Works by Local Artists Displayed Through August

GREENSBORO – Currently over two dozen members of Caspian Arts are showing their works at the Grange Hall in Greensboro from July through August on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Their creations run the gamut from paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs, note cards, fabric designs, jewelry and books.

When first entering the hall, there are a variety of pieces that are available for less than $100. This includes works by Elaine Cole Kerr (landscapes, notebooks, a calendar and six books), Beth Ann Meachem (small woven designs in boxed frames), B.J. Gray (eight wood burnings on plaques of animals), Michele Sulham (six collages of yarn), Louise Mattson (three tiny paintings), Alexandra Bottinelli (note cards, prints and bookmarks), Nancy Schade (two small landscapes), Sue Tester (photo cards, two paintings), Isa Dehry (animals painted on glass in frames) and Renee Rossi (three paintings).

In the main room Betsy Day has pot holders, hangings and colorful pillows. Victoria Mathiesen is showing two medium-sized paintings, “Summer Morning I and II”, with the lush green leaves of plants and Queen Ann’s Lace, all in coherent compositions.

Beth Ann Meachem’s felted landscapes and three weavings hanging from small sticks have well-thought-out designs.

Over the door panels in painted wood with curving tops by B.J. Gray would enhance any door frame with their colorful depictions of roosters, loons, bats and black birds.

“Lone Dragonfly” is a large painting by Nancy Schade with water and flowering swamp plants around it, while “Barn Swallows” are of birds and other animals in a very free composition that celebrates life. “Birthdays” is a still life combining a violin, vase of flowers, candle and garden hoe on a table. Two bronze sculptures of a snow boarder and a woman’s portrait are very professionally done.

Sharon Scelza’s designs have precious stones in silver settings as earrings and other jewelry. Sue Tester has three small photographs of trees by the water, a yacht under sail and a sugarhouse, capturing a special moment.

Two woven or knitted fabric pieces by Marie LaPré Grabon have varied textures, original in conception.

Elaine Cole Kerr has five paintings with frames made by her husband Rod, having subjects, flowers, birds, Bambi and men fishing. Five prints by Lulu Wootton of seed pods, an armadillo, a bird and fish, an octopus and three panels of a woman’s legs and feet have bold, well balanced compositions.

Alta Turner’s very large fabric tapestry, “Concession (Grudging)” to Alzhiemer’s is an extraordinary tour de force, the portrait of a young man (James A. Turner) at the time he served as a doctor in the Second World War in the South Pacific. The level of complexity in the weaving is astonishing. Apparently “He wanted badly to forget” his traumatic experiences of the war, “and he did” only at the end of his life with Alzhiemer’s and death at 85.

Louise Mattson has three paintings of flowers, rich in color with a lot of feeling.

Alexander Bottinelli’s large collage, “Bird Series” (plover) has numerous birds floating in space with a light gray background amid a few disconnected objects like glasses and vases, as well as the inexplicable name Joseph in the center, all quite mysterious.

Kathy Stark’s two medium sized paintings on heavy paper are quite abstract, with interesting patterns and rhythms juxtaposed. The titles, “Selling Water by the River” and “Strange Things Happen When Not Looking” are intriguing.

Three sculptures of a great horned owl, the head of a bull moose and a bald eagle by Art Wolf demonstrate remarkable craftsmanship and have fine details.

Renee Rossi’s five small paintings of landscapes stretching from the Arctic to Tuscany, Ireland and elsewhere have a colorful ambiance.

Sharon Moffatt has four pastels of landscapes and townscapes that have fine compositions.

Elizabeth Nelson’s four works are “Perfect Summer Night,” with a clouded moon and stars, “Early Fall Morning,” having a hovering fog cloud, and two smaller pieces that are more abstract.

Edward Lamary exhibited his exquisite earrings made of different colored woods intricately combined, along with two burl wooden containers for flowers.

Isa Oehry turned old windows into works of art by painting on the glass, here with a hen on its nest, “Fresh Eggs,” and another with a happy pig looking out. Anastasia Scollon makes cute creatures out of wool called “Bookish Goggoblins.”

“The Green Rabbit Gallery” of Elizabeth Hasen has carefully designed and crafted earrings. Michele Sulham’s fiber art makes dynamic landscapes from combinations of yarns.