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.

Here's Wonder land

The third in a series of three using vintage sheet music from The Sweetest Song, love poems I hand wrote from Pablo Neruda, and some pages from an old book called A Romny and Raq. It's called Wonder land and just a little bit inspired by Alice, but mostly by the idea of being full of wonder and awe from nature and all the little surprises it brings.

Wonder land

I just created a new painting entitled "Wonder land" yesterday and I'm not going to post it yet, cause I wanted to show how much "wonderland' was create today with our sudden snowfall. This is the second round of snow this year, which, is definitely a treat for us in the south where it really is not typical to have significant snowfall in the winter. The most amazing thing I realize is that since I grew up with major snowfall in MI, and b&*$ched about it all the time, it is so nostalgic to have snow falling and realize how quiet it becomes as the snow builds up. We have skylights and when the snow covers them like a blanket, the whole house takes on this wonderful light, and outside, I can hardly hear the traffic on Clarendon Ave., there's almost an insulation of sound. You feel cocooned inside-and it really is an amazing feeling to feel safe, and snug and warm. K and I shared hot chocolate this afternoon and the family watched a movie at 5:30 pm. These are the things that seem so mundane, but are indeed very decadent on a Friday afternoon. Getting ready to settle down to watch the opening ceremonies of the winter olympics!

The Sweetest Song

A couple of paintings I did using a more muted and limited color palette, experimenting with pinks, reds, and all the variations in between. They came together with a bit of a struggle in that it was hard to create contrast with the tones of pinks and red. But after creating some depth with linework and some subtle burnt umber accents, the imagery emerged in a soft way that surprised me in its subtlety. Many layers of old book pages, music, patterned and textured papers, handwritten poetry (Pablo Neruda) and chinese tea papers are layered in the background.

Life drawings

I was finally motivated to photograph some of my life drawing work from college for my sister-in-law who requested some prints for their apartment in Chicago. Most of these pieces were done on 18x24 newsprint and they have been sitting in my flat files for over 15 years! And there were few others done with oil pastel on Rives BFK. Rives has such an amazing buttery quality and I still have a stack of leftover sheets in my flat files. It may be time to pull some out and experiment with a few ideas. Some good nostalgia was stirred up paging through these old drawings and inspires me to get back to traditional drawing roots.

The three images she picked to create a Parisian feel, oo la la!

Oiseau 2-the melody story

Here is the second piece in my story box series entitled Oiseau 2. (bad photo though, it was rainy outside and didn't get to shoot it in natural light) Both of my oiseau pieces are over at the Decatur Gallery and will be displayed through February 19. Decatur Gallery is having a reception on Saturday, February 13, 5-10 pm on Valentine's weekend and then they will be moved to the Avondale Community Club for Art Night on February 20. A little traveling show, if you will. There will be more of these 10" x 10" story boxes to come, it will be cool to see where the theme takes me!

Story boxes-new series

A new piece just finished over here entitled "oiseau" and it's part of my "story boxes" collection. Actually, my sister-in-law gave me the idea because that's what she called them when she first saw them and it just was the perfect idea (thanks Nicolette!). My daughter found this little red bird on the ground during the Christmas village event at Stone Mountain and so this piece revolved around that "find"

I was struggling with titles and such, and I thought since I've got this thing with birds going on (and who doesn't lately?) I would title the series "A Melody Story" These story boxes will have a recurring theme of music and birds, nature and singing, just down-right loopy, happy, whimsical references to all that makes your imagination soar, when you hear a song, a bird sing, or even the sound of wind through trees. The magic of sounds that put you in a certain mood, trigger a memory or just plain make you appreciate today.

Great finds at Decatur Estate

Yesterday, I visited Decatur Estate after running some errands. I LOVE this place which is full of mid-century, vintage and antique items in 6000 sq. ft. of space. I usually hunt for old books and frames, antique plates and odd furniture, but today I found some really out of the ordinary items. An old wooden fabric stamp, which will come in handy for some paintings where some nice texture is needed,



















four decoupaged Japanese trays that will be re-purposed into some original works,


















a really interesting Japanese publication full of black and white photography and line work-the pages of characters will be used for collage elements.

















And finally, a couple old books, one of which is a 1949 copy of Wuthering Heights. I've been trying to read this book for years, and I know it's a classic and people rave about it, but I am TRYING to get through it, keep putting it down, starting again. I will finish it one day and be one of those people who rave about it, but until then I have this lovely copy to admire.

The art block winner

I meant to post the winner of my Been Caught Stealing art block! Sorry ya'll. Anyhow, I was really inspired by all of the posts but was very touched by Jessica's:

"I would love to win this, because I would use it in my classroom! I am an English and Journalism teacher at a small town high school in North Carolina. I am always looking for new ways to inspire the kids and bring out their creativity. It would be very easy for me to get my hands on reclaimed wood, so I would use this in my classroom as a class project at the beginning of the 2nd semester, which starts right after Christmas! I would ask them to paint something that represents who they are INSIDE, and then they can share it with the class! Thank you for creating such inspiring art!"

Isn't that so sweet? I hope she sends me an update about her project, it will be so cool to see what her students come up with!
Congrats Jessica!

Little Love bird ornament

So in honor of twelfth night (I know, it's now past 3 kings day), the official end of Christmas, and I'm going to show you one remnant of the holiday season anyhow! I created this little bird last spring right after Valentine's Day and she was hanging in my studio over K's art table watching over her daily creative adventures. I always like to make an ornament for our exchange but didn't have time to create one specifically for the event, so I reluctantly took down little love bird, wrapped her carefully in tissue and off we went to the party. My friend Dottie ended up snagging the little tweet after being stolen 3 times (the limit) I'm very happy to see my little love bird go to a good home even though I'll miss her spinning around overhead. Adieu my dear.