Category Archives: Art Shows

Bubbly Whale

I decided to create a second piece for next month’s “It’s all About The Story” show. When scrolling through our guest poet, Jeffery Beam’s work, a second short poem caught my attention. It is simply titled The Whale.

I love creating sculptures of these mammoth marine mammals. I’m not sure what the pull on my imagination is. Perhaps it is the juxtaposition of something that is both hulking and graceful? Or, maybe it is how they are entwined into so many stories and mythologies? What ever the reason, I have returned to the whale several times. Ironically, one time I steered away from whales was for a Herman Melville inspired show. I figured there would be enough cetaceans in attendance there.

needle felted hanging whale sculpture with glass embellishments for Story show
Bubbling Leviathan

Not A White Whale

My whale piece is titled, “Bubbling Leviathan”. Like whale themselves, I find the word leviathan intriguing. Somehow, it strikes me as one of those words that sounds like what it is, large and hulking. Unfortunately, it is also usually equated as dark, sinister, or even evil. I didn’t want my leviathan to be evil, so I encorporated something light and bubbly. Literally bubbles, or more specifially the feeding technique of creating bubble nets that humpback whales use. Humpbacks blow bubbles from their blowhole while turning in a circle as the swim upward. This concentrates the small krill that they feed on within the bubbly enclosure as the whale swims upward with its mouth open.

needle felted hanging whale sculpture with glass embellishments for story show
Bubbling Leviathan (back view)

My Leviathan is embellished with swirling gold patterns, glass elements, and metalic embroidery. I was striving to meld the natural and mythological I find combined in these creatures. Glass beads are suspended above and trail off the whale creating the illusion of movement and spinning of the bubble net. The sculpture is suspended from a thin bamboo ring. A spiral connector, and metalic ring complete the hanging connection.

Bubbling Leviathan will be at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts starting February 10th.

Not A Whale

wet and needle felted vessel featuring yarn wrap
Vessel #12

I took some time this week to do a little wet felting. I tried the technique where you wrap a resist object, a balloon in this case, with some yarn first. Then I layered white and black wool. After wet felting, and popping the balloon, the resulting form was turned inside out to reveal that the yarn was incorporated into the felt as well. I worked the top edge a bit with my needles to create a finished edge. I had originally planned for this wet felt to become a bag, but I worked it into such a nice spherical shape, that it screamed to be left alone. My most trusted art critics agreed with this creative choice. So, Vessel # 12 it is. This piece will show up at HGA as soon as I get a chance to add it to inventory and drop it off.

Valentines?

I have a small selection of my hand pulled gel mono-print cards in floral and heart designs available at the gallery. Sketching a few other ideas. I’ll let you know if I come up with anything else.

Past, Present, and Future

Past and Present

I will get to the future soon enough. I missed sharing with you a couple of ornaments that went to the gallery during the the last few days before Christmas. Below are Puffin Present and Sloth Lights.

As you can see, I didn’t take images of them before I dropped them off. One of the other HGA artists helped me out, and took a couple of shots with her phone before they found new homes.

I’d also like you to meet Turk. He is an African Penguin. I made this little sculpture for the desk of a very special museum professional who works with African Pengins on a regular basis. I didn’t share him, as he was a surprise for Christmas morning. He was a present himself.

Looking to the Future

Lastly two pieces for the near, and somewhat more distant future. The first, is one of two works I have planned for our gallery’s yearly “It’s All About The Story” show. That show features artwork that responds to written work by one of the area’s many authors. This year we are working with the poet Jeffery Beam. The “Story” show will run from February 11th through March 23rd. There will be a reading hosted by the gallery on February 23rd, and a reception during the February Last Friday Art Walk on February 28th.

The first work I’ve created for the February show I’m titling “Dryad Slumber.” I will share the poem she is in response to later. For now, I thought that I’d just share her as her own visual art self. She is the first “human” figure that I’ve created in a while.

I will tell more about this piece as we get closer to that show’s installation.

