Anything Can Be A Canvas

This is one post I'm excited about and I'll share with you why. My parents had an old wooden door on the back of their house to the basement and it had rotted out from water damage. My husband went to the task of removing the door and replacing it with a new one. Once he had finished, he started to carry the door to be placed with the other trash. I stopped him and said, "Let's not throw the door away, let's see if we can re-purpose it!". A new artist friend of mine came to my mind, ....Ah, Joyce Thornburg! She paints on anything, doors included, I thought. I'll give her a call. Sure enough, Joyce was delighted to hear I had a wood door for her to paint on if she wanted to and she did.

Click here for my previous post on Joyce's work: Asheville's River Arts District And It's Talented Artists

Joyce had a recent art exhibit with a 1800's farmhouse door she had painted and it was well received. She calls herself the compulsive painter, she'll paint on anything and it's paying off! You'll see what I mean later on in this post, but for now I thought it would be nice to journey Joyce's process of this recycled door for you.

Here's is Joyce Thornburg with my parent's old wood basement door ready for her to paint.

My husband had to cut off the bottom of the door since it had water damage. Here the door is actually shown upside down.

I recently visited Joyce's studio during the River Arts District Art Studio and Stroll. And I was so happy to see the re-purposed finished beautifully painted door!

Joyce's brightly light sun-infused art studio at the River Arts District in Asheville, NC.

A close up of the painting on the door.

With Joyce's willingness and talent to paint on anything, along with her artistic vision, she has been commissioned by a local green builder to paint a door for his recent custom-built house in thriving West Asheville!

Here's the new commissioned door for a green custom-built home.

The above commissioned door with be installed at this new home. Here's the write-up about the green home for sale.

Way to go, Joyce! From just having fun painting on everything to getting a new start on commissioned doors for custom-built homes right here in our mountain city of Asheville, NC!

To find out more about Asheville's River Arts District, click here; River Arts District

Two more talented artists from Asheville's River Arts District

Hello All! Greetings from cool, green Asheville, NC! Hope you are having a good summer. We can't complain about the weather here, it's been great so far in the "Land of the Sky".
Today's post is about two more fabulous artists that I met in Asheville's River Arts District. I've really enjoyed taking time to meet the River Arts District artists and I'd like to share their work with you. And if you've already been to the River Arts District, please comment on your experience.

But first, I have a couple of updates from my other post Asheville's Talented River Arts District Artists. Artist Joyce Thornburg is an featured artist at the Atelier Gallery of Fine Art on 24 Lexington Ave., Asheville. She has an "Retrospective of Faces" exhibit that started June 11th. Click on  Joyce Thornburg's  name to read about the article I wrote about her. She has a large 1800's farmhouse door painted her her folk art faces on it and it is a striking anchor to her exhibit in their street front window. Her show will end on June 30th. But if you miss her show and are local, then go Curra's Mexican restaurant in Woodfin, you'll see one of her "Faces" doors there.

Secondly, a bit of some odd news for one of our talented artists, Stephen Lange (to read my post about Stephen Lange click on his name.) Stephen, while working on one of his uniquely natural and beautiful circle paintings, he decided to place it outside the studio building to dry and came back to notice it had been stolen! Now you have understand, this painting was 6 feet wide! To view the video about the reported incident see this video from WLOS-TV. To view an article on the matter, here's a link. On Stephen Lange's website you can see his beautiful circle paintings.

Now I'll get to our next artist and painter, Benjamin Kaleblevi as shown here with his paintings. Ben considers his work to be abstract surrealistic.

You can find Benjamin's studio at the Riverside Studios, 174 West Haywood St. Asheville.  Even though, most of his work is abstract, of late, he has been busy with commissions of pet portraits. I found his abstract paintings very mysterious. The viewer must take some time with each painting in order to see all of the hidden information that Benjamin has included within.  These hidden clues tells the story of Benjamin's life journey, as he so kindly shared with me. And I like that quality about Ben's paintings. You'll see what I'm talking about in the photo below. Ben takes time with his paintings, they are not rushed. 

Inside Ben's studio, he was working on a cat portrait. And right now, he seemed to be very content working on his new subjects. He has an update and notified me that he is presently painting on location at a local hangout called "The Bywater" on Riverside Dr. His website is under construction, but you can find his bio and art on the River Arts District website.

A larger view, below, of Ben's studio space.

While walking along the River Arts District, here is a few photos of outdoor sculptures you'll want to see.

Garden sculpture below just outside the Curve studios.

Now, I have to say, I had goosebumps just seeing artist Heather Knight's work at her Element Clay Studio  . Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to meet her in person, but get to meet her assistant as she was setting up Heather's new studio space. Her textile wall tile collection in this photo is stunning, yet she has a varied body of work of bowls, exhibit pieces, and commissioned pieces. You can see work on her website and many items are available for purchase online.

