Art gives me a language to work through and express my ideas. A lot of my art is focused on social commentary and politics. I also like to use humor in my work. When people laugh, they’re more open to thinking about a different point of view.
How have you changed as an artist over the years?
When I was a student, I was very concerned with mastering the technical aspects of art. After school, I turned to photojournalism for a career. My creativity there was driven by capturing that decisive moment. Now that I’m older, I appreciate the process of art and letting it take me in directions I didn’t expect. I find that more and more, the concepts behind the art interest me more than the final piece itself.
What artists have influenced your work?
Laurie Anderson is one of my favorite artists. I just saw a new show by Anderson at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. She is a singer and performance artist but has branched out into visual art. Anderson pushes the boundaries of how the viewer experiences and connects with art. One of the pieces that stuck with me in her new exhibit was a hologram of tiny people sharpening knives. Nick Cave’s Soundsuits also inspire me. His pieces blend sculpture and fashion. He says they evolved after the Rodney King beatings and have grown into vehicles for empowerment. It made me look at art and textiles in an entirely different way. His Soundsuits are like modern-day armor, and I was fascinated by what he chose to create these superhero costumes. Some are intricately beaded but then juxtapose a megaphone or an abacus.
Do you have a favorite medium?
I’m not tied to one medium. Different concepts require different art forms. Since turning more fully to art from photojournalism and becoming an Artworks Gallery member, I’ve enjoyed experimenting with different art forms. Since the pandemic hit, I’ve worked with fabric and photograms. And I’m excited about art that incorporates technology.
What does making art mean in your life?
It does a lot of things. At its broadest, making art gives me a voice to speak about what I care about in the world. It’s also a stress reliever and a way to indulge in some “me time.” Some of my art has helped me process some of the complex emotions from my time in photojournalism. I read about soldiers treated for PTSD who were assigned to write stories about their trauma but then rewrite the ending to what they wanted it to be. I decided to take some of my old photos of crime scenes and the Pentagon on 9/11 and envision what I wanted to happen. I called the show “Magical Thinking” because I created a better ending.
In a project aimed at bringing hope during these difficult times, Artworks Gallery and the Forsyth County Department of Public Health have teamed up to display 1,000 origami cranes to honor healthcare workers and people affected by COVID-19.
Members of Artworks Gallery in Winston-Salem folded the paper cranes that are now hanging in the public entrance of the health department at 799 Highland Ave. in Winston-Salem. The public art project is called the Thousand Cranes Project.
A statement on the wall near the origami cranes says, “The origami crane represents healing, hope, joy and prosperity. Legend says that if a person folds 1,000 cranes, they get a wish. Therefore, folding the cranes represent our wishes for hope, health and well-being to all healthcare workers and those people who have been affected by COVID.”
Lakecia Owens, coordinator of health services for the Forsyth County Department of Public Health, approached Jessica Tefft, president of Artworks Gallery, on behalf of the health department this past spring to find out if Artworks artists would come together to assemble a paper-based art project.
Owens said the goal was to honor front-line workers and their families, as well as people in the community who had COVID-19, lost their lives to COVID-19 or had a relative who was affected by COVID-19.
Tefft said Owens told her that the health department had COVID-19 fact sheets in different languages that could be used for the project. Read more.
More than 500 people in Forsyth County have lost their battle to Covid 19 leaving many families heartbroken. Now a local art group has teamed up with the Forsyth County Health Department hoping to honor the lost loved ones and healthcare workers fighting to keep people alive.
Jessica Tefft, president of Artworks Gallery says it’s those people who deserve to be remembered in a beautiful way.
“I really do believe in the power of art,” said Tefft.
That’s why you’ll see 1000 origami cranes hanging in the Forsyth County Health Department. The origami may be small but artists say they carry a big meaning, the meaning of hope.
Each crane was created with meaning and made with love. Read more
The paintings of Wendell Myers are abstract landscapes, based on memories of the places he’s lived and visited; the great plains, north woods and lake country of his youth, the Carolina mountains and seascapes of adult life, and the desert Southwest where he has frequently vacationed. The works in this show, “Enchanted Forests” are inspired by the countryside of Poland, where he and his wife have spent a great deal of time over the past 15 years. The series is also influenced by the works of Wolf Kahn and Mark Rothko, referring to it as a “Rothkovian lozenge of color.”
Wendell Myers holds a BFA from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Early In his career, he worked as a studio potter, selling directly to the public out of his studio, at art fairs and shows in the Midwest and Northeast. Eventually, accompanying his wife, Pamela Howland, to Winston-Salem, he earned his MD from Wake Forest School of Medicine. He has been a practicing radiologist in the area for over 25 years. 12 years ago Myers returned to making art, this time choosing to focus on acrylic painting.
