CenterFest 2017 was proud to welcome an outstanding group of 146 visual artists. Congratulations to the 2017 Merit Award winners!:
Best in Show –Marie Wright, Pittsboro, NC, Clay
First Place – Bob Batura, Raleigh, NC, Wood
Second Place – Steven Kelly, Wilmington, NC, Clay
Third Place—Paul Freundt, Talking Rock, GA, Metal
Durham Rising Star—Delores Hayes, Durham, NC, Clay
And thank you to the 2017 Merit judges:
Sarah Hill, Hamilton Hill Jewelry
Tamar Harris Warren, Gregg Museum of Art & Design
Kathleen Rieder, NC State College of Design
The CenterFest 2018 Visual Artist Application has now closed. Application deadline was May 1, 2018.
CENTERFEST 2018 EXHIBITING ARTISTS:
Gary Baird of Carolina Shores, NC is a photographer who looks for the art in nature waiting to be discovered. Many of his images are of birds in all their glory.
NC Artist
Amy Barnard of Raleigh, NC makes handbags from vegan leather, recycled vinyl fabrics, and recycled metals.
NC Artist
Sean Barry of Atlanta, GA instills mixed media pieces with elements of photography, collage, and abstraction. Objects, symbols and graphic elements are incorporated to explore themes.
Bob Batura of Raleigh, NC makes contemporary wood furniture and accent pieces that are often constructed from locally-grown or salvaged hardwoods, burls, and figured woods.
NC Artist
Veronica and David Bennett of Meadows of Dan, VA are a team specializing in lamp-working, kiln forming, and casting their own glass. They construct their sculptures by soldering and welding glass with semiprecious stones, fossils, and historical objects.
Mark Bickett of Raleigh, NC hand crafts flutes starting from a block of wood. He uses high quality sound woods such as sepele, sitka spruce, and aromatic cedar, and then tunes each flute meticulously.
NC Artist
Tracy Booth of Roanoke, VA paints in oils and acrylics using brush and painting knife to create continuity in two mediums in use of color and texture.
Micka’il Brandon of Durham, NC uses a technique called spiral bead crochet, to weave intricately patterned necklaces and bracelets. Using designs from African and other indigenous cultures, he aims to shine a light on the culture, and art of different peoples.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
M.T.C Crafts
- Media: Jewelry
Paul Braun of St. Augustine, FL hand carves sculptures created from domestic and exotic stone. Inpiration for each piece comes from megalithic structures and primitive cultures.
- Business Name:
PAUL BRAUN STUDIOS
- Media: Sculpture
Rae Brown and Julie Rogers of Ayden, NC use mid-range white stoneware to create functional ceramics. Pots are shaped, altered, and layered with many glazes to create a crackle effect.
NC Artist
Theresa Brown of Franklinton, NC designs, sews and creates hand painted and ecoprinted wearable art and accessories in silk and wool.
NC Artist
Jean Brylowe of Carthage, NC creates abstract pieces using enamels, acrylics, oil sticks, palette knives, rollers, and various texture tools.
NC Artist
Lynn Burcher of Hillsborough, NC creates whimsical, nature-themed jewelry by using glass beads to sculpt birds and acorns and then combining them with enamel and fused glass components.
NC Artist
Kit Burke-Smith of Beacon, NY creates jewelry inspired by everyday shapes and textures in the world around me, including shadows, sand, feathers, and leaves.
Terri Cadman of New Market, TN is inspired by nature and uses wood to capture the beauty. Capturing that beauty is labor intensive, requiring complicated joinery, bent lamination, carving, turning, hand shaping and hand sanding.
Alessandro Cagiati of New Bern, NC creates wheel thrown functional pottery using brush applied glazing as a finish.
NC Artist
Natasha Caine of Wilmington, NC creates mixed media jewelry with a strong sci-fi accent and charm using vintage parts, beads, and other found objects.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Empire Jewelry
- Media: Mixed Media
Dan Campbell of Morrisville, NC paints works with acrylic on wrapped canvas frames. His style is “modern impressionism with a dash of abstract” which features vibrant color and bold brush/palette knife strokes.
