Art in the Afternoon-Jill Bates

Jill Bates work is just so serene and beautiful. She is currently exhibiting at Decatur Gallery and Dancing Goats in Decatur. Her work is sumptuously rich and full of vivid color. I used to work in this medium, and it is really challenging to create depth of color without getting muddy! Jill has mastered this medium and it is even more stunning in person. She has created these really cute "crab boxes" which are small works of art in little shadow boxes, and they are very reasonably priced. She will also be creating working plein air in the Newman's garden on May 1 for Art in the Afternoon, so you will get to see her in action!

Jill Bates, Pastels

www.jillbatespastels.com

A Kalamazoo, MI native, Bates did her undergraduate work at High Point College in North Carolina and also attended Georgia Southwestern College in Americus, GA. She has participated in various solo and juried exhibitions around the state and her work has received recognition at many of them, including: Beaux Arts, Atlanta Beach, Jonesboro, Best of Show, 1996; First Place, 1997; Artists of the Southern Crescent Juried Exhibit, 2nd Place; Fayette County Courthouse Art Show in the Square, Honorable Mention, 1996; One Man Show, Performing Arts Center, Jonesboro; Clayton County Festival of Art, 1999, 3 Purchase Awards. Her work is included in several corporate and private collections. Bates lives and works in Lilburn, GA., with her family.

Art in the Afternoon-Hang on Sister

Whoo hoo! We made a last minute add-on to the Melia residence, Hang on Sister! My good friend Connie Fontova and her sisters have been creating upcycled jewelry from bottlecaps and inserting their whimsy in the mix. So very cute stuff, and affordable too! So come by and have a glass of wine and try on some necklaces-she just started working with metal clay too!

Hang on Sister, upcycled jewelry

www.hangonsister.com

Five sisters from Alabama make up Hang On Sister! Most of their jewelry is made from upcycled bottle caps and magazines. These aren't your usual pre-fab, mass produced bottle cap necklaces. Each necklace is made by hand and are embellished with beads, charms and whatever else they may find lying around. One of the sisters, Connie Fontova, is an Avondale Estates resident. Recently, she started dabbling in using precious metal clay to make small dog tag pendants as well.

Katty Negrete-Art in the Afternoon feature

I'm getting behind with my features, so I may have to double up everyday before this Saturday so you get a chance to see everyone's work!

Now, getting down to business, I'm so very pleased to have Katty Negrete exhibit at our May 1 Art in the Afternoon event! She is so very talented as well as one of the nicest people you will ever meet! Her jewelry is absolutely exquisite, especially her rings. I have my eye on a few and have tried my very best to resist, but I may have to give in on Saturday. It is for a good cause, you know, 15% of the artist's sales go to the Avondale Arts Alliance. Hope you can stop by the Newman's carriage house to see her work this Saturday!

Katty Negrete, Metal and clay jewelry, www.kattydesign.com

A native of Vina del mar, Chile, Negrete always has been a lover of art and fine craft with two creative passions, metal and drawing with precious metal clay. She’s been able to join the two with a dynamic success. In 2000, Negrete came to the United States continuing her work with different materials like alpaca, waxed thread, copper, bronze and enamel and started working with precious metal clay where she found the magic to express her emotions, inspiration, imagination in a piece of art.

Beth Ann St. George-Art in the Afternoon feature

I discovered this very talented artist through my long-time friend Jan Selman, an amazing art activist and leader in our community and former president of the DeKalb Council for the Arts.

Beth Ann recently relocated from the west coast and has these wonderful, colorful quilts full of intricate patterns. I have not seen them in person yet, but I cannot wait to look through every single one she brings to the next Art in the Afternoon event on May 1. Please come out to meet Beth Ann and learn about her craft at the George residence in Avondale Estates!

Beth Ann St. George, Art Quilter
http://www.dancingspiritquilts.com/
Art-as-meditation is the process used by folk artist and teacher St. George, working primarily with vibrant colors and patterns to create quilts of the heart and spirit as well as pieces “just for fun.” She is an approved professional member of Studio Art Quilt Associates and has served as a traveling teacher for the Arizona Quilt Guild. Her work has been shown in galleries and exhibits in Houston, Orlando, Chicago, and Scottsdale.

