Monday, December 27, 2021

CMMAG President, Marcia Streithorst, Featured on Podcast

Our very own Marcia Streithorst of MJS Works was featured on the Artist Spotlight Podcast by Chip Freund Photography.  




In each episode, Chip has a conversation with a contemporary artist where they discuss early memories of making art, what inspires the artist, who and what inspires new works and much more.  Take a listen here.  

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Member Spotlight November 2021: Jeanne Maher

Jeanne Maher was born in Delaware and moved to NC in 1993.  She met her husband, Austin, in 1994 and got married in 1996.  They have two sons, Austin Robert (19) and Liam (14).  Jeanne is trained in medical billing and bookkeeping but stopped working to stay at home with her kids.

Creativity runs in her family: Jeanne’s dad was an architect, her mother was an artist and art teacher, and her sister is a quilter.  As a child, Jeanne loved to color and always had the biggest box of crayons. Her mother went to college to get an art teaching degree when Jeanne was four, and she remembers sitting alongside her mother as they worked in parallel on whatever art homework she had been assigned.  When her mother was taking a pottery class, Jeanne remembers making a clay pot of rolled spirals inside a saucepan that she glazed purple.  She also enjoyed making Papier Mache with her mother and did a lot of sewing as a tween until athletics took her free time starting in middle school. 

Jeanne got hooked on beading in the late 1990s, when her friend, Elizabeth Lyne, who is now a fine craft jeweler, started holding a monthly Beading Bee. The projects progressed from making wine charms on memory wire to earrings and necklaces and lead to her joining Capital Area Beading Organization in 2003. Jeanne held several positions with CABO including newsletter editor, a brief stint as Treasurer, President-Elect, and eventually President through December 2006. During her time as President, she initiated the formation of a guild library, worked to gain the guild’s nonprofit status, collaborated with Jane’s Fiber and Bead show to provide classes at its Raleigh show, brought in national bead artists for classes, and spearheaded enhancements to the bylaws.

     

Jeanne continued developing beading skills until early 2009, when she went with a friend to Askew-Taylor and saw her first jar of Mod Podge since doing art projects with her mom in the 1970s. (She recalls “I felt like her spirit blew right through me!”)  A few weeks later, Jeanne bought a raffle ticket during a quick trip to Jerry’s, and she won a 2-day collage workshop with Sharon DiGiulio. After that class, Jeanne was hooked and took many workshops in collage, acrylic painting, art journaling, book altering, and mixed media at Jerry’s. Along with Sharon, some of her teachers were Ophelia Staton, Michelle Davis Petelinz, and Jodie Ohl, to name a few. For her 50th birthday, Jeanne hired local artist Ophelia Staton to come to her house and teach an art journal workshop for her and five friends. It was the best birthday to date!

In 2015, Jeanne was invited by Elizabeth Lyne to join the board of Carolina Designer Craftsmen Guild, a 501(c)3 arts nonprofit, where she served as a member of the Friends of the Guild Committee. She was part of a team responsible for recruiting and retaining supporters, planning and executing the Friends of the Guild reception at the annual craft market, and writing copy for Friends literature. Jeanne became Secretary in 2016 and elected Treasurer in 2017.  When the Executive Director move on at the end of 2017, Jeanne took over her duties as well. Falling into this roll inspired her to enroll in the Duke Nonprofit Management Certificate Program. Still acting as Executive Director, Jeanne was voted President in 2019 and will hold that office through the end of 2021.  The 50th anniversary show was held in 2019, but COVID forced the cancellation of the 2020 show. Unable to recover financially, the Carolina Designer Craftsmen Guild unfortunately will be forced to dissolve by the end of the year. 

As a collector of fine craft and advocate for visual arts, Jeanne was devastated at the loss of this unique event in our community.  After 6+ years of volunteering, she was relieved to get back to being more present for her family and enjoying her own art. Jeanne recently started following mixed media collage artist Elizabeth St. Hilaire and has learned a lot from her gel plate printing videos as well as her Fabulous Florals online class held in May-June 2021. Jeanne is inspired to do more with gel printing.

