Innovative, bold, and creative is how I would describe my work. There is a saying that, “nothing is new under the sun” and I hold to that quote in my work, which means I don’t try to reinvent the wheel. What I do is use the tools at hand in a creative way and take risks with new methods or forms to create artwork from ordinary life and offer the viewer a different perspective of the subject to make the artwork extraordinary to them.
How have you changed as an artist over the years?
The biggest change I have experienced over the years has been becoming an artist. I spent my life perfecting the technical side of photography. I discovered that the art of photography is having something to say. The more I explored the narrative of a picture the more I wanted to try different methods to give a voice to the moment of the picture. Once I accepted the art of being a photographer/visual artist/creative I could accept the changes in my photographic style and vision which continue to evolve.
What artists have influenced your work?
So many artists have influenced my work. Artist Diego Velazquez’s intimate portrait touch and Caravaggio’s bold contrast in highlights and shadows. Photographers Bruce Davidson, Eugene Smith, Steve Curry, Eli Reed, and many others such as Anthony Barboza, Roy DeCarava, and Louis Draper.
Do you have a favorite medium?
My favorite medium to work with is photography. I love its flexibility in post-processing.
What does making art mean in your life?
Art is my voice to communicate to the world that I am here and that because I am here I have something to add to the other voices of humanity.
Anything else you think is important?
An unknown quote I like is “If art does not inspire you to change, move, live then it is not art.”
For this exhibition “Transitioning”, I would say the mixture of printmaking, painting, sculpture, and drawing is evidence that my work is changing or in transition. “Transitioning” is the name of the combined exhibition of my work and Alix Hitchcock’s work. I’ve taken one idea /inspiration and followed five pieces in whatever direction they have flowed. I started with making large monotypes of tree shapes which developed into acrylic paintings. In addition to those five color schemes, a sculptural painting developed as a result of my wishing to say and show more. After that, the people that I know seemed to “fit” into the category of those colors and forms. Then the unique characteristics of the colors, forms, and people reminded me of mythological characters. The correspondences of color, form, meaning, and myth must be the next step or transition I will take in future work.
How have you changed as an artist over the years?
As an artist over time, I have learned to follow my instincts in art-making. I have learned how to maintain a steady studio practice, with occasional forays into new techniques. I’ve become more involved in the process of making than ever. I trust the process of going in the inspired direction with a freer expression more than ever.
What artists have influenced your work?
So many artists have been influential! Rothko, Toulous Lautrec, Kahlo, Monet, Michelangelo, Kandinsky, Hundertwasser, Joseph Raphael, Morris Louis, Bill Viola are a few that come to mind right now. I could type names all day.
Do you have a favorite medium?
I must say that all mediums are interesting to me. Acrylic paints, colored pencils, Dura-lar as a painted sculptural surface, printmaking inks, different kinds of papers are the most recent ones that I’ve enjoyed
What does making art mean in your life?
Making art for me is meaningful as it provides an outlet for my need for visual expression. Making art keeps me inspired for living. If I don’t make art for a few days, I find myself less than happy and often become unwell physically. It is essential to living.
My art involves creating abstract compositions with images from natural objects (trees, plants) often combined with elements representing the human body. My mediums are ink, watercolor, and any drawing materials on paper, plus monotype printing with a press, or gelatin plate printing. I have also engaged in encaustic wax painting.
How have you changed as an artist over the years?
As an artist over time, I have learned to follow my instincts in art-making. I have learned how to maintain a steady studio practice, with occasional forays into new techniques or mediums at workshops. Teaching art has also helped me clarify for myself issues related to art-making. I do not work as large as I used to. And I still do not make art that is created for the sole purpose of being sellable to the public.
What artists have influenced your work?
I’m influenced by most of the artists of Art History, but especially Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Arthur Dove, Isabel Bishop, Lee Krasner collages, Brice Marden line ptgs, Sean Scully stripe ptgs, Eastern calligraphic brushwork, etc.
Do you have a favorite medium?
