Fine Art

HGA welcomes two new members">HGA welcomes two new members

Published on: by judelobe

Hills­bor­ough Gallery of Arts wel­comes two new mem­bers, Ian Herdell and Pete Rodrigues. Both are wood­work­ers that cre­ate unique fur­ni­ture and wall art. 

IAN HERDELL

 

Most of my work is made from sol­id North Amer­i­can hard­woods, although I also use shop cut veneers on some projects. I love to cre­ate fur­ni­ture and art with tan­gi­ble func­tion­al­i­ty and down to earth beau­ty. I am inspired by the beau­ty and struc­ture of forms found in nature and I try to bring some small piece of that into my designs. I find that each tree has a sto­ry to tell, a snap­shot into its unique life. My designs incor­po­rate and har­ness the knots, splits, rot, spalt­ing, spe­cial grain and sculpt­ing done by insects, wind and weath­er. At times I also high­light these “imper­fec­tions” with inlaid shells and stone to bring more atten­tion to them. This approach com­bined with excep­tion­al crafts­man­ship allows me to cre­ate time­less, beau­ti­ful work for any space.

 

Vis­it IAN’S web­site

and.…

PETE RODRIGUES

For me cre­at­ing fur­ni­ture as an art form is a process of visu­al­iz­ing what is pos­si­ble, design­ing, build­ing, and then let­ting it be used as func­tion, as much as form. Over the years, I have con­tin­ued to grow in this process. In some ways it has been more of a per­son­al growth, rather than pro­fes­sion­al. I see us all like a piece of wood with our own cracks, twist, bows and rough cut edges. How­ev­er, when put into the hands of the mas­ter crafts­man, the wood can be turned into some­thing beau­ti­ful. 

Along the way I picked up a quote from the late fur­ni­ture mak­er, Sam Mal­oof. 

“Too often we who design things take all cred­it for what we do and if we have any kind of suc­cess we become very smug and con­ceit­ed about it. I think all one has to do is look at a beau­ti­ful flower, a tree, or what­ev­er, and real­ize what we do is very insignif­i­cant. We are only the instru­ments who make these beau­ti­ful objects.”

It has tak­en me a while to real­ize, it’s a lot eas­i­er being the instru­ment, then the mas­ter crafts­men!

Vis­it PETE’S web­site

FROGS VIEWED AS GOOD LUCK">FROGS VIEWED AS GOOD LUCK

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FROGS VIEWED AS GOOD LUCK: In many cul­tures, frogs are a sym­bol of good luck and abun­dance, part­ly due to the very large num­ber of eggs it lays at one time. In Rome, the frog was a mas­cot believed to bring good luck to the home. In Ire­land, the frog is con­sid­ered a rel­a­tive of the lep­rechaun and capa­ble of play­ing tricks on you when least expect­ed. In Aus­tralia, the Abo­rig­ines believed that frogs brought the thun­der and rain, to help the plants grow. It’s easy to under­stand that idea as in actu­al­i­ty, frogs usu­al­ly bury beneath the earth and come out in large num­bers when it rains to quick­ly lay their eggs.

In that same vein, the Celts believed the frog rep­re­sent­ed cura­tive or heal­ing pow­ers because of its con­nec­tion with water and cleans­ing rains. 
The three-legged toad from Chi­na is the tra­di­tion­al pet of the immor­tal Liu Hai, who is the Chi­nese god of wealth. In Japan, sea-far­ers wore frog amulets when trav­el­ing across the riv­er for a safe return. The word for frog in Japan­ese is ‘kaeru’ mean­ing ‘return’.
< ARTWORK BY NANCY SMITH. Is present­ly in the show INTANGIBLES. Avail­able for pur­chase here: NANCY SMITH’S frogs.

HOW TO DECORATE A ROOM">HOW TO DECORATE A ROOM

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HOW TO DECORATE A ROOM

INTRO TO DECORATING
Whether you live in a cozy apart­ment, sub­ur­ban home, cot­tage by the sea, or cab­in in the moun­tains, your liv­ing room cre­ates a last­ing impres­sion for all who enter. More impor­tant­ly, it makes you com­fort­able. It sets the mood for the home and should be a reflec­tion of the your per­son­al taste. How to begin?