NC Artist
Kimberley Cartwright of Durham, NC is a fiber artist who uses fabric, paint and other mediums to create fabric post cards, pillows, small art quilts dolls, and other artful items.
NC Artist
Candy Carver of Durham, NC creates bold, abstract, acrylic paintings.
NC Artist
Randy Chapman of Fuquay-Varina, NC creates welded metal art from scrap material gathered from various manufacturers and reuse facilities.
NC Artist
Kevin Chen of Cary, NC works to express the essence of his connection to nature’s harmony and beauty by using brushes freely with ink and colors that are mostly extracted from natural materials.
NC Artist
Garry Childs of Rougemont, NC creates wheel thrown, Terra Cotta pottery finished with glazes and carvings.
NC Artist
Pui-Lan Cockman of Asheboro, NC creates original paintings using ink and bamboo brush on water colored paper.
NC Artist
Mary-Anne and Bill Collins of Raleigh, NC create whimsical sculptures that are made with clay, fabric, and acrylic.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Off the Deep End
- Media: Mixed Media
Sonya Coulson Rook of Raleigh, NC creates a rustic, organic, whimsical and playful line of jewelry with pieces that run the gamut of everything from easy to wear everyday to one of a kind wearable dioramas.
NC Artist
Dexter Covington of Haw River, NC hand-cuts recycled sheet steel to weld together creative pieces of work. He has been working on his own with no assistants since 1972.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Sculpture by Dexter
- Media: Metal
Kristen Dahms of Balston Lake, NY creates stunning watercolor paintings mixing college paper, ink, and coffee staining.
Kathleen Dautel of Raleigh, NC combines passions in architecture and metal-smithing to create modern jewelry in steel. Forms are both architecturally based and drawn from nature.
NC Artist
Lorie English of New Bern, NC upcycles historical items to bring the past into the present in a new life. English creates cigar box guitars, cookie tin banjos, oil can guitars, hand cut and hand painted jig dolls, wooden kazoos, feed sack handbags, seed sack handbags, and recycled leather handbags.
NC Artist
Uzo Ezewudo of Chapel Hill, NC sews garments with 100% white cotton muslin and creates patterns on it with hot wax, then dye.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Nnamdi Batik Art
- Media: Fiber
Pat Falk of Owatonna, MN manipulates molten glass with gloved hands and specialized tools into curves, lines and shapes; layer and kiln-form. The sculptural art is all glass, no paint.
Randie Felts of Clarksville, VA creates handwoven apparel, accessories and garments using natural fibers such as rayon, silk, alpaca/ silk blend and cotton.
Amy Fletcher of Hillsborough, NC is inspired by music and works in oil with cold wax to increase luminosity and build color layers within nature-based or abstracted paintings. Sgraffito and etching are used to create depth and texture within each piece.
NC Artist
Janette Franich of Whittier, NC creates delicate, metalwork jewelry with precious and semi-precious metals and gemstones.
NC Artist
Linda Gourley of Dry Fork, VA handcolors whimsical prints that utilize the printmaking techniques of Inaglio Etching and Collographs.
Bruce and Christine Green of Micanopy, FL create heat impressed vapor mono prints on painted glass derived from deconstructed digital, ceramic glaze painting.
Maggie Grier of Irondale, AL paints layers using oil paint on canvas to create ethereal landscapes. She uses metal leafing instead of frames on the edges.
Jenn Hales of Raleigh, NC creates surreal acrylic paintings by layering washes of paint on birch panels.
NC Artist
Eric Hanan of Graham, NC hand carves abstract sculptures using end grain and crotch vessels featuring shell and mineral inlays.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Hanancrafts
- Media: Wood
Mike Hankerd of Banner Elk, NC uses reclaimed wood to create mountain, lake, furniture and other pieces that are then painted, distressed, and finished.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Old Salt LLC
- Media: Wood
Morgan Harris of High Point, NC creates handcrafted porcelain clay pottery with Macro-Crystalline glaze. Pieces include vases, bowls, mugs, oil candles, and soap pumps.
NC Artist
Bynum Hartman of Belews Creek, NC creates by hand with no assistant wood bowls and boxes, and laser cuts wood Christmas ornaments and wall frames.