I work in all types of mediums that revolve around two-dimensional art-making, including printmaking and encaustic wax.
What does making art mean in your life?
Making art for me is meaningful as it provides an outlet for my need for visual expression and experimentation combined with incorporating my search for understanding life.
Artworks Gallery, the longest-running cooperative art gallery in Winston-Salem, is thrilled to announce its 40th-anniversary exhibition. In addition to its regular group show, all member artists will create unique, small, framed artworks available for purchase at a special anniversary price of $40 each. All proceeds from these sales will go directly toward supporting the gallery’s daily operations, ensuring that it continues to be a pillar of the local arts community for years to come.
An opening reception and party will be held on Sunday, October 6th, from 2–4 pm. All are welcome to join in the celebration, including a champagne toast at 2:30pm.
Exhibition Dates: Sunday, September 29th –Saturday, October 26th, 2024
DADA Gallery Hop: Friday, October 4th, 7 – 9 pm Art Crush: Friday, October 18th , 7- 9 pm Closing Party: Saturday, October 26th, 2-5pm
Karen Kopf, “The Woods: Paintings of and on Wood” and Kathy Schermer-Gramm, “Earth(L)y Discoveries: Botanicals on Paper”
Exhibition Dates: September 1-28, 2024 Artist Reception & Gallery Talk: Sunday, September 15, 2-4pm, talk begins at 2:30
Also open for: Gallery Hop: Friday, September 6, 7-9 pm Art Crush: Friday, September 20, 7-9 pm
While living on a river, Karen Kopf became fascinated by the stumps of trees dredged out and left on the river bank. She has delved into the many shapes within these forms and depicted them realistically and abstractly using a textured technique called decalomania. The forms swirl and crest like waves of wood. Then the artist began painting on wood itself and sometimes created images based on what she saw in the grains and sometimes created images with the grain of the wood encapsulated in the strokes. This part of the exhibit includes flat panels of wood as well as other formats such as triptychs.
After studying painting in Austria for a year, Karen Kopf established a studio in Marbella, Spain on the Costa del Sol. Five years under the bright Spanish sun added an intensity to the colors of her palette and a wide range of experiences and exhibitions to her career as a professional artist. Her works from this period are all over the world. Upon returning to the U.S., she painted in upstate New York, where she was resident director of Guy Park State Historic Site. Eventually she moved to Winston-Salem where she earned a Master’s Degree from Salem College and worked for twenty years as a teacher while she and her husband raised two sons. She currently exhibits at Artworks Gallery in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Karen Kopf, “Female Form in Nature”
Kathy Schermer-Gramm, the botanical illustrator, is an obsessive observer of plant life, a visual documenter of that which grows from the soil, dwelling on identifying species and describing it with imagery. Kathy’s interpretations expand upon this. She does not look for the classical plant portrait based on Carl Linnaeus’s system of taxonomy where the focus is on the reproductive cycle. Still the documentarian, staying true to her subject, she searches out random remnants of life found on her daily woodland walks. The artist finds fascination in the smallest of details, the wonders of natural architecture created with plant materials, and the effects of seasonal changes in the environment. This is the botanically inclusive artist who uses the fine point of a pencil or brush to render those minute details and textures through a slow meditative process.
Kathy Schermer-Gramm is a Society of Botanical Artists Fellow who was raised in Southern California earning her master’s degree in illustration from California State University, Fullerton. Her career includes that of book and magazine illustrator, nature educator, and college art professor. She has been a core instructor in the North Carolina Botanical Garden Botanical Art Program (UNC) for over twelve years, where her teaching expanded to include online courses with students from around the globe. Her botanical art, focusing on Southeastern flora and edibles, has been juried annually into the American Society of Botanical Artists, Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, Society of Botanical Artists, and Birds in Art international exhibitions.