STEP 1: Vis­it an art gallery and buy the work of art that speaks to you. Art is lit­er­a­cy of the heart. It is func­tion­al. You will use it every sin­gle day. Every time you look at it, it will lift your spir­its.

COLORS: From that paint­ing, pull your col­or scheme for accent cush­ions, rugs and throws.

LIGHTING: Light­ing can either make or break a room. It can either make it look too dark and dingy or too bright and ster­ile. For a liv­ing room, aim for warm and cosy light­ing and use it to high­light fea­tures. For a mod­ern liv­ing room, sites like www.neonfilter.com can pro­vide amaz­ing light­ing to real­ly set the mood.

THEME: If that paint­ing moved you, obvi­ous­ly it will make you hap­py when you live with it.
Accent pil­lows, rugs, cur­tains can all reflect col­ors tak­en from your paint­ing. Look at these three takes on the same room. See how the art changes the mood. If you’re part of a par­tic­u­lar­ly patri­ot­ic fam­i­ly, you may want var­i­ous pieces of Amer­i­cana around the room to reflect this fact. You can con­tin­ue this theme out­side and boost your curb appeal by installing a flag­pole. When select­ing one, you’ll have to think about which height of flag­pole works best for your home.

Local­ly, a won­der­ful gallery to view art (and the pieces used above) is the Hills­bor­ough Gallery of Arts, 121 N. Chur­ton St., Hills­bor­ough, NC 27278. Click on images to vis­it web­site.

RESURFACE">RESURFACE

Published on: by judelobe

Resurfacing In The Aftermath Of 2020

Jew­el­er Nell Chan­dler was inspired by the title. “I thought of the dif­fer­ent sur­faces I have used in my work and the new tech­niques and sur­faces I have been inspired to try with each annu­al show.  It also rep­re­sents how we have spent more than a year in a weird and dif­fer­ent uni­verse and how we don’t even know the way our lives will be “Resur­faced” once we tru­ly head back in. I found myself revis­it­ing pre­vi­ous sur­face tech­niques on my jew­el­ry and for fun I cre­at­ed a cou­ple of paint­ings on the sub­ject of resur­fac­ing our lives that I’m call­ing Going Back In.”

For pot­ter Eve­lyn Ward this past year has been full of changes. “Last fall I under­went brain surgery to deal with a painful facial nerve con­di­tion. I am hap­py to report that the surgery was suc­cess­ful.” Work­ing with clay kept her ground­ed. “My time in the stu­dio, with its famil­iar dai­ly rit­u­als, was a refuge and helped to cen­ter and keep me focused on the work. Since return­ing to the stu­dio in Feb­ru­ary, I feel like I’m resur­fac­ing from those dark, murky waters. My head is clear­ing, the pain is gone, and I have renewed ener­gy. I am still work­ing with mono­print­ing but I have been exper­i­ment­ing with lay­er­ing under­glazes and find myself drawn to more sub­dued col­ors. I feel like the new work is qui­eter, using lay­ers to build up a more com­plex sur­face.”

For painter Michele Yellin “This past year, dur­ing the pan­dem­ic, time has stood still. And yet some­how moved on. I lost my moth­er this year for the third time. First, I lost her to her advanc­ing demen­tia, then to the lock­down, and final­ly to her death from Covid-19. I mourn. I paint. I think. I paint. I remem­ber. I paint. I dream. I mourn. I paint. I resur­face, back to the light, and I paint.”

Resur­face will run both online and in the gallery from May 28 through June 20.

ONLINE open­ing: May 28th, 12 Noon. CLICK IMAGE TO VISIT ONLINE  OPENING.

GALLERY Open­ing Recep­tion: Fri­day, May 28th, 6–9 pm.

