My work is mostly representative and nature is my main interested subject. Sometimes l venture into abstraction, especially in collage work.
How have you changed as an artist over the years?
I have switched my medium from Chinese painting to printmaking. The techniques are very different but my observation in nature expressed in my various work still remains.
What artists have influenced your work?
Henri Matisse, many Chinese and Japanese classic painters.
Do you have a favorite medium?
Woodcut is my favorite medium.
What does making art mean in your life?
It provides a channel to fulfill my creative urge. Teaching art classes also gives me feedback from students and my sense of being in a community.
Update! From now until the end of Mona Wu’s show on January 28, all remaining artwork is 50% off the listed prices. This includes both framed and unframed work as well as original printing blocks.
Don’t pass up this unique opportunity to own some of her beautiful work!
(Please note that cards on the racks and work in baskets are not included.)
In this special solo exhibit Mona Wu is showing over 40 framed works and close to 200 unframed prints, made in her nearly 30 years of Printmaking career. All methods in Printmaking are presented: woodcut, linocut, lithograph, etching, and monoprint. On view are also some carved and cancelled wood boards Wu so lovingly and laboriously produced for edition printing.
Because of her large-scale studio-downsizing, these prints, proofs, editions, as well as many of Wu’s old carved wood boards will be for sale at prices in every collector’s budget. This is your opportunity to own and/or gift a beautiful Mona Wu original print.
Viewers who browse through the show may appreciate the artist’s artistic as well as technical progress and stylistic changes over the years. Yet as the underlying thread throughout her work, Wu still retains her Asian heritage and sensibility in all manners of Printmaking.
A native of China, Mona Wu immigrated to US in 1970. She studied Chinese painting and calligraphy in Hong Kong then received her BA in Art History from Salem College in 1996. She also studied Printmaking at WFU as an auditor from 1997-2014. Wu has taught classes and workshops in Chinese art and Printmaking at Salem Community courses, Reynolda House of American Art, and Sawtooth School of Visual Art and has been a member of Artworks Gallery for many years.
In a project aimed at bringing hope during these difficult times, Artworks Gallery and the Forsyth County Department of Public Health have teamed up to display 1,000 origami cranes to honor healthcare workers and people affected by COVID-19.
Members of Artworks Gallery in Winston-Salem folded the paper cranes that are now hanging in the public entrance of the health department at 799 Highland Ave. in Winston-Salem. The public art project is called the Thousand Cranes Project.
A statement on the wall near the origami cranes says, “The origami crane represents healing, hope, joy and prosperity. Legend says that if a person folds 1,000 cranes, they get a wish. Therefore, folding the cranes represent our wishes for hope, health and well-being to all healthcare workers and those people who have been affected by COVID.”
Lakecia Owens, coordinator of health services for the Forsyth County Department of Public Health, approached Jessica Tefft, president of Artworks Gallery, on behalf of the health department this past spring to find out if Artworks artists would come together to assemble a paper-based art project.
Owens said the goal was to honor front-line workers and their families, as well as people in the community who had COVID-19, lost their lives to COVID-19 or had a relative who was affected by COVID-19.
Tefft said Owens told her that the health department had COVID-19 fact sheets in different languages that could be used for the project. Read more.
More than 500 people in Forsyth County have lost their battle to Covid 19 leaving many families heartbroken. Now a local art group has teamed up with the Forsyth County Health Department hoping to honor the lost loved ones and healthcare workers fighting to keep people alive.
Jessica Tefft, president of Artworks Gallery says it’s those people who deserve to be remembered in a beautiful way.
“I really do believe in the power of art,” said Tefft.
That’s why you’ll see 1000 origami cranes hanging in the Forsyth County Health Department. The origami may be small but artists say they carry a big meaning, the meaning of hope.
Each crane was created with meaning and made with love. Read more
Artworks Gallery Presents: Mary Blackwell Chapman:Time in the Pandemic Mona Wu:Leaf Dreaming
Exhibition dates: August 1 – August 28, 2021 Gallery Hop: Friday, August 6, 7-10 pm Meet the Artists Reception: Sunday, August 8, 2-4 pm
Mary Blackwell-Chapman, “Cave Art”
Mary Blackwell Chapman | Time in the Pandemic
Mary Blackwell-Chapman’s current show, Time in the Pandemic reflects her response to the worldwide COVID pandemic of the past year and a half in ceramic and fiber. Some artists found increased energy during this time, but some, like Blackwell-Chapman, felt an emptiness and lack of direction. She realized renewed interest and focus in family history, natural beauty, and quiet work with new forms of expression in clay and with a material new to her: fiber.
Her works in the “Homeplace” series reference personal family history and the broader, varied stories of how all of our families came to live in this country and have found, or not found, a home. Fiber is a medium particularly connected to the home, family, community, and history.