In the very near future, The Hillsborough Gallery will be hosting “Moving Heaven and Earth”. This is an invitational show of non-HGA artists who’s work we enjoy. I was in the gallery today and saw some of the work that is included. It is a fabulous show, and well worth checking out. It will be installed tomorrow, January 6th, and will run through February 9th. Here is a list of the guest artist included:
Jane FilerSarah GrahamKatie HayesIan HerdellAlexis JoynerLey KilleyaOami PowersSuzan Scribner-ReedDarcy SzeremiNadine Zenobi

For a bit farther into the future

I ended up creating the first ornament for the 2025 holiday season, though not on purpose. The initial snail that I made for “Dryad Slumber” was entirely too big. So I plucked him off, and made the smaller version you see in the Dryad Slumber images. The larger snail received a Santa’s hat and a hanging loop. He will deliver presents next winter at a slightly slower pace. I’m not sure that I will share all of the ornaments next year, it got a bit exhausting this time around.

That’s all for now.

More Needle-Felted Anthropomorphic Holiday Treats!

Needle felted anthropomorphic mouse with chef hat and tray of cookies, holiday ornament
Cookies!

A number of my one-of-a-kind ornaments featuring needle felted anthropomorphic creatures have already moved on to new homes. So, I am busy creating new ones to fill the spaces on my two copper display trees. I dropped off “Cookies!” the mouse cookie chef last evening, and will get “Wrapping Is Easy” the octopus in to HGA soon.

needle felted anthropomorphic octopus holiday ornament
Wrapping Is Easy (with 8 arms)

I dropped off two others, “Battle Ready” the hedgehog and “Not The Christmas Goose You’re Looking For” this past Saturday. You’ll have to stop by the gallery to see them, as I didn’t take the opportunity to take images of those before I brought them in.

Replacement For The Window

I also was occupied creating a replacement for “It’s Snowing” the hanging polar bear sculpture that was displayed in the front window, as he already found a new home too. I still have a selection of bamboo hoops of varying sizes, so I played with the same theme, and created “Star Gazing.” This hanging sculpture features a pair of needle felted anthropomorphic polar bear cubs, swinging on the ring, and looking up at sparkling stars of needle felted wool and glass beads.

needle felted anthropomorphic hanging sculpture. Polar bear cub twins looking at stars
Star Gazing

I recorded some time lapse videos of the process of creating this sculpture. Below is a compilation video of those clips: (*video doesn’t show on email version of post, must view in browser on wartskisculpture.com)

HMaking Star Gazing

Holiday Pop-Up!

Saturday, December 7th from noon to 4pm, the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts will host it’s second annual Holiday Pop-up event. There will be tents set up outside of the gallery with an even larger selection of hand crafted art and fine crafts. Many of the artists take the opportunity to produce even more gift-able items. This event will coincide with that week’s “Sip n’ Shop” event (each Saturday in December before Christmas.) So, it will be a busy festive day with a tent pop-up, gift card drawing, and refreshments. Mark your calendars!

Things To Ornament

A Couple of New One-of-a-Kind Ornaments

needle felted anthropomorphic walrus ornament
Two Front Teeth

Ok, so the biologist in me knows that technically, that tusks are elongated canines not incisors, but I just couldn’t resist. More than occasionally I create work just to amuse myself, and this OOAK (one of a kind) holiday ornament does make me smile. He is, of course, named after the holiday novelty song “All I want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)”. This walrus ornament is needle felted wool with irridecent glass bead eyes, and a blue toque style cap.

needle felted anthropomorphic skunk ornament
Holiday Scented Candle

Holiday Scented Candle is a skunk determined to add pleasing scent to the holiday gathering. She is needle felted wool with black glass bead eyes. She is holding a lit candle (bayberry? pine? cinnamon?) and is wearing a festive purple scarf.

Both of these new ornaments (along with a few more in the works) will be headed to the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts in a day or two. Several of their friends have already found new homes since we installed the holiday show on Tuesday.