 

SENSE OF WONDER Exhibit Came To Be">How the SENSE OF WONDER Exhibit Came To Be

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How the SENSE OF WONDER Exhibit Came To Be

Jew­el­er Ari­an­na Bara, wood sculp­tor Lar­ry Favorite and painter Eduar­do Lapeti­na have spent the pan­dem­ic think­ing about their rela­tion­ship to the world and their art. This new show is the result of all the time alone in the stu­dio.

For jew­el­er Ari­an­na Bara the events of these days, filled with both wor­ry and hope, have led to a sense of won­der. “As my world has shrunk, I spend time explor­ing the small­est worlds I have access to and find a uni­verse in the land of moss­es and lichens in the woods, to the bright greens, the tex­tures, the vari­ety of leaves and ten­drils. That  excite­ment car­ries over to the nat­ur­al beau­ty found in fos­sils and stones like Aus­tralian boul­der opals, which begin as rivers of sil­i­ca flow­ing through chan­nels in rock and become beau­ti­ful­ly unpre­dictable in the vari­ety and inten­si­ties of their col­ors. In cre­at­ing jew­el­ry with these fruits of the earth I hope to com­mu­ni­cate that same won­der to the wear­er.”

For wood sculp­tor Lar­ry Favorite this has been an extra­or­di­nary year. “Due to the pan­dem­ic, I have spent long days in my stu­dio, with only a pile of desert iron­wood, tiny bits of turquoise, sheets of ster­ling sil­ver, and my imag­i­na­tion to keep me com­pa­ny. To pro­duce a fin­ished piece of art I must slow down my breath­ing, nar­row my field of vision and steady my hands. As a result, mak­ing my art has the capac­i­ty to calm both my body and my mind. These pieces high­light the endur­ing qual­i­ty of iron­wood, enhanced by a com­bi­na­tion of flow­ing abstract designs and sim­ple images drawn from nature. They are meant to com­mu­ni­cate a sense of famil­iar­i­ty, reas­sur­ance, and heal­ing. I hope you are as calmed by look­ing at these pieces as I was by mak­ing them.”

Painter Eduar­do Lapeti­na writes: “Forced by the pan­dem­ic, I was in iso­la­tion, most­ly work­ing in my stu­dio. It was an oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­nect with the out­side world through my paint­ings. I want­ed the present work to be the cat­a­lyst to rethink the sig­nif­i­cance of our future and to stim­u­late ideas and dia­logue. To have a fresh out­look with an explo­sion of vibrant col­ors, impact­ful tex­tures and mes­sages of hope. I want my jour­ney in art to be a nat­ur­al orches­tra­tion of my expe­ri­ences and emo­tions.”

EVENTS">EVENTS

Published on: by judelobe

Featured Art Exhibit: 

Read about how the upcom­ing exhib­it SHARE THE LOVE came to be. 

Hind­sight is 20/20. And so we are all glad to see 2020 leave us and move on to a kinder and gen­tler 2021, hope­ful­ly. We have wit­nessed the best of peo­ple and the worst of peo­ple.

One of the best are all the health care work­ers, 1st respon­ders, work­ers and vol­un­teers that have risked their lives to save lives. With so many job loss­es, more per­sons are need­ing the basics to keep them and their fam­i­lies healthy. One place that has done a mirac­u­lous job of feed­ing peo­ple in need are the Food Pantries. They have done it with the sup­port of dona­tions.

The mem­ber­ship, vol­un­teers, and staff of OCIM are com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing a help­ing hand to those in our com­mu­ni­ty in a cri­sis sit­u­a­tion. And so, as a local art gallery, we decid­ed to donate 50% of our sales in our Jan­u­ary Art exhib­it, SHARE THE LOVE, to the Food Pantry.

• TO CALENDAR

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Wondering how to incorporate Art into your home?

Published on: by judelobe

When think­ing of ways to dec­o­rate a home, art is a great way to show off your per­son­al style, while adding a touch of lux­u­ry to any room. Remem­ber any­one can go out and pur­chase prints, how­ev­er, not every­one knows how to make the most of these pieces. Make your home stand out and have your home express your loves, by uti­liz­ing art through­out your home that reflects you. Design­ers share these five ways to incor­po­rate art make your home be your per­son­al space.

