Spotlight on: Circles and Squares

Meegan Nolan Cuzick and David B. Cuzick are a husband and wife team of artists that design a novel line of hand-screenprinted T-shirts. 

Lifted


Many days I have worked side by side with them at the Grove Arcade Portico Market in Asheville while we sell our wares.  I always enjoy the expressions on the faces of the people who pass by as they see the images on the shirts.  Scenes of a child jumping off a swing, a young fisherman unaware that he is reeling in the Creature from the Black Lagoon as his friends run away,  a child being lifted to safety by a great-horned owl, or a huge-eyed bush baby delight young and old alike.

Jump

Their images are of two types :  David designs the silhouettes, whereas Meegan mostly designs animals with a few exceptions,  like her Dandelions. 

Cicada Wings

Their designs are available in men, women and children's sizes.

Bush Baby

 Meegan says, "I am inspired by nature a lot ( I guess that goes without saying). I find the "freakish" parts of nature and repetitive patterns especially fascinating. David often uses his dreams and childhood memories as inspiration. His designs are a little more metaphorical while most of mine are almost like portraits."

                                            Billy the Kid

"We are both super inspired by our children, of course."  Which is understandable.  Their children are two of the cutest kids you could find.

      

"We want our products to be as earth friendly as possible." To that end, most are on organic cotton and either made in the USA or Fair Trade. And their choices of color are wonderful.

Save Some for Me

Dandelions

Release - hoody                                                              Escape

Many of their designs are also available as art cards.

Meegan adds "We are happy to have found a medium that makes our artwork accessible to people that otherwise might not be able to collect art."

 Circle and Square products are available at many fine stores and galleries as well as online through etsy.

Find them at:

www.circlesandsquares.biz

www.CirclesandSquares.etsy.com




 Quote of the Day:

"There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds."

 -G.K. Chesterton

Spotlight on: Laura Sue Peters Earth Art

Laura Sue Peters creates textural paintings in rich warm colors.  Whether you are looking at Bird on a Wire or her pictures of trees or horses, you are drawn to the atmospheric condition of the painting. 

While for some of her pieces she creates a rock hard texture that wraps around the sides and becomes an integral part of the painting, others have gallery wrapped canvases that are painted on the sides.  All are  ready to hang.

Does she have a favorite painting?  "I cannot really say I have a favorite painting ," she says. "For me it's the process of painting that is my passion - I am thrilled that when I am finished with a painting that it usually makes it's way to a home in a week or so. I attribute my consistent sales with just that - consistency. I have an identifiable texture and use my favorite colors and of course am in love with nature. I am consistent in my customer service - I want each experience to be as positive as possible when someone is collecting a piece of my art - I treat others as I'd like to be treated:)"

About her personal life she says, "I am so fortunate to have a creative and supportive husband and boys - they inspire me each day and give me the freedom to explore all that I might!"

Many artists struggle with trying to market their work.  (Hence the term "starving artist")  Not so much for Laura Sue.  "My marketing consists of customer service - I send multiple business cards with each painting and am prompt and professional and use only the finest materials. This in turn has given me repeat business as well as business from those who see my art at others homes or offices. I quit the gallery shows - I am just too busy selling on my own.


I have just recently sold to a couple very famous people and am waiting for their management to give me the green light to state in my website - but my art is starting to be collected by some household names - yippee!


So I know there are many who spend hours marketing other ways - but I don't have a facebook or twitter or blog - though I admire those who do, it may be helpful to know that being true to ones craft and being tenacious is also a route to take in tandem."

I found Laura's work on etsy.  I was really drawn to her work.  It is definitely something I could envision on my walls.  Bet you could, too.


To see more of Laura's work go to:


www.EarthArt.etsy.com






Quote of the Day:

"I thank you God for this most amazing day,

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees,

and for the blue dream of sky

 and for everything which is natural, which is infinite,

which is yes."

-e.e. cummings

C5SGWEC28SA9

Spotlight On: Nancy Monsebroten White Earth Studios

I wanted to spotlight a potter.  Then I found White Earth Studios.  There is such a subtle elegance to Nancy Monsebroten's work.  Her exclusive use of porcelain gives her pieces such a fragile delicate beauty.  For me, it's hard to call it "pottery."

Her subtle use of color,if any, adds an almost ethereal quality.

Nancy explains, "White Earth, a series of porcelain vessels, is a homage to my childhood in the Dakotas, its visual images and memories. It is a deep respect, a bowing down to the earth where I have experienced it."

"Walking the freshly plowed fields as a child, I would find fossils, shells and arrowheads. I have renewed and extended my fascination with these shapes. I have discovered new connections between the prairie (once an inland sea) and the ocean. Like the prairie and the sea, my pieces display hues against large neutral backgrounds - a touch of pink or a glint of pearl - finding a prairie rose in a otherwise green meadow, or a single shell on a stretch of sand. "

"White Earth comes from some part of me that works unconsciously, a part that reaches down into my memories. White Earth comes from that private part of me, and I hope it will touch that part in others."

