- Joy of Art Studio will feature an art opening for Megan Albert, a local young artist. She will be exhibiting drawings, paintings, and mixed media selections. An 8 p.m. presentation of the artist will also be scheduled.
Katherine Smith's artwork was exhibited at the Joy of Art studio during the May First Friday event.
"The reception for her art show was wonderful," says Joy Hellman, who has taught Smith for three years. "Everyone who came had a lot of fun as they talked while viewing her mixed media and portraits."
Hellman plans to present other artists during upcoming First Fridays and show a student's artwork each month. Stacy McDearmon will be the next artist presented.
Some of the camps planned are "Building Volcanoes," "I Am an American Girl," "The Art of Collage," "Working with Sculpty," "Creative Scrapbooking," "Art and Culture" and "Dry Felting."
There are also an "Artist's Way" group, "Life Drawing" and "Discover Your Muse" for adults.
Call 695-7055 or pick up a schedule during the next First Friday event on June 1.
Joy of Art is located in downtown Southern Pines at 139 B East Pennsylvaina Avenue
Gallery Express is back! Beginning on April 6, on the first Friday of every month from 5 to 9 p.m., 12 local galleries and businesses that support the arts will be open for downtown Southern Pines' First Friday Art Walk.
Participating businesses include A Southern Studio, Artist Alley, Art Nutz, Central Security, Flynne's Coffee Bar, Gap Creek Candles, Jari Custom Leathers, Joy of Art Studio, L'Atelier de L'Artiste, Nichols Pottery, The Amy Smith Studio, and The Country Bookshop.
Each location will provide a unique artistic experience that will change monthly.
"Downtown Southern Pines is alive and happening on Friday nights," says Jean Skipper, owner of Artist Alley and coordinator of the event. "Theater and great restaurants are already a part of the experience. Gallery Express is a natural addition to our vibrant nightlife. We're looking forward to an exciting array of art openings and related events this year."
For additional information, contact any of the participating businesses or Skipper at 910-692-6077.
The Joy of Art Studio and Artist Alley will host a fund-raiser for Moore Friends for Mississippi on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We need participating artists to donate their art to raise money for a special project of creating art kits for Christmas,” says Joy Hellman of The Joy of Art. “Donations of old Christmas cards, gift bags, and Christmas fabric pieces would be appreciated. We also need new scissors, glue, crayons colored pencils and card stock for the art kit project.
The event will be at the Joy of Art Studio, 130 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines.
“Children’s art is needed for ‘Save the Animals Art’ coasters, which will also be sold at the fund-raiser with the proceeds going to Moore Friends,” says Hellman.
If you would like your child to participate in the Save the Animals Art, contact Hellman at 695-7055. She can be reached for more information about the Moore Friends fund-raiser, artists who want to donate their art, participating in Save the Animals Art coasters, or donating material for art kits at Joyof_Art @msn.com.
“Let’s all unite to give a little bit of Christmas to our friends in Mississippi,” she says.
The Arts Council of Moore County will feature the work of four artists throughout the month of February at the Campbell House Galleries. The exhibit “Art of Friends” will bring together an eclectic array of work by artists Joy Hellman, Gael Hogan, Jan McDade, and Deborah Renz-Motter.
The exhibit opens Friday, Feb. 4, with a reception for the artists from 6 to 8 p.m., hosted by Brenda Dempsey, Edward Garrison, Reinette Seaman, and Jean Skipper. The event is free, and the public is welcome.
Artist Joy Hellman owns and operates the Joy of Art Studio in downtown Southern Pines. Both a commissioned artist and an art instructor, Joy works with adults and children. She also conducts creativity workshops especially for women.
Hellman’s art presents mythological figures and ethereal themes interpreted in a variety of media including pastel, watercolor, collage, acrylic, and fiber. Her “Meia, Goddess of Spring,” a four-by-five-foot, mixed media production, is one of several pieces on display at the Campbell House this month.
Artist and mother of six, Gael Hogan calls herself a “finger painter” and playfully describes her work as “fingerprints.”
“Like every other child,” she writes, “I dipped my fingers in paint and smeared them on paper…. But the cares of the world eventually took over as I grew up.”
To become the artist she wanted to be, Hogan explains, she had to relearn “what I had forgotten.” Painting without brushes has enabled her to produce uniquely beautiful art that reflects a “childlike faith and joy … in the simplest of artistic forms.” Having completed doctoral studies in religion with Christian Bible College, Hogan has come to see her work as inspired expressions of her faith.
Stained glass artist Jan McDade has traveled the country and the world creating commissioned art and seeking inspiration for future creations. Her designs for windows and doors beautify restaurants and homes locally and elsewhere. McDade calls her work “an addiction.” Like other artists, photographs are often the inspiration and the guide for her custom designs.
“There have been times when, while working with a photograph,” she says, “I’ve wondered about my sanity for even thinking it could be done.”
But she continues to accept the challenge of expressing her aesthetic ideas in glass, creating “things I love, hoping that someone else does, too.”
Deborah Renz-Motter is another artist who works in an unusual medium, sculpting malleable clay into sometimes massive formations. Her work exists in private collections and in public places across North Carolina. Renz-Motter exploits the three-dimensional possibilities of her chosen medium as she creates art that will be viewed from many angles. Occasionally, she adds texture and interest by incorporating natural objects like crystal rocks, shells, or driftwood pieces, or “man-made” beads, threads, or fibers. Whether “thrown, pressed, kneaded, pushed, carved, or joined,” the soft clay is molded into an expression of emotion or beauty that is later “hard-fired” into permanent shape.
The Campbell House Galleries are open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. weekdays and from 2 until 4 p.m. on the third weekend of every month. Campbell House is located at 482 East Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines.
For more information, call the Arts Council at (910) 692-4356, or visit www.artscouncil-moore.org.