Art in the Afternoon-May 1 features

I'm starting the Art in the Afternoon features a little late, but here we go into the countdown to the May 1 event! We've got 11 artists for May and they will be exhibiting in three of Avondale Estate's carriage houses. The work will be for sale, and there will be wine, light appys in a very fun "art party" scene. All the artists and hosts are super excited about this event, it is sure to be great fun and hopefully successful sales for all the artists!

So today I'd like to kick my feature of the day off with the lovely Holly Black. Her work has been featured on the postcard that has been distributed for the May promotions. She will be exhibiting at the George residence in their newly built carriage home. I saw her paintings displayed at my yoga studio and just had to meet her to find out more about her work.

Holly Black, Painter

Holly has many visual influences in her work ranging from Durer etchings, Flemish paintings, Hudson River School landscapes, religious paintings, Audubon nature prints, and even the unicorn tapestries combined with the voice of fairytales and folklore. Her paintings become more complex pieces of visual work on closer examination. She uses varying techniques; drawing, painting, finger painting and varying mediums, mechanical pencil, house paint, oil paint and plaster all in one piece to bring this depth, subtlety, tension and harmony. The concept is utilizing the visual sense. The focus of her work is to visually stimulate the viewer, to coax them to look further to see more and more as the painting reveals itself, like a moment in a story they heard once as a child, but still remember.

Back from Isla Mujeres

An amazingly, blissful 5-day trip to Mexico is behind me, but not without some inspirations for some new pieces! I'm taking bits of time this week to expand on some ideas and do some writing, which seems to help me get all those jumbly thoughts down on paper.

We stayed at Villa Rolandi, an amazing resort on the island of Isla Mujeres in Mexico, just a half-hour boat ride from Cancun. There was amazing gourmet food, spectacular views and, of course the infinity pool overlooking the ocean. We hung out mostly at the resort, because it was complete paradise, but we did venture out into town a couple times to do some shopping, eat fish tacos and have the occasional mohito or Pacifico (local beer). The pic above is the view from our room, and below is an image at the docks in town. As you can see, there is a big thunderstorm behind me, one of many that graced our trip!

It was a perfectly perfect time to get away, life was getting too hectic before we left! And now it's all going to hit full-force again but at least I can attempt to channel some of those carefree memories for a little while.

Enchantment

It is finally finished and I was able to photograph lady butterfly on a beautiful, sunny day. I wish I had more work to photograph, the light was just perfect late this afternoon! This piece takes a little departure from my usual technique, but I'm pretty satisfied with the result. I can't hardly remember what I was thinking about when I did this sketch. Probably an Alice in Wonderland connection since I've been wanting to see that movie! So I titled it Enchantment, because she is certainly surrounded by a kaleidoscope of color and it kind of reminds me of someone entering another world, or a dream-like experience. I may build a custom frame for this one.

In progress painting

Here is a new painting in progress that incorporates gampi paper, a really strong, translucent Japanese paper. I created the sketch on the paper first with charcoal, spray-fixed it and then mounted it to canvas as a layer over several washes of underpainting. This one took a life of its own, as a lot of my pieces have developed lately, in that the red went pretty dark, and I wasn't sure how the collage elements were going to work in the background. I really liked how I was able to create washes of color on the gampi paper, that has a little tooth, and create a watercolor element along with the more opaque acrylic areas. I'm looking forward to working on the butterflies, just thinking about what color combinations will work. 18x24, acrylic, collage on canvas.

A few springtime blocks

In the midst of all this Art in the Afternoon craziness, I actually squeezed in a little time to create three 5x5 blocks. I took these in a little different direction using pattern as a base and then some free form sketches. I'm trying to work with less of a plan and just put down ideas as they come. Sometimes I have an intention to paint with a series of themes in mind, but then as the idea starts to form through painting, it tends to change, or not come out as I envisioned. Which can be a battle sometimes. In my head, there's this picture of how I want it to look, but it won't come out exactly as I anticipated. I'm starting to let go of that, there is this rigid nature as an adult to want everything to be planned and just so. This can be my challenge, and I hope these small studies on blocks can free me up a bit.

