The MC Erny Gallery at WHQR is pleased to feature Rock, Paper, Stitch: work by Fritzi Huber, Thomas Little, Leslie Marsh, Michelle May, louise curtin ramseur, Jan Wutkowski, and Rebecca Yeomans. Meet the artists, view their fabulous work, and enjoy wine and light refreshments with WHQR staff. Join us in the MC Erny Gallery for this exciting Fourth Friday event on Friday, May 24 from 6-9pm for the Opening Reception and Friday, June 28 from 6-9pm for the Closing Reception.
"Art can come from traditional as well as unsuspecting points of reference.This group of artists works with natural/botanical dyes and paints, handmade paper, slime mold (yes!), contemporary stitching, handmade botanical, biologic and mineral inks including those from guns taken out of circulation, encaustic wax…and more! We are presenting an inclusive show of these genres, entitled Rock, Paper, Stitches and More! We believe our combined diversity creates a coherent and exciting exhibition."
We are grateful to Jan Brewington and Dram Tree Realty for sponsoring the 4th Friday Receptions at the MC Erny Gallery.
About the artists:
Fritzi Huber
Fritzi Huber has been a hand papermaker for more than 45 years. Her work has exhibited nationally as well as internationally. Most recently The Cameron Art Museum organized the show "Fritzi Huber: A Circus Life" which focused on the influences of Ms. Huber's past circus experiences, and the resultant work relating to that background. Ms. Huber's work is in numerous collections. Among them are Duke Medical Center, SAS Industries, AON Corporation, Lord Corporation, IBM, Volvo, as well as many private collections. She has also taught hand paper making workshops across the United States. Some of the workshop locations are Pyramid Atlantic in Maryland, Southwest School of Art in Texas, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee, Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, Mingei Museum in California, San Diego State University, and Tennessee Tech. in Tennessee.
One of the things that is not said herein is that I want the work to have a Hopper-esque sensibility to it, some presence that draws the viewer, but with an absence which is pervasive. What is not said is really important. All of the work that I've seen that brings attention to plastics in the sea/oceans addresses the plastic directly. I'm attempting to create beautiful, engaging environments that are devoid of the living entities of the ocean; there are no crabs in the nets, no fish in the sea, no living coral. There are only beautiful, nostalgic remnants that represent what might become of things as we know them now.
Learn more about Fritzi's work here.
Thomas Little
Thomas Little, of Garland, North Carolina, is internationally known as an ink maker, making his pigments and inks from firearms taken out of circulation. This show will include Little’s ‘Painting Tour of Ruin’, which presents small paintings of 20 cities in North Carolina where mass shootings occurred, in 2023. The inks and pigments used to paint the vignettes were made by Little from an AR-15 assault rifle and a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver, dissolved in acid. His work involves “transmuting instruments of violence into the more subtle tools of communication.” The paintings are poignant and thought-provoking.
Learn more about Thomas's work here.
Leslie Marsh
Book and fiber artist Leslie Marsh comes from a long line of women who draw with needle and thread. She learned traditional handwork from her grandmother as a child and has been building on those conventional roots ever since. Her current work was infused with gathered bits of vintage velvet, feed sacks, fabric bias, and fibers she has dyed. These pieces are a form of visual storytelling - whimsy with a nod back at her forebears. The other work presented here was inspired by forest flora and fungi. Marsh creates sculptures that are both realistic and dreamy by manipulating wool fiber and threads.
When she works with fabric and other fibers, she is reminded of the generations of women who came before her. Many of the family heirlooms that have been passed from generation to generation have passed through her hands, and many of them are stitched. She enjoys simply holding the pieces and reflecting on the tenderness sewn into them. She learned traditional handwork from her grandmother as a child and she enjoys the quiet, slow process of drawing with my needle.
Learn more about Leslie's work here.
Michelle May
Michelle May is a Contemporary Folk Artist creating original hand drawn and hand-cut papercut art in-Spirit with the world around her.
Her work is as a disciple in cutting away the negative space to reveal the place that is simply enough and thus creating calmness and comfort in the continuity.
Her desire is for her work to evoke a sense of joy, peace and harmony and to be a gentle reminder that we are all connected to each other and to all living things. Thus, her art is cut from one piece of white paper and placed on a black background. Together we can be the light in the darkness.
Learn more about Michelle's work here.
louise curtin ramseur
louise is a Wilmington, NC native. She was inspired from an early age by her mother’s intricate collages and drawings. She also developed a love for the tactile by learning embroidery at a young age and being immersed in her father’s woodworking shop.
From these assorted beginnings, she has developed her art through a variety of mediums—from ceramics to felt and textile, and from embroidery and crochet to acrylic paint and mixed media. A love of texture and organic geometry are evident through her diverse works.
She enjoys using materials traditionally assigned to women’s roles that have been devalued and neglected from the fine art realm: cotton and acrylic fibers and yarns, household fabrics and papers, old clothing, and cleaning powders and chemicals.
Check out louise's Instagram here
Jan Wutkowski
Jan Wutkowski's work is based on family stitching histories, with a contemporary spin that probably goes against everything her grandmothers would approve of. Her work is very intuitive, with no pattern, no planning, no traditional end result in mind. It is endlessly meditative and feels like a strong triumvirate of needle, thread and cloth/fibre. Recently the ancient process of encaustic wax painting has crept into her fibre pieces.
While mostly known as a milliner, she has spent the last seven years going back to her stitching roots, yet incorporating new ways to employ traditional fibre arts with eco and botanical dyes and inks and paper arts—primarily Joomchi, an ancient Korean paper art made from layers of hanji (mulberry) papers. Encaustic wax and pigment sticks are now another exciting layer added to the processes with fibre, paper and textiles.These contemporary and ancient approaches and processes to fibre arts have opened new doors to creativity.
Learn more about Jan's work here.
Rebecca Yeomans
Rebecca Yeomans was a child of the 1950’s in North Carolina. She was shooed outside in the morning, free to explore her world until suppertime. She collected rocks, leaves, marbles, made mud pies and forts, and learned how to knit. As a senior citizen she feels just like that child, free to play in her studio all day, still collection treasures and making things. She studied art at UNC-Chapel Hill, receiving a BFA in 1974 (50 years ago!). She earned a MFA from Auburn University and taught there for several years. Rebecca and her husband Tom moved to Wilmington in 1984 where she worked as a scenic artist in the film industry. She was a founding board member and teacher for DREAMS. Her current work combines botanical contact printing, knitting, and stitching with a painterly feel.
The magical process of contact botanical printing is the inspiration for all my work in this show. These are all new pieces created just for this exhibition and represents a year of working almost daily. The pieces tell the love story of the beauty of the materials and the process of making. I hope my art draws attention to the artistry of our natural surroundings and the importance of taking care of our extraordinary planet.
Learn more about Rebecca's work here.