NC Artist
Erin Hathaway of Raleigh, NC creates handwoven chainmaille jewelry and accessories in a variety of metals, colors, and patterns.
NC Artist
Dolores Hayes of Durham, NC creates wheel thrown decorative and functional ceramics using different techniques to provide texture and layers.
NC Artist
Lynn Hedgecock of Cary, NC hand stitches jewelry utilizing seed beads, crystals, gemstones and metals. A variety of bead weaving and bead embroidery techniques are used.
NC Artist
Kelvin Henderson of Suitland, MD uses acrylic paints in bold primary colors to create abstract images on canvas.
- Business Name:
Fruits of the Spirit Fine Art
- Media: Painting
Melissa Hill of Apex, NC uses waterless lithography, linoleum block, and mono-printing techniques to create unique, hand-pulled prints.
NC Artist
Meredith Hill of Richmond, VA hand prints screen prints of her own illustrations and photographs. Her inks are mixed by hand creating unique colors for each print, and are environmentally friendly and water based.
Booker Howze of Creedmoor, NC creates artwork in watercolor, acrylic, and oil that includes still life paintings, landscapes, abstract work and scenes.
NC Artist
Doreen Jakob of Durham, NC ceramics combine her passion for clay and textiles. She uses textiles (vintage laces, crochet, embroidery) as well as other post-consumer products (linoleum, packaging, natural materials) to create unique textures and impressions on clay.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Doora
- Media: Clay
Jenni James of Durham, NC uses classic and unique designs to make bold statement pieces for everyday wear.
NC Artist
Devin Johnson of Northfield, MN forges salvaged historical metals into art and accessories using traditional tools and techniques.
Kimberly Kearney of Raleigh, NC creates hand-woven beaded jewelry composed of glass seed beads, crystals and pearls. Components are woven together in patterned or free-formed styles.
NC Artist
Jinsong Kim of Seagrove, NC creates hand thrown vessels painted with underglazes and carved vessels with multiple glazes applied to the surface.
NC Artist
Busarin Kittichareonsup of Phoenix, AZ hand-fabricates, forges, and sets unique pieces using gold and sterling silver.
Susan Kopkind of Cary, NC creates one of a kind coiled and scalloped fabric bowls by applying different colorful batik fabrics to cotton clothesline and then using a zigzag stitch to coil the fabric into various bowl shapes and sizes.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Su-Di Designs
- Media: Fiber
Lulu Kurkechian of Palm City, FL uses lost wax casting in sterling silver with fine gemstones, pearls, opal, and found objects to create unique pieces of jewelry.
Eduardo Lapetina of Chapel Hill, NC creates colorful abstract paintings with interesting textures and surfaces.
NC Artist
Eric Leland of Baltimore, MD is an illustrator and print maker who views his work as artful ephemera.
Allan Leon of Chapel Hill, NC creates artwork of different stylistic themes using colorful shapes cut from adhesive vinyl.
NC Artist
Andria Linn of Durham, NC paints bright, vibrant paintings using acrylic paint and mediums on canvas.
NC Artist
Deborah Loflin of High Point, NC creates limited editions of functional art, utilizing only the finest quality new and up cycled fabrics and exotic leathers. Great care is taken to select the colors, textures and accents giving each piece an individual personality.
NC Artist
Suzanne Love of Raleigh, NC cuts, sands, shapes, and cleans copper shapes, then sifts powdered glass on the surface and fires the piece in a kiln. This starts a multi-step, experimental, process of layering and firing multiple times to obtain the depth and separation of color.
NC Artist
Jeannie Maddox of Dothan, AL paints larger than life photorealistic oils of swimmers and urban scenes based on her own photographs.
Andre Maiwald of Perkasie, PA creates one of a kind handmade unique birdhouses, figure and wood work from natural local wood.
Albert Massey of Norfolk, VA designs and makes wood boxes, vases, bowls, and sculptures.
- Business Name:
Massey Woodworking
- Media: Wood
Betty McKim of Raleigh, NC creates jewelry primarily made from sterling silver and is accented with colorful genuine gemstones, patinas and gold. All pieces are fabricated by hand using traditional metalworking techniques.
