Eno Mill Studio Artists and OCAC staff. Photo by John Michael Simpson for Chapel Hill Magazine.
Back row, left to right: Sandra Sachs, Jennifer Hansen, Courtney Powers, Mary Ann Rozear, Mango Martinez, Jessie Dib, Shaerie Mead, Austin Cathey, Judy Maloney, Ryann Carey, Katie Murray, Kelly Oakes, Esten Walker, Nic Johnson, Audrey Pinto. Front row, left to right: Samir Knego, Michelle Spaulding, Chloe Crawford. Not pictured: Mike Tambashi, Kennedi Carter
Freddie Bell
Back Studios, Studio 2
Multimedia Artist
Freddie is a multimedia artist living in Hillsborough, NC and is glad to call North Carolina home once again. Freddie was born in Charlotte, NC. Their passion for creating has followed them to Los Angeles and back and across careers in the arts and social work. Freddie finds inspiration in community and how we understand ourselves. Freddie received his BA in Art at Warren Wilson College in 2012. They have participated in group shows in Los Angeles and throughout North Carolina. Gender, identity, and the body have been common subjects and inspirations for Freddie’s work since undergraduate school, influenced by his lived experience. Freddie works as a painter, muralist, and mixed media artist and loves using color, shape, and varied repetition to reflect on identity.
Ryann Carey
Back Studios, Studio 5
Visual Artist & Teacher
Ryann’s love of watercolor stems from the fluidity of the colors, some that cannot necessarily be named, as well as the challenges that come with watercolor as a medium. Other mediums allow you to take things back, to cover up mistakes. Watercolor is less forgiving, but interestingly, it frees her from her perfectionist nature. Ryann strives to capture the nuance that our eyes pass over – the colors in the shadows, reflections, the clouds. She wants to share what she discovers from the close observation painting requires and is captivated by the nuances of color that are seen by the eye but all blurred together until you go to paint it. (bio adapted from Ryann’s website artist statement)
→ Learn More About Ryann
John Dempsey
Front Studios, Studio B
Visual Artist & Teacher
John Dempsey’s extended series of large-scale, contemporary landscape paintings, the American Chronicle Series, features imagery from a wide variety of rural and urban environments. The American Chronicle Series of paintings celebrates our recent history while helping us connect community to place within our shared landscape.
Dempsey maintained a painting studio, and taught studio art at Mott Community College, in Flint, Michigan, for well over 25 years, relocating to Hillsborough in 2019. John can be found on Instagram at: @johndempsey.landscapes
→ Learn More About John
Samir Knego
Back Studios, Studio 6
Visual and Literary Artist
I’m an abstract, multidisciplinary artist and zinester. Though my work isn’t naturalist in the traditional sense, I’m heavily influenced by nature and natural science–lines like those on topographic maps run throughout my work, and I’m also inspired by the imagery of circuitry, cells, and skeletons. I try to bridge the natural and the human-made, and hopefully make both feel a bit unfamiliar. When I’m working, I imagine myself taking the smallest, shortest moments
in time and stretching them out onto my page past the point of visibility until they become slightly distorted–but beautiful in a different way. I think that disability has influenced my (positive) thinking about (typically negative) things like abnormality and deformity. Outside of/in addition to my work as an artist, I work in a library, and I see a lot of overlap between that work and my art in that they both feed my interests in community and in preserving, collecting, and presenting information and materials.
Shaerie Mead
Back Studios, Studio 11
Textile Artist & Fashion Designer
IONA Clothing is designer Shaerie Mead’s vision for creating garments for all shapes and sizes, focusing on fit and sturdy construction. The IONA label is designed, sewn and hand-dyed in Hillsborough, NC using natural fibers and low impact processes. The studio also hand-dyes a variety of apparel and home goods in hues from subtle to saturated for a range of price points. Beautiful, functional, colorful!
