I’m a fabric artist and designer, refugee from Wall Street, former musician and artist manager and all around entrepreneur. I’ve been through the mill and I find that the more I go back to my roots, the happier I am and that’s where I find my creativity….as one gets older, one becomes oneself!
Mary Coover’s brief description of herself and her work:
I grew up in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania where my early experiences with the clay lining the banks of a backyard creek began my lifelong love of this medium. Shaping this wonderful slippery stuff of such varied textures and colors into creatures that live and play in the watery, clay-filled places of the Earth still fascinates me today. Although my formal training taught me how to use the potter’s wheel, apply certain minerals for coloring and glazing, and build and fire kilns, the most important ingredient in my work is still my childhood love for clay. I received my Master’s Degrees in Education and Fine Arts from the University of Florida, where I taught ceramics in the Department of Fine Arts. My clay work was included in Young Americans, a show sponsored by the American Crafts Council, published in American Craft Magazine, and exhibited at the Mint Museum,NC, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, NYC; Cooper-Hewitt Museum,NYC; and Chalk Farm Gallery, London, England.
I mix my own porcelain using a formula I have worked with for over thirty five years. I begin with dry ingredients: a blend of kaolin, ball clay,flint, feldspar and other minerals. These are mixed with water in a pug mill and then wedged by hand. All of my objects are on-of-a-kind and sculpted using many traditional pottery techniques including “throwing” the clay on a potter’s wheel or rolling it out into slabs and then building the forms through pulling, twisting and shaping. To color my sculptures I mix specific minerals with liquid porcelain to create a “slip” which I brush on the sculptures after they have dried. After they are bisque fired I stain them with iron oxide and other colored slips. They are then reduction fired to about 2380 degrees F. High temperature glazes, which are free of lead, are used on functional objects.
Quintessential Quilts offers a full line of quilts – from crib to king – utilizing traditional quilt designs in current color palettes. All quilts are made of 100% cotton, and are meant to be used, loved, and laundered.
Additionally, I specialize in making “Quilts from clothes.” Celebrate an occasion by having a quilt made from your son’s sports tee shirts, a patchwork throw from your daughter’s childhood outfits, or a stunning quilt from your husband’s ties.
A lifetime of memories can also be made into a treasured comforting quilt using your deceased loved ones clothing – a living memory that gives years of comfort to friends and family.
Find out more about Gail’s work @ Quintessentialquiltsnj.com/
Artist Statement:
Creating Fine art Images through the medium of photography not only allows me to visualize, but also to become emotionally and intimately involved in the way I relate to the world around me.
In the broadest sense, my artistic passion is drawn from Nature. By constantly asking myself the question, “What is here for me to discover”, opens endless possibilities to engage my senses. Most importantly, it enables the ability to see both those abstract and individual elements that would normally go unseen. This awareness is the core element and guiding principal behind my art.
It is my constant challenge, and personal desire to capture and unite these elements of nature into images that will enrich our lives.
Jewelry is my passion that was literally learned at my father’s knee. He has been a silversmith for the last 50 years of his life and exposed me to the art of jewelry designing and the love of stones. We cut and polish many of our own stones from rough. Since his teaching me the ways of silversmithing, I have attended specialized workshops with some of the masters of the jewelry world.
My work involves texture, a combination of metals and stones from around the world. Many of my pieces will include the techniques of reticulation and granulation. To this date, I have been honored to receive several awards from various Art Guilds. My jewelry can be seen at many of the areas better art shows.
Diane Stanger
706 Wootton Street
Boonton, NJ 07005
973-402-1832
See more of Diane’s work on her website @ designsbydianed.com
Statement by John Kennington about his work:
I began taking photographs over 30 years ago while growing up in New Jersey’s Great Swamp. My primary subjects are nature, landscapes and wildlife. I now live in Oklahoma, which has a unique combination of eastern and western landscapes and wildlife. Recent trips to Italy have inspired me to also begin photographing ancient architecture and images of faith.
Photography has always been a creative outlet, just for my own enjoyment. But I have recently decided to move to the next level and offer my work as quality fine art prints. In my photographs I attempt to create an image that captures the scene as I saw it and as I experienced it.
Jewelry designer Zachary Bloom has been exposed to beautiful gemstones his entire life. His father is a California gemstone cutter who taught Bloom the facets of the industry by taking him to the world renowned Tucson Gem Show each year.
Still, it’s after Bloom graduated NYU with a master’s degree in Drama Therapy that he found his passion and a design career began. Inspiration came from his beautiful wife Fabiana, whom he set out to impress while they were first dating with a handmade necklace. That first gift turned into the company Accents in Bloom.
Fabiana and Zachary now travel extensively to handpick each gemstone used in Accents in Bloom. Every design is a one-of-a-kind artistic creation, handcrafted by Zachary.
“My desire is to design jewelry that accentuates a woman’s beauty and makes her feel completely unique.”
Isa Kollgaard, born and raised in Caracas Venezuela, took an early interest in art. This interest lead her to an extensive study of graphic design, culminating in the graduation from the Villasmil Institute of Design in Caracas. Soon after graduation, she was hired by the Institute as a faculty member. Her studies continued at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. She worked as an artist and freelance graphic designer in South America as well as the Northeast and other parts of the United States.
Out of her range of experience, she developed her own business, Isa Kollgaard Artwork. From her home studio in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, she creates unique collection’s of hand painted artworks. Her specialization is a blending of soft and vibrant acrylics for various styles of paintings and murals.
These one of a kind pieces are customed designed to meet customer’s expectations and needs. Designs for any theme, color, style and budget. Her background in graphic design and passion for beautiful art produces artworks that add charm to any home.
Isa’s artwork can be found in children’s boutiques, online baby stores, juried art shows and festivals. For more details go to www.braveprince.com
Ken’s inspiration for woodworking began as a child, watching his paternal grandfather engaged in woodworking .Ken made his first woodworking piece, a scalloped wall shelf, at age 12 and his niece still has it in service at her home . Ken joined th navy after high school, during which time his tour included duties in the parachute loft, where he developed his comfort level with the fabric and upholstery part of his craft.
Ken always wanted to work with his hands, especially in woodworking pursuits. When he and his wife Fran moved to Pennsylvania in 2003, he saw the opportunity to make his lifelong dream become a reality; he began to build footstools with upholstered tops. As word of his footstools spread the demand for his footstools increased, as did the requests of customers who wanted his craftsmanship in other pieces of fine furniture.
Since then he has personally constructed over four thousand individual pieces ranging from footstools and hassocks, to sweater chests, blanket chests and quilt chests. His designs are as practical as he is. They are designed to be strong and resistant to the abuse that children can bring to bear upon furniture. While remaining eye-catching in any home,they are constructed with impeccable workmanship to last long enough to become enviable heirlooms, To this end, Ken prefers to work in Pennsylvania red oak. His company name, Silver Creek Woodcrafters LLC, is derived from the lovely stream that can be seen from the porch of his home.
Ken Drake
Silver Creek Woodcrafters, LLC
www.WoodChef.com