Wendell Myers, “Enchanted Forest”Lea Lackey-Zachmann, “Dogwood Knows Temporary and Perpetual”
Lea Lackey-Zachmann | Dogwood Knows Temporary and Perpetual
The large paintings in this exhibit depict trees Lea Lackey-Zachmann walks past daily. The central painted rectangle in each work represents a tree as we might view it. The smaller painted rectangles above, below, and beside, represent the tree abstractly or symbolically. Most of the artist’s painting career has focused on the tension between Realism and Abstraction. Asking which best expresses the tree’s true nature? All these depictions are a visual language that seeks to evoke a feeling or insight into the identity and nature of the trees shown here.
The artist reveals, “This exhibit was inspired by my knowing that trees are essential to our life and happiness on earth. Our appreciation of them helps determine our future.”
Lea Lackey-Zachmann holds an MFA in painting from the University of NC at Greensboro, along with a graduate teacher’s certificate in Art Education. She received a BA in Art from Winthrop University and is now retired after having taught at High Point University for 29 years and Salem College for 10 years. She has been an instructor of various classes at WFU, Guilford College, and Elon University as well as having taught and served on the board of the Sawtooth Center for Visual Art. She is dedicated to community arts endeavors of all kinds. Her paintings, prints, and drawings are in various collections on the east coast of the US. She is a founding member of Artworks Gallery.
Kimberly Varnadoe’s current work represents a passage through conflicting times. She reflects, “We all have had to adjust to a different way of life during 2020-21. Some of us have gone or are going through other adjustments that are more personal.” These works reflect thoughts, memories, stress, and therefore are a bit chaotic. They are personal to Varnadoe, yet they speak to what many of us think and feel during life’s tumultuous changes. These works were created with a wide variety of media throughout each piece. The meshing together of these materials is a reflection on the many layers of overlap we experience emotionally as we adjust to challenges faced day to day, embracing the complex and contemplative.
Kimberly Varnadoe received her BFA in Painting from the University of South Alabama and her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Memphis. She works with experimental photography and a variety of printmaking techniques, often combining the processes. She enjoys experimentation and feels that art is most alive during the art-making — the final work of art is the record of the art process. She has been a member of Artworks Gallery, in Winston-Salem, since 2003.
Kimberly Varnadoe, “After Life”A piece by Jessica Tefft inspired by Pamela Howland’s music.
Tribute to Pamela Howland
The artists of Artworks Gallery will be paying tribute to the wife of one of their own, who died in September. Gallery members will show a unique collection of tribute works created to honor the music of pianist Pamela Howland. She was the wife of Artworks’ member Wendell Myers. As an accomplished pianist, she taught for many years in the Wake Forest University music department. Howland also recorded 19 albums consisting of composers Chopin, Debussy, and Ravel. She performed nationally and internationally, was a Steinway Artist, a 2017-2018 Fulbright Scholar to Poland, and a Chopin specialist. A percentage of sales will go to the Poland Fulbright Assistance Fund at https://en.fulbright.edu.pl/support-us/
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11-5; Sunday 1-4 Exhibition dates: October 31- November 27, 2021 Reception: Sunday, November 14, 2-4 pm
The exhibit is free and open to the public. For information about this press release, contact pr@artworks-gallery.org
Artworks Gallery Presents: Don Green, Recent Wood Sculpture; Alix Hitchcock, Opening Up; Diane Nations, Pausing Between Two Mysteries
Exhibition dates: September 26 – October 30, 2021 Reception: Sunday, October 3, 2-4 pm
Don Green, “Untitled Oak Sculpture”
Don Green | Recent Wood Sculpture
The recent works byDon Green from the past two or three years are all various hardwoods – cherry , oak, cedar, maple, magnolia, and plywood. The artist has become greatly concerned with the history of the tree from which the logs were cut, the pattern of the grain, especially at stress points where the tree was growing around branches, the expansive growth at the very base of a large tree, the knots where branches were growing off the main trunks, and the holes and rotted opening where branches had earlier been broken off or were sawed off. In a sense, Green feels like he is performing an autopsy of the remains of a noble old tree creature, thus growing in admiration for other living organisms, especially our old friends and servants: trees.
Don Green taught art for 12 years at Methodist College (University) and worked in advertising and design, and construction. Additionally, he has had many sculpture commissions throughout his career. Green holds degrees from the American Academy of Art in Chicago, a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University, and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Green has been a member of Artworks Gallery since 1994.
Don Green, “Untitled Cherry Sculpture”Alix Hitchcock, “Lifting Up”
Alix Hitchcock | Opening Up
Alix Hitchcock’s colorful art on paper works are gelatin monotype prints with the theme of human figures or birds as silhouette shapes in an abstracted environment of tree-like structures or forms from nature. They are created by printing on “gelatin plates” using stencils with water-based printmaking inks, some with additional hand-coloring with colored pencils. Hitchcock wants to communicate with the viewer a sense of awe in the presence of the natural world, and bring the viewer into each artwork’s composition of movement and mystery.