NC Artist
Mary Meglaughlin of Cary, NC uses a top coat needle felted over a wire armature to produce movable sculptures of various creatures and critters.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Art Felt Critters
- Media: Fiber
Mary Miller of Columbus, OH assembles soulfully worn, found objects and layers patterns under stained glass. Then tiles created from etched tarpaper & acrylic paint are added and all the elements are tied together with grout & paint.
Liz Mitchell of Fuquay-Varina, NC works at a torch with glass rods, frit, silver foil, and more to create beads using a variety of tools and techniques.
NC Artist
Tariq Mix of Columbia, SC creates bold, bright acrylic mediums on canvas using a unique abstract cubist style.
William Moore of Burlington, NC uses traditional methods and tools to carve animals from a variety of woods.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Moore Sculpture
- Media: Wood
Dan Murphy of Chapel Hill, NC designed and made all of the equipment in his one person studio to create abstract artwork for outside and interior settings.
NC Artist
Cecelia Murray of Durham, NC carves and prints linoleum block images on fabric. She prints on flour sack towels, cloth napkins, tote bags, and aprons.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
SeaSaw
- Media: Printmaking
Karin Neuvirth of Durham, NC uses a palette knife to create textured, expressionistic works. She mixes all of my colors from only primaries and uses a broken color technique to suggest energy and movement.
NC Artist
Adrienne Oates of Asheville, NC paints her favorite places in Durham and other areas she has grown a love for.
NC Artist
Julie Olson of Durham, NC incorporates media such as stained glass, metal-smithing, and lamp-working into her clay works.
NC Artist
Kyoung-Joa Park of Rochelle Park, NJ creates highfire porcelain jewelry. The pieces are slab built, cut, glazed and fired to cone9 in oxidation and finished with sterling silver.
- Business Name:
KJ Designs
- Media: Jewelry
Ginnie Parrish of Cary, NC creates intricate designs using polymer clay along with beads, wire, metal leaf, and charms.
NC Artist
Molly Pasca of Durham, NC creates both functional and decorative contemporary porcelain that is wheel-thrown and hand-built.
NC Artist
Lanny Pelletier of Cape Carteret, NC creates pieces of wheel thrown stoneware with some sculpted additions.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Pelletier Art & Pottery
- Media: Clay
Brenda Priest of Holly Springs, NC is a pen & ink artist who works from photographs to create illustrations of homes & buildings, completely hand drawn. Each individual line is crafted in a manor to represent form and texture.
NC Artist
Roberto Quintero Roberto Quintero of Long Pond, PA produces handmade, original shoes and leather bags adorned with a textile called mola. Shoes are handmade 1 by 1, not mass produced.
- Business Name:
Molas4u
- Media: Fiber
Sadarryle Rhone of Wake Forest, NC creates pieces that feature paper beads made from adapting and experimenting with traditional paper bead making methods.
NC Artist
Bruce Rosen of Millers Creek, NC creates furnishings for the home from a variety of fine hardwoods and original designs.
NC Artist
Barbara Rush of Roswell, GA builds up the hues of her paintings by putting glazes of acrylic color onto black canvases.
Nancy Ryall of Oxford, NC creates works in 14k gold, diamonds, gemstones and Tahitian pearls, using traditional goldsmithing techniques such as forging with a hammer and anvil, soldering, forming, piercing and texturing.
NC Artist
Tomas Savrda of Kent, CT uses naturally weathered wood and recycled metal to create walled stages with metal moving figures, and single kinetic figures on stands.
Allison Schroeder of Madison Heights, VA creates jewelry with sterling silver as well as some copper brass, gold elements, and gemstone cabochons using traditional metal-smithing techniques.
Cesar Sertzen of Richmond, VA turns hand-carved and 3D printed wax sculptures into botanical jewelry, occasionally casting little bits of real plants as well.
Susie Silver of Cary, NC uses minimal tools to actively layer combinations of ink, watercolor, acrylic, resin, and Yupo paper on wood panels.
NC Artist
Charlie Smith of Roanoke, VA photographs scenes of the Blue Ridge Mountain region.
