August 2024

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.

Mary Beth Blackwell-Chapman, “Coastal Marsh”

This exhibit is free and open to the public.

January 29, 2023February 5, 2023

“Feathers, Leaves & Trees” A Two Person Exhibit by Alix Hitchcock and Lea Lackey-Zachmann

Exhibition Dates: January 29 – February 25, 2023

Gallery Hop: Friday, February 3, 7- 9 pm

Reception: Sunday, February 12, 2-4 pm

Alix Hitchcock is exhibiting new hand colored and hand pulled dry-point prints. These one of a kind monoprints are based on initial drawings from shadows of trees and foliage.

Working instinctively, Hitchcock considers the art process an unpredictable visual journey that starts with a structural set up but with much left for accidental results and evolving responses. Her work communicates a sense of awe in the presence of Nature, and brings the viewer into each art work’s world of mystery, as well as portraying a type of “emotional abstraction”, as the artist Arthur Dove said of his art.

Hitchcock received her MA in painting from NYU, and her BFA in printmaking and painting from UNC-G. She is a retired Instructor in Drawing at WFU. She was the W-S Artist of the Year in 1998, and is a founding board member of Artworks Gallery. She has exhibited widely in N.C., and in shows in Kentucky, Virginia, South Carolina, New York City, and Wyoming.

A large ink drawing of banana leaves by Lea Lackey-Zachmann is one of four graphite, ink and acrylic works in this exhibition. Three dimensional paintings and large colored pencil drawings complete her showing.

The similar shapes and forms in trees, leaves and feathers common in our natural environment are subjects in this exhibition. An appreciation for the complexity and similarities in these natural forms provides an avenue for understanding and appreciating the commonalities with all living beings and the natural world.

Lea Lackey-Zachmann holds an MFA in painting and graduate teaching certification from UNC-G and a BA from Winthrop University. She is retired from teaching art at High Point University and prior regional colleges. She has shown her works throughout the southeast and is a founding member of Artworks Gallery. Gardening is her passion along with her husband, two dogs and their cat, Be.

This exhibition is free and open to the public.

Alix Hitchcock discusses her work

Lea Lackey-Zachmann discusses her work

October 30, 2021October 30, 2021

Crane Project in the News!

We’ve had some great press about our current 1000 Cranes COVID-19 Public Art project. Check out these two great articles:

Artworks Gallery and Forsyth County Department of Public Health collaborate on the Thousand Cranes Project Winston-Salem Journal, Oct 27, 2021, Fran Daniel

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.

Artworks Gallery honors healthcare workers and loved ones lost to Covid with 1000 cranes
ABC 45 News, Friday October 22nd 2021, Cassie Schirm

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

February 10, 2021February 18, 2021

Video Tour: Four Women Exhibit 02-2021

Please enjoy this virtual tour* of our current exhibits, “Four Women Show” in the Main Gallery and our Front Gallery “Members Exhibit”.

Read more about the Four Women exhibit, including information about each of the artists and samples of their work on the Four Women exhibit page. You can also shop this exhibit online in our Gallery Shop.

Exhibition dates: February 5 – 28, 2021
Visit the gallery in person Friday, Saturday 12-3 pm and Sunday 1-4 pm, or by appointment at shop@artworks-gallery.org. Find more info about planning your visit here.

Video created by Artworks member Lea Lackey-Zachmann

*Please note artist Katherine Mahler’s name is misspelled in the title card. Apologies to Katherine.

January 18, 2021June 3, 2021

Artworks: February 2021

Four Women Show
Original Prints and Paintings by Alix Hitchcock, Lea Lackey-Zachmann, Katherine Mahler, and Mona Wu

Exhibition dates: February 5 – 28, 2021

Browse and shop this exhibit and our Front Gallery exhibit online in our shop! Take a video tour of this exhibit here.

Alix Hitchcock

For this select show, Alix Hitchcock has worked with colored inks and waxy china markers using drawings from models or stencil shapes of human forms and foliage forms. These large format works intentionally create a somewhat chaotic vision, where the layering of forms with added gestural marks and calligraphic lines may belie gravity, or blur distinctions between foreground and background; figure and space.

Alix Hitchcock holds a MA in painting from NYU and a BFA in printmaking and painting from UNCG. She has been an instructor in studio art at WFU, Salem College, UNCSA, The Sawtooth Center for Visual Arts, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, and the Weatherspoon Museum of Art, plus a number of additional esteemed institutions. She was selected as the Winston-Salem Artist of the Year in 1998, and is a founding board member of Artworks Gallery. She has exhibited widely in numerous local and national galleries and centers for art. Her work is held in many collections, both private and public.

Lea Lackey-Zachmann

Lea Lackey-Zachmann often makes images that are not exhibited or shared with the public. “I appreciate those personal and often meaningful processes,” says Lackey-Zachmann. “Each of these paintings arose from experiences like that years ago. They were made quickly and afterwards rolled up, only to be recently found after a studio move.” The Covid pandemic period presents the perfect time to rediscover and exhibit these refreshed and completed 20 year old paintings.

Lea Lackey-Zachmann has a BA in Art Education, a graduate teaching certificate in Art Education and an MFA in painting. Also a founding member of Artworks Gallery, she taught art at the college level for over 30 years and continues to paint, make prints and explore video. The Natural world has been a focus of her art since childhood. She lives in Winston-Salem with her husband, two dogs and a cat.

Katherine Mahler

Combining printmaking and painting techniques, Katherine Mahler explores identity through the use of layers, shared symbols and maps. Drawing from her experiences living around the country and traveling globally her art reflects the commonalities and connectedness of the human experience.

