Taupe Gallery - North Wilkesboro, NC

Taupe Gallery is a local shop and gallery in downtown North Wilkesboro run by Jim Lyall – a designer with an eye for contemporary craftsmanship and artists . His background as a graphic designer, interior designer, and floral designer give him a special eye for color that often leads him to curate a variety of glass pieces from varied and unique artists in the region. On a recent shopping trip, I couldn’t help but notice these various pieces and Jim was kind enough to elaborate on a few of these talented glass artists.

Jim Lyall - Owner of Taupe Gallery

How Jim Lyall of Taupe Gallery fits so many great artists into one small space, I’ll never know. Your eyes are exhilarated by all the pattern and color in the shop, and I love seeing all the glass pieces that are so unique. Urns, vases, “dwellings” and creatures – Bowls, veggies, bottles and fruit – Matte, shiny, iridescent and intricate patterns  – everywhere your eye lands, it is dazzled. Taupe Gallery prides itself on the ability to showcase established and emerging artist working in a variety of media. What also is striking is the amazing amount of glass talent in the Western North Carolina region. Jim can ship anything from Taupe nationwide, in case you see something you love on his Facebook page.

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Kenny Pieper - Glass Artist "Autumn Primavera"

Kenny Pieper was born in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in the mountains of North Carolina. He began his craft career in high school when he studied at the Penland School of Crafts. Initially, he studied pottery with Norm Schulman and Cynthia Bringle. Later, he found his passion for glass under the tutelage of Richard Ritter. He subsequently received his B.F.A. from California College of Art and Design, Oakland, CA, then spent the next 16 years working as a glassblower in the San Francisco East Bay area.

Pieper’s career came full circle when he left California and moved back to North Carolina. While constructing a studio there, He worked at Penland School and managed the glassblowing and lampworking studios. It was during this fruitful time that he developed his expertise in the tradition of Italian glass. Kenny now resides in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. Reflecting the harmony and beauty of his surroundings, Kenny produces an exquisite line of glass vessels and sculpture.

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Scott Summerfield - Glass Artist - Dwellings Series

Scott Summerfield currently resides in Western North Carolina with his wife, Liz Summerfield and daughter, Roby Leigh. They both work from their studios located at their home in Bakersville, North Carolina. Scott grew up on Sunset Beach, a barrier island located on the coast of North Carolina. Much of his inspiration comes from his close proximity to the sea. Scott studied glass blowing at the renowned Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, Tennessee.

According to the artist, “My process involves hand blown parts, which are later cut, ground, polished and assembled. Although my larger works are titled as recognizable familiar objects, such as bottles or teapots, they are purely sculptural forms. The intention is not for a bottle to function as a vessel, rather to stimulate the viewer through its movement, color, fluidity, and grace.”

Scott is a current member of the Southern Highland Crafts Guild. He sells his work nationwide through exhibitions and galleries. You may also purchase his work or custom order directly from him through his web site.

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John Geci - Glass Artist - Fishnet Glass

John Geci was born and raised in rural Litchfield, Connecticut.  He attended Hartwick College in upstate New York where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and first worked with and realized his interest in glass.  After college, Geci studied at Penland School of Craft: first as a student, then as a studio tech, and teacher’s assistant.  At Penland, Geci was able to study and work with glassblowers from around the world, and learn many different styles and philosophies of working with glass.

In 2001, Geci became the first resident at the Energy XChange, a glass studio which utilizes the methane from a dormant landfill to power the glass furnaces.  It was here that Geci was able to develop his unique line of glassworks.   In 2007, Geci completed building his glass studio located in the mountains of western North Carolina near Penland School.  His studio sits atop a hill above Courtney Martin’s pottery studio, their house, and gardens.

“Each piece I make captures my focused time and thoughts, ” stated Geci.  ”Glass is often described as a frozen super-cooled liquid.  I prefer to think of it as static motion.  With my work I try to have each form serve as a canvas to display the inherent beauty and simple elegance of the glass.”

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To own a unique piece of glass is an honor. It’s a labor of love and science, patience and kismet,….and it’s something that is timeless that will never go out of style. I so appreciate Jim Lyall of Taupe Gallery for bringing these amazing artists to our attention.