Dressed for the Holidays

As I mentioned already, we installed HGA in its holiday finery on Tuesday this week. This is always an interesting gallery hang as so many of us bring in items that are not found in the space at any other time of the year. Two interesting changes visitors will find this year can be found in the very front and very back of the gallery.

HGA Holiday Show Window

Our holiday window is always eye-catching, but this year it features new custom display cubes that allow work to be shown at varying levels. This modular system was designed and fabricated by several of our member artists. Also new in the window is the addition of more lighting that surrounds each window pane. Additionally, we coordinated the work we are highlighting in the windows. You will notice lots of cool white and blue hues in the art. Just behind the art and lights you can see the branches that serve each year as our display of a wide variety of holiday ornament choices. My little fuzzy items can be found on two copper ornament trees. Thank you, Ryann Carey for doing some evening video work!

In our Featured Exhibit room in the back of the gallery you will find our Art of Giving holiday show. The change to this show from previous years is that we’ve hung the art work salon style. This allows for much more work to be displayed, providing our visitors with an even greater variety of choices.

Stop by and check it all out if you can.

The Art of Giving

Each year the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts presents its special holiday show titled “The Art of Giving.” Our member artists create a wonderland of art and fine crafts to provide a wide variety of gift giving choices. Tomorrow, the gallery will be transformed with our work and some lights into this magical art emporium.

For The Art Of Giving

I’ve been working the past few weeks creating new sculptures, and one-of-a-kind ornaments for our holiday installation. Two of the new sculptures are specifically holiday themed. I shared one of them, Holly & Mistletoe, with you a few weeks ago. He was the raccoon with a working lantern who was collecing holly and mistletoe. The second is titled “It’s Snowing!” and features a reclining polar bear inside a bamboo ring who seems fascinated by the falling snow. You can find this hanging sculpture in the window of HGA starting tomorrow.

Needle felted anthropomorphic polar bear hanging sculpture inside bamboo ring, with crystal embellished wool snowflakes. For Art of Giving show
It’s Snowing!

Don’t forget, I am bringing in a varied selection of one-of-a-kind ornaments as well. Each is an original mini-sculpture that can hopefully become a cherished part of your holiday traditions.

  • mini sculpture athropomorphic needle felted chipmunk ornament with basket of acorns going to night market
  • needle felted and hand beaded snail ornament
  • needle felted mouse ornament with candy cane and cocoa going to night market
  • Anthropomorphic needle felted zebra ornament adorned with a festive polka dot scarf
  • anthropomorphic needle felted mouse ballerina ornament to adorn the tree
  • needle felted ornament with pair of polar bears teaming up to adorn tree with star
  • needle felted ornament - bear holding book and mug of cocoa named for Icelandic "Jolabokaflod" tradition
  • Anthropomorphic needle felted camel ornament with tree
  • Needle felted ornament - donkey with baskets of glass bead ornaments
  • Aurora Reflection needle felted wool "painting" on a dryer ball ornament
  • needle felted white stag ornamen
  • needle felted flamingo with a tinsel scarf ornament
  • needle felted Musk Ox with elf hat ornament
  • needle felted anthropomorphic turtle ornament with holiday package
  • needle felted elf cottage holiday ornamets with balloon lights
  • needle felted holiday ornament from dryer ball based on A Christmas Carol
  • needle felted lobster with ball holiday ornament
  • needle felted octopus with snowballs holiday ornament
  • needle felted beaded jellyfish holiday ornament
  • needle felted shark with present holiday ornament
  • needle felted whale with santa hat holiday ornament
  • needle felted holiday ornament with cardinal bird on branch design
  • needle felted holiday ornament with silhouetted moose/lansdcape design
  • giraffe with hat and scarf one-of-a-kind needle felted holiday ornament for 2024
  • rabbit with skates, helmet and stick one-of-a-kind needle felted holiday ornament for 2024
  • mouse with spoon-skis one-of-a-kind needle felted holiday ornament for 2024
  • Chicken (bird) with antlers one-of-a-kind needle felted holiday ornament for 2024
  • raccoon with snowball one-of-a-kind needle felted holiday ornament for 2024
  • Emperor penguin chick (bird) with hat one-of-a-kind needle felted holiday ornament for 2024
  • polar bear with cocoa one-of-a-kind needle felted holiday ornament for 2024
  • Frog with mistletoe one-of-a-kind needle felted holiday ornament for 2024