Titles from right to left: Sanctuary, Ronde, Rasberry Swirl

Bart Webb-featured artist

What can I say about Bart Webb? That he is totally awesome?! Heck yeah! His mixed media works and metal sculpture are so much fun and off-kilter, in a really good way. He is one of our hosts for Art in the Afternoon and his studio is one party-down space. We had our Museum School auction here and it rocked the house! I will make sure to take pictures on Saturday so you can get a feel for it, but hopefully you can come out see for yourself on April 3!

Bart Webb, Mixed Media and Sculpture www.bartwebbstudios.com
Bart Webb is a self-taught artist living and working in Avondale Estates GA. In 2005, after working as a welder for around twenty years, he threw away his tape measure and opened Bart Webb Studio. His specialty is metal sculpture, but also enjoys working with mixed media by incorporating wood, fabric, paint, and found objects. Nothing is safe from being changed into art. Please drop by the studio sometime. For more info please go to www.Facebook.com/bartwebb or www.myspace.com/bartwebbstudios

Jody McFerren-Art in the Afternoon feature

My new friend Jody McFerren just had an opening reception at Little Tree Gallery a couple weeks ago and I just love the depth in his abstract works. The title of his show is "Evolution of a Gay Man" and his paintings are a series of emotions over the last few years of his life. Very strong and moving works full of color that are simply presented with handmade wooden frames. Beautiful stuff and a really cool show. So, we get to showcase his work this weekend during Art in the Afternoon alongside previously featured Jeni Stallings and Pat Berryhill. What a treat!










Jody McFerren, Painting
McFerren grew up in the small farm town of Waynesboro, Pa., and knew he was an artistic individual and took many classes that provided him with the skills to further his creative endeavors. After moving to Atlanta in 1996, McFerren became involved in the Decatur community serving on many festival committees. He provided the logo and promotional designs during those years and created the sign and logo for the Brick Store Pub located in Decatur, as well as the logos for Thinking Man Tavern. He created designs for PEZ Candy, which hang on the walls in the PEZ museum in California. In 2005, he became co-owner of Our Way Cafe located in Avondale with partner Eva Roswall. The theme for his new exhibition focuses on emotions from color and texture from the eyes of a gay man titled "Evolution of a Gay Man."

Mali Harrell-Art in the Afternoon featured artist

Do you love glass work? I do. And Mali's work is absolutely stunning. She exhibits at Decatur Gallery as well and I've gotten to know her pretty well over the last couple months. I love the science behind glass sculpture, and have had the opportunity to learn about her craft and always amazed at the creations that come out of her studio. I hope you come out and see for yourself, and she's got some new brand pieces to show off!

Mali Harrell, Glass Sculpture, exhibiting at 151 Locust Street
www.fiveelementsartglass.com
A native of the Georgia coast, Harrell began dancing at an early age then switched to manipulating movement as a video editor, which has been her profession for many years. She also is an avid practitioner of Tai Chi and Kung Fu. Her other medium of artistic expression is blowing hot glass, fusing and slumping. She has studied with Tadashi Torii of Duckbill Studios since 2003, and has attended classes in all aspects of glass art. Her varied interests are evident in her works, synthesizing her personal experiences in Eastern philosophy and martial arts as well as a lifelong love of the sea and the earth.

Jeni Stallings-Art in the Afternoon feature

Oh Sunday eve, another weekend over in a blink!

Today, I got to meet the most wonderful Jeni Stallings at the artist orientation at Bart Webb Studios. And let me say, her work has become one of my faves in the April exhibition. She works with encaustics and has these very zen themes, luscious use of color and just plain feel-good imagery that I would love to be able to see in my house everyday! She will be exhibiting at Little Tree Gallery, so please come out to Art in the Afternoon, Saturday, April 3, 3-7 pm and have a glass of wine and take in the scenery-you won't be disappointed!

Jeni Stallings, Encaustic
www.jenistallingsart.com
Stallings paints the distance of her hands from her heart, addressing the human condition. Reoccurring symbols of spirituality, personal and sacred to her, are central to the composition. Sometimes she uses the figure to emphasize gesture, rhythm, or physical quirks. Besides the figure, Stallings paints situations and/or impressionable shapes to create sentiment and respect for nature and life.

