Artworks Gallery Presents: Wrapping Up 2021 All Members Show for the Holidays
Exhibition dates: November 28 – December 26, 2021 Gallery Hop: Friday, December 3, 7-9 pm
Many giftable art pieces on display!
To wrap up another momentous year, Artworks Gallery Members are pulling out all the stops with a grand collection of works, created by all members. Excitement for a new year ahead will be celebrated with a wide variety of original art, all very giftable!
The offerings include original prints, paintings, glassworks, sculptures, collages, hand-made books, wearables and more. Come peruse and help wrap up 2021.
Since 1984, the longest-running artist cooperative gallery has made unique, local art accessible in Winston-Salem’s Arts District. Entering its 38th year, Artworks Gallery is full of optimism for a better 2022.
The paintings of Wendell Myers are abstract landscapes, based on memories of the places he’s lived and visited; the great plains, north woods and lake country of his youth, the Carolina mountains and seascapes of adult life, and the desert Southwest where he has frequently vacationed. The works in this show, “Enchanted Forests” are inspired by the countryside of Poland, where he and his wife have spent a great deal of time over the past 15 years. The series is also influenced by the works of Wolf Kahn and Mark Rothko, referring to it as a “Rothkovian lozenge of color.”
Wendell Myers holds a BFA from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Early In his career, he worked as a studio potter, selling directly to the public out of his studio, at art fairs and shows in the Midwest and Northeast. Eventually, accompanying his wife, Pamela Howland, to Winston-Salem, he earned his MD from Wake Forest School of Medicine. He has been a practicing radiologist in the area for over 25 years. 12 years ago Myers returned to making art, this time choosing to focus on acrylic painting.
Wendell Myers, “Enchanted Forest”Lea Lackey-Zachmann, “Dogwood Knows Temporary and Perpetual”
Lea Lackey-Zachmann | Dogwood Knows Temporary and Perpetual
The large paintings in this exhibit depict trees Lea Lackey-Zachmann walks past daily. The central painted rectangle in each work represents a tree as we might view it. The smaller painted rectangles above, below, and beside, represent the tree abstractly or symbolically. Most of the artist’s painting career has focused on the tension between Realism and Abstraction. Asking which best expresses the tree’s true nature? All these depictions are a visual language that seeks to evoke a feeling or insight into the identity and nature of the trees shown here.
The artist reveals, “This exhibit was inspired by my knowing that trees are essential to our life and happiness on earth. Our appreciation of them helps determine our future.”
Lea Lackey-Zachmann holds an MFA in painting from the University of NC at Greensboro, along with a graduate teacher’s certificate in Art Education. She received a BA in Art from Winthrop University and is now retired after having taught at High Point University for 29 years and Salem College for 10 years. She has been an instructor of various classes at WFU, Guilford College, and Elon University as well as having taught and served on the board of the Sawtooth Center for Visual Art. She is dedicated to community arts endeavors of all kinds. Her paintings, prints, and drawings are in various collections on the east coast of the US. She is a founding member of Artworks Gallery.
Kimberly Varnadoe’s current work represents a passage through conflicting times. She reflects, “We all have had to adjust to a different way of life during 2020-21. Some of us have gone or are going through other adjustments that are more personal.” These works reflect thoughts, memories, stress, and therefore are a bit chaotic. They are personal to Varnadoe, yet they speak to what many of us think and feel during life’s tumultuous changes. These works were created with a wide variety of media throughout each piece. The meshing together of these materials is a reflection on the many layers of overlap we experience emotionally as we adjust to challenges faced day to day, embracing the complex and contemplative.
Kimberly Varnadoe received her BFA in Painting from the University of South Alabama and her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Memphis. She works with experimental photography and a variety of printmaking techniques, often combining the processes. She enjoys experimentation and feels that art is most alive during the art-making — the final work of art is the record of the art process. She has been a member of Artworks Gallery, in Winston-Salem, since 2003.
Kimberly Varnadoe, “After Life”A piece by Jessica Tefft inspired by Pamela Howland’s music.