Jeanne joined CMMAG in July 2009.  She is looking forward to in-person CMMAG, getting to know new members, and enjoying the wonderful programs the guild hosts. 

  




Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Member Spotlight October 2021: Peggy Heitman

Peggy Heitmann considers herself a visual artist and a word artist. She does not think of herself a natural born artist, as people say, with lots of innate talent. Growing up did not provide her with encouragement, or opportunity. Self-taught is how she describes her art and art process. Persistence and determination are two traits that have shaped her life and made her into the artist she is today.

Peggy

Peggy grew up in the mill-town of Columbus, Georgia. In school, she always favored reading and writing over multiplication tables and long-hand division. Her mother often read poetry books to her in a soft, Southern voice orchestrating the words, pitching the vowels, and measuring the consonants into a melodic blend she craved to hear. 

As for art, she says she got an A in eighth grade for staying quiet, not giving the teacher a problem, and for trying hard. When she peeked to see her classmates drawings, she says she wanted to hide out in the girl’s bathroom the entire class period. Instead, Peggy stayed, stuck out the embarrassment of her drawings like the one-dimensional Ferris wheels she chalked on black paper, and the anguish she endured over a pottery bowl she could never get to look like anything but a pink blob. She was one of those people who shied away from art after that experience telling everyone the typical, I can’t draw stick people.

Peggy goes on, My children all born in the late 80’s, became the impetus and the inspiration for scrapbooking, which eventually evolved into art making. She says she had long ago assigned herself the role of family historian and wanted to record the lives of her own children. I started slowly. In fact, I am not sure I realized the skills of design and color theory that I incorporated into my scrapbooking, but they were there. Intuitively, they were there. 

Then in 2003, Peggy’s “art career” took another forward step toward the kind of art she makes today. She took an introductory class to the principles of altered books. Shortly after that class, she completed her first altered book, a tribute book to her mother. The skills required for altered books paralleled scrapbooking nicely. She confides she loved making altered books because they were so 3-D. I could make images leap off the page, have life and vibrancy and I could use magazine images, paper napkins, note card images—anything, absolutely anything so I would not have to draw.  She reminds us she had been telling everyone including herself that she could not draw stick people. 

Nevertheless, she persisted this way for years in making altered books. She thinks her books looked good. She always got compliments on her excellent use of color, and a few commissions.

But after awhile, she wanted more. She says, I thought to myself one day, why should I limit myself with that kind of thinking. Of course, I can do whatever I set my mind to do. She wanted to be what she considered to be a “real artist.” She decided she wanted to draw. 

A close up of a pink rose

Description automatically generated with medium confidence

So at age 59, she started drawing lessons with Tim Merrill in Wake Forest. Every Sunday for three years, she drove 45 minutes from her home in Raleigh near “Big Wake Med” Hospital on New Bern Avenue to downtown Wake Forest and then back home again—and she repeats For Three Years! Peggy is including a poem about the drawing process:

Drawing Class

I begin my lessons
with Bargue drawings
that emphasize exactness.

The image in my head
I sketch with precision
and flawless ease.

But my undisciplined mark making
does not match the images.
Instead, my drawings look like scribbles

searching for a recognizable form.
Charles Bargue used simple lines
created hidden perspectives,

soft contours juxtaposed
against jagged lines,
concepts of light

and shadow playing
against each other
in complex ways.

Renderings that look
so sensuously abundant
become for me lessons 

to practiced discipline
training my hand
and mind to work

together, to glide
over the paper
to create illusions

and bring my subjects
to life like poetry.

A drawing of a person

Description automatically generated with medium confidence

Peggy notes she started writing and publishing poetry about 30 years ago. Since then, she has developed her own “style,” her own “voice” as a Southern poet. 

Today elements of poetry, drawing, painting, color, persistence intermingle in her work. The one element of the art making that she did not anticipate is the Joy that comes with turning a white piece of paper into an object of beauty, delight, humor or whichever of the emotions she wishes to evoke.

Peggy laughs, Oh, my goodness, if I had known art could bring me so much pleasure and joy I would have started at age three!!! 