1. FIND WORK THAT SPEAKS TO YOU. It does­n’t have to match the col­or of your sofa. You can always pick out col­ors from the paint­ing for pil­lows to com­ple­ment the sofa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. LOVE SMALL ARTWORKS AND/OR WALL ART?
More can be bet­ter. Hang in a group­ing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. IS THERE A PARTICULAR ARTIST WHOSE WORK RESONATES WITH YOU?
Hang one artist’s pieces togeth­er for an impact state­ment.

4. LITTLE WALL SPACE?? How about lean­ing a paint­ing on the man­tle against the wall, or on the floor?

Just a few ideas. And where to buy art? Seek out your local art gal­leries, espe­cial­ly those owned and oper­at­ed by local artists, and art coun­cils. Art Coun­cils are won­der­ful places to find local artists work.

ART IS FUNCTIONAL. It lifts your spir­its every day. 

 

DECORATING TO EXPAND A SMALL ROOM">DECORATING TO EXPAND A SMALL ROOM

Published on: by judelobe

HOW TO DECORATE TO EXPAND A SMALL ROOM

Look­ing for an easy way to do it? Hang a large land­scape paint­ing in the room. Give the illu­sion of space with a land­scape paint­ing that has a dis­tant hori­zon. It will become your focal point and if you are in the mood to change your envi­ron­ment, you can use the col­ors in the art­work to deter­mine your wall col­ors, accent pil­lows etc.
Art lifts our spir­its each time we look at it. Lift your spir­its by tak­ing a trip to your local art gal­leries. Buy local. Sup­port your local econ­o­my and your local artists.

Endan­gered Land­scape, Jude Lobe
As Evening Falls Over Pamil­co Sound, Lolette Guthrie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or, you can make a vignette in a cor­ner by mix­ing sculp­tures, pot­tery and framed small paint­ings. Bring togeth­er small tables of vary­ing sizes or cubes to place your spe­cial art­works, and plac­ing them next to a seat­ing arrange­ment or in a cor­ner.

Use the win­dowsill for dis­play of small paint­ings or sculp­tures.

TIPS FOR HANGING ART

  • When hang­ing art, if the art­work is heavy, hang with 2 pic­ture hang­ing hooks 4″ apart. This shares the weight.
  • Con­sid­er the height that you hang sin­gle art­works. They are best hung at eye lev­el, which aver­ages 60″. To do this you mea­sure up from the floor 60″ and that is where the cen­ter of the pic­ture should hang. FORMULA: Divide the height of the frame by two; from that num­ber, then sub­tract the dis­tance from the top of the frame to the hang­ing wire; add this num­ber to the 60″ mark and and mark where the bot­tom of the pic­ture hang­ing hook should be.
  • All art is bet­ter hung with pic­ture hang­ing hooks rather than nails or screws, as it helps dis­trib­ute the weight.
  • Hang small­er art­works in group­ings of var­ied sizes.
  • If a paint­ing is very small, frame it with a large dou­ble mat before hang­ing on the wall.
  • If you have a man­tle, con­sid­er just lean­ing it against the wall rather than hang­ing it.

 

LUMINOUS SKIES TO ABSTRACT">LUMINOUS SKIES TO ABSTRACT

Published on: by judelobe
As Spring Arrives

Lolette Guthrie is a land­scape painter who works most­ly from mem­o­ry. “Nature is the exter­nal sub­stance in my work; nuance of col­or that evokes an emo­tion is the inte­ri­or sub­stance. While I some­times work in pas­tels, I am pri­mar­i­ly an oil painter.  Regard­less of the medi­um, how­ev­er, res­o­nant col­or is the core of my process.  I love to jux­ta­pose lumi­nous pas­sages of sat­u­rat­ed col­or with more mut­ed tones com­bin­ing lay­ers of opaque col­or with trans­par­ent glazes. I find that by vary­ing the thick­ness of the paint and apply­ing many lay­ers of glaze I can achieve a sense of lumi­nos­i­ty and hope­ful­ly an aware­ness of the light in the air, some­thing I am eter­nal­ly try­ing to cap­ture.”