Nancy has exhibited her work internationally and won several interntaional awards. 

 Twining Leaves Wall Hanging

If you are looking for a wonderful gift that the recipient will cherish, or something special for yourself, consider the lovely work of Nancy Monsebroten.

You can find White Earth Studio at http://www.whiteearthstudio.etsy.com/

And check out her blog at http://www.whiteearthstudio.blogspot.com/

Quote of the Day:

"A sensitive plant in a garden grew,

And the young winds fed it with silver dew,

And it opened its fan-like leaves to the light,

and closed them beneath the kisses of night."

-Percy Bysshe Shelley,

 "The Sensitive Plant," 1820

Spotlight on: Cynthia Emerlye Emerlye Arts

Have you ever wanted to give someone a really special card but didn’t want it to be just any mass-produced card? Have you ever wanted to give someone a special piece of art but just couldn’t afford to spend a lot of money? Have I got something to show you!

Cynthia Emerlye creates finely detailed floral and nature inspired paintings in vibrant colors and in black and white from which she makes lovely keepsake worthy cards.

(You just know the quotation cards are my favorites!)












Her “visionary” cards feature hauntingly beautiful images with mythical and spiritual themes.

Universe Girl

                                                                              Bald Angel


Cynthia says, “What your readers should know about me? I'm a Vermont artist, retired from my 20 year job of raising 6 kids and now back nearly full time to my other love: art and fine craft."

“I love detailed, intricate, feminine work and find inspiration in nature as well as Renaissance paintings, illuminated manuscripts, and Arts & Crafts-era painters such as William Morris.”

I love the bookmark collection. At 8 bookmarks for $12 they are without a doubt quite reasonable.

Not only does Cynthia paint, but she also creates finely detailed kirigami papercut hanging ornaments and dimensional cards.

Although she has been painting “forever” she has only been producing her own card line for about three years and selling online for 2 years. She has been selling kirigami papercuts for about five years though making them for 20.

Her work is available as cards, gift tags, hanging ornaments, bookmarks, prints and if you are really lucky, originals.  Go to her website and you will discover that she has even transformed her wonderful designs into wearable art!  Her beautiful floral patterns adorn one-of a kind fashions that she sews herself!

Cynthia also has a series of designs based on the hemp plant.  Aside from her  hemp - cannabis series of cards, her designs adorn hemp clothing made by a small Vermont based company , Benevolence Bound.  According to Cynthia's website, "Benevolence Bound wants to see industrial hemp developed in the US, one of the only countries in the world which does not recognize this plant as different from marijuana. The hemp plant is a promising and valuable alternative to wood pulp and many other resources and could greatly help in the effort to reduce global warming."


Find Emerlye Arts at:

http://www.emerlyearts.com/
http://www.emerlyearts.1000markets.com/
http://www.emerlyearts.etsy.com/
 
 
 
Quote of the Day:
 
 

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul,

 and paints his own nature into his pictures.

 

 ~Henry Ward Beecher

“Spotlight” on Leinaala Mitchell of Bella Beadjeweled

Leinaala Mitchell makes adornment. Couldn’t think of any other way to say it. These are not “necklaces”, “bracelets”, “earrings” and “rings”. There’s just no way you could put such a simple label on her elaborate bead work. Her pieces bring to mind empresses, goddesses and royalty from far off places in another time and age. Your imagination could run wild conjuring up the images that must inspire her work. Asked about her inspiration she says,” My inspiration comes from everywhere, literally. Nature, dreams, songs.

                                                            Karma Carnelian

She is a self-taught artist who has made things with her hands for many years.

 
           Isis                                                      Dancing Animal Woman

 “I start my creations with curiosity about an idea, a photograph, shape, color(s), or a focal point. I don't draw any designs. I choose colors, beads and other materials intuitively and allow the piece to unfold itself through me.”

                                                                                         Sonnet
 Her creations, which she calls “Adornment for the Adventurous”, are not what most people would consider “everyday” jewelry. You could easily imagine them on the red carpet or at a gala event or worn by your favorite trendsetting celebrity.

Welcome to the Grammys

Tequila Sunrise

                                                           The Mermaid's Ransom

                                                              Hidden

When asked which is her favorite piece she says it is “the one which I am finishing now and hope to have listed in early December.”

Leinaala says,”I dream of a day when personal adornment and celebration of the body are restored to a sacred place in our lives.”

Foxtrot

If you are looking for something truly special and unique, consider the work of Leinaala Mitchell.

She can be found at http://leinaalamitchellart.com/neckadornment.aspx

On 1000Markets at  www.BellaBeadjeweled.1000Markets.com

On etsy at www.BellaBeadjeweled.etsy.com

                                                                            

Quote of the Day:

"The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.

If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself

 without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest

 in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life."

                                                  -   Frank Lloyd Wright