Come check out the work of all my artist/owner parners. There will be something to catch everyone’s eye. The opening reception for the Art of Giving show will be the evening of Black Friday, November 29th from 6-9 pm. HGA will also again have a special “Holiday Pop-up” sale on Saturday, December 7th. I will share more infomation on that event in a future post.

graphic for the Art of Giving HGA's annual holiday art show
Art of Giving
mini sculpture tree frog with toad stool hat will debut at night market

Night Market Anyone?

I haven’t done any holiday markets, or fine craft fairs in quite some time. One tends to get a little spoiled being part of a wonderful artist-owned gallery like HGA. But, I will be participating in such a market at Kaleideum Museum in Winston-Salem next Saturday, November 9th from 6-9pm. By day, Kaleideum is a children’s museum, but once a month they host an “After Dark” over 21 event. This month, it is the Night Market. Check out this “After Dark” link for all that is included in the evening’s fun.

graphic for Kaleideum After Dark Night Market 11/9/24 6-9 pm
Kaleideum After Dark “Night Market”

What Is Going To Market?

I will be bringing a selection of my currently available sculptures, and one-of-a-kind holiday items. Many of the holiday items will debut at this market, as we will be installing the gallery holiday show the following week.

Here are a few new things that will be making the trip to Winston-Salem…

mini sculpture tree frog with toad stool hat will debut at night market
Try It On

“Try It On” is the latest of what I sometimes call my minis. He is tree frog with his throat puffed out who is “trying on” a toad stool cap for a hat. Colorful and eye-catching, he sits perched on a natural wood base. He is needle felted wool over a quilt batting core, and has large glass bead eyes. The base is sealed, and “Try” is firmly attached via some glued in toothpick pegs.

Three more one-of-a-kind ornaments emerged from the work table this week. Acorn Gift is a chipmunk with a basket of goodies. Peppermint Cocoa is a mouse dressed for bed with a cup of cocoa and a candy cane. Bling! Mini is a miniture version of a snail I created earlier this year. All are needle felted wool with glass bead eyes and embellishments. Acorn Gift’s acorns are glass beads with felted wool caps.

I also had time to work on a couple more mushroom minis. Meet Mush 7 and Mush 8. Both are needle felted wool with glass bead eyes. Each is secured to a natural wood base with a glued in chopstick dowel core.

Don’t Forget The Trees!

I have also been busy adding to the inventory of my popular felted holiday trees. These feature needle felted wool and crystal beading. They have the same base and core construction as the mushroom minis. The three shown in this photo are new, and they feature a blend of wool from a dark green recycled sweater, and lighter green roving fiber.

mini sculpture needle felted trees
Holiday Trees

If you want to see everything else that will be at the market, you just may have to make the drive out on Saturday. Hope to see you then!

More to Adorn the Tree

Just in case I haven’t shared enough new one-of-a-kind ornaments to adorn your tree, here are a few more.

anthropomorphic needle felted mouse ballerina ornament to adorn the tree
Sugarplum Mouse

Last year, I created a sugarplum bunny, this year my primary fairy dancer role goes to a mouse. She has a magenta tutu and matching slippers. The skirt of her dance dress has some sparkly spangles, and her neckline and tiara feature cut cystal beads. She is ready to entertain and delight.

needle felted ornament with pair of polar bears teaming up to adorn tree with star
Star Placement

In past years I created batches of polar bears and puffins. They were the first needle felted ornaments I designed. This year I’ve decided to do only one-of-a-kind ornaments, but I had two little polar bear cubs left from last year. So, I decided to team them up into a Star Placement team. I changed them a bit, sewed new eyes, and added toe and foot pads. They have their first star and are ready to go to work. Maybe they can help with your tree.