“At times my work is pared down rep­re­sen­ta­tion; at times it is abstract.  Regard­less of the genre, each piece begins with a loose idea that evolves grad­u­al­ly and intu­itive­ly. At some point I always lose myself in the process. Then the paint­ing takes on a life of its own and I become aware that the can­vas that is telling me what to do.”
As The Sun Shines Through

Raised in a house­hold filled with art, I have been paint­ing for as long as I can remem­ber. My father was a fine artist and com­mer­cial illus­tra­tor and my ear­li­est mem­o­ries are of stand­ing beside him at his easel watch­ing him work and ask­ing ques­tions, and of “work­ing” near him. He often asked for my advice, seemed to take what­ev­er I had to say seri­ous­ly and urged me to explore my own artis­tic inter­ests, how­ev­er, he active­ly dis­cour­aged me from pur­su­ing art as a career. I, there­fore, majored in psy­chol­o­gy and art his­to­ry in col­lege and worked for many years as an ele­men­tary school teacher but I nev­er stopped draw­ing and paint­ing. Even­tu­al­ly, I returned to school to study art and received a BS in draw­ing and paint­ing from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin in 1984.

Pri­or to mov­ing to North Car­oli­na in 2004, I exhib­it­ed wide­ly in both juried and invi­ta­tion­al exhi­bi­tions in Wis­con­sin, Wash­ing­ton, DC, Vir­ginia, Mary­land and Geor­gia includ­ing such pres­ti­gious gal­leries as the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin, The Mil­wau­kee Muse­um of Art’s Bradley Gallery, the Car­di­nal Gallery of Art, Annapo­lis, MD and the Goodyear Cot­tage Art Gallery, Jekyll Island, GA. I was also Artist in Res­i­dence at Hunt­ley Mead­ows Park in Alexan­dria, Vir­ginia for 8 years where I was for­tu­nate to have had sev­er­al solo shows.

ENJOYING BEING IN THE MOMENT">ENJOYING BEING IN THE MOMENT

Published on: by judelobe

BE IN TOUCH

by Jude Lobe

This last Fri­day in May, 2019, I will be fea­tured in the show, BE IN TOUCH, with Gar­ry Childs and Pat Mer­ri­man. For this show, I was inspired by the role of Shamans who, for as long as time remem­bers, have worked to nego­ti­ate life-giv­ing har­mo­ny to all things in the envi­ron­ment. Their belief is expressed in the Native Amer­i­can quote, ” We do not inher­it the earth from our ances­tors, we bor­row it from our chil­dren.” As care­tak­ers of this plan­et, it seems to me we have much to learn from nature if we just be qui­et, observe and lis­ten.

When I am hik­ing along a trail, seat­ed on a deck look­ing out over waves of blue and pur­ple moun­tains, sit­ting with my dog, kayak­ing through marsh­es or just walk­ing in my yard being aston­ished at the array of shades of yel­low daf­fodils bloom­ing in places I did­n’t even plant them, I become present in nature. It’s a calm­ing and stress-reliev­ing feel­ing to be in touch with nature.

In my art­work, I cre­ate my impres­sions and remem­brances of the feel­ings I had when alone with nature. My land­scape paint­ings, aren’t recre­ations of the scenes, but rather an expres­sion of the emo­tions I had while com­muning with nature. My cop­per sculp­tur­al works are sym­bol­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tions of Native Amer­i­can spir­it guides, par­tic­u­lar­ly heal­ing guides that help with bal­anc­ing our spir­i­tu­al, emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal health. The encaus­tics, nature in theme, play on the theme ‘Be in Touch’, being very tex­tur­al.

Look deep into nature and then you will under­stand every­thing bet­ter. – Albert Ein­stein

 

< Left: Top — Sun­scape, cen­ter — the Crow Saith, Bot­tom — Bod­hi Beleaf