Thursday, November 22, 2012

On the way to Becoming

Sea Sculpture © Christie Minchew 2012  24"h x 22"w
On the way to becoming my latest framed piece, my initial inspiration for this was a railing on the facade of a building in Barcelona designed by Antoni Gaudí...which then led me to thinking about the shell structures and sea life at the ocean. Stay tuned....


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Ornaments for the Holidays and Everyday

Photo and Ornaments © Christie Minchew 2012
Having fun with wire and wool...and yarn and my hand-dyed silk and ribbon.
Fabric and string are next.
I'm having fun :)!


Saturday, November 10, 2012

Cast Loose with Needle Felting

Cast Loose! © Christie Minchew 2012
A detail from my most recent framed piece.  It's an experiment in letting go a bit.  In "casting loose".


Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Twisting the Day Away

Twist and Shout! © Christie Minchew 2012
I call this Twist and Shout!
Can you blame me?


Thursday, November 1, 2012

20th Annual Chatham Studio Tour


The 20th Annual Chatham Studio Tour is coming up!  

This is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy meeting artists, seeing their studios and purchasing their art.  There will be 50 artists on this year's tours and these include fiber artists (I'm partial), jewelers, metalsmiths, sculptors, photographers, painters, potters, basketweavers and other media. Many of our tour's participants are award-winning artists as well.  Tour map and descriptions of each artist can be found at Chatham Artists Guild.  

 

Reception at FRANK Gallery

Examples of each artist's work will be on display
Thursday, November 29, 2012, 6pm to 8pm (corrected time!)
109 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

919.636.4135

Artist Reception
Examples of each artist's work and an exhibit of local student art 

Friday, November 30, 2012, 6pm to 8pm

Central Carolina Community College (CCCC), Pittsboro

Studio Tour: 1st weekend
Saturday, December 1 & Sunday, December 2, 10am-5pm
Studio Tour: 2nd weekend
Saturday, December 8 & Sunday, December 9, 10am-5pm

All Studio Tour events are free & open to the public



Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Unexpected Vision: Len Jacobs


Thanks to sculptor, painter and author, Forrest Greenslade, for this guest post.


Chatham Photographer Exhibits Unexpected Visions

Len Jacobs will display his life’s collection of nature and travel photographs at his home studio during the 20th Chatham Studio Tour the first two weekends in December, but these visions are serendipitous.

Chatham County photographer Len Jacobs
When Len Jacobs was a young child in the 1920s in the Harlem district of New York City, it was evident that he had some sort of vision problem. His vision problems increased, and when he was three years old, Len’s folks finally found an optometrist in Hackensack New Jersey, where they learned he had only 7% vision.

...
Jasper National Park; Alberta, Canada
Photo by len Jacobs
Jacobs' family life, with four children, was the foundation for his avocation as a photographer. In the summer, we had more time than money,” he laughs. “We started taking little camping trips for family fun.” He, of course, took vacation photos. “I wasn’t a very good photographer,” he admits, “so I began to take courses and to study books on photography while riding the Long Island Railroad each day to work.”
...[By now,] he has won numerous awards and recognition. The one he is most proud of ,however, was his "Ice Pattern" at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art,  Photography as an Art Form.
Now in retirement here in North Carolina, Len Jacobs continues to share his life’s catalog of photographic experiences. 
...The irony of it all is, that a man who was told to avoid physical activity, and that at the age of three might soon be blind, has used his camera to record and share with others some of the visual music of our beautiful world. 
Len Jacobs is one of the many regionally and nationally recognized artists and fine crafts people who will open their studios the first two weekends in December at the 20th Annual Chatham Studio Tour (http://www.chathamartistsguild.org/about/details.html ). Visitors from all around enjoy Chatham’s rural beauty and share with the members of the Chatham Artists Guild in the creative process. It is a holiday tradition, and an opportunity to purchase unique original art.

Full text of this post can be found here.


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Wearable fun

© Christie Minchew 2012
I've been having fun - a lot of fun - making wearable needle felting in the form of pins and necklace pendants.   The number is growing by the day and they range from the monochrome to the crazychrome :).  I've worked fabric, yarns, beaded wire, and paper with the wool fibers into little mini-art for your lapel, hat, scarf...or wherever you'd like to add a shot of colorful self-expression.  There will be many of these at my studio when it opens on December 1 and 2, and 8 and 9.  From 10 am-5 pm.  See the Chatham Studio Tour for all the info.