Toe River Arts exhibition lets the landscape take the lead
Mushroom spores, wasp nests, flower petals — in the hands of Burnsville artists George Pfeffer and Linda Goodwin, the raw materials of the South Toe River Valley become objects of wonder. Their new exhibition, Drift Away, opens September 6 in the Owen Gallery at Toe River Arts in Spruce Pine and runs through October 11, with a public reception on September 26, 5-7 p.m. According to a gallery statement, Pfeffer and Goodwin, who create under the name Dryad Naiad Studio, lean into experimentation and play. “Through painstaking effort, they coax wild mushroom spores to produce striking images which are, in essence, air currents made visible,” the release notes. Gardens and native plants provide dyes that stain silk panels, while abandoned wasp nests are “carefully preserved and bejeweled with semi-precious stones and fragments of glass” to become jewelry and sculpture. The artists even welcome the marks left by insects, seeds, stems, or rain, seeing these traces not as flaws but as collaborators — evidence of nature’s hand in the creative process.
Drift Away: September 6-October 11; Reception: Friday, September 26, 5-7pm
Toe River Arts / 269 Oak Ave., Spruce Pine / toeriverarts.org