Artworks Gallery Presents a three-person exhibition:
Mary Beth Blackwell-Chapman, Alix Hitchcock and Lea Lackey-Zachmann
Exhibition Dates: July 28-August 31, 2024 Artist Reception & Gallery Talk: Sunday, August 11, 2-4pm, talk begins at 2:30
Also open for: Gallery Hop: Friday, August 2, 7-9 pm Art Crush: Friday, August 16, 7-9 pm
Alix Hitchcock received her MA in painting from NYU, and her BFA in printmaking and painting from UNC Greensboro. She is a retired Instructor in Drawing at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC after 24 years. She was the Winston-Salem Artist of the Year in 1998, and is a founding board member of Artworks Gallery. Her current exhibit consists of one-of-a-kind prints with colored pencil additions exploring themes of nature.
Alix Hitchcock, “Spring Breeze”
Lea Lackey-Zachmann has lived in Winston-Salem for many years. Her love of nature, gardening and wild habitats makes living right across from the 70-acre Washington Park always an interesting place to live. She holds an MFA in painting and art history and a graduate teaching degree in art education from UNC Greensboro. She is retired from teaching at High Point University for 29 years, Salem College for 10 years and other regional schools in Virginia and South Carolina. She is a founding member of Artworks Gallery and has exhibited there each year since 1985. The subject matter of most of her work concerns the nature of consciousness. This new work shows a realism concerning the idea that the consciousness of a cell might retain the memory of having been once a part of a butterfly, a snake, or anything physical.
Lea Lackey-Zachmann, “Cellular Memory: Frog”
Mary Beth Blackwell-Chapman received a BA in English Literature from Goucher College and an MA from Northwestern University in Motion Picture. She has attended studio art classes at UNC Greensboro and several workshops at Penland, and Arrowmont. In addition to raising three children with her husband, she has worked as a Montessori teacher, a dance instructor, and a yoga teacher. Her current exhibition presents abstract landscapes painted on linen and silk with soy milk and natural pigments. They are evocative, subtle works that may give feelings of quiet and peace, of connection of the natural world.
Artworks Gallery Presents a two-person exhibition:
Marion Adams: “Simplicity Observed” and James Gemma: “Exploring Color/Shape Relationships”
Exhibition Dates: June 30-July 27, 2024
Also open for: Gallery Hop: Friday, July 5, 7-9 pm Art Crush: Friday, July 19, 7-9 pm
Marion Adams is inspired by master colored pencil artists, particularly Janie Gildow and Cecile Baird. Adams is drawn to the beautifully composed still life arrangements with their details and dramatic lighting, however Adams seeks simplicity in her works. Utilizing the pattern in fabric or the design on a plate in contrast to a 3-dimensional piece of fruit on china, she emphasizes the beauty of simple observation in her still life pieces and her flower drawings.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci.
Marion Adams, “Pears on a Plate”
James Gemma’s abstract art is a visual and conceptual exploration of the artistic relationships that can be created among and between colors and shapes. In this exhibition, his works utilize geometric elements and other dynamic visual forms as support for these explorations. Some of these works have strong and even surprising combinations of color. Some have sharp and angular shapes, while others have a more flowing quality. Despite its conceptual nature, his intention is for this art to have a strong aesthetic and perhaps even an exciting or emotional appeal. He has created these original art works using digital technology and archival paper and inks.
James Gemma, “Color Crossing”
Marion Adams is a retired Middle School Science and Math teacher. She has taught art history, painting and drawing on the high school and college levels. She holds a master’s degree from Georgia State University. She has been a member of Artworks since 2015.
James Gemma graduated from The Ohio State University and has had careers as university professor and consumer research professional. He has studied art and printmaking at Salem College and Wake Forest University, and has participated in multiple art workshops including at Penland and the Huntington Museum of Art. Mr. Gemma is a member of Artworks Gallery, Artfolios, and Associated Artists of Winston-Salem.