Tribute to Pamela Howland
The artists of Artworks Gallery will be paying tribute to the wife of one of their own, who died in September. Gallery members will show a unique collection of tribute works created to honor the music of pianist Pamela Howland. She was the wife of Artworks’ member Wendell Myers. As an accomplished pianist, she taught for many years in the Wake Forest University music department. Howland also recorded 19 albums consisting of composers Chopin, Debussy, and Ravel. She performed nationally and internationally, was a Steinway Artist, a 2017-2018 Fulbright Scholar to Poland, and a Chopin specialist. A percentage of sales will go to the Poland Fulbright Assistance Fund at https://en.fulbright.edu.pl/support-us/
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11-5; Sunday 1-4 Exhibition dates: October 31- November 27, 2021 Reception: Sunday, November 14, 2-4 pm
The exhibit is free and open to the public. For information about this press release, contact pr@artworks-gallery.org
Artworks Gallery Presents: Marion Adams:Colored Pencil Compositions James Gemma:Exploring Abstract Relationships in Shape and Color
Exhibition dates: August 29 – September 25, 2021 Gallery Hop: Friday, September 3, 7-9 pm
Marion Adams, Oops
Marion Adams, A Seat at the Table
Marion Adams, Blue and White
Marion Adams, Apples on Blue Willow
Marion Adams, Catch
Marion Adams, Dribble
James Gemma, Color Wall
James Gemma, Arrangement in Red ,Blue and Green
James Gemma, Color Crossings
James Gemma, Color Diamond
James Gemma, Color Sphere
James Gemma, Color Stripe l
James Gemma, Color Stripe 2
James Gemma, Color Wall 2
James Gemma, Color Weave
James Gemma, Moonlight
James Gemma, String Theory
Marion Adams, “Blue and White”
Marion Adams | Colored Pencil Composition
Marion Adams reflects, “It is interesting where a year can take you, especially if you physically have no place to go!” She took the time to enjoy countless hours researching artists, both contemporary and traditional from the sanctuary of a laptop while in lockdown. The paintings of artists Janet Rickus and Jeff Larson inspired Adams to try my own. Although their paintings are in acrylic and oil, she tried something similar with a favorite medium: colored pencil.
First, traditional crockery became the subject, later followed by blue willow china. Months later, the minimalist styles of pottery by Giorgio Morandi and Sophie Cook inspired her works.
Marion Adams, “Monstera”
Adams was very much at peace this year while creating art, which provided a type of daily mediation and an escape from the constant chatter of the outside world. Making art offered a retreat into a space of quietness and peace. Maia Gambis, “Why Making Art is the New Meditation,” explains that making art is a tool for coping with overwhelming emotion. “Happiness is more a matter of nurturing a space that provides stability and a constant connection to our true selves.”
Marion Adams has had a 30-year career teaching Science, Math, and Art. She holds a Master’s Degree from Georgia State University and undergraduate degrees in education and art. She works in colored pencil, acrylics, and makes 3-dimensional pieces using polymer and paper clay. She has been a member of Artworks Gallery since 2015.
Marion Adams, “Ooops” James Gemma, “Moonlight”
James Gemma | Exploring Abstract Relationships in Shape and Color
James Gemma’s abstract art is an exciting visual and conceptual exploration of the artistic relationships that may be created among and between colors and shapes. In this exhibition, many of the works use geometric elements as support for these explorations, while others take a more expressive approach. Some of the works have a formal appeal, with arrangements of bold colors and shapes. Others are arranged with softer, more subtle color/shape relationships. Finally, some are just freer, but still with an underlying coherence. Despite its conceptual nature, the art in this collection has a strong aesthetic and energizing appeal. All work in this show is limited edition, original digital art, created with archival paper and ink.
After graduating with advanced degrees from The Ohio State University and careers as university professor and consumer research professional, James Gemma studied art and printmaking at Salem College, and at Wake Forest University. He also has participated in multiple art workshops at Penland School, the Huntington Museum of Art, and the Sawtooth Center for Visual Art. Gemma served four years as board member of Associated Artists of Winston Salem. As Marketing Chairperson of that group, he created the Practicing Artist Series of lectures and critiques, bringing the participation of nationally known artists to Winston-Salem. He is currently a practicing artist, and has been a member of Artworks Gallery since 2009.
James Gemma, “Color Wall 1”
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11-5; Sunday 1-4 Open for Gallery Hop: Friday, September 3, 7-9 pm Exhibition dates: August 29 – September 25, 2021