New Artworks Gallery member, Katherine Mahler has a BA in Studio Art from Kenyon College and a BFA in Art Education from Michigan State University. Mahler is currently applying to be an MFA candidate. She has been teaching art to students of all ages for the past 20 years, including in Texas, Michigan, Louisiana and North Carolina.

Mona Wu

Mona Wu is exhibiting her unframed prints in large format, mostly monotypes, both old and new works. Comprised of botanical subject matter, these prints are the product of Wu’s love and appreciation of natural beauty ever present locally, in the state of North Carolina.

A native of China, Mona Wu immigrated to the US in 1970. She studied Chinese painting and calligraphy in Hong Kong, then later received her BA in Art History from Salem College and studied Printmaking at WFU. In 2003, Wu was selected as Sawtooth School Winston-Salem Artist of the year. She joined as a member of Artworks Gallery that same year. Wu currently teaches Printmaking and collage at Sawtooth School of Winston-Salem.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Gallery hours and other info about the gallery can be found on our Visit page. Shop for artwork from gallery members in our Online Shop.

November 27, 2020November 27, 2020

Artists and creatives: We’re Thankful

Lea Lackey-Zachmann, a founding Artworks Gallery member, shares what she’s thankful for this season, in this Winston-Salem Journal article, “Artists and creatives in Winston-Salem share the things they are thankful for”. Here’s a quote from Lea:

“…it’s still the season for giving thanks, and local artists and creatives are sharing what they are thankful for.

Lea Lackey-Zachmann, a visual artist and founding member of Artworks Gallery in Winston-Salem, will have fewer people over for Thanksgiving this year than in the past — just six people made up of immediate family and a neighbor.

“I am thankful for the acceptance of diversity as I see it in my life,” Lackey-Zachmann said. “For the past 40 years, my husband and I have invited at least eight to 10 people over for Thanksgiving dinner. Most of them are friends who aren’t enjoying Thanksgiving with family. They feel like family, and I appreciate the honor of having them join us. We actually talk about the two no-nos, religion and politics! We all come from different backgrounds and have divergent perspectives. The discussion is often heated but funny and easy.

“When one enjoys a full tummy and participates in a stimulating/inspired gathering with acceptance and respect, life can’t get much richer or better than that! This is so especially if you add a plate of music that includes at least some classical, jazz, old rock and some new sounds for a challenge.

“I’m very appreciative of the diversity of all that is. We live in such a wonderfully complex world and our diversity in thought, word and deed is staggering. We are living in a time when division and intolerance of differing opinions are rampant. I know that we can accept opposing opinions and live peacefully with one another because I’ve seen it at my Thanksgiving table for years. It gives me reason to hope and I’m thankful for it.”

Read a pdf version of the full article here.

November 23, 2020November 23, 2020

Post-election: Critical reflections on the Trump era dominate three-artist show at Artworks Gallery

The Sunday, Nov 21, 2020 Edition of the Winston-Salem Journal has a review of our November exhibits by art critic Tom Patterson. Read the full article here. You can also read a PDF version of this review here. Thanks to Tom for this insightful review. A few quotes from the article below.

Jessica Tefft’s Work: Politically Charged

“Tefft’s work encompasses a variety of mediums, and much of it relates directly to the Mueller Report and Donald Trump’s presidential administration, which chose the passages to be redacted. Like many contemporary artists, Tefft is not a fan of the outgoing president, as is clear from her work on view here.”

– Tom Patterson, Special Correspondent, Winston-Salem Journal, Nov 21, 2020

Woodie Anderson’s Work: Printed Charms

“Anderson’s festively colored prints on cloth and paper are charms against inertia and hopelessness — icons of strength, endurance, and abiding energy. The thematic gist of her stylized imagery is reflected in the titles of individual pieces — “Eyes,” “Fire,” “Mindful,” “Comfort.” Inspiration is the name of the game.”

– Tom Patterson, Special Correspondent, Winston-Salem Journal, Nov 21, 2020

Woodie Anderson, Protection, Serigraph on cotton

Lea Lackey-Zachmann’s Work: Nature Nurture

“…Lea Lackey-Zachmann employs a darker and more subdued, earth-based palette in her five-part series of mixed-media monoprints. She’s a resolute nature abstractionist, whose work typically has a neo-pagan undercurrent. … Leaving aside the titles, on their own as evocative markings on paper, these pieces extend Lackey-Zachmann’s ongoing project of visualizing natural forces. It’s a theme both limitless and imaginatively challenging.”

– Tom Patterson, Special Correspondent, Winston-Salem Journal, Nov 21, 2020

When We Fire Dance – *Lea Lackey-Zachmann*

November 16, 2020November 16, 2020

Video Tour: Lea Lackey-Zachmann NOV 2020

Take a video of Lea Lackey-Zachmann’s current exhibit: “Still Standing Like The Trees”

Lea Lackey-Zachmann endeavors to bring you into the realm of awareness and sensing she extends to all living beings. “Still Standing Like The Trees” is a collection of images, started before the California fires this year. The artist says, “As their process towards completion continued they began to reflect the possible methods in which a conscious living being might respond to extreme circumstances. The trees, like all Nature have much to teach us.” These impressive new works, rendered in monotype with pencil, suggest viewing trees as sentient beings.

Exhibition dates: Nov. 5 – 29, 2020
Gallery Hours: Thurs. – Sat., 12 – 3pm
Or By Appointment