Alix Hitchcock received her MA in painting from New York University, and her BFA in printmaking and painting from the Univ. of NC at Greensboro. She was an Instructor in Drawing at WFU for 23 years and has also taught art at several institutions, including Salem College, UNCSA, Sawtooth Center for Visual Arts, ECU, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, and Weatherspoon Museum of Art. Alix Hitchcock was the Winston-Salem Artist of the Year in 1998 and is a founding board member of Artworks Gallery.
“Pausing Between Two Mysteries” is a collection of oil paintings, mixed media collages, along with digital collages, completed by Diane Nations between October 2019 and September 2021. Drawing inspiration from Carl Jung’s quote, “Life is a luminous pause between two mysteries that yet are one.” Nations looks to myths and archetypal images as thresholds to new dimensions of meaning and life’s interconnectedness. She is a local artist, who has exhibited in both local and national exhibitions.
This is her third exhibition at Artworks.
Diane Nations, “Wisdom Tree”
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11-5; Sunday 1-4 Exhibition dates: September 26 – October 30, 2021 Reception: Sunday, October 3, 2-4pm
Artworks Gallery Presents: Marion Adams:Colored Pencil Compositions James Gemma:Exploring Abstract Relationships in Shape and Color
Exhibition dates: August 29 – September 25, 2021 Gallery Hop: Friday, September 3, 7-9 pm
Marion Adams, Oops
Marion Adams, A Seat at the Table
Marion Adams, Blue and White
Marion Adams, Apples on Blue Willow
Marion Adams, Catch
Marion Adams, Dribble
James Gemma, Color Wall
James Gemma, Arrangement in Red ,Blue and Green
James Gemma, Color Crossings
James Gemma, Color Diamond
James Gemma, Color Sphere
James Gemma, Color Stripe l
James Gemma, Color Stripe 2
James Gemma, Color Wall 2
James Gemma, Color Weave
James Gemma, Moonlight
James Gemma, String Theory
Marion Adams, “Blue and White”
Marion Adams | Colored Pencil Composition
Marion Adams reflects, “It is interesting where a year can take you, especially if you physically have no place to go!” She took the time to enjoy countless hours researching artists, both contemporary and traditional from the sanctuary of a laptop while in lockdown. The paintings of artists Janet Rickus and Jeff Larson inspired Adams to try my own. Although their paintings are in acrylic and oil, she tried something similar with a favorite medium: colored pencil.
First, traditional crockery became the subject, later followed by blue willow china. Months later, the minimalist styles of pottery by Giorgio Morandi and Sophie Cook inspired her works.
Marion Adams, “Monstera”
Adams was very much at peace this year while creating art, which provided a type of daily mediation and an escape from the constant chatter of the outside world. Making art offered a retreat into a space of quietness and peace. Maia Gambis, “Why Making Art is the New Meditation,” explains that making art is a tool for coping with overwhelming emotion. “Happiness is more a matter of nurturing a space that provides stability and a constant connection to our true selves.”
Marion Adams has had a 30-year career teaching Science, Math, and Art. She holds a Master’s Degree from Georgia State University and undergraduate degrees in education and art. She works in colored pencil, acrylics, and makes 3-dimensional pieces using polymer and paper clay. She has been a member of Artworks Gallery since 2015.
Marion Adams, “Ooops” James Gemma, “Moonlight”
James Gemma | Exploring Abstract Relationships in Shape and Color
James Gemma’s abstract art is an exciting visual and conceptual exploration of the artistic relationships that may be created among and between colors and shapes. In this exhibition, many of the works use geometric elements as support for these explorations, while others take a more expressive approach. Some of the works have a formal appeal, with arrangements of bold colors and shapes. Others are arranged with softer, more subtle color/shape relationships. Finally, some are just freer, but still with an underlying coherence. Despite its conceptual nature, the art in this collection has a strong aesthetic and energizing appeal. All work in this show is limited edition, original digital art, created with archival paper and ink.
After graduating with advanced degrees from The Ohio State University and careers as university professor and consumer research professional, James Gemma studied art and printmaking at Salem College, and at Wake Forest University. He also has participated in multiple art workshops at Penland School, the Huntington Museum of Art, and the Sawtooth Center for Visual Art. Gemma served four years as board member of Associated Artists of Winston Salem. As Marketing Chairperson of that group, he created the Practicing Artist Series of lectures and critiques, bringing the participation of nationally known artists to Winston-Salem. He is currently a practicing artist, and has been a member of Artworks Gallery since 2009.
