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.
Don Green’s recent sculpture is using wood he received from Reynolda Gardens as they cleared old trees that were close to the house during renovations. Green received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin, his BFA from Wesleyan University in Illinois, and an Advertising Arts Degree from the American Academy of Art in Chicago.
Artworks Gallery Presents: Wrapping Up 2021 All Members Show for the Holidays
Exhibition dates: November 28 – December 26, 2021 Gallery Hop: Friday, December 3, 7-9 pm
Many giftable art pieces on display!
To wrap up another momentous year, Artworks Gallery Members are pulling out all the stops with a grand collection of works, created by all members. Excitement for a new year ahead will be celebrated with a wide variety of original art, all very giftable!
The offerings include original prints, paintings, glassworks, sculptures, collages, hand-made books, wearables and more. Come peruse and help wrap up 2021.
Since 1984, the longest-running artist cooperative gallery has made unique, local art accessible in Winston-Salem’s Arts District. Entering its 38th year, Artworks Gallery is full of optimism for a better 2022.
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