Perhaps something a bit more exotic?

Anthropomorphic needle felted zebra ornament adorned with a festive polka dot scarf
Festive Print Mixing

Continuing my exploration of animal prints from my feature artist show this year. Festive Print Mixing is a zebra with a colorful contrasting polka dot scarf. She is ready to make a bold impact on any tree.

Anthropomorphic needle felted camel ornament with tree
Overland Tree Delivery

Overland Tree Delivery is a camel on a treck to delliver a tree ready to adorn with all types of its own ornaments. This dromedary requires no GPS, and can deliver enchantment for no extra fee.

Many of these holiday ornaments, and the others I have previously shared will be arriving at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts in a couple weeks. I am also planning on doing a one evening holiday market just prior to the installation of our gallery’s holiday show. I am waiting on the information and promotional materials for that event, and I will pass them along as soon as I get them.

Ornament and Occasionally Ornery

Ornament, Ornament, Ornament

As you can see, I am continuing to work on my winter hoilday ornament inventory. It never seems to be enough, especialy if one is contemplating doing extra shows or events. More on that later, as the time comes closer.

This week let me introduce:

  • Ornament Transit, a donkey toting baskets of ornaments
  • Musk Elf, a musk oxen elf
  • Festive, a flamingo with a tinsel scarf
  • Jolabokaflod, a bear with cocoa and a book, named for Icelandic tradition of giving books on Christmas eve, and reading them while enjoying chocolate
  • White Stag, a magical white deer
  • Aurora Reflection, a wool “painting” on a dryer ball base

These ornaments along with the others you have seen will be available once the holiday season begins. I will tell you where and when.

Why Ornery?

I have been working on some other items the past few weeks, but they were custom orders, so I will not be sharing them here. These items were all, created after informing the inquiring customer that “I really no longer do commission work.” For some reason, this is never satisfactory, I’m then regaled with why this request is special, small, different, please, please, please…. Ugh, sigh. Not wanting to be rude, I end up relenting, and saying ok. And, then wouldn’t you know it? They all end up reminding me of some of the reasons why I don’t do commissions any longer. I will spare you the annoying details, the artists out there know what I’m talking about.

Instead, I thought I’d might pass along a bit of public service. We are entering the season when with lots of festivals, markets, and open studios where art and hand-crafted items are sold. These hard working artist will be sharing a bit of themselves with you. It is always a good idea to know how the game is best played. I perused some attending an art fair dos and don’ts.

Some of the advice was common sense:

  • Don’t bring food or drink into the tents
  • Ask for permission before photographing anything
  • Haggling is not encouraged
  • Keep an eye on bags, umbrellas and children’s hands
  • Try not to congregate in tent entrance
  • If you pick something up, place back in same location, or hand to the booth attendant

I also found a graphic credited to the California Arts Council that provides some things to help you be a thoughtful art fair consumer.

Instead, tell the artist what you do like about their work. Ask them about their process. This is a little different from, “how is this made?”, unfortunately many artists do have their original designs stolen and copied. Do inquire if they do custom work, or commissions, and be prepared to pay part up front for an order.

For a little practice, one of my Hillsborough Gallery or Arts co-owners hosts a wonderful show at her farm each year. It is this Saturday, and the weather report looks good. Here’s a link to Art at Lady Bug Farm. If you’re local take a drive out, it will be worth the trip!

needle felted whale with santa hat holiday ornament

Show Ending, and More Holiday Previews

a view of Natural Patterns: Flora and Fauna show at HGA
Natural Patterns: Flora and Fauna

You still have a few days left to check out my feature show with Ellie Snow at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts! The show officially comes down Sunday (August 25th) after HGA closes at 4pm. It has been a great feature. Some of the items will remain in the general display space of the gallery. Pieces purchased during the show will be on their way to their new homes!