Artworks Gallery Presents a two-person exhibition:
Owens Daniels: “Something Bold: The Art that Broke the Mold” and Seth Moskowitz: “Sounds of Spring”
Exhibition Dates: June 2-29, 2024
Also open for: Gallery Hop: Friday, June 7, 7-9 pm Art Crush: Friday, Friday, June 21, 7-9 pm Artists’ Reception and Gallery Talk: Sunday, June 9, 2-4 pm
Freedom. That is what art is, it’s the something inside of everyone given the chance will break the rules, stand out and boldly go when you would dare not. Owens Daniels’ new collection of works, “Something Bold: The Art That Broke the Mold”, has the ability to provoke, uplift, and transform. It is Daniels’ intention to ignite a sense of curiosity and wonder in those who encounter it.
Owens Daniels, “Uncle Remus”
Ultimately, Daniels’ artistic journey is about pushing boundaries, embracing vulnerability, and celebrating the limitless possibilities of creative expression. In a world that often demands conformity, this new work stands as a testament to the enduring spirit of courage and the profound impact of daring to be different.
Owens Daniels, “Body and Soul”
Owens Daniels’ photographic career started at the U.S Army Photographic School of Cartography, learning the basics of photography and photo printing. In addition to his formal training, he continues to work as a freelance photographer with a distinctive and intimate photojournalistic signature style in visual storytelling which has led to various opportunities that include Artist in Residences, Fellowship of American Art, Public Art Installations, and Grants and varied other commissions.
Seth Moskowitz calls his show, ‘Sounds of Spring,’ but you won’t hear any music, birdsong or any of the other sounds you might associate with spring. Unless you have synesthesia, a condition that causes some people to see shapes or colors when they hear music, or taste foods when they read or see shapes or patterns.
Seth Moskowitz, “Who Let the Dogs Out”
None of that happens to the artist. However, this spring Moskowitz noticed that the splendor of the world reawakening from winter filled him with the same type of emotions and sensations experienced when he was captured by music. This work represents an effort to recreate some of what he felt while wandering around Winston experiencing the season in bloom.
Seth Moskowitz, “Ta-da!”
Seth Moskowitz is a Winston-Salem based artist who creates and combines photographic images into artworks that rarely resemble photography or the images that they incorporate. He made a living for more than four decades immersed in a constant chatter of written and verbal communications. Seth began to create visual art in 2004 as a way to enter a peaceful, magical place that is literally, beyond words. He has been a member of the Artworks Gallery since 2017, and a member of Associated Artists of Winston-Salem since 2005. Since his retirement in 2019, he has devoted himself full-time to appreciating the beauty of the natural world, exploring and creating art, and helping to encourage, nurture and promote the growth of local artists and their artwork.
ROOTED: Perspectives on Grounding Don Green: My Nature Distilled Nanu La Rosee: Homely Comforts Kimberly Varnadoe: Searching for Center
Exhibition Dates: May 1 – June 1, 2024
Also open for: Gallery Hop: Friday, May 3, 7-9 pm Art Crush: Friday, May 17, 7 – 9 pm Artist’s reception: Thursday, May 23, 5 – 7 pm
Artworks Gallery presents three artists, three perspectives. ROOTED: Perspectives on Grounding is a combination of the work of three artists exploring similar themes: how do we find grounding in an unstable world?
Don Green, “Untitled”
Don Green finds grounding by connecting with nature. In his work, My Nature Distilled, Green reflects on the stillness it takes to appreciate the influence of the natural world with attention on the subtle gifts we find when connecting to nature. His large paintings are inspired by the land, rocks, streams, and trees. His sculpture re-presents found and gifted wood, some considered special by their unique burels or knots, or contorted grains. The trees incorporated into his sculpture are repurposed and given another life to share.
Nanu La Rosee, “Poodle”
Nanu La Rosee, Homely Comforts, is a collection of small paintings that focus on the little things that bring comfort to people in dark times. While we all find comfort in various ways, such as spiritual sources or mindfully engaging in familiar household tasks, La Rosee finds a measure of comfort in a variety of animal figurines and dolls arounds the house that belonged first to her grandmother, then her mother, now her. These objects are a connection to prior generations and the trials that they endured. The figurines have expressive faces, seemingly in reaction to some terror or challenge they are confronted with. They wear their experience on their worn surfaces. The creation of these paintings has been an introspective process, reflecting on the intimacy of small-scale images that may serve as a portable talisman for hard times. The images have a strongly worked surfaces, lending a messy sort of vulnerability, with a touch of humor, which hints at the hope for the future.