Her stunning porcelain and clay work has been featured in magazines like, Coastal Living, House Beautiful, Charleston Home and many more. We are fortunate to have her here in the Wedge studios in the RAD.  She works mostly with porcelain, but also works in clay. Her works are a balance I would say, of modernism and nature, which she does so well. There's no denying her style, once you've seen it, you'll be able to easily recognize it again. The textures and the movement of her work will keep your interest and her choice of size for her elements is unique in itself.

Closeup

I hope you've enjoyed reading this post about Asheville's Talented River Arts District Artists. Please feel free to leave comments.  

Oh, I can't forget! White Duck Taco Shop has recently opened up in the RAD. Here's an article about the owners and their new restaurant.  Have a creative summer! Allison

Asheville's River Arts District And It's Talented Artists

Hello Everyone, it's good to be back on the blogging scene again!
Just to update you, my family and I have made another move. We have relocated to Asheville, NC! Who knew little ole' Asheville (and my hometown I might add) would become #1 in Top Small US Cities. Pretty exciting to me. Now there's the River Arts District to see artists in their studios and plenty of downtown art galleries. It just fueled me, to say the least! So I decided to play tourist and head to the River Arts District and here's a few artists I met! I'm including links to articles and artist's websites for more detailed information for your future reading pleasure.

The first artist I met is Jonas Gerard (what a great name, right? Sounds like an artist name to me). He was so kind to allow me to take photos of his 5,000 sq. ft. studio/gallery and you have to see his cool art van. He is an abstract and representional painter and uses mixed media. If you have a love for vibrant color and abstract art, you'll enjoy his paintings. Jonas is emerged on the artscene in the 70's and truly is a color expressionists in my opinion. I totally relate to his creative process since he works more intuitively and which you can experience this through the movement of his paintings. His creative works consist of large and small paintings, 3D wall sculptures and free standing sculptures, painted bowls, decorative tiles, and gifts. Jonas Gerard's works have been exhibited all over the US and abroad. I would like to invite you to watch his performance video, it's not your usual artist painting video. And last note, definitely don't miss Jonas Gerard's "We The People" painting accepted by The White House in 1975.

On the way to Jonas Gerard's Studio and Gallery

Free Standing Sculpture by Jonas Gerard

Stunning entrance to Jonas Gerard's Gallery, full of color and energy!

Jonas Gerard's Art Van!

Rear View of Gerard's van.

Next on our tour, artist Stephen Lange. How do I share with you what I saw in Stephen's art? It's incredible. Words and phrases like mystery, dedication to details, glitter, layering, multi-dimensional  and complexity make his art such a success. I had not seen anything quite like Stephen's work and it was a fresh escape to hear about the process and the components of his work. They beauty of his paintings lay determined by the light of the day. As the light hits his paintings, you'll see what I mean. In his latest series, he's used reflective tape as one of his mediums and to it's advantage, very well. As the sunlight hits the small sections of tape, the sun's reflection is reflected back to you, giving you the wonderful feeling of the sun shining brightly on the ocean's water. Now the painting has interacted with you. The brighter the light the stronger the impression. So his paintings change as the lighting around them changes throughout the day.
Then to learn about the process of Stephen Lang's highly successful circle paintings... well, I'll have to leave that to another post. The next day I did see his circle paintings at the City Bakery Cafe downtown...awesome on their dining room walls. The warm paint tones on their walls made it a perfect backdrop for his large paintings.

Here's Stephen Lange with his very popular circle paintings made with handmade dyes. On the left his newest series of water paintings using reflective tapes. (Before)

(After!) Tada! See how Stephen's paintings glow in the different lighting conditions. His inspiration for this series of paintings was from his love of the marshes and water when he lived in Mt. Pleasant, SC. Now, we are fortunate to have Stephen and his family living in Asheville.

One of the most delightful artists I've met on this tour was Joyce Thornburg, an Outsider/Folk Artist. Joyce is a full-time artist and North Carolina native. She is such a delight to meet and one can feel her love for art. As Joyce says, she paints because she has to. Her soul longs to paint daily and is truly set free doing so. She paints on whatever she can, even recycled doors and photographs. One of my favorites was Joyce's "Natures Lollypop" painting. She has a love for cats, faces and travel and it shows in her work. She is more than a regular staple at The Wedge studios, she more like a muse for your soul. Joyce's art has been exhibited and collected throughout the US, Europe and Mexico.

Here is the lovely Joyce Thornburg painting on one of her recent doors. By they way, she suggests they can be used as headboards!

These are just three of the fine people that I have met, so far, in Asheville.  On my next post, I will introduce you to some more of the fine artists who ply their trade in this great city.  Remember, when visiting Asheville, simply look for the yellow signs for the River Arts District.  Plus, be sure to enjoy all of the sights, the music, and food while in Asheville.

One section of Asheville's colorful River Arts District.