Featured Artists Exhibit for September/November 2021

Carolyn Rugen

All of my work is grounded in my perceptions of the natural world – it is about seeing and feeling deeply about what is seen.  This work is perhaps the most autobiographical of any of my work.

I was born on a small farm in rural Tennessee.  My earliest memories are of the open comforting fields, and sky, dense woods, and the animals, always the animals.  And I was able to fulfill many a young girls dream, that of having her own horse and riding frequently.  

Then came college, marriage, three children, an advanced degree in library science, the study of art history, a museum internship and finally the serious work of trying to make art. And most of this time I lived in cities.

About thirty years ago my husband and I built a house in Chapel Hill and I was delighted, after a short drive out into the country, to find myself surrounded by the same gentle landscape that I had grown up with.  Out on Mt. Carmel Church Rd. I came upon a field of beautiful horses and after a chat with the farmer I was able to sit on the edge of the pasture and draw.  And a few years later my oldest daughter and I spent a magical three days at the Cataloochee Ranch  in Maggie Valley, NC with and riding the horses. 

And here are these paintings.  

Kaidy Lewis

‘I began these paintings with the expectation that we were emerging from Covid-19. This exceptional time is hybrid. It is collectively new and yet the same as the time before. This is what I examine when I paint. In the process my intention(consciousness) dances with my unconscious. Often offering me up a way to understand my experience of the world a little ( sometimes to my own surprise). I paint in all orientations of a 2D canvas as there are no sides in a round world.

As I apply paint I am trying to understand world dynamics, patterns, distortions, humor, truth beauty and essence. I glimpse at several realities often saying the same.

When I emerge from painting, I check that every inch of the canvas sings, whether it be in the narrative, design or paint. They are made to be generous for years to come’.

Tinka Jordy

The surfaces of my sculptures are full of surface cracks, fissures and imperfections that express the earth, the passing of time, our mortality, vulnerability, and the search for spirituality and acceptance. I work on them until they look back at me. 

Although the viewer is not there during the actual creation of this work, it’s my intention that the final piece will draw the viewer in to participate in the sensuality of the work, and that their perceptions will be questioned, while their emotions are evoked, through my use of the clay in its final form, scale and texture. 

For over 40 years I have worked in clay as it is the one material that, if I listen closely, communicates these sentiments so beautifully.