Thursday, May 13, 2021

May 2021 Business Meeting

CMMAG members met via Zoom on Thursday, May 13.  

Creativity Exercise

Denice Celley led a drawing exercise.  She started by drawing a box, then adding some interesting shapes within it.  She then proceeded to draw lines that mirrored the shapes she had created.  The overlapping of these lines created interesting effects, and the members noted that the process was very meditative. 

Members-Only Tutorials

Jeanne Maher will host a tutorial on Saturday, May 22, at 1PM called Easy ATCs.  Jeanne will be sharing her 7-layer process for making 9 or 16 ATCs at once on one big paper.   Anyone interested in joining CMMAG or in members-only tutorials should email CMMAG for details.  

Chavis Update

The grand re-opening for Chavis is slated for Saturday, June 12, at 10:30AM and is open to the public. CMMAG will hold its first in-person meeting at Chavis (505 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Raleigh, NC 27601) on July 8th.  The details for parking, meeting room, and the like will be distributed closer to the date.  

Upcoming Events/Outings

Zoom Open Studio Playtimes
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, May 19 at 6 pm.
  • Saturday, June 5 at 10 am. 

Anyone interested in joining CMMAG or in members-only tutorials should email CMMAG for details. 

Field Trips/Sketching Events

CMMAG will be revising meet-ups in parks or museums to sketch or view art together.  Plans are being discussed.  

Creative Challenges 

The prompts for the Second Quarter 2021 Picked Prompts Challenge that will be shared at the June 11 meeting are as follows.

Announcements

  • Denice Celley was the first to be featured in the monthly Member Spotlight on the CMMAG website.  She shared details of her inspiration, her plans for the future, and several photos of her works.  
  • Alicia Brinkman is in the 6x6 Daily Painting Exhibition at the The Halle Cultural Arts Center in Apex that opens next week.  
  • Denice Celley is currently working toward a 12-week certification to be a Certified Picture Framer (CPF) by the Professional Picture Framers Association (PPFA.) 





Thursday, May 6, 2021

Member Spotlight: Denice Celley

Denice Celley is from North and South Carolina. She has been creating art since she was a child, and her passion for art is ever present and has assisted in her funding her education. She received a BA in Studio Art and Psychology from The College of Charleston in 2016.  

Denice is an active member of CMMAG and served as Board Secretary for the 2019-2020 term. Denice recently announced that she was accepted to a university in London to earn a Masters in Art History and Visual Culture with a focus in curation starting fall 2021. Guildies had mixed feelings about her news--excitement for this amazing opportunity she's earned but also sad to not see her in the group for the foreseeable future.  

Denice is not committed to a singular style or medium of art as she loves a challenge and enjoys experimenting with new processes. Since graduating, Denice continues to be influenced by nature and psychology in her art's underlying themes.  Below are just a few examples of her art. She is currently trying to raise money for grad school through sales of her works on her website, https://denicecelley.art/.  You can also follow her on Instagram at using handle dcelleyart.