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Ryann Carey
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)
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Shaerie Mead
Textile Artist & Fashion Designer
A recent Los Angeles transplant, Shaerie is a pattern-maker and clothing designer. She is the owner of IONA Clothing, a slow fashion clothing line featuring sustainable fabrics, ethical production, hand dyeing and effortless comfort.
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Judy Maloney
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.
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Kelly Oakes
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.
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Audrey Pinto
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
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)
Nara Seymour
Visual Artist
Nara works with a high degree of subtlety, merging conflicting elements, thoughts, and materials, focusing on decay in its natural state. Seymour looks at the decay and prosperity as they layer throughout the world and is finding ways to bring what is overlooked and seemingly hidden to the surface to be displayed. This reflection of near invisibility and marginality brings emphasis to areas that need to recover and heal. In this time of uncertainty, it is more important than ever to restore, forgive, and protect oneself and others, and Seymour is looking at aggravated wounds and how to heal them. By using sculpture and installation, she displays fragments of moments showing new tares occurring, and as a result, an old one is mended. This process is a constant and continuous cycle that looks at healing in a holistic view.
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Mike Tambashe
Textile Artist and Fashion Designer
Mike is a multi-modal designer, music manager and co-founder of the label Immaculate Taste. As a visual artist, Mike’s focus is on creating work that brings community together. He is the founder of Poor Dad, a sustainable clothing brand that aims to give all a seat at the table, that is dedicated to “those who are tired of breaking themselves down in order to sit down.”
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Julie Thomson
Weaver and Visual Artist
Julie is a pocket artist, multi-disciplinary artist, naturalist, writer, and educator. Her work currently focuses on weaving, photography, and pocket art, featuring projects and gestures about time, place, and memory, as well as pocket-sized drawings and work that she gives or shares with others. She weaves and makes photographs as part of her work as an independent scholar and curator. She is working to bridge the connections between her artistic practice and work as the naturalist at the Eno River State Park and Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area by drawing and encouraging visitors to draw, as well as leading school programs and public programs that teach, cultivate, and encourage seeing. Julie plans to use her weaving to examine the past and history of the former Eno Cotton Mill where her studio is located. (bio adapted from artist statement submitted for arts studio application)
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Esten Walker
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.
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Max Dowdle
Visual Artist
Max is a professional fine artist and graphic novelist working in North and South Carolina. Max trained in the atelier tradition at Charles Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy, where he also taught sculpture. His work resides in numerous private collections. His mural of Billy Strayhorn in Downtown Hillsborough was awarded Best Artistic Representation of Local History Preservation Award by the Town of Hillsborough Historic District Commission.
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Carlos González García
Mosaic Artist
Carlos holds a master’s in mosaics from Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli (The Mosaic School of Friuli) in Italy, the only program in the world to offer such a degree. He recently moved to Hillsborough to launch NC Mosaics, which will offer classes in mosaic in the Eno Mill. Carlos is also the artist behind the Love Hillsborough mosaic project. Read more about Carlos in our feature story here.