Today, she knows her strengths and weaknesses when it comes to art. Most importantly, she says she knows her preferences. Peggy has no interest in becoming an illustrationist. She says that she appreciates drawings so realistic one could comb the hairs of a man’s beard, but that is not her style. She much prefers altered realism like the one shown here. 

Diagram

Description automatically generated

She loves working in many different media: watercolor, acrylics, paper collage, fiber arts. Currently she is working on a project called “Arting Your Journal” adding elements of color, texture, text, pictures to a journal that she fills with words, thoughts, emotions she will later turn into poems. 

She says another important lesson she has learned is “Do SOMETHING Every Day”.  On any given day, if you look for Peggy, she can be found painting, drawing, collaging, sewing or writing—but most likely if you were the proverbial fly on the wall, you would find her working on as many as she can squeeze into the day. And she laments over the time that must be spent on dishes and laundry, which she says take away from the passions of her life.

Retirement is on the horizon for Peggy. Her day job at Wake County Human Services ends March 11, 2022. After a rest, she hopes to work at a local DWI agency providing art instruction. Whoo hoo.

Imagine that. The kid who couldn’t became the adult who can and then goes on to teach. I couldn’t ask for more. And I am grateful for everyone who has helped me along the way!


Thursday, September 9, 2021

September 2021 Business Meeting

The meeting was held via Zoom on Thursday, September 9, 2021.

Welcome

Linda Poche opened the Zoom meeting with a welcome.  

Creativity Exercise

Ilona Isaacs led a creativity exercise called Target Practice, which included seven drawing activities to spark creativity and build eye-hand coordination .

Upcoming Events/Outings

  • Zoom Open Studio Playtimes

    • Playdates or Open Studio times, which are free to all members, are scheduled for the Saturday before the business meetings at 10AM and a Sunday afternoon later in the month.  The upcoming dates include the following:

      • Sunday, September 26 at 1PM.

      • Saturday, October 9 at 10AM.  

  • NC Museum of Art Sketching Outing

    • Katherine Stein is organizing a trip to NCMA on Saturday, September 11, from 11:30AM to 2PM.  If the weather cooperates, the group will focus on the sculpture garden.  If it is too hot or raining, the group can visit one of the buildings.  Entrance to the museum is free; however, since Covid you must get a ticket online to enter.  

  • Duke Gardens Outing

    • Marcia Streithorst has planned a trip to Duke Gardens to be inspired to sketch or paint.  It is free to enter the gardens, but there is a $2 parking fee.  This event was organized for Saturday, October 16 at 1PM.   

Trunk Trade

  • Plans are being made to schedule another trunk trade.  Sunday, October 24, 2021 is the tentative date. Updates will be provided when a location and date have been secured. 

Social Media Update

Creative Challenges

The fourth quarter Picked Prompts are as follows.

  • Medium: Charcoal, Graphite

  • Texture Mark Making:  Tapes—masking, packing, drywall, washi

  • Theme:  Quote, Poem, Song Lyrics

  • Color:  White

  • Bonus:  Replicate a sketch, drawing or painting by a master or from an art book

Third Quarter Picked Prompts Challenge Reveal 

Members shared the pieces they made using the prompts for 3Q2021.  Shannon and Lisa shared their creations. 

Demo 

Linda reviewed an Inchies Challenge that she participated in and led a demo. Linda suggested the word egg and asked us to write down words we associate with an egg. Then we created an inchie based on one of the words we associated with Egg using watercolors and markers.  Amy Maricle is the artist who lead the Inchies Challenge. 

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Member Spotlight September 2021: Kathy King

Kathy King grew up on Long Island, NY, graduated from Lehigh University with an Industrial Engineering degree in 1991, served four years in the US Air Force and moved to Cary, NC in 1996. Kathy always dabbled in some sort of art all throughout her childhood and discovered her true passion, beadwork, in 1999. She has spent the last 20 years creating hand-woven beaded jewelry, traveling the east coast selling her work at art shows and teaching classes throughout the US. Kathy created her own beading technique back in 2007 and wrote a book that was published in 2010, Bead Quilled Jewelry: New Beadwork Design with Square Stitch. You can find Kathy’s work on her website at www.kathykingjewelry.com and she sells kits and tutorials in her Etsy shop, KathyKingJewleryShop.