Kimberly Varnadoe, “Greener Pastures”
Kimberly Varnadoe is Searching for Center. Centering is the practice of accessing an internal state of consciousness that is neutral, calm, steady, alert, active, and present. When we are out of Center, we can’t trust ourselves because we’re disconnected from our instincts and our true feelings. Any approach that brings you to a state of “at-homeness” within yourself can be considered a centering practice. Painting is one of the most direct methods that Varnadoe employs to find Center. These paintings represent a way of working that is spontaneous and intuitive, staying focused on connecting with mind, body and spirit, remaining open to a healthy disenchantment with the finished painting, Engaging with art addresses the holistic interplay of mental and spiritual health. The paintings in this exhibition document Varnadoe’s Search for Center.
Don Green received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin in 1966, his BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois in 1964, and an Advertising Art Degree from the American Academy of Art, Chicago, Illinois in 1956. Green has been a member of Artworks Gallery for 30 years.
Nanu La Rosee has been a member of Artworks Gallery since 1991. Her work as a librarian and passionate amateur musician informs her approach to making art; a combination of research and going where the ideas lead. She primarily makes small to medium size works using acrylic or oil paint, enhanced with collage, transfers and drawing. She attended UNCSA in Visual Arts and Music prior to receiving a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis.
Kimberly Varnadoe received her BFA in Painting from the University of South Alabama and her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Memphis. She currently works in oil painting as a meditation practice and explores automatic mark making. She enjoys experimentation and feels that art is most alive during the art creation — the final work of art is the record of the process. Varnadoe is a retired Art Professor from Salem College where she mentored artists for more than 25 years. She has been a member of Artworks Gallery since 2003, serving on the board and serves on the boards of Associated Artists of Winston-Salem and DADA, the Downtown Arts District Association. She is a Founding Artist of Artfolios, an online fine art gallery, where her work can be viewed online. She maintains a studio with the Culture WS collective in Winston-Salem.
Also open for: Gallery Hop: Friday, April 5, 7-9 pm Art Crush: Friday, April 19, 7-10 pm Artist’s reception: Thursday, April 11, 5- 7 pm
farrab, Acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 96″, 2023
Artworks is pleased to announce “Frank Campion: Selected Works,” a special solo exhibit of paintings and works on paper. This exhibition offers both large and small works executed between 2019 and 2023. In a variety of ways, the work explores his interest in the coexistence of chaos and order, the emotional content of color, and the dichotomies that define human nature: our instinct to judge the world and our experiences in an either/or way—good/bad, true/false, right/wrong, etc.
Kakinada, Acrylic on canvas, 72″ x 108”, 2023
Frank Campion started out in life as a successful starving artist in Boston. In the early 1980s, he was represented by the Clark Gallery and enjoyed three successful solo shows there as well as a solo exhibit at Bridgewater State College. He was also included in Boston Art Now, a juried group show at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art and again the following year at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Additional group shows include the Sunne Savage Gallery, the Mona Berman Gallery, and Abstract Art in New England at the Danforth Museum. His work is included in both private and corporate collections in New England including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the DeCordova Museum.
After what can only be described as a lover’s quarrel with the art world, Campion put his studio in moth balls and took up a career on the creative side of the advertising business. After several agency jobs in Boston, he was recruited to Long, Haymes & Carr in Winston-Salem in 1989. He retired from this successful career in 2013 and began making art again. In 2016, he completed work on a studio at the back of his home in Clemmons, NC and began in earnest once again to create large abstract paintings on canvas as well as smaller works on paper.
