Blog

February is the month when C’ville Arts will focus our work on Peace and Love, a group show, featuring all participating members of the cooperative. Please join us in February for this outpouring of joy and help celebrate the wonderful creations produced by a wealth of talented local artists.

This exhibit will involve a wide variety of mediums including fused glass, jewelry, woodworks, leather, paintings, mosaics, ceramics, knitting, wearable art and felting, quilling, photography and of course, chocolates! This gifted group will explore their passions, working from their hearts, to produce high quality, one of kind creations intended to tickle the spirits of any heart and soul.

If you’re looking for a unique gift for your loved one or a friend, C’ville Arts is the best place to find it! We’re offering handmade treasures to help you express a range of sentiments from sincere depths of love to humor and everything in between! We have charming solutions that are sure to elicit a smile.

All things grow with peace and love, and the gift of art.

C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery will feature “New Directions” for the inspirational photography of Ben Greenberg. He will be at the gallery to share his impressive new collection on Friday, December 7th from 6 to 8 p.m. during the Historic Downtown Mall’s First Friday event.

Ben’s inspiring and dramatic images are well-known throughout central Virginia. He has gained well-deserved recognition for his photography, receiving awards such as grand prize winner of an international competition and winning the first place blue ribbons for photography in the last two Waynesboro Fall Foliage Festivals. His images are displayed in numerous galleries and shops in central Virginia.

In this show Ben Greenberg will feature his latest dramatic landscape photographs from Virginia and other states as well as his new focus on wildlife photography.  The new work from Virginia will include images that will be featured in his new book scheduled to be published in 2019 with a working title of “Natural Public Lands of Virginia”. This book will include images from national, state and local parks, wildlife refuges, preserves and other protected areas found throughout Virginia. New work in the show from other states include recent photography from Glacier National Park in Montana as well as the Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks in Wyoming and the wildlife of Florida.

The December show will feature Greenberg’s new images of wildlife in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Montana and Wyoming. The wildlife will include waterfowl, fox, elk, deer, moose, bison, and big horned sheep in their natural habitats. His goal in his wildlife photographs is to feature the animals interacting with their natural environments in interesting ways. Examples include herons and egrets building nests, a family of sandhill cranes strolling down a path, a fox returning home with dinner, and a flock of birds returning to their rookery in the setting sun.

Greenberg is also pleased to share during his “New Directions” show his return to black and white photography, which once dominated his portfolio. His black and white images provide excellent examples of how he chooses his landscape and wildlife subjects carefully from the natural world. He photographs them at the very special times when his images are most dramatic with the special quality of light with its direction and color that is usually found very early and very late in the day.

C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery will feature the inspirational art of Flame Bilyue. She will be at the gallery to share her impressive collection on Friday, November 2nd from 6 to 8 p.m. during the Historic Downtown Mall’s First Friday event.

Flame Bilyue’s art is two and three dimensional work she creates using water color, acrylics, colored pencils and pastels. Bilyue paints on canvas, paper or sculpted paper. Using her own handmade “sculpted paper” she recycles from office and art scraps, even junk mail is made into pulp, then formed and painted. This technique creates depth as relief style wall art, decorative mirrors, jewelry, and occasionally masks and bowls representing landscapes, dreamscapes, animals, trees and Dryads.

“The beauty and intrigue of the Blue Ridge Mountains has captured my imagination and inspires me to look deeper into the local history and folk lore.” Flame explains what motivates her creative process. “When we are open, we can also see with our mind’s eye not only what is here now but what might have been and what might be possible. We can see with our eyes but also with our hearts and imagination.”

Her imagination is timeless and vast, with a dreamlike quality that shines brightly in her recent body of work.

To learn more about Flame and her work visit her web site at www.flamebilyue.com

C’ville Arts celebrates autumn with a group show during the month of October. Various members will be at the gallery to share their latest work during the First Friday event on October 5th from 6 – 8 p.m.

October is a month full of colors, craftsmanship, and creativity! This is a time for our membership to shine, offering the finest work inspired by one of the most colorful times of year. You will find high quality work ranging from original oil paintings, hand knit items for children and adults, both fused and stained glass to wood works, jewelry and so much more.

We will have member demonstrations and you’ll enjoy seeing the magic of creative moments unfold right before your eyes. Discovering first hand the innovative techniques and the charming people who practice these skills with devotion and dedication not seen on such a large scale in recent history.

We will also be introducing Herson Cabrera, a Salvadoran artisan and entrepreneur who is visiting Charlottesville through the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative. He will be learning about marketing and selling locally produced art, and exhibiting samples of products made in El Salvador. Come help us welcome him to Central Virginia.

C’ville Arts will be bubbling with activities all month long. This will be an impressive collection of creative minds working together to bring you a fun filled exhibit you won’t want to miss.