→ Learn More About Shaerie
Judy Maloney
Back Studios, Studio 10
Fiber Artist
Judy is a fiber and textile artist who creates sewn and collaged pieces from hand dyed, printed, handwoven, felted, and repurposed materials, as well as things found in nature. She is inspired by Asian influences and is drawn to the repetitive, meditative nature of saori weaving and shibori dyeing, as well as boro mending. Her use of poetry as prompt is inspired by the work of poets such as David Whyte and Mary Oliver. Poetry acts as fiber, weaving its inspiration and imagination throughout the work. Her influences are women who use bold color, botanical themes, repetitive stitch as pattern and use of repurposed materials-Mandy Patullo, Christine Maursberger, and her sister, J.E. Paterak. Her former career as an oncology nurse for twenty years has brought her to appreciate handwork as a means to healing and wholeness.
→ Learn More About Judy
Orlando Martinez & Jessie Dib
Front Studios, Studio C
Mixed Media Artists
Orlando (Mango) Martinez uses lines, perspective and colors to move spectators to new dimensions; a world that has come alive, where the geometric forms are the base of all. Uniting two generations with different ways of thinking, developed in different circumstances, he has created a four hand artist.
→ Learn more about IKORMA
Jessie Dib creates bold and minimal jewelry as well as home decor.
→ Learn more about The Dib Studio
TJ Mundy
Front Studios, Studio D
Mixed Media Anti-Disciplinary Artist
The art I make and how I make it is my way of sharing who I am with others through art. My name is TJ Mundy (they/them) I am Black-biracial, trans non-binary, and queer. I primarily work in abstract, mixed media, and digital art, but I’m also very passionate about youth arts mentoring, calling attention to important societal issues, and using my art to share my experiences of how it feels to exist in my body and mind. I want to give back to those that brought me to where I am, and that have always encouraged me to authentically be myself.
I’m always creating something to find better ways to express myself, and I strive to give others that same outlet to be able to say and feel their personal thoughts and feelings.
→ Learn More About TJ
Kelly Oakes
Back Studios, Studio 9
Visual Artist and Teacher
Kelly is inspired by the human figure, drawn to the beauty of the form and the emotion of the individual person who is the model. She enjoys working from life when the breathing and dynamic person is right in front of her. The interplay of the model’s movement and stillness is exciting and inspires what she captures on the canvas. She looks for complex compositions, mimicking the complexity of the figure. Using her eyes and own emotions, she sees the model and aims to capture their inner beauty and respond to their expressions, striving to show a quiet, yet expressive moment. It is those ephemeral moments that speak to her soul.
→ Learn More About Kelly
Cedelia Obenshain
Back Studios, Studio 8
Multimedia Artist
Cedelia Obenshain is a multimedia artist working mostly with oil, encaustics, watercolor, and fibers, passionately sharing human experience through these methods. Cedelia was born and raised in Hillsborough, North Carolina. When she’s not creating art, Cedelia works as a barista, coffee roaster, and college student in Chapel Hill. Fully believing that everyone is an artist, Cedelia aspires to cultivate an environment of creative growth for herself and those around her. Driven by her curiosity alongside a passion for connections, forms, light, and perception of thought, she brings a playful and explorative attitude to art.
→ Learn More About Cedelia
Audrey Pinto
Back Studios, Studio 5
Book Artist
Audrey makes handcrafted boxes, decorative papers, and various book forms. She is particularly drawn to the box because its very structure lends itself to endless design and construction possibilities that include exploring different shapes and how these shapes can work together to create surprises in colors, patterns, and textures. She uses fabrics, handcrafted pastepapers and book cloth, threads, and various decorative elements in her boxes and books. She is drawn to creating cut-paper designs that cast shadows and patterns and frequently uses garden and flower themes in my work that are reminiscent of the floral motifs found in Indian and Middle Eastern architecture and furniture and in illuminated manuscripts. Audrey is involved as a teacher and member with Penland School of Crafts, John C. Campbell Folk School, Triangle Book Arts Group, and the Paper and Book Intensive at Ox-Bow School of Art and has taken classes and workshops with Monique Lallier, Kathy Steinsberger, Mary Uthuppuru, Andrea Dezso, Denise Carbone, Laura Wait, Celine Lombardi, and Shawn Sheehy.
