Conversations with Artists

HandMade in America talks with CSA artist Mary Carol Koester

When did you decide to become an artist and why? 

I always wanted to be an artist, however, my brother, Greg, was the artist in our family.  I watched him for a long time believing I didn’t have the gift.  Later in life, I started exploring decorative paper arts, creative journaling, and took an occasional drawing class.  When I had time on my hands, I got serious about art work and started studying basic color theory, drawing, calligraphy, marbling and book making.

Why or how did you choose your medium? 

I took my first book binding class from a close friend.  Her enthusiasm for the craft made me take another class.  I loved the materials and the feel of a book in my hands.  I was very interested in the skills required for book making.  I joined a wider group of friends who were interested in starting a bindery.  Things took off from there.

Could you talk a little about why you love what you do? 

Books are beautiful and useful.  A book has to move, it has to stay together. After mastering the technical skills, the creative process can be applied in endless ways.  Binding also involves sewing and I love fashion.

What is it about your work that brings you into the studio every day? 

I like being around all the tools, tables, cutters and bolts of book cloth and, of course, I enjoy making books.  After working out a design, I begin to make measurements, cut the board, the cover material, and the decorative end sheets.  I like the quiet, steady engagement which is built into something handmade.

How long have you been working in your medium?

I’ve been working as a book artist for over a decade.

What’s your design process like? 

I often start outdoors interpreting the emotion of the seasons.  I walk in the woods or around a lake and note the combinations nature prescribes.  I’m often surprised by what I find.  I sketch design shapes and turn them into printable artwork.  I reproduce shapes I like and collage them together.  I look for how things change

Can you give me an example of something that inspired a particular piece of work?

I saw a vine with dark green leaves and an opalescent blue berry. I wouldn’t have thought to combine these colors but they were lovely together.  I passed a black walnut tree losing its leaves in the fall.  At a point, all that was left hanging from the linear branches were round blackened walnuts.  The shapes translated into a printed design.

Does the region inspire your work? 

Yes, very much so.  I grew up and went to college in the northern Appalachians and now live in the southern Appalachians.  A career in forestry put me in the woods for many years.  There, I learned to observe and notice the subtle things, like color differences in the bark of trees, grays, brown, even silver and copper.   I recently completed the Report Card on Forest Sustainability in Western North Carolina which led me to an even greater understanding of the history and culture of Western North Carolina.  I remain interested in our region’s natural, cultural and economic resources.

How have you changed as a consequence of your work? 

I have changed as a result of being a professional artist.  I’ve learned that creativity takes time.  You can’t plan it or compartmentalize it like many things we do in life.  You have to approach it from the side not directly.

What is the path to growing as an artist? 

For me, it is fundamentally about trying to do my best and hoping others take pleasure from my view of things.  Equally important is working from my intuition rather than my intellect.  This helps me grow as an individual and an artist.

How is your work integrated with the community?

The pieces I make are used to strengthen memories and are a vehicle to better knowing ourselves.  They are meant to be filled with pictures and thoughts and shared with others.  Through my work, my own participation in the community has broadened.  I have an even greater appreciation for all things handmade and what a commitment that is.  I see the community as having a high talent quotient, much of it available to all.

What is the most challenging thing about working in your medium?

Patience versus speed.  It’s always a challenge.

Any words of wisdom for those starting out? 

Learn well and expand your influence.

Purchase your CSA share today!

Conversations with Artists

In conjunction with our inaugural CSA program, Handmade in America has started it’s “Conversations with Artists” series. Follow our blog to learn more about this year’s CSA artists: where they work, who they are, and what inspires them.  

HandMade in America talks with CSA artist Christopher Perryman

 

When did you decide to become and artist and why?

I’ve always made things with my hands. Its always felt like something I had to do as opposed to a choice.

Why or how did you choose your medium?

I crept into wood via working as a delivery guy for an interior design shop and furniture store. Ironically, I come from a woodworking family but didn’t arrive at wood through them. I was also born in High Point, historically, the furniture capital of the world.

If you weren’t doing this work, what would you do?

Maybe chef.

Could you talk a little about why you love what you do?

I feel most natural when I make things by hand. Sometimes its more creative than others. There is certainly a sweet spot when something that’s creatively engaging intersects with a manual challenge and the two marry successfully. Especially when that effort finds some value in the world outside my shop and I can introduce something, even a small thing, to the human experience that is completely new; an object to interact with that has never exactly been seen before.

