Downtown Boone Art Crawl

Compiled by Anna Oakes

The monthly Downtown Boone Art Crawl takes place this Friday, December 4. Receptions at several downtown art galleries begin around 6:00 p.m. and continue throughout the evening. The Downtown Boone Development Association sponsors the Art Crawl. For more information, call 828-262-4532.

225° F: Encaustic Encounters is the first exhibition focused entirely on encaustic painting to be featured in the Turchin Center. Encaustic painting traditionally involves combining heated wax with pigment, then applying the mixture to a prepared surface, such as wood or canvas.

Turchin Center for the Visual Arts
423 West King Street
828-262-3017
The Turchin Center will be open from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. during the Downtown Boone Art Crawl.

In the Main Gallery, 225° F: Encaustic Encounters is the first exhibition focused entirely on encaustic painting to be featured in the Turchin Center. Encaustic painting traditionally involves combining heated wax with pigment, then applying the mixture to a prepared surface, such as wood or canvas. Collective Dialogues: New Work from The Collective on Depot is located in the Mezzanine Gallery. The Collective on Depot, located on Depot Street in downtown Boone, is an active work and studio space for local artists and musicians.

Brush & Palette: Artists Unmasked is in the Catwalk Gallery. The Brush and Palette Art Club is a member organization of 36 actively exhibiting regional painters and sculptors whose works range from oil and watercolors to ceramics, collages and fabric paintings.

In Gallery B are the posters of artist and ASU alumnus Chris Williams, owner/operator and head designer for Plastic Flame Press in Raleigh. Williams has produced more than 200 screen-printed posters to date.

SAQA: 12 Voices is on display in Gallery A. Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a nonprofit international organization that works to promote the art quilt. The Mayer Gallery will feature nearby Sugar Grove native Olivia Pendergast. Inspired by a recent trip to Malawi, Pendergast has developed a suite of large-format, figurative paintings.

Belinda Freeman, the featured artist at ArtWalk, creates jewelry by combining reclaimed objects and materials.

ArtWalk
611 West King Street
828-264-9998
ArtWalk is featuring one of its newest jewelers this week—Belinda Freeman. A native of Hickory, Freeman came to Boone after retiring from a career as a flight attendant and is now managing at Bandana’s Bar-B-Que in Boone.

Freeman makes her fresh, modern pieces by combining reclaimed elements from broken or unwanted jewelry and the occasional fishing lure. Being able to create unique and one-of-a-kind jewelry designs—handcrafted from vintage, semi-precious and classic materials—is what drew Freeman to this medium.

Not only are Freeman’s creations “green” by helping to keep damaged or otherwise forgotten jewelry out of the landfill, they are also strikingly stylish. One would not be able to tell by looking at them that their elements were repurposed. Lucite, stones, glass, crystal and metals are combined in her jewelry to make elegant and tasteful pieces for the casual and formal occasion. 

Freeman’s jewelry is located on ArtWalk’s main level, to the left of the entrance in a framed wall display. Her entire collection is currently on sale at 50 percent off.

Known locally as the “cow artist,” Susan Marlowe will exhibit works she completed on an almost-daily basis between March 2008 and January 2009 at the Jones House in December.

Jones House Community Center
634 West King Street
828-264-1789
The Watauga Arts Council will host a reception for two new exhibits at the Jones House from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. this Friday.

The exhibit in the Mazie Jones Gallery is titled Celestial Seasonings by Susan Marlowe. Many people know her as the “cow artist,” and they won’t be disappointed; after all, it is the Year of the Cow.

From March 2008 to January 2009, Marlowe posted “almost daily” paintings and collages on her blog site, SusanMarlowe.blogsite.com. Marlowe feels that painting daily is a reflection of one’s everyday life, so this exhibit offers such a glimpse. Many of her daily originals will be offered at affordable prices and in a variety of sizes and media.

The artist featured in the Open Door Gallery is Edwina May, and she named her exhibit Slow Down…Enjoy the Simple Pleasures in Life. She grew up on a farm in rural Watauga County and has a great appreciation for the “country way of life.” May’s art expresses scenes of the people, buildings and animals of her memories, country scenes and a simpler time. She commissions her art and specializes in pet portraits.

Be sure to come to the Jones House Friday night to see both of these talented artists’ work on display and the beautiful Christmas decorations throughout the house.