New Hampshire-based artist, Thomas Meyers makes beautiful artwork out of glass and mirror. While he works in several different types of media, including bamboo, paper and wood; I find his stained glass pieces are the closest to my heart.

"Stanza Mirror" size 22.25 in. x 28.25 in. - Thomas Meyers

To make his mirror pieces, Meyers uses various iridescent, painted and textured sheet glass, hand cut and precisely set onto a framed wood panel. Many of his pieces are available for sale on the Artful Home website. Some of the glass pieces he uses are handpainted; some are iridescent or dichoric glass. Many pieces have a textural quality, and his mosaic process allows the dimension of the glass to add interest to the mirror border, almost like a glass quilt.

"Arris" size 21 in. x 26 in. - Thomas Meyers

According to his website, Meyers compares his process to, “transforming a pile of stones into a beautiful stone wall. Each element must occupy its correct place for the beautiful end result.” I couldn’t agree more. When his piece is complete, it is like each bit of glass was meant for that exact spot. Beautiful.

Artist Vollis Simpson with his huge Horse Wagon Whirligig. This sculpture “tells the story of rural Eastern North Carolina”

Yesterday (Jan. 31st) was “Inspire Your Heart with Art” day. Art comes in many different forms and people express their art in many different ways. For some, it’s painting, sculpting, singing or dancing, but for one man it’s bringing together old “junk” and spare parts to create something unique that’s all his own. That man is Vollis Simpson from Wilson, NC. Simpson, who is now 93, worked with machinery for years, and when he retired, he realized just how many spare parts and little pieces of this-and-that he had accumulated through the years. So, instead of trashing them, he decided to start making windmills out of the parts and that’s when his popular Whirligigs were born! Whirligigs are creative, wind-driven pieces of art and if you visit downtown Wilson, you’re sure to see them just about everywhere.

A great example of one of Simpson’s many mismatched and fun whirligigs! This one kind of reminds me of a carousel.

Simpson’s work has become such a big part of the community that the town of hosts the Wilson Whirligig Festival every year to celebrate the arts and crafts of the locals. This year will mark the opening of the Wilson Whirligig Park in downtown Wilson. The whirligigs from Simpson’s farm are currently in the moving process and the park will be opening sometime in November. The park will feature an outdoor museum with lots of educational and recreational activities for all ages.

Thousands of reflectors were attached to this whirligig, capturing the surrounding lights from cars and buildings.

These whirligigs are definitely one-of-a-kind and they prove that with a little imagination, even “junk” can be turned into something pretty cool!

Holly

This week, we’ve been talking about Fire-Rated Safety Glass (see our related Monday and Wednesday posts), a necessary key to a passive fire protection system of building interiors. But art can gain inspiration from such necessary aspects of interior design as well. Firewall is an interactive media installation created by New York-based Artist Aaron Sherwood in collaboration with Mike Allison. A stretched sheet of spandex acts as a membrane interface sensitive to depth that people can push into and create fire-like visuals as well as expressively play music. (the website also features a testing video that is pretty neat.)

Gardner Glass Products, Inc. (the parent company of the Dreamwalls family of products) is a trusted supplier for SaftiFirst PYRAN Platinum F Fire-Rated Safety Glass. Fully UL certified, we are able to provide pieces for door lites, sidelites, transoms, and windows with fast turnaround. Call us at 1-800-334-7267 or learn more at http://gardnerglass.com/html/fireratedglass.html.

From the mountains to the coast, North Carolina is full of diverse and gorgeous landscapes for people to enjoy and draw inspiration from. A small group of  artists known as The Blue Ridge Realists share the beauty of the state’s mountain and piedmont regions through their art. This “rural realism” movement  was started back in 1970, and it was “inspired by a man and his connection to the regional landscape”.  It has been carried on through the years by local North Carolinians, & the group now has 10 artists who all live and work in the western part of the state.

There is a exhibit of their work going on right now at the Hickory Museum of Art. Just looking through some of their artwork makes me realize how lucky I am to live here! The paintings are all unique in their own way, and you can tell the artists truly love what they’re doing by putting their all into it. You can almost feel the breeze coming through the trees and hear the crunch of the snow under your feet. Here are just a few examples of their wonderful work:

Fall in the Appalachians-Mt Mitchell by Philip Philbeck

Wilkes Barn by Frederick Craig Franz ( I wonder if this is a barn from right here in Wilkes County where Gardner is located? Very cool!)