What is it about your work that brings you into the studio every day?

The quest for the sweet spot referenced in the answer above. Also, bills to pay.

Do you have any other creative pursuits?

I like to cook.

How long have you been working in your medium?

I cobbled together little soap box derby/jalopy-ish kinda thing from twisted scrap wood to ride down the hill in my neighborhood when I was in the 3rd grade. So, almost 20 years. What would you say informs you work? Regarding functional woodwork: the needs of the end user, ergonomics, decently intelligent design, and cost effectiveness. In work that’s less than strictly functional, irony. Usually dark irony.

Who or what are your major influences?

NC-based wood sculptor Bob Trotman as well as scores of other top-tier local woodworkers, Russian graphic artist Alexander Rodchenko, Joseph Beuys, Danish design, historic culinary objects, my own family history and many other things.

What’s your design process like?

If I work on a commission, I sit with a client and we go step-by-step through needs, options, problems, solutions, tastes, and budget. If I work on something for myself, I have a place I think I want to go creatively, then I try to get there through the maze of my own creative exploration. Inevitably I hit walls, rework my strategy, the work piece, the end goal, etc. and try again.

Can you give me an example of something that inspired a particular piece of work?

I like prompts. I like having someone setting some parameters for me or I can spin in creative circles, seeing too many options. Once I built a piece from wood recycled from a table that belonged to the clients late grandfather in the 1940’s. The new piece was actually going to serve as a small stand to hold a steamer chest that had traveled the world  during the 1920’s with a late great-grandmother. A “Day-of-the-Dead” theme developed with-in the piece leading to carved imagery and icons that lamented and celebrated our own mortality. It was an unexpected place I arrived that wouldn’t have been possible without the very premise of working with the ancestral material.

 How do you choose your color palettes/materials?

I prefer simple, understated colors, neutrals and contrast.

Does the region inspire your work?

Outside of the other makers who are here, I think the region is inherent in my work. I can’t help being influenced by my surroundings. I think I generally, actively, look for inspiration outside the region.

How has your work changed over the years?

In some ways. I’m learning to appreciate smaller things. I’m learning to say more with fewer expressions…..I hope.

CSA shares are available at handmadeinamerica.org

Non Profit of the Month!

Patton McDowell & Associates deemed HandMade in America in September of 2012 and somehow we didn’t find out about it until just recently!

“Patton McDowell and Associates’ mission is to elevate nonprofit organizations through careful planning, unique strategies, creative fundraising and dynamic staff and board development. The PMA Blog covers various nonprofit, fundraising and philanthropy news, in addition to thought leadership pieces and case studies. Our blog aims to explore the intersection of nonprofits, philanthropy, technology and innovation.”

We are all so proud to be a part of an organization whose work is truly creating opportunities and affecting economic change all across WNC and beyond. Recognition like this plays such an important role in helping us to connect to a wider audience who may benefit from the services of our organization, so Thank you!

CLICK HERE to read the article about HIA!

Breaking Ground: Innovative Craft–A Success!

Friday night was unbelievable. Our gallery was filled to the brim the entire evening with people who are passionate about Western North Carolina Craft. We are so fortunate to live in an area where Fine Craft is as appreciated as it is prevalent, and the turnout we had Friday night evidences that our community is thriving. We had between 150 & 200 people in attendance throughout the night and almost all of the artists were able to make it. There is just nothing better that being able to ask the artists themselves about their pieces.

 

If you weren’t able to make it out Friday night but would like to learn more about the artists and their work, please visit the links below!

Anna Johnson
Jeana Eve Klein
Janet Williams
Gwendolyn Bigham
Kenn Kotara
Sondra Dorn
Dustin Farnsworth
Hayden Wilson
Rachel Meginnes
Sam Reynolds
Robin Johnston
Kathie Roig
Heather Allen Hietala
Ben Elliott
Austin Richards
Michael Parry

Breaking Ground: Innovative Craft, Opening and Reception

HandMade in America is pleased to announce the upcoming opening of its new exhibition, Breaking Ground: Innovative Craft. Opening reception will take place on Friday, March 8, from 5:30- 8 pm to celebrate the work of regional artists. This exhibit, running from March 8- June 30, is supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, Starbucks and Windgate Charitable Foundation.