THE IK (HEEK), acrylic on canvas, 46″ x 96″, 2020
Campion has enjoyed solo shows at the Stella G. Contemporary Gallery (Charlotte), Gallery VI (Winston-Salem), Salem College, the Sunset River Gallery (Calabash, NC). He has also been included in juried group shows at the LongView Gallery (Washington, DC), the Greenhill Gallery (Greensboro, NC), the Mark Arts/Mary Koch Gallery (Wichita, KS), and most recently “the future of non-objective art” at the Atlantic Gallery in New York City.
“Warmth” Featuring Julian Silverman: Photography and Elliot Strunk: Collage
Exhibition Dates: February 28 through March 30, 2024
Also open for: Gallery Hop: Friday, March 1, 7-9 pm Artist’s reception: Thursday, March 21, from 6-8 pm; Gallery talk @ 7pm
“Warmth” is the name of a new exhibit open during the month of March at Artworks Gallery in downtown Winston-Salem. The show is a combination of the work of two artists under a single theme: where comfort can be found. Whether it be in New York City, Havana, Osaka, or anywhere else in the world online or off, the human quest for warmth fosters connections and sparks interactions.
In addition to the work itself, certain pieces will have additional narration by the artists explaining the motivations behind their work.
“Art is…” by Elliot Strunk
“Sand” by Elliot Strunk
Elliot Strunk is a collage artist who uses found items in his work. His digital and traditional compositions highlight items of visual interest discarded once their original use has been exhausted or repurposed and infused with additional meaning. A throughline of his work is what we all consume in terms of food, time and information.
“The World is Yours”
Julian Silverman is a photographer from New York City who has recently relocated to Winston-Salem as an undergraduate student at Wake Forest University, where he is a Presidential Scholar in the arts. His work focuses on the beauty and human narratives that permeate everyday scenes.
Exhibition Dates: January 28 through February 24, 2024
Also open for: Gallery Hop: Friday, February 2, 7-9 pm Artist’s reception: Sunday, February 4, from 3-5 pm; Gallery talk 3:30pm
Moving from the research lab to the art studio—a new exhibition by Steve Mizel opens January 28th at Artworks Gallery in Winston Salem. The exhibition features paintings and will be on display until February 24th.
A reception will be held on February 4th from 3-5 pm and is open to the public. Mizel will give a brief gallery talk at 3:30 pm on the 24th.
“The Great Divide”
In the exhibition titled Color, Movement and Storytelling, Mizel’s paintings range from the fully abstract to intense images of earth and sky. When Mizel paints a sky, he doesn’t paint what a sky looks like, but rather the emotion that it evokes. He hopes that viewers seeing his work will engage in an active conversation with each painting. In so doing, each work becomes much more than simply paint on a surface. In a sense, the painting changes with every viewer and every conversation.
“A New Beginning”
Mizel is an artist based in Lewisville, NC. He is Professor emeritus of Wake Forest University School of Medicine where he served as Chair of Microbiology & Immunology for the first 20 years of his appointment. In his career in biomedical research, Mizel was an internationally recognized immunologist who made major research contributions that not only advanced our understanding of the human immune system, but also catalyzed new therapies in medicine. In 2015, he retired and committed his full energy to making art. His work has been exhibited nationally in juried group exhibitions as well as in Winston Salem at Associated Artists of Winston Salem and Artworks Gallery where he is a juried member.
Exhibition Dates: November 26, 2023 – January 13, 2024
Also open for: Gallery Hop: Friday, December 1, 7-9 pm Art Crush: Friday, December 15, 7-9 pm
Artworks Gallery presents an all-members exhibition celebrating the cozy months of winter. These works will ignite the holiday spirit and inspire the serene ambiance perfect for the winter months.
“Maple Leaf Dreaming” by Mona Wu, “Opened” by Diane Nations and “Trough the Trees” by Lea Lackey-Zachmann
With a blend of traditional and contemporary mediums, this exhibit offers an intimate experience for you to savor and share a gift from the heArt. Celebrate the season with a warm shopping experience supporting our local artisans.
“Snobby Gourd” by Kathy Schermer-Gramm and “Ready to Fly” by Alix Hitchcock