As for mixed media, Kathy joined CMMAG in August 2019 after playing with ATCs and other small projects over the years. During covid in 2020, Kathy discovered art journaling and has truly become addicted to it, loving the mixing of collage, paint and stencils. She took a class at the 2019 AOC introducing her to printing with gel plates and loves using the prints in her art journaling pages. 

Kathy was excited to be accepted in the Cary Gallery of Artist Small Treasures show earlier this year, in which she won third place. She has recently been accepted in the Cary Gallery of Artists as well and will start selling her work there in September. 

Kathy looks forward to getting back to doing art shows and teaching again. She looks forward to do more mixing of her beadwork with her mixed media work to create more sculptural artwork in the future. 

You can see more of Kathy's creations on her mixed media Instagram page, her jewelry Instagram page, or on Facebook at Kathy King Jewelry.  Below are some examples of her mixed media and beading works.  


   
   

   



Thursday, August 12, 2021

August 2021 Business Meeting

Welcome and New Member Introductions

Linda Poche opened the Zoom meeting with a welcome. Emma Landman is our newest CMMAG member.  She had been in an artists guild in Georgia before moving to North Carolina and was looking for a local group to allow her to spend time with other artists.  She has done oils in the past but now mostly acrylics, but she is like many other members who is willing to try new media.  

Creativity Exercise

Katherine Stein led a drawing exercise of sketching a statue from various angles.  

Upcoming Events/Outings

  • Zoom Open Studio Playtimes

    • Playdates or Open Studio times, which are free to all members, are scheduled for the Saturday before the business meetings at 10AM and a Sunday afternoon later in the month.  The upcoming dates include the following:

      • Sunday, August 22 at 1PM.

      • Saturday, September 4 at 1PM.  

  • NC Museum of Art Sketching Outing

    • Katherine Stein is organizing a trip to NCMA on Saturday, September 11, from 10AM to 2PM.  If the weather cooperates, the group will focus on the sculpture garden.  If it is too hot or raining, the group can visit one of the buildings.  Entrance to the museum is free; however, since Covid you must get a ticket online to enter.  

  • Duke Gardens Outing

    • Marcia Streithorst has planned a trip to Duke Gardens to be inspired to sketch or paint.  It is free to enter the gardens, but there is a $2 parking fee.  This event was organized for Saturday, October 16 at 1PM.   

Art Shows (Virtual and In-Person)

  • Wilson Arts Center’s Artist Call 

    • Lisa Yerby outlined the application process for the show via the Café site: www.callforentry.org.  

      • Lisa’s entry was selected into the show.   

Social Media Update 

Creative Challenges

Amy Roswick reminded the members of the prompts for the Third Quarter 2021 Picked Prompts Challenge.   The results are to be shared at the meeting on September 9.  The prompts are as follows.

  • Medium:  Paint 

  • Texture/Mark Making: Solid (i.e., Wood, Metal, Glass)

  • Theme: Shapes 

  • Color: Blue

  • Bonus Technique: Continuous line drawing

Announcements

  • Denice Celley discussed that she had recently finished her project that has been pending in her studio for some time, and it is just in time for her to be able to pack up everything for her year abroad.   

  • Denice has several of her recent pieces available on her website denicecelley.art.  Sales from these pieces will help fund her trip to London for her 1-year masters program in Art History.  

Demo 

Denice Celley shared the drawing exercise she has been planning for the past few months...when we were to get together in-person using mat board scraps she has been collecting for guild members.  The demo involved each person following one instruction, and then passing along the piece to another person for the next instruction. 

Sunday, August 1, 2021

Member Spotlight August 2021: Maureen Seltzer


Maureen Seltzer is a mixed media artist based in Wake Forest who specializes in hand-printed paper collage art. Maureen grew up in Garner. After graduating from high school, she went to school in Boston for Industrial Photographic Science and later went to work for Polaroid in research and development. Before the digital world took over, making traditional photography obsolete, Maureen worked as a darkroom tech at SAS and The Wake Weekly.

