artist spotlight with chip freund by Chip Freund

Peggy Van Arnam has been making jewelry since she found herself with a skirt with which she had “nothing to wear.”  During her career as a university administrator, she searched for unusual beads and stones as she traveled and made jewelry for herself and her family.  In retirement she began taking classes, selling her pieces and approaching jewelry making as a business. Thus Uniquely Yours! was born. In 2002 Peggy co-founded a still thriving cooperative gallery in Upstate New York and remained a member until moving to Cary in 2016.

Theresa is an intuitive abstract artist, creating vibrant art for memorable spaces. She specializes in mixed media, using acrylics, spray paint, ink, adhesives, and paper. Her work refuses to be contained and often extends beyond the edges of the canvas.

Sarah Cawn’s mission is to design and create beautiful, unique, and functional glass objects.

Autumn Cobeland is a painter, muralist, triathlete, and Raleigh native. She holds a degree in Fine Arts and studied art in Florence, Italy. Her prints and paintings can be seen in galleries, shops, and private collections both nationally and internationally. Autumn has created a series of paintings devoted to the Triangle Greenway System, and she donates a percentage of the proceeds from print sales to the support of local greenways.  Her studio is located in Artspace in downtown Raleigh.

Susan Hensel’s new innovative artwork, which blends commercial embroidery processes with sculptural concerns, is gaining attention and awards. Her knowledge of materials makes it possible for her to create small to large-scale hard-edge sculpture from soft fabrics that paradoxically keep their crisp form with minimal armatures. Her knowledge of the physics of color allows her to create shape-shifting displays employing the special reflective characteristics of embroidery thread with the goal to create opportunities to experience awe, rest and renewal in daily life.

Diana Hrabosky is a self-taught artist who is most grateful to those gifted individuals who elected to share their knowledge and talents by writing books on colored pencil, acrylic, and abstract technique and related subjects. She was inspired by an artist whose work she at an art show in Chantilly, VA but couldn't identify the medium. When Diana learned it was colored pencil, she wanted to try it for herself.  She has no formal training and didn't even doodle or draw much as a child.  (Source: adapted from diana-hrabosky.pixels.com)

Kyle Wilson is a photographer from Selma NC. He is originally from southern Maryland where he became fascinated by Rural America.

Growing up in Catskill, NY, Jim was constantly drawing. This led to being the art editor of his high school yearbook, majoring in Fine Arts at SUNY Plattsburgh, and obtaining a BS in Art Education from Florida International University of Miami in December 1979. Jim dreamed of being an art instructor and artist, however, that was put on a 35 year hold! Jim went to work for IBM in September 1979 in Boca Raton, FL. Later he transferred to Raleigh, NC in 1999. He retired from IBM as a Vice President in September 2014 and worked at Lenovo through January 2015. Now retired, Jim pursues his life-long dream of being an artist. His oil  paintings include primarily landscapes, city scenes, and local Raleigh landmarks. He has also taught art (K - 5th grade and adult classes) part-time at Champion Learning Academy in Morrisville, N.C from October 2017 through June 2019

Maureen’s story as an artist started with her dad who was a commercial and fine artist. At an early age her father discovered that he had a talent for art (it runs in the family). He decided to pursue art as his career even though his family felt that this was a terrible mistake.

Boots Quimby considers everything she has done in life a creative endeavor.  From teaching high school and college to raising children and designing experiments during her doctoral work and as a cell biologist, Boots explored her creativity. In 2016 she picked up a paintbrush and decided it was time to paint, something Boots had wanted to do since childhood.  The artist inside finally had the courage to express herself.  She self-taught and considers every painting an experiment, working and reworking it until she gets to were she wants to go. This has taught Boots perseverance, patience and self-forgiveness.  She is inspired by life in rural North Carolina and the outdoor spaces she visits in the world.

Ann works in oil, encaustic (hot beeswax) and collage. Her work in oil focuses principally on landscapes, architecture, and still life. Growing up in rural Virginia she spent much of her free time outdoors and learned to know and love the natural world; this sense of place has stayed with her throughout her life and informs her work.  In landscapes she seeks to express the essence of places she has known and loved or places that she has visited and felt emotionally drawn to.

Natacha's practice uses experiences, seeing, touch, smell, for ideas she creates. This practice helps her be intuitive while constructing an object. Natasha creates in the space of her studio, but the memory of the actual experience and her psychological response are incorporated into the work. There are ideas that use other experiences such as books, movies, music, foods (smell and taste can convey a state of being), and textiles (touch is very important and can convey an idea or feeling). Natasha's experiences as a Latina woman concerning social justice as well as the experience of others in society are important to her. References to being female, human, sister, wife, mother, healer, scientist, and multicultural, all influence her art objects.

Studio artist and instructor Jean Cheely has been working with fused glass techniques since 2001. She uses many approaches to transform “super cooled” liquid into art pieces. Jean is an award-winning artist who exhibits in juried glass competitions in the U.S and abroad. She has pursued her passion by studying under nationally known artists at numerous glass studios, including:  The Corning Museum of Glass Studio, Arrowmont School of Arts, Pittsburgh Glass and The Chrysler Museum Glass Studio. Currently she is an instructor at the NCSU Craft Center.

