This Friday, June 3rd, as part of the downtown Art Crawl, the Watauga County Arts Council will showcase new artists in our galleries. We will have refreshments and you will be able to meet our wonderful artists for the month of June. The galleries are located in the Jones House at 604 W. King Street and will be on display until June 24th.

In the Mazie Jones Gallery we will feature the art of Orna Bentor.  We are thrilled to have Orna exhibit here at the Jones House again.  Her last exhibit here was in 2006.  She is an award-winning artist, graphic designer, and art instructor. Originally a right handed painter, but due to Multiple Sclerosis nerve damage, she has learned to paint with her left hand.

Orna was born and raised in Israel and says that , “living between two cultures is at the heart of her work”. Although she has lived in America for many years now, her memories and part of her heart remains in Israel.  The dramatic political and social events taking place there prompts her to respond artistically. Her painting has evolved from using overt metaphors and symbols to more abstract painting — hinting at representational motifs.  Orna uses strong contrasting colors, harsh lights and rough textures to convey the feeling of a ‘landscape’. These are ‘landscapes’ of memory to which she gives personal interpretation. Her work also expresses the conflict between the present and the past as she grapples with a broken dream. Orna’s subject matter is personal and specific, but also concerned with larger, more universal ideas. In an era of new hopes for peace, but of destructive events all over the world, she moves between beauty and bloodshed, between building and destruction. The title of this show is “Gray Matter”. It is a study in brain MRI’s. You will find Orna’s work to be both intriguing and thought provoking.

In the Open Door Gallery we will have a group show with three talented potters, Remo Piracci, Kate Colclaser, and Jimmy Savely.  The title of their show is “Influences of Nature in Clay” and you will captivated by what you see in their work.

Remo Piracci has been a potter for five years having studied at Penland and John C. Campbell Folk Schools.  His interest started with face jugs and as he studied, he wanted to express not just the faces, but the emotion he saw in portraits of the great Native American Chiefs as they face the demise of their tribes and heritage.  Later he became interested in more functional items –bowls, cup sets and casseroles which he still does today. His work always involves the emotional and cultural heritage he learns about from studying and researching the techniques he uses.

Kate Colclaser has been making pots for about 14 years and finds her expression of the natural world in textures and colors taken from nature.  Trees, bark, leaves, rocks and the lacy patterns of a frozen stream edge or frosted forgotten flower can be seen in the surfaces of the vases and sculptures she makes.  Kate combines functional and decorative elements in her work giving her the most freedom to play with texture and shape.  Much of her work demands attention to minute detail even though the piece may have very organic elements and the influence of nature can be seen in the texture, color or shape and movement of the piece. Kate has been influenced by, and has worked with Liuske Misuno, Sandy Pierantossi, and Hayne Bayless and has studied at Penland and the Arrowmont School of Craft.

Jimmy Savely works nature into his pieces using plants found near his home. Jimmy studies ceramics at the University of Tennessee Knoxville where he earned a BFA degree in 1976 working with Sandra Blain and James Darrow.  For the work he produces now his primary influence is the Danish potter/photographer Eugen E. Franck of Beaufort, North Carolina.  The inspiration for this work involves placing one’s self in nature and using found objects to create images.  Clay is the medium, his love of the natural world, especially plants, takes care of the rest.    Jimmy has maintained “Tree of Life Potters” in Creston since 1994 and sells his work in several local shops. He is currently an instructor in the Michael R. Patricelli Craft Enrichment Program at ASU.