Watauga Arts Council galleries are sponsored in part by Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff and Grassroots Funds of the North Carolina Arts Council.

The GreenHouse
164 South Depot Street
828-268-5022
From 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. this Friday, The GreenHouse will feature work by Julia Rechenbach-Moomaw and Teresa Cerda. Rechenbach-Moomaw’s pieces include ceramic sculpture, figurative work and painted tiles.

Cerda’s work is supported by a Regional Artist Project Grant provided by the North Carolina Arts Council.

“This artwork consists in series of paintings in diverse colors that evoke the fields of Castillia,” Cerda said in an online invitation to the event. “It’s related to the book of poetry by Campos de Castilla (Fields of Castillia), a major Spanish poet—Antonio Machado, to whom this work is dedicated. This artwork is in process, and I would like to do it also with other Spanish poets. I think poetry and art go alongside in the same direction. I like to give a poetical sense to my work. I want to take verses from those poets and use them as topics for my work.”

Country Music Hall of Fame members Matt Kinman and Josh Hayes will provide traditional string music from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Green Mother Goods this Friday.

Green Mother Goods
116 West King Street
828-262-3525
Green Mother Goods will host a Greening of the Holidays event during the Downtown Boone Art Crawl. Stop in for holiday ornaments and craft making for kids of all ages plus free hot apple cider. Learn about ways you can make your holidays green.

Country Music Hall of Fame members Matt Kinman and Josh Hayes will provide traditional string music from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Kinman is an internationally renowned folk musician and a former member and co-founder of Old Crow Medicine Show.

Terry Miller of Sunburst Gallery will also join in with his original paintings, jewelry and native crafts.

Stacy Simmons’ wooden, graffiti-covered sculptures, on display at the Nthº Gallery, seem childlike and playful at first glance but are dark and cynical upon further inspection.

Nthº Gallery and Studios
683 West King Street
Beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday, the Nthº Gallery and Studios will host an exhibition by artists Stacy Simmons and Jeff Martin titled Love Always, Maybe.

Simmons recently moved to the Boone area from New York City. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from Auburn University and had a successful career in advertising and marketing before reevaluating her life and moving to New York, where she said she immersed herself in subculture and “became an observer.”

Simmons creates sculptures using wooden figurines, graffiti and a hodge-podge of other materials.

“Outwardly, the work in the upcoming show Love Always, Maybe is a rather cynical and hopefully amusing commentary on the misappropriated psychosocial requirement to recover immediately and easily from excessive amounts of trauma,” Simmons said. “The content is essentially about betrayal and loss—and the misguided perception that so many people seem to have that love should be acceptable even when it’s subversive and non-committal.”

At first glance, the sculptures—in the shapes of animals like bears and ducks—seem playful or childlike, but a closer looks reveals a darker cynicism, Simmons said.

“It’s a commentary on the need that people have to put on a brave face,” she said.

Martin will present a completely new body of work that uses a low-fire clay, hand-building and wheel-thrown elements to create sculptural and wall reliefs. For more information about Martin’s work, click to jeffmartinceramics.blogspot.com, where he journals about his work life.

The Nth Degree Gallery is located at 683 West King Street, across from the Post Office and above Loretta’s Vendetta. For more information, email nthdegreegallery@gmail.com or call 828-773-0895.

The Collective on Depot
125 South Depot Street
artists@thecollectiveondepot.com
Artists of The Collective on Depot will open their studio doors to the public around 7:00 p.m. Located on Depot Street in downtown Boone, through the doors left of Black Cat Burrito, The Collective On Depot is a work and studio space for local artists and musicians who contribute to the operation and management of the space. Collective members bring different media and perspectives to the group and foster a constant dynamic for collaboration, interaction and inspiration.

Current members are Brook Bower, Jamie Carroll, Chris Curtin, Dan Kaple, Brian Knox, Sean Matthews, Peter Oakley, Uijin Park, Melissa Reaves and Christian Smith. In addition to being an active studio space, The Collective on Depot is also a gallery and performance space for regional and nonregional artists and musicians and has been in operation since 2007.

Also, don't forget that the artists of The Collective on Depot are showcasing their latest works—collectively titled Collective Dialogues: New Works from The Collective on Depot at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts through February 6, 2010. 

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