the weave is tight and smooth, it gives the painting a very different effect.  Frank is an emerging talent who is at the beginning of his career. He began his studies and career in Baltimore, Maryland.  He has received a Fulbright Scholarship in art where he studied in Iceland for a year. His work has also been accepted for the Outwin Boochever Competition in the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery.

Smithsonian Outwin Boochever Portrait Show

He has also studied in Europe under a master painter.  Frank has much ahead of him and who ever represents him now will be investing in a burgeoning major talent.  He will need the right venue and the right agent to guide him to the correct markets.  Asheville is heavily craft oriented, a larger market or expo will be his best venue and then he will be heavily collected.

Francesco Lombardo/Figurative Painter                                              from google image for education only

 This is an artist to invest in if you are a collector and an artist with to represent if you are an agent, he is a young man with a brilliant career ahead of him.  

Great photo of Frank, shows so much about his warmth
and humility

Frank's studio in Marshall at the Island

Frank pretending not to pose

Francesco 
Lambardo, Frank, we here at Rabbit's Moon Studio wish you the best and much success!

NEW ARTIST SERIES

THE ART OF PAM WINKLER

                                                                           with permission of the artist

from google image for education only

The most exciting thing about living in a new area is the constant sense of discovery.  Though I have had my Asheville studio for a number of years, I have not alway been able to be there as much as I would like.  Now I am getting to spend larger amounts of time here and see more of the art scene in Ashville and the surrounding areas.  This past week I met three very interesting artist.  You have already met Barbara Fisher in our last post. Now we will look at the art of Pam Winkler.  

from google with Pam's permission

Pam has a wonderful story about how she became a full time artist.  A few short years ago in 2008 there was a terrible crash in our economy which hit many people financially very hard.  Pam Winkler had been a successful architect until then. The crash hit and people stopped building homes, so people stopped needing architects to design homes.  So began a new hunt for an occupation for Winkler.  She tried many avenues in art, but found working in pastels to be her area.  Her work is rich and interesting and one can easily see the influence of the architect peaking through.  When I looked at her work I thought over and over that is the same angle I would have chosen, that is the same view I would have seen myself. 

Wonderful rich depth of color

 Pam and I met when I attended an art fair and open studio in Marshall, North Carolina this past week.  Pam has a studio in the wonderful venue, an old high school that has been turned into working studio's for artists. I had been by another day and peaked through a locked door at her work and thought I want to meet that artist! So the day of the open studio we went back with friends and Pam welcomed me into her studio warmly and we had a wonderful visit talking about her art, area art, and the community. She lives in Asheville, but keeps her studio in Marshall which is about a half hour or so away. 

The Pastel Art of Pam Winkler                            art posted from google with permission of artist

The Methane Gas that brought artists to the mountains.

EnergyXchange is a non profit organization that uses methane gas from   the land fill it sit on. The gas is piped in from the field below. Following are  photo's of two artist in residency. A three year residency is offered by review of a panel of judges.  Artists from all over the USA apply and then a selection process narrows them down to to the selectees. 

 The idea was born of   several   companies that were ecologically concerned, joining  together to find a way to use methane gas that is a by prouduct  in land fills.  The companies decided they wanted to use this energy in a way that would help sustain a community and bring artists into the areas. It has achieved both and been an active agent of change for the community.

Pottery Artist in Residence

 They formulated a  program that would offer  three year residencies to artist that would work on site and teach classes. The program has been very successful. The two artists below are just finishing up their program.  One is buying a house in the area and does  not want to leave the area.  She says the sense of community is so strong among the artists in the area.                              

Potter's Studio sits along side Glass Studio and Plant Nursery Buildings 

Glass blowing studio uses methane gas for hot shop

Glass Art from glass studio

Potter in residence

Finished work in the Potters Studio

A program of growing native plants to be shared in the community is also part of this program.  There are three hot houses that grow native plants.  Some plants are to help farmers whose business revives around growing Christmas trees.  

The Next Stop on Our Open Studio Tour of Leicester

Gallery downstairs

Leicester Open Art Studio Tour continues with the work and studio of Olga Dorenko.  Olga is a tiny mite of a woman, but  I think a power house also.  I would have liked to talk more to her about her background and art, but it was a busy day for her with lots of visitors. I did find out she is from Russia.  Her art is detailed, skilled and imaginative.  You can feel the fall leaves brilliant orange as they burst forth like the sun behind a barn or the swirl of the mountain winds as they sweep leaves into a funnel of fall frenzy.  Her brush strokes are incredibly fine and smooth.  I think her paintings are so finely painted it must take her a very long time for one painting.  She had a two story studio, with exhibition space below and her painting studio above.  The home was separate with a pool and gazebo.  It looked quite wonderful.  I can only imagine.  I hope to learn more about Olga and her work in future shows.  In the meantime I will share these photo's with you and link you with her website.  

view from painting studio upstairs

View of gazebo, pool and home

Upstairs Painting Studio with skylights for natural light

http://olgadorenko.com

DID YOU SAY STUDIO TOUR!? WHAT FUN, LET'S GO!!!

LEICESTER 

There are so many artists in Western North Carolina if you throw a stick you are bound to hit one!  Of course we are teasing, but Asheville and the surrounding area is so full of craft artists that one could imagine it to be so. 

Wild Berry Bed and Breakfast 

Have you ever gone on a scavenger hunt?  Well, the Leicester Artists Tour is very much like one.  Wildberry Bed and Breakfast is one of the sponsors and the very first place we go on the tour. There you can get a map, see a preview of the artists works, and get a sense of the kind of roads we will encounter on this day. Loose steep gravel, and one way roads are very common on the back mountain tour.  It would help to have four wheel drive which we don't have, but our trusty Pilot Honda will make it just fine.  The Blue Ridge Mountains are beautiful and as we goes through the tour, it is evident that nature is as much the artist, as the artisans we are going to visit.  Tucked back in the hidden coves and high atop mountain ridges artists studios dot the area. It is a tremendous treat to get to see artist studio's anytime and see where creativity happens.  Each studio is as unique as the individuals who create there.  First on our list is Doc Welty, potter. Tomorrow we will look at more studio's on the tour.  

Doc Welty's Enchanting Mountain Pottery Studio

Glazing Shelves are loaded with a recent unloading

Doc has three kilns, 2 propane gas and one wood firing

The glazes have an old feel about them

Plenty of visitors buying

Recent Craft Magazine highlight of Doc

I love these two tables, a bargain for anyone!!!

From Doc's wheel he has a good view of the house, when his wife calls him in for lunch.