Maureen has always enjoyed creating art and focused on watercolor for 20 years.  A few years ago she was looking for a way to add more texture and meaning to her work, and it all started by accident. While researching mono printing techniques to teach to middle school students she learned that unflavored gelatin could be used as a base for holding paint. She was convinced it would never work but soon found herself with a trash bag full of printed, abstract papers.  These papers lead to her collage work.   

Maureen’s collage pieces start with a fast under-painting to mark out the colors onto a canvas. She then mono prints onto old papers using paint, a gel plate, and found objects to create texture and dimension.  She then tears these very textured, abstract mono prints and glues them onto the canvas much like an artist lays a brush stroke.  From far away it is hard to tell that the artwork is made of tiny pieces of history of everyday life, but on closer observation you may see bits and pieces of a music sheet, a crossword puzzle done by a friend, or a map.  By using old papers, Maureen feels that her pieces have a history and somehow the people that once owned them are now a part of her art. 

Maureen is a much sought-after teacher of children’s art classes in the Triangle.  She also teaches adult workshops in mono printing at her studio, a dream she held in her heart for quite some time.  She has been a contributing artist for Gel Press® and served as a guest artist on a live broadcast with Jerry’s Artarama of Raleigh. Maureen has received many accolades as her pieces have been chosen for shows across North Carolina. Her piece, If Mother Nature Could Dance, was chosen for the Spotlight on Wake Forest Artists event. The piece was digitally reproduced as a large mural in brick vinyl and applied to the façade of the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre in downtown Wake Forest.   

          

Maureen has been a member of CMMAG for four years.  She recently served as Board Member at Large.  When Maureen is not working in her studio she enjoys watching a good movie on TV or playing with her dog, Charlie.  She is on Facebook at Maureen Seltzer's Art Studio and on Instagram at maureenseltzersart.  Her latest works and classes are also detailed on her website at www.seltzersart.com.   A few examples of her pieces are included in this story, but you can see Maureen's art in person at Extraordinaire at Triangle Town Center and at Wake Forest Coffee in downtown Wake Forest.   




Thursday, July 8, 2021

July 2021 Business Meeting

Members met via Zoom on Thursday, July 8, 2021.

Welcome and Guest Introductions

Linda Poche opened the meeting with a welcome.  Linda thanked members for being open to doing a Zoom meeting to avoid inclement weather due to Hurricane Elsa.

Creativity Exercise

Denice Celley led a drawing exercise of overlapping circles that helps with flexibility and movement of the hand. 

Chavis Update

  • Linda Poche toured the new building.   In August, CMMAG will meet in the Art Room at Chavis (505 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Raleigh, NC 27601), which is near the lobby and front desk.  We are to continue to use the parking lot we had used for the old building.  The entrance to the new building winds back, past the carousel. 
  • After construction of the new building, Chavis has a wishlist of items for the Art Room.  CMMAG voted to spend $150 to donate supplies to the Chavis kids art program.  

Upcoming Events/Outings

  • Zoom Open Studio Playtimes
    • Playdates or Open Studio times, which are free to all members, will continue through the summer on the Saturday before the business meetings at 10AM and a Sunday afternoon later in the month.  Wednesday sessions were put on hiatus until later in the year.  The upcoming dates include the following:
      • Saturday, July 10 at 10 am.  (This session was pushed back a week to avoid the holiday weekend.)
      • Sunday, July 25 at 1PM.  
  • Duke Gardens Outing
    • Marcia Streithorst has planned a trip to Duke Gardens to be inspired to sketch or paint.  It is free to enter the gardens, but there is a $2 parking fee.  This event was organized for Saturday, October 16 at 1PM.  
  • NC Museum of Art Sketching Outing
    • Katherine Stein is organizing a trip to NCMA on Saturday, September 11, from 10AM to 2PM.  If the weather cooperates, the group will focus on the sculpture garden.  If it is too hot or raining, the group can visit one of the buildings.  Entrance to the museum is free; however, since Covid you must get a ticket online to enter.  
      • Katherine will have a sign-up sheet at the August meeting so that she can arrange for tickets.