Karen Smith of Charlotte, NC creates jewelry using a variety of different metal-smithing techniques and materials. Some surfaces are textured and/or embellished with enamels
Nelson Smith of Rocky Mount, NC primarily works with stainless steel, copper, sterling silver, bronze and brass to create sculptures that utilize welding, acetylene welding, soldering and brazing methods.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Nelson R Smith Metal
- Media: Metal
Cindy Snow and her husband James Young of Youngsville, NC use silver-smithing, cold connections, resin, and enameling to create jewelry from antique watch parts, vintage finds and items found in nature such as dragonfly wings. They have also created sterling silver pieces with semi-precious stones, dinosaur bone, Fordite and other unique finds.
NC Artist
Paul Steinke of Sunset Beach, NC creates indiviually hand blown pieces with color creations uniquely designed by artist.
NC Artist
Andy Stivers of Hapeville, GA handcrafts sculptural steel fire pits and accessories. He uses recycled, reclaimed and found materials to make his pieces, employing traditional and non-traditional welding and forging methods.
Jason Stroddart of Cookeville, TN documents “America’s Leftovers”; finding forgotten objects that tell a story. Stroddart uses modern techniques to achieve the traditional sepia tone, hand tinted style using museum archival materials in his studio.
Nataliya Strumila of Greensboro, NC brings the Lost Art of Filigree to life when she uses stainless steel wires, electric spot & arc welders, rollers, pliers & dental equipment to sculpt jewelry inspired by Nature. Each piece is an orginal design that incorporates semi precious gems to create flower & berry patterns.
NC Artist
Darcelle Szeremi of Hillsborough, NC fabricates sterling silver with gold, brass and copper accents. She will then chase, forge, or repoussé the piece with semi-precious cabochons and freshwater pearls, creating almost exclusively one of a kind pieces.
NC Artist
Tabitha Thomas of Miami, FL designs, sews and dyes one-of-a-kind, wearable garments and bodyscarves. Each piece is designed, cut and assembled in house by Thomas using natural fibers, cotton thread.
Matt Tomko of Durham, NC uses a variety of techniques to create nature and wildlife paintings.
NC Artist
Barry Udis of Chapel Hill, NC focuses on capturing images that he finds everywhere when traveling and presents them in such a way as to share the incredible beauty and complexity of the world.
NC Artist
David Underwood of Durham, NC is a skilled acrylic artist who often starts with used canvases as inspiration. While the final piece looks much different you can still see some of the old if you look hard enough.
NC Artist
Mark Van de Bogart of Bronson, FL uses evolving design concepts to create jewelry that enhances precious and semi-precious stones.
Elisa Vargas of Atlanta, GA designs and makes jewelry using Chalcedonite, Mother of Pearl, labradorite, amathyst, garnet, coral and fresh water pearls. Her pieces are decorated with Swarovski Crystal pieces and marcasites, with base metals of sterling silver or oxidized bronze.
- Business Name:
Vargas / Serezli - SerezDesign
- Media: Jewelry
Jill Wagoner of Fuquay-Varina, NC creates silk clothing and accessories using paint and water with unique prints that are impossible to duplicate.
NC Artist
- Business Name:
Wagoner Studios
- Media: Fiber
L Jamal Walton of Durham, NC creates hand drawn pen and ink illustrations, comic pages and strips, full color illustrations, and full color computer drawn images and prints.
NC Artist
Heather Washburn of Chapel Hill, NC repurposes materials and turns them into accessories that are unique, using a combination of hand cutting, punching, stringing, sewing, and printing. Most folks wouldn’t make jewelry from dental chairs, but she isn’t most folks!
NC Artist
Marie Wright of Pittsboro, NC creates beautiful, crystalline glazed porcelain pottery.
NC Artist
Stacey Wright of Gainesville, GA creates colorful, whimsical paintings on a ceramic “canvas”.
Sompit Xia of Granite Falls, NC uses recycled cans to hand craft airplane models. With over 80 different models, the planes are each unique and cut, formed, and assembled with precision and artistry.
NC Artist
Hsiang-Ting Yen of Raleigh, NC creates jewelry with an aesthetic inspired by watercolor paintings, Art Nouveau era, and organic, sculptured modern forms.
NC Artist
Anabella Zagura of Durham NC creates hand-forged jewelry using primarily the anticlastic raising technique, and uses sterling silver, gold, and gemstones.
NC Artist