David Blevins is a nature photographer, author, and ecologist. He combines a sense of wonder with an artistic eye to create images that tell stories about the meaning and significance of the natural world. He received a Ph.D. in forest ecology from the University of British Columbia, as well as M.S. and B.S. degrees in forest science from North Carolina State University. His fourth book, "North Carolina's Barrier Islands," reveals the natural character of barrier islands, the forces that shape them, and the sense of wonder they inspire. His third book, "Wild North Carolina," is a visual journey to the best remaining natural communities across the state. David co-authored his first two books on Boundary Bay while completing his Ph.D (source: blevinsphoto.com)

Jim Aul is a pottery based in Vancouver WA. He draws inspiration for his functional pottery from his travels, the natural world, and music. Presently, Jim is a part-time craftsman with plans to devote more time to his craft once he retires.  You can find Jim’s work on Instagram and at local craft fairs in the Vancouver area.

Although it can sound a bit trite when someone says they have a real passion for something, Dan really does have a burning desire to capture on a canvas the things in our lives that make us feel more ALIVE.  Art has a way of making us slow down long enough to see and even experience something beautiful or poignant or precious about life.  He literally can’t wait to put paint (and a bit of his soul) on the canvas and for the next creative idea to materialize!

Bayou Gray is intrigued by the human form. The slump of a shoulder, the refraction of light in an iris. The subtle shifts that tell a tale far more than words ever could. The breadth of Bayou's work tries to capture the intimate meaning of those moments and pour it back upon you. In short, Bayou wants the viewer to feel the piece, and not just see it. To that end, his tools of choice all have some meaning. Beginning with panels primed with tempura, as a link to those before. Since life moments are varied, precious, shimmering, and easy to tear, Bayou paints on metal leaf with a palette  based heavily in warm tones and transparent color, the luminosity of which gives skin tones the showcase that they deserve.  (Source: adapted from www.bayougray.com)

Born in Winston-Salem, NC, Jane D. Steelman worked toward a degree in Art at Appalachian State University. She studied under Bill Dunlap in drawing and painting as well as Clyde Owen in Ceramics. She is certified in art education for K-12 and taught high school Advanced Digital Photography and AP Art History. She now teaches private art lessons in her home studio. 

A Signature Member of  Pastel Society of America, and Signature Member of Pastel Society of North Carolina, award-winning pastelist, Diana Coidan, has been an accomplished and experienced full-time professional artist for over thirty years.  Although she works in many mediums, working in soft pastels is her most expressive, offering her the rich color, variety, and immediacy to paint her award-winning pastels.  A Business College graduate, Diana retired from an administrative position to pursue her love for art.  Self-taught and after many painting/pastel workshops with well-known instructors, she discovered her own pathway to expression in pastels and developed her own signature style with strikingly realistic results.  Diana's paintings focus on movement with various sky/cloud formations, rhythm of the sea in its many forms, and marine life, all evident of her unconscious attraction to blue.   

An oil and watercolor painter, art workshop instructor, architectural illustrator,  life time ardent reader, and writer of the occasion when painting is not sufficient to express his feeling and thoughts...

Angel Ingrietta is a self-taught artist from North Carolina. Her passion for art started many years ago as a very quiet little girl. Every piece starts out with an outline of a hat and the word Mama, which you may never see. Angel is inspired by her loss, her life, her heart and soul. She hopes that her art inspires others, that have been through so much pain and feel they have nothing, to push yourself to get up and do, what you were born to do.

Understanding the “why” behind her work has been an important part of Angela’s creative process. Being sensitive in nature, she has learned to recognize how even subtle harmonies in color, shapes, visual textures etc. can affect herself and viewers. She believes what we choose to look at/surround ourself with affects our thoughts, mind and heart.

Artist Teri Pohlmeier is a mostly self taught jewelry designer based out of Fuquay Varina, NC. She always loved pretty rocks and sparkly things, but it wasn’t until she was an adult that she discovered the world of jewelry making. She started out doing simple stringing and after experimenting with several styles settled into wire weaving. Shortly thereafter, she discovered bead embroidery, which she quickly realized she loved just as much as wire.

When it comes to her art Jnet has always had the desire to create something of beauty made from her hands. Her love of clay focuses on two main properties: the contrasts of transforming a soft malleable material into a rock hard object that retains the appearance of softness, and the ability to create unpredictable colors and designs on pottery and sculptures with fire. She strives to create sculpturally functional hand-built and wheel thrown forms inspired by joyful colors and nature. Her artwork does not attempt to address any issues facing us, but is a simple exploration of the expressive qualities of color and the sculptural qualities of a leaf, especially Hostas. To her, every piece she creates is a way to add an element of beauty and joy to someone’s day-to-day life.

The natural world is Lynne’s source of greatest inspiration. Beginning in early childhood, her family camped and hiked around the US, visiting all 50 states. She comes from several generations of scientists, serious gardeners and avid birders, activities she has expanded on in her own life and which contribute to her love and interest in the environment and growing things. Typically, she works from her own photographs which she crops and edits prior to painting. Occasionally, she’ll work from flowers and vegetables from her garden. 

Patricia Buchanan was born in Kenton, Ohio. She works predominantly in the medium of beading jewelry and her work is characterized by attention to detail and the use of fine sterling silver or 14kt gold filled findings, genuine gemstones and Swarovski crystals in the completion of her pieces. Patricia  is primarily self-taught artist.

Here in this bonus episode we turn the tables on our host, Chip Freund, to hear from him on his exciting new project, Blue Glacier Then & Now: A Personal Photographic Story of Climate Change Spanning 40 Years.