See "Organic Forrestry" at the 20th Chatham Tour

Kenyan Family Portrait:
My painting exhibited at FRANK Gallery

This year, Chatham County painter, sculptor and writer Forrest Greenslade will open his Fearrington Village studios and sculpture garden for the first two weekends in December for the 20th Annual Chatham Studio Tour. His studio will be open from 10 to 5 on Saturday December 1st, Sunday December 2nd, Saturday December 8th and Sunday December 9th.


The Chatham Tour is a holiday tradition. Visitors from all around enjoy Chatham’s rural beauty and share in the creative process with the members of the Chatham Artists Guild. Fifty artists who live and create in Chatham County, will open their studios the first two weekends in December.



Art-lovers can meet Tour artists and see samplings of their works at receptions at FRANK Gallery in Chapel Hill on November 29^th from 6 to 8 PM, and November 30^th at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro from 7 to 9 PM.

Lord God Bird:
My painting exhibiting at CCCC

"I have a good inventory of new paintings and prints, and will feature my latest book Visitations: A Nature-Lover's Journal. This is a collection of my recent paintings, haiku poems and spaces for you to journal your gardening and nature experiences. Of course, you can stroll through our Forrest Dweller Sculpture Garden."

Directions: Once you arrive at Fearrington village on Rt 15/501, turn into Village Way. You can get to our Forreat Dweller Sculpture Garden by turning at Creekwood (the first left) or at Windstone (the second left). Follow the signs to number 32 at 149 Tinderwood.

Fearrington Village has five additional Guild artists exhibiting in this year’s Tour: painter and mixed media artists Carol Owen (29), junque artist Rita Spina (30), painter Kim Werfel (31), print maker Vidabeth Bensen (33), and photographer Roy Lindholm (34).

A free self-guided brochure and tour map can be found in numerous locations throughout the area, including: FRANK Gallery in Chapel Hill, Saxaphaw Artists Gallery, McIntyres Fine Books in Fearrington Village, PAF Gallery in Siler City and The Joyful Jewel in Pittsboro. An online gallery of selected Tour art, information about participating artists, and a tour map and guide can be found on the Chatham Artists Guild website at: http://www.chathamartistsguild.org.




Founding artist returns for 20th Annual Chatham Studio Tour

Eclectic sculptor Nate Sheaffer was one of the original Chatham County artists that Tour founder Cathy Holt selected to open his studio to the public in 1992. Sheaffer is one of 50 artists who live and create in Chatham County, who will open their studios the first two weekends in December for the 20^th Annual Chatham Studio Tour. Art-lovers can meet Tour artists and see samplings of their works at receptions at FRANK Gallery in Chapel Hill on November 29^th from 7 to 9 PM, and November 30^th at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro from 7 to 9 PM.

Chatham Artist Nate Sheaffer
Photo by: Bruce DeBoer

Sheaffer has been creating and building since his childhood on the banks of the Susquehanna River in tiny Liverpool, Pennsylvania. “I was the baby of eight kids,” Sheaffer notes. “My mother was a great illustrator, but didn’t have much time for art with two jobs – a tailor and seamstress in a dress factory, and occasionally as a hair dresser in the local funeral home,” he remembers. “My dad was a machinist, and dug graves with my uncle.” Sheaffer’s father created airboats for riding the mile across river, using airplane engines that he had recycled.

The river was a continuous inspiration for the family. “My father, my brothers and I built cabins on islands out in the river from wood and other materials that we scavenged from its waters, Sheaffer recalls. “As a 14 year old boy, this was one of the first things that I built, and I never stopped building,” Sheaffer asserts.

Sculpture by Nate Sheaffer

Sheaffer came to North Carolina in the early 80s with a javelin throwing scholarship to UNC Chapel Hill. “My brother won the same scholarship previously,” he notes. Sheaffer was a German language and literature major, but really enjoyed sculpture classes with well known UNC teacher Robert Howard, who created large cast and welded sculptures, and Jerry Noe, who made mixed media works, often employing neon. “Noe urged me to employ neon to lighten up my sculptural pieces,” Sheaffer reflects.

Sheaffer sought the guidance of John Wilhelm, who owned Paradise Neon in Raleigh. “This was a critical influence for me,” he states. “John tutored me for free, and encouraged me to set up my own neon shop in Chapel Hill in 1986.”

After six months, it was clear to Sheaffer that he would not make a good living making neon art, so he turned his creativity to commercial production. Ultimately, he grew the business, Neon Impressions to 25 employees centered in Chatham County. “We made thousands of neon signs and distributed nationally and internationally,” he asserts. “Coca Cola signs throughout Germany were made right here.” From 1992 to 1994 he opened the shop in Pittsboro as a participant in the new Chatham Studio Tour.

