Tag Archives: Hillsborough Gallery

Resolutions 2015 at HGA

Tonight is the opening reception for “Resolutions 2015” our inaugural juried art show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts.  We had a wonderful response to our Call-To-Artists and had nearly 100 artists from every part of North Carolina submit just shy of 200 pieces of work.

Resolutions 2015

The juried pieces were installed in HGA’s Feature Gallery on Monday, and they look wonderful.  The show’s opening reception is this evening from 6-9 pm.  Guest awards juror, Dr. Timothy Riggs, will present his award choices and some impressions of the show.

Resolutions 2015 peek

Join us at the gallery tonight and meet the guest artists.  Vote for your favorite in our “People’s Choice.”

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Holiday Treats and a Circle

I have mostly been busy creating items for the gallery for the holidays the past few weeks. Along with new art doll sculptures this includes a few extra jewelry creations, and several types of ornaments. Even though these are smaller pieces that I make several of at a time, I do hand craft each as a distinct original piece.

holiday ornaments and ornament cards

ornaments and ornament cards

I think that my “ornament cards” illustrate this best. The small metal repouseé panel that is on each starts out as a piece of blank tooling foil. I sketch a design on each with a dry erase marker, and then use a variety of stylus tools to shape the design front and back to create a relief sculpture. A sparkly card stock backing is then attached by edging the two panels together with metal foil tape.  With the addition of an eyelet, a hanging ribbon, and attached to a card it becomes both a greeting and a gift.

I also forge copper stars and hearts from copper stock, and pierced aluminum. These are finished with a variety of found objects from my steampunk-y materials stash.

This year I wanted to add an ornament with a nod to my art dolls. I created the little “snowflake dancers” you see in the photo. Each starts out with a wooden bead and a couple of pieces of twisted wire. Brads for eyes, tinsel hair, a wrapped yarn leotard, and skirts of copper and tulle complete these miniature hanging dolls.

My latest art doll is also a hanging piece. Following our first ever Juried art show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts (more on that in a couple of weeks); HGA will host “Art All Around” in January. This gallery group show will feature works that in turn feature circles.

art doll Cirque III

Cirque III

My piece for the show is “Cirque III”, she is the third in a series of aerialist dolls fashioned in the style of a “cirque” type circus. This doll I purposely balanced and positioned so that while hanging, the slightest breeze or air movement will cause her to move in a circular plane. This of course made photographing her all the more of a challenge, but I do like the effect. She will be in the gallery starting the last week of January.

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Art Dolls Around the Gallery

I find myself working at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts today.  I always try to take images of the art around the gallery when I’m here, and make posts to share all the wonderful work a visitor may discover.  More often than not, I take shots of the work of artists other than myself.  Today I thought I would walk around and look at my art dolls with the eyes of a visitor to the gallery.

art doll Nobody's Fool in gallery

Nobody’s Fool

Nobody’s Fool is sitting on a high pedestal grouped together with others that all have art dolls on them.  She appears to be holding court from that position.

 

art doll Future Thoughts in gallery window

Future Thoughts

Future Thoughts is sitting in the gallery’s front window. From this angle she appears to be a bit sceptical of the viewer. Good thing most visitors look at her from the front through the window.

 

art doll Fly Girl in gallery

Fly Girl

Fly Girl stands beside a beautiful carved pottery vase.

 

art doll Bird Girl in gallery

Bird Girl

From this angle, I think that my art doll Bird Girl looks a bit surprised that you can look down upon her swing.

 

art doll Lily in gallery

Lily

Lily is perched on a shadow box on the wall in the print room where along with cards and prints, a visitor to HGA can find an example of work from each of the member artists and handy bio-cards that describe the work of each.

 

art doll Steam in gallery

Steam

Steam is in the same pedestal grouping of art dolls as Nobody’s Fool.  She looks commanding as well.

 

art doll Ziggy in gallery

Ziggy

Art doll ZIggy adds a bit of sparkle to a pedestal by the wall.

There are a few more of both my art dolls and other sculptures around the gallery, but I guess you’ll have to stop by to see the rest.

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Hillsborough Gallery of Arts Juried Show – Resolutions 2015

I’ll get right back to telling you about what I am creating in the gallery, but first I wanted to post a reminder for North Carolina artists. The application deadline for the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts inaugural juried art show, Resolutions 2015 is 5 days away. If you are an NC artist working in 2d or 3d, 18 years of age or older, you have until midnight on September 15th to submit your application.

Full show prospectus and application can be found at OnlineJuriedShows.com.

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Show Tonight

Just enough time this afternoon to send out one additional “hope to see you” for this evening, Friday from 6-9. All of the gallery rooms at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts have been rehung so there is new work to be seen everywhere, not just my new art dolls and the wonderful new paintings by Linda Carmel, and Marcy Lansman. The show, Attention to Detail is bright and bold.