North Carolina Mountain River by Gary Freeman

Jerry’s Place by Bob Timberlake

These paintings are definitely something I’d like to see in person. I love landscape artwork…..especially the kind that showcases our state’s beauty and supports local artists!

It’s been a long week……thank God it’s Friday! Have a great weekend everyone

Holly

As we continue to review 2012, the number 2 Dreamwalls Post of 2012, was an art post about Roy Lichtenstein & Mirrors from June 2012.

Judy Chicago in Glass Gallery

Judy Chicago is one of my favorite artists. She may be best known by the iconic “The Dinner Party” 1974-1979 which is considered a feminist milestone. I remember first reading about it in the back of an old Art News my high school art teacher had let me take home. It is now in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum as the centerpiece of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party" 1974-1979

Chicago has gone on to work in a wide variety of media depending on her desired effect: needlepoint, weavings, paper or bronze. However, in the late 90′s she became interested in glass, and  “The Holocaust Project” piece incorporates extensive use of stained glass. She became so interested in glass, that in 2003, she became an Artist in Residence at Pilchuck Glass School outside of Seattle, which was established by renowned glass artist, Dale Chilhuly. Judy Chicago has gone on to create pieces using cast glass, fused glass, etched glass, kiln-fired painting, metal leafing and metal plating. Please click HERE to see a gallery of her amazing glass pieces from her exhibit “Chicago In Glass” from 2006, and “The Toby Heads” from 2010.

4 Part Temporal Connection - Judy Chicago 2007

After spending last week in Chicago for Glass Association of North America fall conference, I definitely had glass on my mind. So it was wonderful to go to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and see a huge hallway dedicated to an art installation all about color, light, and glass.  It was installed in 1987 for the opening of Terminal 1 – a state of the art facility, which at the time was dubbed United Airlines’ “Terminal for Tomorrow”.

Artist Michael Hayden's piece: "Skys The Limit" - Chicago, IL

Installed in 1987, the piece involves sections that light up at different intervals while you walk or travel via moving sidewalk. It’s calming and enjoyable – and in person, it’s not as Vegas- bright as it looks in the above photo. It may be the passing of time, or the threat of triggering epileptics, but today the piece is really pretty calm and mellow. It was really the perfect end to a wonderful week focused on glass.

Installation Clip

Michael Hayden "Skys The Limit" 1987 Chicago, IL

Detail of "Skys The Limit" by Michael Hayden

Tom Patti is a well-known artist, innovator, and designer in Massachusetts, who created this large-scale glass installation entitled “Miami Rain”. This week, as HD Boutique gets kicked off, make sure to drive by the boutique hotel Casa Moderna in downtown Miami. You’ll see this beautiful installation on the parking garage of the Marquis luxury residences.  Stunning all day long as the sunlight moves through the laminated glass to create a new rainbow with each passing moment. Read more about the project here.

Tom Patti Design - "Miami Rain" installation

This short film from Ramon & Pedro was featured on the blog site No Film School, which is full of hints and tips for the amateur auteur. Any film called “The Mirror” is going to gain my attention, of course, and this one is done exceedingly well with the point of view and “reflection” matching magically.

As blogger Mar Bell of No Film School stated, “When crafting stories to immortalize on screen, filmmakers often reach for epic events; those formative experiences which are encompassed by phrases such as, ‘that was the Summer that changed my life’ or ‘after we met I knew things would never be the same again’. Yet we all know from experience that real life tends to slip by steadily, with these milestones padded out by the much more mundane aspects of existence. Using good old camera trickery to deliver a narrative,…Le Miroir captures a lifetime lived in the POV reflection of the bathroom cabinet.”

In the tradition of French filmmaking, it takes a bit of a sad dramatic turn, but ultimately the old man gives his reflection a shrug and turns out the light. I am left with a hopeful “c’est la vie” as the credits roll to Joe Strummer’s voice and you realize the main character was played by 3 generations of the same family. Nice!

Read the full post at No Film School, and to see some behind the scenes video on how they achieved such a convincing reflected illusion. Merci!