Nate Sheaffer employs neon in eclectic art

As Sheaffer’s business grew, it left little time for creating art, but in 1999, production neon began to be off shored to China. Sheaffer sold off the business and property. He worked for a time as a project manager and estimator for a contractor in Siler City. For the last several years, Nate Sheaffer has been a full time stay at home dad for his son and daughter. His wife is a pediatric neurologist. “Laundry, shopping, cooking, reading to the kids, didn’t leave much time for creating art,” he grins. Now with both children in school, Sheaffer is “scratching my creative itch” once more. “I am so excited to participate in the 20^th Chatham Studio Tour,” Sheaffer emotes. I will exhibit with my friend, and fellow glass artist Jonathan Davis in his studio.”  See a video on Sheaffer's work.

The Tour has now grown to over 50 artists. In addition to Nate Sheaffer, nine new artists join the Tour this year: potter Trish Welsh; quilter Suzanna Stewart; pastel artist Carolyn Schrock; fiber artist Christie Minchew; jewelry maker Lynell Dodge; basket weaver Jan Dunn; photographer Len Jacobs; and furniture maker Erik Wolken.

The Chatham Studio Tour is a holiday tradition, and an opportunity to see and purchase unique original art. Visitors from all around enjoy Chatham’s rural beauty and share with the members of the Chatham Artists Guild in the creative process. “Our Tour is an important economic engine,” notes Guild President, Julia Kennedy. Last year, Tour visitors came from counties all around North Carolina, and as far away as New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and California. “As they travel around Chatham, they stop at restaurants, gas stations and all kinds of local businesses,” Kennedy continues.  

A free self-guided brochure and tour map can be found in numerous locations throughout the area, including: FRANK Gallery in Chapel Hill, Saxaphaw Artists Gallery, McIntyres Fine Books in Fearrington Village, PAF Gallery in Siler City and The Joyful Jewel in Pittsboro. An online gallery of selected Tour art, information about participating artists, and a tour map and guide can be found on the Chatham Artists Guild website at: http://www.chathamartistsguild.org.

NC Botanical Garden Sculpture Show Through December

Sculpture in the Garden continues until December 16

Here is my exhibit in the garden -- Regrets, I've had a few.

This ornithological assemblage was created in concrete and steel. A family of regrettable expressions, these “rebirds”, named for their disproportionately long legs sculpted in rebar, remind us of the many avoidable foibles that life presents. The largest, “A Greater Regret”, will dominate a garden space. The slightly smaller and less obtrusive, “A Lesser Regret”. The coming of age Regret is “A Youthful Indiscretion”. The three babies are “Minor Mistakes”.

 

Be sure to visit the Garden -- It is an especially good sculpture show this year.

 

Forrest

Animal-Lover Armstrong Exhibits at Banana Factory

Kathryn Greenslade Armstrong has just participated in an Artsquest member show at Bethleham Pensylvania's Banana Factory. She exhibited two acrylic paintings on canvas -- one called "Alpha's Shadow" is a remembrance of a trip with her family to a wolf preserve -- the other, "Three Little Cows" is a reflecton of her Lehigh Valley rural environs.



Kathryn Armstrong with her nature-inspired paintings
photo: Forrest Greenslade

"I LOVE animals! All kinds of animals! Especially dogs," Armstrong asserts. "I have my own furbaby, Juno, a senior Siberian Husky, and I am active in Siberian Husky rescue. My greatest inspiration comes from animals and nature."

Armstrong is a classically trained graphic designer with a BFA from New York's Parson School of Design. She also has a certification in Web Technology from Allentown Business School. After working for years in publishing, primarily in health care, she currently applies her creativity to marketing and public affairs at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown Pensylvania.

Kathryn Armstrong lives in Makungie PA with her husband Steve and daughter Nicole.

Fairies and Gnomes

Here are pics from a Fairy and Gnome workshop for kids that I did at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in collaboration with Kidzu Children’s Museum. The photos were taken by Stephanie from Kidz.

 

My Fairy God Grandmother example for the kids

Watch the slide show: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/album.sfly?sid=0AcNmzho2cN2rvQ&startIndex=0&fid=56d70fde5cde211b

Hope you enjoy the cute kids,

Forrest

Quilter Patterns a Colorful Life in her Chatham Home

Visitors to the 20^th Chatham Studio Tour will enjoy Quartz Hill Quilts (http://www.quartzhillquilts.com), the sewing studio of Susanna Stewart, in a home that she and her husband Sandy built with their own hands over a period of over 35 years. “It is the home in which I grew up - not in the traditional meaning of the word, but where I learned to be an adult in a world full of challenges,” Stewart says. “Life here began in a tree house, then a house slowly evolved, grew, aged, got repaired and remodeled, ever changing, a reflection of my own process and growth.”

Stewart creates quilts alive with color and dazzling floral fabrics. “Currently I find myself drawn mostly to bed quilts or throws,” she notes. “I have hundreds of quilting projects in my head. Sometimes I have three going at one time. I am fortunate enough to have adequate space and light, so I can spread out.” Lately she has been drawn to wall hangings and totes.

