Shetland Reverie

Shetland Reverie by Forrest C. Greenslade, PhD 

About a month ago, Carol-Ann and I adopted a Sheltie named Stanley from Triangle Sheltie Rescue. He has stolen our hearts and those of neighbors and many, many folks in Fearrington Village. Stanley is a very good model, and has inspired me to do several paintings of him.

In "Shetland Reverie", I imagine Stanley recalling the ancestral home in the Shetland Islands of this wonderful breed. This is a 16x20 painting using watercolor and colored pencil.

Carolina Brewery Features Chatham Artists Guild Art for All Seasons

Patrons of the popular Pittsboro restaurant will enjoy the colorful and textural works of printmaker Vidabeth Bensen and mixed media artist Rita Spina from February 2 – April 6, 2013. Bensen and Spina are charter participants of the Chatham Studio Tour. There will be a free reception on Sunday, March 3^rd from 4 to 6 PM. Come, meet the artists and  share some custom crafted brews and delicious snacks.

Vidabeth Bensen’s original screen prints reflect 27 years living and working overseas.  She is a retired high school art teacher and used her skills as a printmaker while working as an illustrator and graphic artist for the US Army in Germany and for USIS in Morocco. 

Winter Trees by Vidabeth Bensen

Bensen grew up in NYC. “I remember always making art,” she says. She majored in art, with a minor in education at Brooklyn College.  That intersection has been a continuous thread throughout her life. The other constant has been screen printing. In college she had a lot of acting friends, who asked her to make posters for them. Making posters by hand was too time-consuming, so she learned to do silk screening. “The first time I pulled a squeegee across a screen, I was hooked – I have been doing it ever since.”

Her prints are hand pulled in her studio in Chatham County and each one is unique.  Many of her prints could be called “screen paintings” as they are mounted on canvas and are one-of-a-kind mono-prints.  Color and composition inspired by Bensen’s interest in abstract expressionism are the subject matter of several newer prints. . “I consider myself so very fortunate – I have been doing this for over 50 years – Every print that I make is still exciting to me.”

Rita Spina is renowned for the re-visioning of discarded materials into beautiful and distinctive art. “I am a “junque” artist, she grins. Spina’s work is almost always 3-dimensional and is made of materials that have been previously used, which includes, metal scrap, old wood, paper and often organic materials themselves. “I find most of the materials in scrap yards, walks in the woods, rural roads and often on my front deck, as people who know my work pass "junque" along.”



Golden Touch by Rita Spina

Born and raised in Manhattan, Spina always expressed an interest in art, and as a child attended Saturday classes at the famous Parson’s School of Design. She planned to be an art major at Russell Sage College. However, she became an English major, as the Art program was tailored for those who wished to follow the great artists of the world -- that would come later. She married, had four children, went to Hofstra University for her graduate degree in Psychology and eventually headed up the Psychological Center. A subsequent clinical practice followed.

“Whereas in my career as a Psychologist, I put people and ideas together, as an Artist, I now put materials and ideas together,” Spins notes.  “The materials often stimulate the origins of what I do.” 

Life’s cycles, the power of nature and her changes, the tension between natural form and emerging technologies, the remnants of progress and the coexistence of variables are an endless table from which to choose for Rita Spina - nothing ever remains the same.

For more information about the artists, visit: http://www.chathamartistsguild.org/portfolio-item/vidabeth-bensen/ and  http://www.chathamartistsguild.org/portfolio-item/rita-spina/. 

Nestled Among Shield Ferns

Nestled Among Shield Ferns

This is my first painting of 2013, a mixed media relief painting, inspired by Paul Greene's cabin in the North Carolina Botanical Garden.

Viceroy and Helianthus

Here is my computer composition from three original watercolor and colored pencil paintings. A metallic print will be on display at Galloway Ridge in Fearrington Village beginning in January.

Holiday Greetings from Carol-Ann and Forrest

Watercolor and colored pencil by Forrest

 

Helebores blooming
A Carolina winter’s
Joyful jewelry



Art students take The Tour



Students with Ms Harrington and Chatham

Artists Guild member Forrest Greenslade

 in the Forrest Dweller Sculpture Garden.

Photo by Kelly Butler, Eagle Eye Photography, Pittsboro.

 

 

 

 

Art students from the Haw River Christian Academy in Pittsboro visited a number of studios at the 20^th Chatham Studio Tour. Their art teacher, Lisa Harrington guided the 4^th through 7^th graders in their special tour, linking the educational experiences of local artists to what they are learning in their classes. They enjoyed seeing the work of Dmitri and Janet Resnick, Emma Skurnick, Mark Hewitt and Forrest Greenslade.



Second weekend of the Chatham Studion Tour coming up

The first weekend of the Tour was blessed with perfect weather. Some very nice folks visited our studios, gallery and sculpture garden. Suzanne Edney from Custom Landscapes took this photo in our garden.

Weather for the second weekend, December 8th and 9th, looks to be pretty nice as well.

Carol-Ann and I hope to see you,
Forrest

Caption: Savannah Surprise, a sculpture in cedar wood and concrete