Red Birds and Crows

Green Hill Center for NC Art now has a nice group of  cameos  featuring red birds and crows along with a quail or two. Everyone is invited to The Shop at GHC 5-7pm this Thursday for Springs New Arrivals event- grab a glass of wine and have fun shopping for local and one-of-a-kind gifts for upcoming spring and summer events...or better yet, treat yourself!


 

Red Bird Cameo, Cathy Kiffney

Crow Cameo, Cathy Kiffney

Spotlight- Rebecca A. McLaughlin Neigher

Rebecca A. McLaughlin Neigher, CITRINE,SQUARE PEARL, STERLING

Rebecca will be joining us in the Mother's Day weekend show bringing her stunning jewelry designs.  In her previous career she was a professional actress living in Manhattan and L.A. Now she resides in the beautiful countryside of Orange Co. NC,  living a different kind of creative life. Take a look at these gorgeous pieces and watch the fascinating video and we hope you will plan to come to the show!

Rebecca A. McLaughlin Neigher

My work begins in very different ways. The first impulse could be a shape, a texture, a stone, a thought, a spiritual leading. During the process I remain open to new ideas and directions. The unexpected can lead us to a place that is deeper than our initial understanding.

Rebecca A. McLaughlin Neigher, PINK & WHITE PEARLS, STERLING SILER

I love being a full time studio artist. There is joy in playing with fire, shaping metal, perusing and arranging stones, and creating pieces that express my inner feelings and my sense of beauty and meaning. I feel a deep connection to the earth and ocean where most of my materials come from. And I feel a kinship with the ancient metal smiths working over open fires and hot coals.

Rebecca A. McLaughlin Neigher, RHODOCRUCITE, PEARL, STERLING SILVER

Holding a finished piece in my hand, I get great satisfaction knowing that I am involved in someone having an inner connection and response to a piece I’ve created. Whether they give it as a gift to themselves or to someone they care about, I love that it has the potential to lift or reveal the spirit. And hopefully to become a cherished object to be worn, enjoyed, and passed on.

New little birdies fly away...

tweet, tweet, to NC Crafts Gallery.
Fresh for spring a new group of birdies and some rabbit pieces, bee wall vases... bird, rabbits and bees some of my favorite things.
Here are a few.

Cathy Kiffney

Cathy Kiffney

 

Cathy Kiffney

Luna Lee Ray

Just two and a half weeks until our Mother's Day weekend show at Luna Lee Ray's studio and garden. Luna's art is primarily paintings and mixed media and I don't know any other way to say this --I love her work!
Luna is a favorite art instructor at the ArtsCenter and a founding member and curator at the FRANK Gallery in downtown Chapel Hill.

Luna Lee Ray

Luna Lee Ray

My work is inspired and informed by my observations and interactions with the natural world, as well as my inner emotions, dreams, and visions. I am an avid (obsessive!) gardener, and spend many hours in the dirt, with my sketchbook and camera nearby.

The forms and processes I find in nature are not just lovely and fascinating, but also perfect visual metaphors for all my spiritual yearnings.

Luna Lee Ray

Technically, I love layers and texture and unusual combinations of materials. I often start with a random ground that influences the final piece in unpredictable and exciting ways.

Luna Lee Ray

It is often unclear where one material ends and another begins, adding to the overall feeling of mystery in the finished image. My goal is to draw the viewer into a deep, rich world.

Portrait of Luna by Barbara Tyroler

 I hope you will plan to come to Carrboro Mother's Day Weekend, five artists will be exhibiting in a relaxed garden setting. 11-5 both Saturday and Sunday, May 11th and 12th, 2013! Here is the link to the show page with more information.

Join the private email list for future notices and updates.

Painting, packing, potting parsley and puttering

Packing work for the Greenhill Center sales gallery.

Some of the cameo tiles going to Greenhill Center

Painting new cameo's for the garden show Mother's Day weekend.

painting new cameo's

Puttering around the garden.

spring radishes

like this combo

Potting up some parsley. It's spring!

fresh parsley

Selling work while sleeping

Last night, in the early hours of the morning before anyone around here was up, someone from the land down under took a fancy to my Tree of Life tile. Shipping it off today to Australia, how cool is that?  This is my fourth order shipped to Australia, other places include the United Kingdom, Turkey, Scotland, Wales, France, Canada, Ireland, and Italy. Thanks Internet!