Stewart’s life path to fabric art and the Chatham Artists Guild was long and circuitous. Susanna’s mother died when she was eight year old. “I have very few memories of my mom,” she stresses, “but her loss was an issue for me for many years.” When her father remarried a year after her mother’s death, her relationship with her stepmother was difficult. “There was a lot of turmoil,” Stewart recalls. “So much so, that for my last two years of high school I went off to Concord Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts.” It was there that she had an intellectual awakening. “I discovered Gandhi, Faulkner, and was particularly enthralled by an art history course,” she says. During summers, she worked on a ranch in Montana to avoid the difficulties at home. “I loved it there,” she asserts. “I cooked, build fences, trained horses.”

“In a lot of ways, the early death of my mother and the challenging relationship with my stepmother resulted in many of my personal strengths,” Stewart concludes.  “The greatest gift my stepmother provided was to teach me to sew.”

On graduation from high school in 1961, her father urged her to go to nursing school. “Back then, girls became either nurses or teachers,” she says. She started at Boston University and completed studies at Rex Hospital in Raleigh.

For 20 years Stewart worked as a nurse, mostly at Duke and UNC. Then, she made a major life change. “I found the schedule to be difficult on family life, and as a self employed carpenter and stone mason I had much more say about my schedule,” she asserts. Building our own home necessitated developing skills in this area, and we branched out building homes for others.” During this time I took a class in stained glass and made many windows, mostly with floral designs. Years later I discovered I had high levels of lead in my blood, so that was the end of stained glass work.

By the time Stewart was in her late 30s, she became interested in acupuncture. “I was still drawn to the healing arts,” she says. “I realized I did not want to be hauling heavy boards around when I was 50” The family moved to Santa Fe for three years, while she studied acupuncture. For 20 years, what is now Stewart’s sewing home studio, was an acupuncture clinic. “I have been “retired” from that practice for several years now, and quilting has taken up what spare time I manage to carve out for myself,” she quips. The arrival of grandchildren, including twin granddaughters eighteen months ago has limited her time for quilting. Stewart’s daughter is Lara O’Keefe, a well regarded Chatham County potter.

Since childhood, Stewart had a passion for the bright prints and colors in fabric, and she had quite a stash of fabric even before she made her first real quilt about 11 years ago. “I was in the local fabric store, Thimble Pleasures, when I fell in love with a quilt hanging on the wall in the shop. “I took a class and off I went,” she exclaims. “I am very grateful to Julie Holbrook for creating such a nourishing, stimulating fabric shop just 25 minutes from my house.” I have taken many classes there, although my learning continues just by being in the shop.

 As Stewart’s grandkids grow, and she has more time to quilt, she employs the many strategic and organizational skills that she has learned over her varied and colorful life.

“Quilting is much like carpentry and stained glass work, but a lot easier on the body” she laughs.

Susanna Stewart is one of the many regionally and nationally recognized artists and fine crafts people who will open their studios the first two weekends in December at the 20^th Annual Chatham Studio Tour (http://www.chathamartistsguild.org/about/details.html). Visitors from all around enjoy Chatham’s rural beauty and share with the members of the Chatham Artists Guild in the creative process. It is a holiday tradition, and an opportunity to purchase unique original art.

Art in the Village -- Autumn 2012

 

 

Artist Studios at Fearrington Village presents the 3rd Art in the Village. Browse fine art and crafts among the beautiful gardens of Fearrington Village. The outdoor exhibit and sale showcases a group of over 30 visual artists who live and create within Fearrington. Exhibitors:  painters, potters, sculptors, photographers, jewelers, woodworkers, fabric artists - art which represents a wide variety of styles and media. Join us – it’s family friendly and free!

 Stroll through beautiful gardens. Enjoy lovely and exciting music. Have a snack or a meal in Fearrington’s renowned restaurants. Visit McIntyre’s Books, a delightful independent bookstore.

Enjoy exhibits by local, regional and nationally-known artists who live and create in Fearrington Village and purchase their original artworks.

Some of the artists participating:

Sandy Beach – fused glass and glass creations
VidaBeth Bensen – hand-pulled screen printing
Evelyn Brown -- pottery
Beverly Crow – painting and mixed media
Carolyn Davenport – collage and mixed media
Forrest Greenslade – painting and sculpture
Murry Handler -- contemporary acrylic painting, bold ink-brush prints
Karen Havighurst – collage and mixed media
Nancy Jacobs -- painting
Florence Johnson – watercolor painting
Helen Kotsher – painting in oils and pastels
Matthew Leavitt -- photography
Roni Liberman – wooden furniture and turned bowls
Roy Lindholm -- photography
John Makowski -- ceramics
Marcelle Pachnowski – nonobjective colorist painting
Jane Palkoski -- fabric art and jewelry
Zen Palkoski -- sculpture
Leslie Palmer – painting and mixed media
Stan Pomeranz-- pottery
Deborah Sanks --painting
Betty Schabacker -- mixed media, collage 
Ruta Schuller – botanical paintings and mixed media
Rita Spina – junque (found object) art
Pat Stewart -- basketry
El Temblay – watercolor painting
Harry Lane Wurster -- mixed media

 Artist Studios at Fearrington Village
http://fearringtonartists.org