AS@FV Studio Tour

Mark your callendars for the Artist's Studios at Fearrington Village Tour in April -- Details:  http://fearringtonartists.org/ 

Great Horned Owl painting and bronze sculpture by Forrest Greenslade
Photo by Steve Shafer

Chatham County Line Features Studio Tour Artist Forrest Greenslade

Four Studio Tour artists tell their stories 

excerpted from the December issue of Chatham County Line

Story by Deborah R. Meyer

Forrest Greenslade never intended to

become an artist when he retired. “I

was going to write books, give lectures,

and do some management consulting,” said

Greenslade, who is #25 on the tour and like

Spina, lives in Fearrington at 149 Tinderwood.

“Then, I had a heart attack and that life I had

planned was not right for me anymore.”

He moped. In an attempt to reverse his

mood his wife Carol-Ann took her husband

out on the Chatham Studio Tour one morning.

“I saw just how satisfying it must be for the

artists,” Greenslade said.

The two came back to their home for lunch

where Carol-Ann turned on the TV to watch

one of the design shows she loves. “It was

Martha Stewart’s show, and she was making

a garden pot out of concrete,” Greenslade said.

He put down his sandwich, went out to his potting

shed and made a face out of concrete. “I

was hooked.” He sent a photo of the face to a

friend he had made in the local Toastmasters,

and she told Greenslade that if he made more,

she would sell them. “I was a practicing sculptor

in one day.”

This was 14 years ago. He began studying

art and honing his skills and eventually was

accepted into the Chatham Artists Guild.

“Because the Studio Tour was my inspiration

for starting, I really wanted to participate in

it,” Greenslade said.

The encouragement and guidance he

received from other Chatham artists really

helped Greenslade, and he credits Tamera

Cooke with much of his progress. His daughter,

Kathryn Armstrong, a longtime artist,

got Greenslade started on painting.

“All of my work is pretty much nature

inspired,” Greenslade said. A series of 18 paintings

that he recently finished was inspired

by the pollinator garden that is down at the

Chatham Mills.

Note – My pollinator-inspired series is now at our home for the Studio Tour -- FG

Need begets a local

creative venture

By Deborah R. Meyer

When the economy tanked, few escaped unscathed. Fearrington

residents Carol-Ann and Forrest Greenslade were not among

those lucky few.

“My 401K got kind of burned up, and my wife’s real estate

business slowed down,” Greenslade said. “We were starting to

wonder if our money would run out before we die.”

The couple started thinking about ways to supplement their

income including renting out the small apartment attached

to their home. It was where Greenslade wrote and created his

artwork.

“But I had reservations about full-time tenants. We had

owned a building once, and it was the worst experience of my

life,” Greenslade said.

Then one morning in late 2013, the Greenslades saw a news

show about small businesses. The focus of the show was the

shared economy, and it talked about some young men who,

though they were college graduates, could not pay their living

expenses. They got air mattresses and put them in their spare

room to rent out to tourists. The men went on to found the

Airbnb website that is now in use world-wide. “I started reading

Forbes and other business magazines about this, and the more

I read, the more I thought this was a good fit,” Greenslade said.

The Greenslades checked with their neighbors to make

sure that they would not be uncomfortable with them turning

his studio into a place where visitors could stay. Then

they got to work fixing up the space. The walls are covered

with Greenslade’s paintings and a bookshelf at the top of the

entry stairs is filled with his sculptures and some of his artist

daughter’s too. There is a hand-painted dining room table and

chairs next to the small but fully-functioning kitchen, a writing

desk, and sitting chairs for lounging. A set of cupboards

holds towels as well as books for visitors to use during their

visit. Brochures about local attractions are provided, and

Greenslade tells them about the vibrant, local art scene 

and the Fearrington nature trails.

“We had our first guest in May of 2014,”

Greenslade said. Since then, the Artist Garret

has been booked about once a month, with

guests typically staying for a few days. Usually

they have come to town for family-related

events, such as a graduation. One couple came

to stay to be near a family member who was

in the last days of his life. To greet each new

guest, the Greenslades stock the studio with a

chilled bottle of Prosecco, cheese and biscuits,

and a bouquet of flowers from their sculpturefilled

garden.

 “What has been surprising is how wonderful

people have been,” Greenslade said. “I

kind of thought it would be something I would

have to live through for financial reasons but

it has turned out to be a joy. It also gives me

another opportunity to show my work to a

broader geographical audience.”

Greenslade said that the Airbnb website

takes care of all the financial aspects of this

venture. “They take three percent from us and

six percent from the visitor for use of their

platform. The day after the guest arrives, there

is a wire transfer into our bank account. It

works perfectly for us,” Greenslade said. “We

have now met a lot of people around here who

have used Airbnb when they travel.”

This kind of shared economy is very democratizing

said Greenslade. “You don’t have to be

a Paris Hilton to be in the hospitality business

or have a music contract to publish your CD.

Technology has made a whole world accessible

to the average person if they will just learn

how to use it,” Greenslade said

Note -- The Artists Garret can be viewed on AirBNB

Sex in the Afternoon: The Nasty Little Secrets of Pollinators

Visit our Organic Forrestry studio (# 25) during the first two weekends in December during the Chatham Studio Tour. I will feature my new series of mixed media paintings, inspired by the Pollinator Garden at Chatham Mill in Pittsboro, NC. This is my Summer's crop of paintings. We have a large inventory of paintings, and you can stroll through our Forrest Dweller sculpture garden.