Mary Ann Rozear
Front Studios, Studio E
Visual Artist
Mary Ann is an award winning artist who recently moved to Durham from Hampstead, NC. Her subject matter is as varied as her choice of medium. Whether using watercolors, acrylics, or oils she strives to elicit an emotional response from the viewer with each painting. Mary Ann began painting in 2002 while living in Blowing Rock, NC, where she studied for six years with many master painters. She was most influenced by Mary Ann Beckwith, Gerald Brommer, and Skip Lawrence, whose philosophy was to encourage each student to paint in their own style. Mary Ann has developed her own unique approach to painting, believing that the enjoyment she gets during the process of painting translates to the finished piece. Over the years, Mary Ann has participated in numerous juried shows, including the WAA Annual Spring Show, Art in the Arboretum, and Landfall Shows in North Carolina. She received the WWA Walter Garner Memorial Award (2013) and the WWA Gail Henderson Memorial Award (2014). (bio adapted from ArtExposure profile)
Michelle Spaulding
Back Studios, Studio 4
Fiber/Textile Artist
Michelle is a certified dream coach, teacher, a expressive arts facilitator, visionary artist and storyteller who expresses herself through the textile and fiber arts. Her African-American and Native American heritages are woven into her art, expressing her love for all types of aboriginal art forms. Beyond wanting to demonstrate the harmony possible in inter-twining cultures, Michelle seeks to express a spiritual healing in her art – a healing she has experienced first hand. Over the years, Michelle has used her art to overcome grief and loss, chronic pain and illness, severe stress and anxiety. The beauty and spiritual healing she receives from weaving mother earth’s threads and molding clay are expressed in her baskets, weaving, knitting, surface design, needle art and pottery. Michelle designs an eclectic array of contemporary homespun fiber art. The vibrant colors and whimsical style make these designs both pleasing to the eye and soothing to the spirit. Color and texture are her inspiration. Arts and Crafts are her passion.
→ Learn more about Michelle Spaulding
Esten Walker
Back Studios, Studio 3
Visual Artist
Using landscapes and cityscapes, and the human form, as points of departure, Esten explores the poetic forces of emergence arising from nature, constructed environments, and the spaces of our human psyche. Currently, she is engaged in an inquiry into the the multi-faceted dimensions of our natural world, and intersections with humankind, investigating both harmony and destruction. She is studying to receive her Masters in Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Her mediums include installation, oil painting, drawing, mixed-media, pen and ink, digital photography and video.
Katie Bowler Young
Front Studios, Studio 22
Author, Poet and Community Arts Organizer
Author and poet Katie Bowler Young has a lifelong commitment to the arts. Katie is the author of the biography, Enrique Alférez: Sculptor (The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2021), which was a finalist for the 2021 Housatonic Book Award and featured by the National Endowment for the Arts. She is also the author of a poetry collection, Through Water with Ease (Louisiana Literature Press, 2019) and a chapbook State Street (Bull City Press, 2009). Katie’s writing often focuses on art, culture, and place. Katie is a community arts organizer and is active in global engagement for the state of North Carolina.
Katie has earned writing awards and fellowships from the New Orleans Press Club and the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society, and was awarded Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrator Award. In 2021, Katie was honored with a 2021 North Carolina Governor’s Award for Excellence for Outstanding Government Service for an international education program she and her team launched at UNC-Chapel Hill during the COVID-19 pandemic. Katie earned her MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson College.
→ Learn More About Katie
Donn Young
Front Studios, Studio 22
Photographer
Donn Young is about to reach a milestone in his career: a half century as a photographer.
Artist Statement: As a photographer, I am focused on light, contrast, art history, and the technology of my craft. I am moved by an individual photograph that builds the foundation of an essay, which I see as the heart of storytelling. As an artist, I search for the essence of our community, and as a photojournalist, I document society to better understand civilization. Art can help change a person’s consciousness. Art encourages people to think, express, and be creative – the essence of education.
→ Learn More About Donn
Check out these other artists and arts-related business in the Eno Mill:
NC Mosaics: offering classes and custom mosaics
Frames by Edward Wright: handmade heirloom frames
Click here to learn about Eno Arts Mill tenant, Art Therapy Institute!
Our artist studio are not open to the public other than for our monthly open studio and gallery receptions. Please drop by to meet our artists and see their work!