Pat Berryhill-Art in the Afternoon feature

Hello again and time for the next artist- too talented for words, well actually, I'll share quite a few-Pat Berryhill! She has so graciously jumped in to participate in the April event just last week after one artist had to back out. Phew and double phew! You'll also get a chance to see her upcycled couture clothing in June, but that will be another post.

So here she is, featuring her one-of-a-kind altered, jewelry that just exudes all kinds of vintage, ephemera-laden, yummy-ness. Do not miss out on seeing her fabulous work!

Pat Berryhill, Altered Jewelry
www.magpiedreams.net
She is an unapologetic collector of crap...a junk junky...a human magpie. Yet there's junk in her trunk. And in her closet. And in the shed. And under the house. Old buttons, vintage photos, orphan earrings, broken necklaces, cracked dishes, discarded clothing,doors, windows, dressers, boxes, shells, feathers, rocks, marbles, doll parts, glass eyes, and bones. This affliction started at an early age, when she would stuff all her toys and treasures into her clothing. Like some weird little 5-year-old leprechaun, She was always gathering booty for her pot o' gold. Then, while the other little children played ouside, she would spend the afternoon arranging and rearranging her stuff. Over forty years later, she is still constantly picking up flotsam and jetsam wherever she goes. School? Work? Who cares? Her husband groans every time she drags another "find" home. Her friends dump their trash at her front door. Her brothers shout "Pretty! Shiny! Caw! CAW!" every time she picks something up off the street. She had to become an artist before her junqué habit threatened to take over her life. As an artisté, not only does she get to express myself creatively, she gets to use recycled junk, which is environmentally friendly. Her work comes from life experiences, good or bad. Every piece tells a different story.

Artist feature: Jim Loftus

Check out these works that will totally rock your world! Jim Loftus calls himself an "appropriationist" What the? You ask? Here's the definition straight from Wikipedia:
The term appropriation refers to the use of borrowed elements in the creation of a new work (as in 'the artist uses appropriation') or refers to the new work itself (as in 'this is a piece of appropriation art'). Art practices involve the 'appropriation' of ideas, symbols, artefacts, image, sound, objects, forms or styles from other cultures, from art history, from popular culture or other aspects of man made visual or non visual culture. Inherent in the process of appropriation is the fact that the new work recontextualizes whatever it borrows to create the new work. In most cases the original 'thing' remains accessible as the original, without change.

Ok, ok. enough you say. But when you see Jim's work, you will simply be entranced and amazed at the stuff he comes up with. Truly genius, my friends.

Jim Loftus, appropriationist, www.nearlynormaljim.com
Loftus, an Atlanta-area artist, works in mixed media and 3-D construction art. His materials include found objects, residue of the 20th Century, recycled junk, paint, wire, and the occasional preserved reptile. Loftus has no formal art education. Inspired by artists like Nick Bantock and Michael de Meng, he began to develop his style of Outsider Art, tinged but not contaminated by the Dark Side. He also dabbles in magic, ciphers and history. All art work is at least 90 percent recycled and re-used material, most of it destined for a landfill.

Art in the Afternoon feature: Carolina Isea

Happy Monday morning! Well, if it wasn't snowing here, it would be much better on this second day of spring, heavy sigh.

But, I'm excited about this week because we are officially on the countdown for the first Art in the Afternoon art walk series event taking place on April 3 in the Rail Arts District. Today's featured artist is Carolina Isea. Her simple, modern jewelry has become a quick favorite among locals and she keeps coming up with the most wonderfully crafted pieces. Her works in Decatur Gallery right now are absolutely exquisite using freshwater pearls, leather and silver, I can hardly stop trying them on! I hope you come out to experience her work for yourself, which is very reasonably priced. And I promise, if you own one of her pieces, you will wear it all the time!





















Carolina Isea, http://iseadesigns.etsy.com

A Venezuelan born soul, Isea lives in suburban Atlanta and is the mother of two children. She has been on a quest of creating handmade jewelry for nearly six years. With a BFA and jewelry making training in some areas including beading and silversmith, her wire wrapping and other jewelry skills are pretty much self-taught. The Hispanic and rich South American influence combined with other cultures influences contribute to her inspirations and designs. Her work also is inspired by the organic forms found in nature, new trends and the old style, and by the contrast between rough and smooth textures of natural materials.