Social Media Update

Marcia Streithorst is the July Spotlight Member on the CMMAG website (blog.)  

Demo

Amy Roswick demonstrated a few ways to add metallic accents to your mixed media pieces including embossing powder and gilding flakes.  Linda Poche showcased how she uses metallic gel pens.  


Friday, July 2, 2021

Member Spotlight July 2021: Marcia Streithorst


Marcia Streithorst is a professional artist and teacher based in Raleigh.  Originally from Ohio, Marcia graduated with a BFA and before graduation landed a job at a publishing house. She has worked in the field of arts ever since, doing everything from managing designers at a Fortune 500 company to volunteering for non-profit art groups.  Marcia has been a member of CMMAG for 7 yrs.  She is the current Vice President of the CMMAG Board and has previously served as Secretary and a Member at Large.

After her family moved to North Carolina, Marcia started to take her personal art seriously and fell in love with the network of supporting artists in the area, the vibrant galleries and the welcoming arts community in Raleigh.  Marcia says she owes her pursuit of becoming a professional artist to her husband who truly believes everyone should, on some level, be passionate about what they do. 

It was in NC where she was first exposed to encaustic medium, and she has been captivated by its possibilities ever since.  Marcia uses encaustic to capture all the colors, fibers, textures, and music of life into beautiful surreal paintings.  She feels that she will always be an encaustic painter because she loves using a blow torch 😊 and never gets bored with the medium. The wax provides endless, exciting possibilities.  Marcia shares her passion for encaustic through her foray into teaching, where she sparks excitement in students for the ancient medium by showing them how to make it their own.

Marcia feels that she is very fortunate to have the opportunity to teach and show her work across the Triangle.  Her inspiration for painting is the drive to inspire that feeling of wonder and magic in others, and she is able to capture this in many layers of wax with its depth and texture.  Encaustic is water-resistant and touchable; Marcia parlays these characteristics into an experience for the viewer.

As Covid restrictions are being lifted, Marcia is slowly returning to teaching in-person encaustic classes with the City of Cary and at NC State’s Craft Center beginning as early as July 21st.  Her available classes are outlined on her website at mjsworks.com or on Facebook at MJS Works.  You can meet her in person at the Cary Lazy Daze event in August or view her work at Cary Gallery of Artists.  Below are some examples of her encaustic pieces.  

  



Thursday, June 10, 2021

June 2021 Business Meeting

CMMAG members met via Zoom on Thursday, June 10, 2021. 

Creativity Exercise

Denice Celley led the drawing exercise where members were asked to draw a grid 4x3.  In each of the twelve boxes, she asked everyone to draw an interpretation of the words she listed (dog, snake, boot, etc.) with only 4 seconds to complete each.  Hilarity ensued.  


Zoom-based Playdates/Open Studio times

Online Zoom Playdates or Open Studio times, which are free to all members, have been scheduled through June 2021.  The scheduled days are the Saturday before the business meetings at 10AM and the Wednesday following the business meetings at 6PM.  The upcoming dates include the following:

  • Wednesday following the business meeting:  June 16 at 6PM
  • Sunday within the month:  June 27 at 1PM

Field Trips/Sketching Events

Marcia Streithorst will organize an event at Duke Gardens to explore areas to paint, sketch or take photos. Details will be provided in the July meeting.

Katherine Stein will organize an event to visit the NC Museum of Art to sketch and possibly do lunch. Details to follow.  

July 8th In-Person Meeting Update

Our next meeting will be in-person at Chavis (505 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Raleigh, NC 27601) on July 8th.  Details for parking and the meeting room, including a map, will be distributed in early July.  

Art Shows (Virtual and In-Person)

CMMAG submitted an application to be selected for a group show in the Sertoma Art Center’s Call for shows in 2022.  Selections will be announced later in the year.  

Members were reminded of the Wilson Arts Center’s Artist Calls, a juried show in September 2021.  Applications are due by July 22, 2021, with a fee of $25 for up to three entries, one photograph for each. If selected, pieces will need to be hand delivered in August for the September show.