C’ville Arts welcomes functional inspirations from Nan Rothwell, one of our newest potters (and very popular pottery talents) during the month of September. She will be at the gallery to share her latest collection during the First Friday event on September 7th from 6 – 8 p.m.

Nan’s pots are made to be used. Enhancing the everyday rituals of preparing and eating food, to hold flowers, to light a corner for reading. From her first lessons in clay, nearly fifty years ago, she has been enchanted by the idea of making things people can actually use. “I pay attention to details that ensure things are sturdy and function well.” Rothwell describes, “Making functional work connects me to the age-old tradition of artist craftsmen who make beautiful objects for daily use.”

After learning to make pots in England, Nan returned to the US, and set up a studio in Virginia.  Then, after meeting and marrying Carter Smith, the two bought land on the Rockfish River in Nelson County. They built a studio and home, raised two children, and worked their passions; Carter building cabinets and Nan making functional pottery. After thirty-eight years in Nelson County, ready for a change, the couple moved to Charlottesville and opened a small in-home pottery studio.  

Since she has always enjoyed teaching, Nan currently offers classes at City Clay in Charlottesville and various workshops to guilds and groups in the region. Expanding her lessons she now offers an online course at TeachinArt.com and through two teaching videos published by Ceramic Arts Daily. Sharing her talent with others keeps Nan inspired and helps her produce collections that are fresh and functional. 

To learn more about Nan and her work visit her at:

www.NanRothwellPottery.com

https://www.facebook.com/NanRothwellPottery/

nan@nanrothwellpottery.com 

C’ville Arts welcomes fresh and sparkling inspirations from Stephen Dalton, one of our long time and very popular jewelry design talents during the month of August. He will be at the gallery to share his latest collection during the Frist Friday event on August 3rd from 6 – 8 p.m.

Stephen Dalton has been making and selling his whimsical Half-Baked Ideas Jewelry for twenty-five years.  A love of color has always inspired his mixed-media creations and enriched his life.  This summer, he continues to make wearable art—earrings, pin/pendants and necklaces.  All his work is bright and bold, dramatic and fun.  His focus this time around is on exciting color combinations.  Colors that can be found in a cut flower garden, combined in fresh ways.  The citrines and pinks, the tangerines and teals work together in striking, abstract pieces, or compliment the whimsy in Stephen’s array of animal jewelry.

Perfect for summer, Stephen’s lightweight jewelry is watercolor paper based and made durable during a three-day epoxy process.  He uses vintage beads, Czech glass, and found objects in his designs, with the ultimate goal to brighten or lighten someone’s day. 

To learn more about Stephen’s work visit his Facebook page link https://www.facebook.com/StephenDaltonJewelry/

C’ville Arts welcomes Barbara Shenefield, one of our newest members and graphic design talents during the month of July. She will be at the gallery to share her appealing collection of designs during the First Friday event on July 6from 6 – 8 p.m.

Barbara began by making posters celebrating the beautiful commonwealth of Virginia. All of her original designs and illustrations commemorate historic places and beautiful scenes of some of Virginia’s best features: mountains, history, wildlife, favorite sports and cultural attractions. Shenefield’s approach is a classic poster style, somewhat reminiscent of retro travel posters (National Parks, advertising). Her compositions are vibrant, eye catching, colorful, and just plain cool.

These creative period style posters often include one or more of her favorite animals.

“I will often sneak a horse or a dog into a poster, even of the historic houses” Barbara explains, “so look closely. I am constantly, restlessly, drawing and creating new designs. Art is what I do, all day, every day.”

These high quality, clean and contemporary posters are produced with only the best materials using ultrachrome inks, a very high resolution printer, on the finest quality Kao-Lin paper. Shenefield’s work is available online, in galleries and gift shops such as Montpelier, Monticello and vineyards across the commonwealth.

To learn more about Barbara’s work visit her web site: Shenefielddesign.com   

Stained and fused glass artist, Norma Geddes, will be the featured artist for the month of May. She will be at the gallery to share her stunning collection and answer any questions on May 4^th from 6 – 8 p.m. during the First Friday opening celebration.

After a long and satisfying career in health care, Norma Geddes discovered glass art quite by chance. While shopping for glass cupboard doors for her newly renovated kitchen, she saw a small ad for “Stained Glass Classes.” With her well-honed sense of adventure, she signed up for classes on the spot and has not stopped since!

Norma is inspired by the words of Georgia O’Keefe—“They showed me how they painted their landscape. They couldn’t show me how to paint mine”—and Joseph Campbell—“When you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that you didn’t know were there, and wouldn’t be there for anyone else.”

Norma’s art is both beautiful and functional, and can be found at galleries throughout Virginia. For a complete list of venues displaying her art, please see her website: www.normageddesglass.com.