Attention to detail

A few sneak peek shots of Attention to detail

All of Hillsborough will be out and about during Last Friday. music on the courthouse steps starts at 6. And there will be lots to do and see as usual.

Got to go and get the second batch of cheese straws out of the oven for he reception tonight.

An Invitaion

Postcard for July Featured Artists at HGA

Postcard for July Featured Artists at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts

It’s time once again to invite you all to the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts to see what I’ve been working on in the studio. Of course if you’ve been reading along here on the blog, you’re already quite up to date, but nothing is better than seeing the work in person. Not to mention, a mid-summer opening during the Last Friday festivities in Hillsborough always provides lots do do and see.

As you see on the postcard for Attention to Detail, my figure sculpture art dolls are featured this year along side the paintings of Linda Carmel, and Marcy Lansman. Stop by and find how we each attend to detail in our work.

The show installs next Monday, and will accompany an entire gallery re-hang, so there will be new work from all HGA artists.  The opening reception is next Friday, July 25th from 6-9 pm.

I’ll be keeping this post short, as I have just enough time to get out in the studio and finish up one or two pieces that I left unfinished while away traveling last week.  Check out all of the new work next week, talk to an artist or two, and enjoy some refreshment. See you there.

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Back to the Gallery

My weekend forray to the land of re-born baby dolls was an interesting experience. I must admit that the ultra realistic baby dolls there were not my cup of tea, but there does seem to be a very dedicated group that practices the craft and/or collects the “babies” as they refer to them.  My sculptured art dolls were most definitely different from everything else there, and they did receive a very positive response from those walking around the exhibit floor.

Yesterday, several of my pieces returned to their usual venue, the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts.  They do look much more at home atop their pedestals than all grouped together on a table.  With a little visual room the viewer is allowed more time to take in all the details of each figure.

art doll Steam wall display

Steam wall display

I did take the time to do something different with the display of one of the returning dolls. In the gallery we have a room that we use to display member artists’ printed pieces like prints, note cards, books etc. Along the walls of this room, we have acrylic card holders that hold artist bio cards for visitors to help themselves. Above each card bin there is a bit of wall space where each of us can display one or two small works.

I usually hang a mixed media wall sculpture, but this month I decided to put one of my seated art dolls there. Steam looks pretty comfortable atop her shadow box display, and the interior of the box provides a great space to store the display block she usually perches on, and her information label.

Now it is time to get back into the studio and create a few more pieces for my featured artist show that opens at the end of July.  I’ll be sure to give you a sneak peek right here.

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Taking My Art Dolls on the Road

This is the week that me and my art dolls are traveling to our first doll show.  The “road” in this case is only taking us 30 minutes away to Durham, but even short travel requires planning. Since the vast majority of my creations end up on pedestals in the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, I don’t often have to think about display and sales materials.

This weekend my gallery will be a table top. This limited space requires a bit of work. Of course the most important element will be the sculptures themselves.  Some of the art dolls I will be taking are already on display, so I will be pulling them for the weekend. I picked up Garden Girl II from the UNC Botanical Gardens gift shop where she has been one of several small sculptures of mine available. For my pieces currently still on their Hillsborough Gallery pedestals I’ve created tent cards with images to take their place when I remove them tomorrow..

Garden Girl II art doll and tent cards

Garden Girl II and tent cards for gallery

Some pieces require special hardware.  Three of my art dolls are hanging pieces with nowhere to hang them on a table. I solved this problem with a little time in my metal studio. I welded a little swing set type display for them to hang from. The challenge with this piece of hardware was to make sure it was strong and sturdy enough while still remaining relatively unobtrusive.

Display stand for hanging dolls

“Swing set” display stand for hanging dolls

Many other dolls have either custom stands I have constructed for them, or display blocks that they sit on.  Rounding out our travel preparation list will be sales materials, artist cards and promotional materials, information about the Hillsborough Gallery, and all my packing and transport stuff.

I think that I have everything together, but I may just check my list once or twice more.  As I wrote last week, if you would like to visit us on the road we will be at the R.O.S.E. International Doll Show Down East this Thursday through Sunday, June 18-22 at the Sheraton Imperial in Durham.

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Stories

art doll driving in reverse

Driving in Reverse

“Driving in Reverse” is my piece for “It’s All About The Story”, the February feature show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. The area in and around Hillsborough is home to a number of acclaimed authors, and we produce a collaborative show with one each year. This year we have teamed up with Jill McCorkle, and have created work based on her Going Away Shoes collection of short stories.

The story “Driving to the Moon” follows 30 years of connections and disconnections between two high school sweethearts, and the car that registered the miles along the way. The female main character is reminiscing while driving to visit one last time. The art doll “Driving in Reverse” is driving forward while keeping one eye in her rear view. She is keenly aware of the passage of time, and obviously has some things locked up inside.

“It’s All About The Story” runs from February 24th though March 23rd with opening reception on Friday, February 28th from 6-9pm, and an author reading and signing with Jill McCorkle on Sunday, March 2 from 2-4pm.