Her ceramic work shows an interest in surface treatment and glaze/slip finish that is also new to her. These changes in style and technique reflect her reaction to the profoundly altered state of the world. The world has felt very new and different, and she responded by picking up new tools, new images, and new concerns.
Mary Blackwell-Chapman is a sculptural artist from Forsyth County, North Carolina. She earned a BA in English Literature from Goucher College, and an MA in Motion Picture from Northwestern University in Chicago. She has studied sculpture, both ceramics and book arts, at Penland, UNC-G, Arrowmont, Shakerag, the Calligraphy Centre, and the Sawtooth Center. Her works are in numerous collections. She has been a member of the artists’ collective, Artworks Gallery, since 1992.
Mary Blackwell-Chapman, “Leaf Candelabra”Mary Blackwell-Chapman, “Homeplace: Fireflies and StarlightMona Wu, “Fabric Collage #4”
Mona Wu | Leaf Dreaming
Mona Wu’s new show, Leaf Dreaming, consists principally of images printed on fabric, and then embellished with hand stitching on unused cloth napkins. Botanical imagery is the theme in most of the work, although some were produced with simple woodcut, monoprinted, then hand-sewn into small wall hangings.
In addition to the wall hangings, there are twelve cocktail napkins with gel prints of single leaf outlines and overlaying leaf veins and ferns within; eight dinner napkins with more complex compositional components and various top stitches.
This series is a vast departure from Wu’s previous work of prints on paper. Instead of paper, the artist works with fabric and thread. It is a new art form and a fresh look at familiar objects expressed in new materials, sewn entirely by hand.
A native of China, Mona Wu immigrated to the US in 1970. She studied Chinese painting and calligraphy in Hong Kong then received her BA in Art History from Salem College in 1996. She also studied Printmaking at WFU from 1997-2014.
In 2003 Wu was selected as Sawtooth School of Visual Art Winston-Salem Artist of the year. She teaches Printmaking and Collage at Sawtooth. Wu is currently a member of Artworks Gallery, an artist co-op art gallery in downtown Winston-Salem.
Mona Wu, “Fabric Collage #5”Mona Wu, “Window with Three Discs #1”
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11-5; Sunday 1-4 Open for Gallery Hop: Friday, August 6, 7-10 pm Meet the Artists Reception: Sunday, August 8, 2-4 pm Exhibition dates: August 1 – August 28, 2021
Exhibition dates: February 5 – 28, 2021 Visit the gallery in person Friday, Saturday 12-3 pm and Sunday 1-4 pm, or by appointment at shop@artworks-gallery.org. Find more info about planning your visit here.
For this select show, Alix Hitchcock has worked with colored inks and waxy china markers using drawings from models or stencil shapes of human forms and foliage forms. These large format works intentionally create a somewhat chaotic vision, where the layering of forms with added gestural marks and calligraphic lines may belie gravity, or blur distinctions between foreground and background; figure and space.
Alix Hitchcock holds a MA in painting from NYU and a BFA in printmaking and painting from UNCG. She has been an instructor in studio art at WFU, Salem College, UNCSA, The Sawtooth Center for Visual Arts, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, and the Weatherspoon Museum of Art, plus a number of additional esteemed institutions. She was selected as the Winston-Salem Artist of the Year in 1998, and is a founding board member of Artworks Gallery. She has exhibited widely in numerous local and national galleries and centers for art. Her work is held in many collections, both private and public.
Lea Lackey-Zachmann, “Goldfinch Dream”
Lea Lackey-Zachmann
Lea Lackey-Zachmann often makes images that are not exhibited or shared with the public. “I appreciate those personal and often meaningful processes,” says Lackey-Zachmann. “Each of these paintings arose from experiences like that years ago. They were made quickly and afterwards rolled up, only to be recently found after a studio move.” The Covid pandemic period presents the perfect time to rediscover and exhibit these refreshed and completed 20 year old paintings.
Lea Lackey-Zachmann has a BA in Art Education, a graduate teaching certificate in Art Education and an MFA in painting. Also a founding member of Artworks Gallery, she taught art at the college level for over 30 years and continues to paint, make prints and explore video. The Natural world has been a focus of her art since childhood. She lives in Winston-Salem with her husband, two dogs and a cat.
Katherine Mahler, “Depth Finder”
Katherine Mahler
Combining printmaking and painting techniques, Katherine Mahler explores identity through the use of layers, shared symbols and maps. Drawing from her experiences living around the country and traveling globally her art reflects the commonalities and connectedness of the human experience.
New Artworks Gallery member, Katherine Mahler has a BA in Studio Art from Kenyon College and a BFA in Art Education from Michigan State University. Mahler is currently applying to be an MFA candidate. She has been teaching art to students of all ages for the past 20 years, including in Texas, Michigan, Louisiana and North Carolina.