2014 is our 22nd Studio Tour. The Chatham Tour is one of the first in North Carolina, and a model for others which have followed. Click HERE for a list of participating artists, and a Tour Map. 

I hope the see you,

Forrest

Evolution of a Country Garden

Several months ago I started a painting inspired by a long ago drive through Cotswold in England. I started with a watercolor and colored pencil painting of a thatched roofed stone cottage. I was very happy with this element of the piece.

I continued on with watercolors to frame the cottage in a country garden. I made the forground rather diffuse, and the scale of the flowers large. I was not at all happy with the feel or composition of this painting, but displayed it anyway.

Viewer feedback pretty much confirmed my own thoughts -- The composition didn't work. The blury flowers in the forground just didn't work.

I took the piece back to the studio, and painted new large flowers in bright acrylics. It was more powerful, but the colors were too vibrant. I took it back to the shop, where it hung for some time. My wife hated the panting, especially the flower colors. Some of my artist friends were more polite, but it was clear that the was not very good. Viewers were also polite, but I could tell by ther facial expressions that this was not my best work. In fact, I kind of cringed every time I looked at the painting.

I decided to either throw the piece away, or drastically redesign it. So -- I covered the entire forground with an undercoat of heavy body acrylic paint.
Then, I began to recreate an eclectic garden, but in a smaller scale relative to the cottage in the background. Finally, I painted a welcoming gate and a winding path to cary the viewer's eye to the cottage. I think that this composition works much better, and features the little cottage that was the original focus of the piece.

Now, the painting is going back to The Joyful Jewel in Pittsboro, NC for the real test -- Do folks visiting the shop like it?

Sometimes a painting goes well right from the first brush stroke. Sometimes it goes through an "ugly"stage, but works itself out fairly quickly. On rare occasions, a piece goes through several "near death" experiences before it finally evolves to completion.

Chatham Studio Tour 2013

The Chatham Artists Guild will hold our annual studio tour the first two weekends in December. My studio, gallery and sculpture garden is number 32 on the tour map. I hope that you will visit. Details: http://www.chathamartistsguild.org/portfolio-item/forest-greenslade/

Fall-winter schedule for Chatham County artist Handler Works on exhibition

Sept. 28 Reception FrAnk Gallery ‘Inspired by the Lens’ Sept. 10-Oct. 6, Chapel Hill

 

Oct. 20 Artists Studios @Fearrington Outdoor Ann’l Show, 20 booths of arts, crafts in the Village Center 10 AM – 4 PM, Pittsboro

Oct. 18 Reception, Durham Art Guild 59 ann’l. Juried Show, Oct. 10-Nov. 9, Downtown Durham

Oct. 19-24 Internat’l Furniture Market, ‘Revolution Artists’ showroom, 104 N Main St. High Point, Open to the trade only

 

Nov. 7 Reception 5-7 PM, Domicile Realty, newly renovated Bold Building,   Oct. 30-Nov. 25 One Man Show, 50201 Gov’s. Dr. Chapel Hill

Nov. Reception date tba. Suzanne Connors Fine Art, gallery Opening, 544 Northwood Rd., W. Palm Beach, Fl.

 

Dec. 7 Gala @ Greenhill Center for NC Arts, admission charge 7-11PM, Dec. 8, 2-4PM Free public viewing, Greensboro

 

Jan. 5 Reception, 2-4 PM Chapel Hill Historical Soc. @ Horace Williams House, Jan. 5-Mar. 23

 Jan. 16 Reception 5:30-7:30 Theater Arts Gallery, High Point One Man    Show Jan. 16- Mar. 30

 www.murryhandler.com

Chatham Artist Awarded for her Pastel Paintings



Many people lay low during these hot and humid Summer days, but not Chatham Artist Kim Werfel. She has been very busy making a splash in the area arts scene. She won two awards at the state wide exhibition  North Carolina Pastel Societies at the Hickory Museum of Art. Her best in show pastel, “The Lookout” depicts a group of deer seeking food in the morning light. Werfel’s “Queen of Swords” won  the Pastel Society of Virginia Award. It is a haunting portrait of a young girl leaning on fencing foils.   An avid animal-lover, Werfel’s art was featured at the 20^th anniversary of the Cole Park Veterinary Clinic in Chatham County.



The Lookout by Kim Werfel

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Kim Werfel now resides in Fearrington Village, NC with her husband Eric and her beloved bichon frise, Summer.  She is a former Wake County, NC art teacher and long-time advertising production coordinator for Time, Sports Illustrated and People Magazines, NYC.  She earned a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Advertising Design from New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY and a Masters of Science in Art Education from L.I. University, C.W. Post Campus, Brookville, NY.

 

Werfel is known for her pastel portraits of people and animals. Her sensitive realistic interpretation and impressionistic colors give her portraits personality and spirit as well as a likeness. Her paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout North Carolina. Commissioned portraits are held in New York, California, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia. Werfel is active in artist groups, including Fine Arts League of Cary (http://www.fineartsleagueofcary.org/main.htm), The Pastel Society of NC (http://pastelsocietyofnc.com/blog/), the Piedmont Pastel Society http://www.piedmontpastelsociety.org/#1, Artist Studios at Fearrington Village (http://fearringtonartists.org/) and the Chatham Artists Guild (http://www.chathamartistsguild.org/).

You can see Kim Werfel in her studio at the 2013 Chatham Studio Tour the first two weekends in December.