Some More Holiday Previews

This past week in the studio I created a few more holiday ornaments. This time around they all have the connection of being marine creatures. It all started with an octopus who is ready for a snowball fight. I was recalling one with a santa hat I sculpted last year. This year’s cephalopod ornament is titled “Armed.”

needle felted octopus with snowballs holiday ornament
Armed

“Special Delivery” is a great white shark with a festively wrapped gift for someone special. Don’t worry, he will not bite, he just has a very toothy smile.

needle felted shark with present holiday ornament
Special Delivery

The next holiday sea creature is Deco-lobster. A crustacean who wants to lend a hand, or claw, in decorating the tree. This mini-sculpture features beaded legs, and tiny ornament ball for your tree.

needle felted lobster with ball holiday ornament
Deco-lobster

Jingle Jelly, is a new vrsion of an ornament from last year. This year my jellyfish is executed in seafoam green and aqua. This ornament features sparkily glass beads hand stitched to its top and knotted into its tentacles.

needle felted beaded jellyfish holiday ornament
Jingle Jelly

Last, but not least, is Santa Whale. This ornament sculpture is a humpback whale with a santa hat perched to one side. Though I like each and every one of these ocean dwellers, I must say this one is my favorite of the batch.

needle felted whale with santa hat holiday ornament
Santa Whale

These one-of-a-kind mini-sculpture ornaments and others will be available at HGA starting the third week of November. I will continue to share more as I complete them.

A Little Bird

A Little Bird Told Me.

My brain usually needs some downtime after putting together a new show. This break does not need to be unproductive. I provided myself with this cognative break by working on a few of my one-of-a-kind holiday ornaments. Yes, that’s right, I said holiday ornaments. They take time to produce, and it’s less of a mountain climb if you do a few at a time. Following a few of these celebral “palate cleansers”, I started to ponder idiomatic expressions that contain animals. I’ve have at least one past work “Out of Water“, a koi with a parasol that falls in this category. The idiom I chose this time around is “a little bird told me.”

needle felted anthropomorphic indigo bunting bird sculpture with hat and messanger bag on natural stick base
A Little Bird Told Me

The result is an indigo bunting perched on a branch with a cap and a messenger bag. This cheery little fellow has a message for the viewer. He is one of those pieces that seems to bring a smile, so I can only assume he has good news to share.

Little Bird is needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature. His large black glass bead eyes are sewn in place. The messenger bag is stitched and felted together from felt fabric, with an embroidered metallic thread “clasp”. His legs combine wire and pipe cleaners that are wrapped with black yarn that is felted in place and wrapped with thread. The stick base was stripped of its bark, sanded, and sealed. I attached the bird to the base by drilling small holes, and stitching the clasping feet in place at those points.

needle felted anthropomorphic indigo bunting bird sculpture with hat and messanger bag on natural stick base
A Little Bird Told Me (back view)

It’s beginning to look a lot like…

No, it’s not. It’s 90+ degrees out, and thunderstorms are probably on the way. Even so, I have been working on holiday ornaments when the opportunity presents itself. I I’m not going to say a lot about them right now. None of them are available for purchase at this time, but I will let you know when they are.

This is just the beginning of these special little mini-sculptures. I’ve also started several ball type ornaments that begin with a commercial wool dryer ball as their core. I’ll share some of those images next time around.

Some More Process

I received positive feedback last week when I shared a bit of work-in-process video for my Chimera. This week, I used the time-lapse setting on my phone camera to capture me creating a botanical mono-print. These one-of-a-kind works on paper are an enjoyable addition to my gallery offerings. The result is a piece of original art that is very affordable. You may recall, that I also use this process to create original images of my sculptures using a photo transfer method.

Making a botanical mono-print

Show Still Up!

Don’t forget, my featured artist show along with Ellie Snow, Natural Patterns: Flora and Fauna is still up through August 25th at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. Hope you get the chance to see the show before it ends. The work displayed together is kind of magical.