Mona Wu, “Homeward Bound, Swallows”
Mona Wu
Mona Wu is exhibiting her unframed prints in large format, mostly monotypes, both old and new works. Comprised of botanical subject matter, these prints are the product of Wu’s love and appreciation of natural beauty ever present locally, in the state of North Carolina.
A native of China, Mona Wu immigrated to the US in 1970. She studied Chinese painting and calligraphy in Hong Kong, then later received her BA in Art History from Salem College and studied Printmaking at WFU. In 2003, Wu was selected as Sawtooth School Winston-Salem Artist of the year. She joined as a member of Artworks Gallery that same year. Wu currently teaches Printmaking and collage at Sawtooth School of Winston-Salem.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. Gallery hours and other info about the gallery can be found on our Visit page. Shop for artwork from gallery members in our Online Shop.
Artworks Gallery Presents Almost Normal: Artworks Gallery Opens Its Doors
We are excited to open with limited hours and social distancing. We ask everyone to wear a face-covering in accordance with the NC Department of Health and Human Services to slow the spread of COVID-19.
ON EXHIBIT: New Works by Four Members of Artworks Gallery Chris Flory Betti Pettinati-Longinotti Susan Smoot Mona Wu
October 8 – 31, 2020
Hope
Honor
Follow Your Instincts
Blessing
Fragmented Heart
Half-past There ( Left)
Half-past There ( right)
Mon Mont Sainte-Victoire
Old
So Broad That its Meaningless
Regardless
Crookneck Squash
Korean Melon
Tools of my Trade
Birds of Paradise
Requiem of the Victims: COVID 19
Prayer over Pandemic: Coronavirus
Harper with Rudy
Chris Flory
Chris Flory’s body of work consists of large-scale graphite drawings, evocative of another time and place. Using imagery and imagination, she brings her works to life through value, perspective and her accomplished lens of art-making.
Chris Flory has a BFA in Printmaking from Phila. College of Art (1972) and an MFA in Painting from UNC-Greensboro. She has been a member of Artworks Gallery since 1993, and also makes art for Artomat machines.
Chris Flory; Old
The practice of graphite drawing on top of textured-layered oil painted surfaces has allowed Betti Pettinati-Longinotti conversation and intercession with the Divine, having many varied forms and senses of spirituality. Through which she has explored the pandemic upon us in our current world, the Coronavirus. “These paintings/drawings associate to a theophany and love of God, with visible prayer for others, as well as myself.”
Betti Pettinati-Longinotti
Betti Pettinati Longinotti, is an artist and art educator, instructing at the Sawtooth School for Visual Art and Forsyth Technical Community College. Pettinati Longinotti works in drawing, painting, mixed media and glass. She received a BFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art, an MA from the University of the Arts/ Philadelphia, in Art Education with a studio major in Glass, and an MFA in Visual Arts through the Lesley University, College of Art and Design. Betti is a juried member of Artworks Gallery and Piedmont Craftsmen, and also holds membership in the American Glass Guild.
Betti Pettinati-Longinotti; Requiem of the Victims: COVID 19
The textile works by Susan Smoot have been created in a mindful way as offerings to soothe our battered souls during this pandemic. Using treasured vintage linens and a selection of curated fibers and ephemera, collaged works were created. Hand-dyeing, eco-printing natural fabrics and other textile processes have been employed to alter and enhance the materials. Meditative sewing by hand and machine allowed time to consider the heartbreaking reality surrounding the coronavirus. Messages of healing adorn the work with thoughts, wishes, dreams, and aspirations for a better future.
Susan Smoot; Honor
Susan Smoot
Susan Smoot holds a BA in Art Marketing with a concentration in Painting from Appalachian State University. She is a juried member of Artworks Gallery and of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina.
Mona Wu
Mona Wu has taken advantage of the hiatus to create a collection of small watercolor paintings depicting common objects in and around her house. All work are dated in order to form a narrative highlighting a positive way in coping with the COVID lockdown.
A native of China, Mona Wu immigrated to US in 1970. She studied Chinese painting and calligraphy in Hong Kong. Mona received her BA in Art History from Salem College in 1996. She also studied Printmaking at WFU as an auditor from 1997 -2014.
Mona Wu; Birds of Paradise
Mona was selected as Sawtooth School Winston-Salem Artist-of-the-Year in 2003. She became a member of Artworks Gallery in the same year. Mona teaches Printmaking, collage, and Chinese painting at Sawtooth School of Visual Art.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. Artworks Gallery, Inc. 564 North Trade Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Gallery phone: 336-723-5890
OCTOBER Limited Gallery hours: Thurs. – Sat. 12-3 pm and by appointment (Contact us at shop@artworks-gallery.org for viewing appointments outside of our October Gallery hours.)