James Gemma, “Color Wall 1”
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11-5; Sunday 1-4 Open for Gallery Hop: Friday, September 3, 7-9 pm Exhibition dates: August 29 – September 25, 2021
Artworks Gallery Presents: Mary Blackwell Chapman:Time in the Pandemic Mona Wu:Leaf Dreaming
Exhibition dates: August 1 – August 28, 2021 Gallery Hop: Friday, August 6, 7-10 pm Meet the Artists Reception: Sunday, August 8, 2-4 pm
Mary Blackwell-Chapman, “Cave Art”
Mary Blackwell Chapman | Time in the Pandemic
Mary Blackwell-Chapman’s current show, Time in the Pandemic reflects her response to the worldwide COVID pandemic of the past year and a half in ceramic and fiber. Some artists found increased energy during this time, but some, like Blackwell-Chapman, felt an emptiness and lack of direction. She realized renewed interest and focus in family history, natural beauty, and quiet work with new forms of expression in clay and with a material new to her: fiber.
Her works in the “Homeplace” series reference personal family history and the broader, varied stories of how all of our families came to live in this country and have found, or not found, a home. Fiber is a medium particularly connected to the home, family, community, and history.
Her ceramic work shows an interest in surface treatment and glaze/slip finish that is also new to her. These changes in style and technique reflect her reaction to the profoundly altered state of the world. The world has felt very new and different, and she responded by picking up new tools, new images, and new concerns.
Mary Blackwell-Chapman is a sculptural artist from Forsyth County, North Carolina. She earned a BA in English Literature from Goucher College, and an MA in Motion Picture from Northwestern University in Chicago. She has studied sculpture, both ceramics and book arts, at Penland, UNC-G, Arrowmont, Shakerag, the Calligraphy Centre, and the Sawtooth Center. Her works are in numerous collections. She has been a member of the artists’ collective, Artworks Gallery, since 1992.
Mary Blackwell-Chapman, “Leaf Candelabra”Mary Blackwell-Chapman, “Homeplace: Fireflies and StarlightMona Wu, “Fabric Collage #4”
Mona Wu | Leaf Dreaming
Mona Wu’s new show, Leaf Dreaming, consists principally of images printed on fabric, and then embellished with hand stitching on unused cloth napkins. Botanical imagery is the theme in most of the work, although some were produced with simple woodcut, monoprinted, then hand-sewn into small wall hangings.
In addition to the wall hangings, there are twelve cocktail napkins with gel prints of single leaf outlines and overlaying leaf veins and ferns within; eight dinner napkins with more complex compositional components and various top stitches.
This series is a vast departure from Wu’s previous work of prints on paper. Instead of paper, the artist works with fabric and thread. It is a new art form and a fresh look at familiar objects expressed in new materials, sewn entirely by hand.
A native of China, Mona Wu immigrated to the US in 1970. She studied Chinese painting and calligraphy in Hong Kong then received her BA in Art History from Salem College in 1996. She also studied Printmaking at WFU from 1997-2014.
In 2003 Wu was selected as Sawtooth School of Visual Art Winston-Salem Artist of the year. She teaches Printmaking and Collage at Sawtooth. Wu is currently a member of Artworks Gallery, an artist co-op art gallery in downtown Winston-Salem.
Mona Wu, “Fabric Collage #5”Mona Wu, “Window with Three Discs #1”
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11-5; Sunday 1-4 Open for Gallery Hop: Friday, August 6, 7-10 pm Meet the Artists Reception: Sunday, August 8, 2-4 pm Exhibition dates: August 1 – August 28, 2021
Studio portraiture, street photography, content-charged texts and digital technology make for a potent combination in the work of Owens Daniels.
Daniels has been producing powerful, text-augmented photographic pieces for several years. Recently he has compiled a strong body of work documenting local street protests. Prolific and persistent, he has exhibited his work in a number of local shows.
His art emphasizes African American culture and identity, so it’s fitting that it was highlighted in this month’s local celebration of Juneteenth, marking the anniversary of slavery’s end in the United States in 1965.
Daniels’ exhibition “When the Revolution Comes” opened in mid-June at Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts. It brings together selected pieces from at least four bodies of work, including several images he has shown locally within the past two years. These range from proud portraits of ordinary people to more journalistic shots of protesters and police on the streets.
Those insensitive or hostile to the “Black Lives Matter” movement and so-called “critical race theory” aren’t likely to give the show much of a chance. But I suspect most viewers will sympathize with the artist’s socio-political point of view. In addition to its thematic aspect, Daniels’ work also carries a purely visual charge. The combination is crucial to what is evidently his primary aim — stimulating thoughts that extend beyond the image.
Tom Patterson, Winston-Salem Journal, June 27, 2121