“What is innovation in art? Perhaps it is a willingness to fail or make mistakes in service to fearless creativity. ‘Breaking ground’ by definition, engages the unfamiliar and is key to an innovative studio practice.”
-Kathryn Gremley

Breaking Ground: Innovative Craft features the work of WNC craft artists who are pushing the boundaries of their medium in unexpected ways. Featuring 26 works in clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, or mixed media, the pieces in this exhibit illustrate a balance of craft processes and unique ideas, combining tradition with innovation.

Artists featured are: Michael Parry, Austin Richards, Jeana Eve Klein, Janet Williams, Gwendolyn Bigham, Kenn Kotara, Sondra Dorn, Dustin Farnsworth, Hayden Wilson, Rachel Meginnes, Robin Johnston, Sam Reynolds, Kathie Roig, Heather Allen Hietala, Ben Elliott and Anna Johnson

If you haven’t seen Kenn Kotara’s braille poetry piece, in the eyes of memory, Stacks by Hayden Wilson, or Dustin Farnsworth’s Saint Anne’s Theatre, you are in for a real treat. These are just a few among a slew of beautiful pieces.

CSA: Community Supported Art!

We are so excited here at HandMade about this new business incubator program, and apparently, so is the Mountain Xpress! Click HERE to see the write-up online…

Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy seasonal food directly from local farms. With that buy-local spirit in mind, Community Supported Art is a similar endeavor to support regional craft artists and collectors.

We are seeking craft artists to launch our inaugural Community Support Art (CSA) program. Our local CSA program is modeled after the Community Supported Art project created by Springboard for the Arts and mnartists.org in Minnesota, where it continues successfully season after season.

Join us in becoming the first Community Supported Art program in North Carolina!

Vist our homepage HERE

Seats Still Available for Friday Salon Series

An e-mail came our way today from RiverLink that I wanted to share with you because it sounds like a really great opportunity for education, networking, and community! Some of you may be wondering how this is relevant to you being that we mainly provide resources specific to craft artists and economic development that stems directly from a strong craft economy, but there is a common thread. In fact, there are enough threads to make a blanket. 

During the series, conversations will include information about the environment, politics, and environmental legacies; all of this is important to craft artists and artisans. For all you fiber people out there, what would happen if the environment became inhospitable to the plants you use for natural dye, or the grass became inedible to the sheep you use for sheering to spin your own yarn? Painters, if you use natural pigments, you also have a stake in the condition of the environment. So many of the changes we need to preserve our beautiful mountains and bodies of water, and to protect our wildlife, are implemented through policy that is decided by local and federal government. It’s important to engage at a local level to get to know the representatives who will be making the decisions that affect your lives, your businesses, and your craft. 

You never know who might be listening, so please consider joining Riverlink for their Friday Salon Series, to be a part of an important conversation.

Here’s their Press Release…

Seats are going quickly, but there is still time to sign up for first Friday Salon of 2013.

RiverLink is pleased to present the first of a stimulating five-part seminar series by Dr. Frank Kalinowski from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday, February 22.  This first seminar, taking place at the RiverLink offices, is titled “A Practical Solution to the Environmental Crisis: The Scope and Range of Environmental Politics.” The purpose of these interactive lectures is to explore a deeper understanding of environmental issues and to attempt the placement of these issues in a larger social, political and historic context.

Kalinowski is a retired and popular professor from Warren Wilson College and the author of numerous articles and treatises that are thought provoking and informative about the complex world in which we live today. 

The dates for Salon Series are February 22, March 22, April 26 and May 31.

Future dates and topics include:

• March 22, “The Constitution and the Environment”
• April 26, “Political Vision and the American Founding: The Tensions Between Logic and History”
• May 31, “Two Dreams and a Nightmare: The Environmental Legacies of Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.”

This series is free and open to the public but reservations are a must, email jess@riverlink.org to reserve a spot.

RiverLink is a regional non-profit working to revitalize the French Broad River as a place for everyone to live, work and play. The RiverLink office, the site for this series, is at 170 Lyman Street in the River Arts District of Asheville.  

Located in Asheville’s River Arts District, RiverLink is a regional organization spearheading the economic and environmental revitalization of the French Broad River watershed as a destination where everyone can work, live and play.   

For more information about how you can get involved, see our Web site: www.riverlink.org, or contact us at information@riverlink.org or by phone at 252-8474.