Fine Craft Collective
The Fine Craft Collective is a seasonal cooperative show produced by Cathy Collison and Heather Lawrenz. The show featuring 25+ artisans is open every day from November 9 through December 24, 2017 in the Main Gallery.
More information at finecraftcollective.com
Open 7 Days a Week! Nov. 9th – Dec. 24 2017
Hours: Mon – Sat 10-6, Sun 12-4
Special Events:
Grand Opening Reception: Friday, Nov. 10 from 6 – 9 pm
Winter Walk Reception: Thursday, December 7 from 5 – 9 pm
Holiday Reception: Saturday, December 16 from 10 am – 6 pm
SEMAC Capstone Events
featuring Jill Ewald and Cathy Collison
Jill Ewald received an Established Artist grant from SEMAC for “Pathways There and Now”. From November 1 to December 31, Jill will display the work she created during this grant project at the Arts Guild’s satellite gallery in the Allina Clinic in Northfield. Every two weeks she will rotate in new work from the project.
Please join us for a Capstone and Presentation of her grant project on Friday, November 10 at 7 pm in the upstairs Dance Studio at the Northfield Arts Guild Center for the Arts.
Artist Statement
The visual images I paint have to do with mapping. I strive to create work from different geological and psychological/emotional places, work that is informed by movement between the then and here (between time and place). Within this framework, I explore interior and exterior human connections—our connections to the self, to others, to the natural world. A trail, indeed a map-like mark infuses my work with a grounding and gives it a conceptual time and place.
Although I have addressed the issue of how to portray human interactions and connections that we often sense like palimpsests just under the skin, for two decades, the idea of exploring this part of humanity via pathways through landscapes, seascapes, and mindscapes is fairly new. It arose from a trip to northern Minnesota where I was surrounded by nature that in turn led me to read “The Old Ways,” by Robert MacFarlane, and to mapping my own walking, then biking and sailing paths using GPS.
These works discuss light, space, color; they draw on the poetic nature of art. While most of them invoke the feeling of landscape space: broad and/or deep, some are closer to the center of ourselves. In this body of work, the pathways are defined with inks and thread. Feel free to wander them, to bring your own curiosities, memories, and experiences to them, and even perhaps to find your own destination.
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Cathy Collison received an Advancing Artist grant from SEMAC for “Exploring Texture and Form in Glass”. From November 10 to December 24, Cathy will display the work she created during this grant project as part of the Fine Craft Collective
Please join us for a Capstone and Presentation of her grant project on Friday, November 10 at 7:30 pm in the Main Gallery at the Northfield Arts Guild Center for the Arts.
Ornaments are a traditional gift given from one generation to another and are often the only three-dimensional art that an individual or family collects and displays. They are also a perfect small size in which to explore glass as an artistic medium. During this grant project, I explored new modes of glass artistry through learning to work with a different type of glass (borosilicate), and expanded my repertoire of materials, skills, and techniques for glass work.My previous work, both in beaded jewelry and in blown glass, has been driven by color and pattern. During this project, I expanded my technical skill set as well as my methods of artistic expression by using clear glass to create textural forms and not relying much on color and pattern to create beauty and interest.One challenge was to teach myself how to use a different type of glass than what I am used to working with. For making ornaments I have previously used “soft glass,” but this would crack and loose its shape easily if I tried to manipulate the surface into spikes and other dimensional shapes. Through this project, I expanded my knowledge and ability as a glass artist, pushing my glass work further by creating new ornaments that explore texture and form. This was an opportunity to expand the boundaries of glass ornaments and therefore expanding the boundaries of how the general public views art.
This activity made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and culture heritage fund.