Tree of Life tile, going to live in Australia!

Spotlight- Mirinda Kossoff

We have two fabulous jewelry artists at the Mother's Day Weekend show,  Mirinda Kossoff and  Rebecca McLaughlin Neigher.  I look forward to seeing their work up close and in person. The temptation  to buy some of this wonderful work will be excruciating! Well, if I sell enough of my work I can justify it. So please, come to our show! Here is a peek at Mirinda Kossoff's work. In the next post I will introduce you to Rebecca.

Mirinda Kossoff

Though I often work from design drawings to create a finished piece, I sometimes start on a “jewelry journey” without a fixed destination. I enjoy playing with the pieces and finding out where the journey takes me.

Mirinda Kossoff

 I like to experiment with new techniques, such as using resin with fine silver, adding keum boo (applying a layer of 24k gold), and figuring out how to incorporate a vintage piece into something modern and edgy.

Mirinda Kossoff

 Because I like to roam the world of design and fabrication, I rarely make the same piece twice, though I will sometimes create variations of a piece. The one consistent thing about my jewelry is that I make pieces I would want to wear. (And yes, sometimes I have trouble parting with them.)

Mirinda Kossoff

I work both in sheet metal and PMC (precious metal clay). I am a certified instructor in PMC, which is powdered pure silver mixed with an organic binder. I can work the silver much the way a sculptor works clay, though with certain restrictions. Once I’ve designed and formed a piece, I fire it in a jewelry kiln. The binder burns away and what remains is a solid piece of fine silver. I texture and oxidize my pieces to give them depth and dimension.

To see more visit her web site, and come to our Mother's Day Weekend show and sale! See you then. :)

Mirinda Kossoff

To receive and e-vite to the show join my PRIVATE email list:

Miss Emerilda and Sister Jewel

More shimmery birds.. Each new group changes a little or a lot. This group it was a lot! I admit the whole kiln load came out horribly. I set them aside, tried not to be completely discouraged. I was thinking of that old saying-- "You can't  make a silk purse out of a sow's ear". Very close to smashing them all I gave it one more try. More glazing and  firings and ended up with this soft, opalescent surface, very feminine and romantic. I think of them as old fashioned girls. What do you think?
Sister Jewel.

Luster glaze ceramic wall bird. Cathy Kiffney

 



Miss Emerilda.

Luster glazed ceramic wall bird by Cathy Kiffney

Opal

Luster glazed ceramic wall bird, Cathy Kiffney

I have one more kiln load to go, fingers crossed!

Spotlight - Jean LeCluyse

I am looking forward to spending more time gazing upon Jean LeCluyse's wonderful drawings and paintings at our upcoming Mother's Day Weekend show and sale. The detail in her graphite drawings are mesmerizing and exquisite! Jean is a member of Frank Gallery in downtown Chapel Hill.

Before the Storm Graphite and Colored Pencil with Resin Overlay, 6" Jean LeCluyse

Jean LeCluyse

My drawings are richly detailed windows into a ‘secret’ narratives. The most successful images are ones that lots of people can relate to and reminds them of some story in their own lives. 

My most detailed works are done in graphite. My background in scientific illustration really takes over when I am working on a graphite drawing.

Hierophany, Graphite, 30" x 29", Jean LeCluyse

 

My mixed media pieces are most often acrylic, colored pencil, collaged elements and graphite over randomly textured surfaces that seem to serendipitously play into and enhance the imagery. The fun is the sense of adventure and discovery inherent in the process.

Night Watch. Gouache with Resin Overlay, 4". Jean LeCluyse

The mixed media pieces require constant decision making and moment to moment engagement. The graphite drawings are a break from this. They are more meditative and relaxing to do.

My plan is for the detail to pull the viewers attention into the drawing and into the story.

—Jean LeCluyse

Rope Tricks, Mixed Media, 18 x 24". Jean LeCluyse

 More show spotlights will be posted here in the next couple of weeks, check back and sign up to receive a show evite!

Hooray! Spring!

Yellow Bird, Pink Roses, hand built ceramic platter, 12"diam. Cathy Kiffney

....All flowers metamorphosed into birds, all birds into mountains, all mountains into stars. Every star became a house and every house a city”_Max Ernst (I think)

The birds and the bees, and the flowers and the trees...

 

What a pretty day! Birdie makes a surprise appearance ;)