Art in the Afternoon-Betsy Halford

And now for the next featured artist that will be at Art in the Afternoon on April 3 is Betsy Halford. This girl is one creative genius. Her mixed media sculpture is outstanding and unbelievable. She creates these really amazing hand-bound journals and one-of-a-kind up-cycled jewelry too. She is also a fellow artist at the cooperative gallery, Decatur Market & Gallery. One of my new found friends, she is a gem-and I'm sure you will like her as much as I do!





















Betsy Halford, mixed media (exhibiting at Little Tree Gallery)

Betsy is a mixed media artist using found and recycled objects, as well as fabric, paint, glass and anything else that inspires her to create art. Each piece created is unique and starts with one of her found "treasures" guiding her along until the piece is complete. Some pieces speak louder than others and come together quickly, while other pieces she has to “listen” to for awhile to figure out what they are trying to say.

Betsy started gathering "treasures" as a child growing up in South Carolina. She was influenced by her parents who were both collectors of everything and incurable pack rats.

Featured artists for Art in the Afternoon

In just over two weeks, Art in the Afternoon in Avondale Estates kicks off its first series art walk event on Saturday, April 3, 3-7 p. m. in Avondale's Rail Arts District. I've booked a total of 34 artists for all three events! Phew, that was a job, but it was also really cool to hunt down and choose just the right combination of artists to be featured.

I had a thought today that it would be really fun to feature one of the April artists each week day leading up to the event. And today, I'm going to start with Mohamed el-Ganoby. His encaustic work is absolutely stunning, which is why I decided to feature his "Trees" work below on the postcard for April. He is currently one of the exhibitors at Decatur Market & Gallery and when you meet him, you will be completely drawn in by his stories and fascinated by his process.






















Mohamed el-Ganoby
Encaustic: www.elganoby.com (exhibiting at Bart Webb Studio)

Mohamed el-Ganoby was born in 1965, in the Egyptian city of Komombo, surrounded both by the remnants of Egypt's ancient Pharonic heritage and the rich local histories and traditions which the southern part of Egypt is known for. The oldest son of a worker in a sugar factory, el-Ganoby was first drawn to art by the life stories of great European artists he first read about during weekly visits to an uncle's house in the neighboring city of Aswan. These early forays into art history eventually led him, as an adolescent, to delve into the history of modern artistic movements in Egypt, movements which adapted European artistic techniques, tools and forms of modernism to local aesthetic, political and social contexts.

Inspired by both the successes and failures of these earlier generations of Egyptian artists, Ganoby entered the College of Art and Education at the University of Minya, graduating with a degree in art education in 1988. After ten years of teaching art in rural Egypt and in Saudi Arabia, Ganoby moved from the southern part of Egypt to Cairo to pursue his art full time. In early 2007, the artist emigrated once again, this time from the northern part of Egypt to Atlanta, in the Southern United States.

The artist's southern Egyptian roots and years teaching and working in rural environments are evident in his work. A recurring feature of Ganoby's paintings, installations and mixed media pieces is the use of raw materials—sand, wood, spices and wax— chosen both for their association with rural southern Egypt and for their suggestion of primitiveness. The use of such materials draws on the artist's individual memories of time and place, speaks to collective local histories and plays with common stereotypes of Egypt’s rural population as being both backward and the living embodiment of authentic Egyptian culture. His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout Egypt and in group exhibitions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Frankfurt, Germany.

Reception at Decatur Gallery

Tomorrow night is the reception for little ol' me at Decatur Market & Gallery! I was down there this morning creating little displays of my blocks and adding a couple new works. I spent this week hoofing around Decatur and Avondale putting up posters up promoting the night. So it's tomorrow night, 5-10 pm and a few of the artists are bringing some yummy apps, and there will be wine, and an awesome ipod mix that my hubby made. It should be fun (if it doesn't rain!! rain go away please please please) Here's a few pics of the displays-come out to say hi if you can!

New 5x5 art blocks

Here are a few new art blocks I finished- experimenting with some collage and drawings on wood.