Chavis Carousel Angel

CMMAG will purchase and donate 100 tickets for carousel rides at Chavis.  These will be available at the front desk for use by anyone in the community who does not have the funds. 

Social Media Update

Lisa Yerby is the June CMMAG Spolight Member.  Some of her art and information were featured on the blog and shared on social media.  

Picked Prompts Challenge

Prompts for the Third Quarter 2021 Picked Prompts Challenge were chosen.   The results are to be shared at the September meeting.  The prompts are as follows.

Medium:  Paint (Acrylic/Oils)

Texture/Mark Making: Solid: wood, metal, glass

Theme: Shapes: Circle, Square, Diamond

Color: Blue

Bonus Technique: Continuous Line Drawing

Announcements

  • Idalina Teixeira got a new job.  
  • Alicia Brinkman sold a couple of her paintings in the 6x6 Daily Painting Exhibition at the The Halle Cultural Arts Center in Apex.  The show ends today.    
  • Marcia Streithorst had a journal juried in a Triangle Book Artists show.  Details will be officially announced later.
  • Marcia will have a booth at Cary Lazy Days in August.
  • Maureen Seltzer recently did a show at an outside festival in Wake Forest.  The show went well, and attendance was great.  
  • Deirdre Abbotts shared the news that her son and his fiance are having a baby, her first grandchild.  
  • Laurel Rupe reminded members that Art of the Carolinas is having its 20th anniversary this year, when it is held in November.  
  • Lynda Myers’ sister-in-law in Maine wants to make mixed media journals as she sits with her terminally ill husband in hospice care.  She is asking for a piece or two or a found object to share with her.  She will make arrangements to get any donations.  

Demo 

Instead of a demo, members shared their Picked Prompt results for 2Q2021.    The prompts for these pieces included the following. 

Medium:  Alcohol Inks          Texture/Mark Making: Gesso, molding paste, texture paste
Theme:  Miniature                 Color:  Red
Bonus Technique:  Use an AOC freebie (e.g., glass bead gel, Marabu crayon, Golden paint sample)

     

     

      

     




Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Member Spotlight June 2021: Lisa Yerby

Lisa Yerby is a talented artist who makes beaded sculptures using tiny seed beads, allowing her a range of color and texture throughout her collections.  Her work is inspired by the Huichol people in Mexico who use seed beads in their pieces, and she hopes to one day visit the area to see their work in person.  

Lisa taught kindergarten, first grade, second grade, gifted and talented and dyslexic students in Texas for 29 years. She notes that she never married or had children, so her students and friends were her world and she loved every minute of her time teaching. When she retired in 2017, Lisa moved to south Raleigh where her parents have lived for about 15 years.  Since retiring to Raleigh, she has time to concentrate on her beading work and can collaborate with her dad, which has been such a blessing. He is a wonderfully talented artist who hand carves the wooden fish, santas, and snowmen that Lisa then beads.  Her father is also a sounding board for ideas and handles the photography of her pieces. 

Lisa’s work has been included in several shows, including the 2021 Small Treasures show at the Cary Gallery of Artists.  Photos of some of her pieces are included below.  To purchase a piece from one of Lisa’s collections, go to lisayerbydesigns.com.  You can also find her on Facebook at Lisa Yerby Designs.  






Lisa joined CMMAG in January 2019 when she was invited to attend a meeting by her neighbor, Katherine Stein. She has always had a love of crafts including scrapbooking, stained glass, counted cross-stitch, clay, beading and, like many CMMAG members, enjoys trying new things. Lisa enjoys her time in CMMAG getting to know all the amazing artists, going to the art museum, and taking classes, like book-making.  She also loves the challenges; they really stretch her imagination. Lisa is currently serving on the CMMAG board as a Member at Large. 

Lisa has one of the best stories as a CMMAG volunteer with the Chavis after-school program:  It was a gorgeous day, so Lisa planned to do an activity outside. As she asked the students to line up, there was a crash, and the room filled with a thick fog. Everyone and everything were COVERED in a white foam.  One of the kids had knocked a fire extinguisher off the wall causing it to burst.  Everyone was safe despite the huge mess, and Lisa took home a funny memory.