Making the Ultimate Remix Can Take Fifty Years
byValerie Hoh spent her year of isolation “exploding with creativity.” The result is three wildly inventive new collections — and, happily, two progressive new…
Assemblage
Art Instructor Helps Cut Flowers Reach Their Full Potential
bySusan McChesney came from Maine to WNC in 2014, having spent 40 years teaching others to draw. “A spinal injury left me with a…
A Collage Career Requires No Entrance Exams
byWhen Karen Paquette was 11 years old in Faribault, Minnesota, she entered a national poster-making contest sponsored by the Humane Society. “I went to…
She Turned to Feathers When Local Landscapes Didn’t Fly
byAfter 35 years as a working artist, doing commissions in watercolor, acrylic, oil, and pen and ink, Laura Richardson had every intention of retiring….
Furniture Maker Never Took Tradition Sitting Down
byDuring one extraordinarily difficult period in her life, Annie Evelyn lost her stepfather, her father, and got divorced in the span of two years….
Fifty Cents Says You’re on the Right Side of the Tracks
byThree-dozen creatives in almost as many genres call Trackside Studios their artistic home. All of them have to work shifts in the gallery as…
The Way to Stay “Creatively Unemployed” is to Never Stop Working
byMost artists who’ve been working for 55 years have an audience in mind. But John D. Richards just takes the ideas he says “pop…
Crafty Heartwood Gallery Anticipated the Main Street Revival By Three Decades
byHeartwood Gallery owner Shelley DeKay arrived in Saluda in the fall of 1984. She and her husband, a journeyman carpenter, had been traveling and…
Archaeologist Turned Artist Listens to Chairs and Understands Kudzu
byStudying anthropology at the University of Arizona, then working as an archaeologist for the forest service in California, Susan Alta Martin was intrigued by…
Trial and Error Pointed Knife Maker in the Right Direction
byAn early attempt at making a knife ended in a painful lesson for Ryan Pepper. Sharpening the blade too early in the process, “I…