February 2024 News

"Leap" into February

Get ready to immerse yourself in a world of creativity as we unveil a trio of extraordinary events featuring some of our most talented artists.

At On The Edge Gallery, we not only host artists' events we celebrate their creativity, diversity and wide-ranging expressions. 

 From mesmerizing paintings to captivating sculptures, each piece tells a unique story.

Thursday ArtWalk ~ 2/1/24
Gold Palette: "Western Week"
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

What Inspires you to create?
I like the challenge of creating a sense of light on the landscape or figurative subjects

Describe your creative process.
I often paint on location to get a real sense of a place. I also believe it’s important to paint from life whether it’s of figures or still life.

How has your art evolved over the years? Hopefully, I’ve improved! Every painting is a problem or puzzle to figure out. I can manage the process faster than when first started out.

What Inspires you to create?
Mostly my need to give.

Describe your creative process.
I most of the time begin with a design sketch, choose stones, cut and shape the metal, solder the metal and set the stones. That is the highly condensed version.

How has your art evolved over the years?
Evolved? I began with wire wrapping and beading. After I took my first soldering workshop, I was hooked. From that day forward, I used a torch.

What Inspires you to create?
Many things inspire me: landscapes, sunsets, fabrics, beautiful stones, sparkles.  All of these can inspire me to create.

Describe your creative process.
Based on the color, shape and size of the skull and horns; which vary greatly, I choose a center piece for the skull; usually a semi-precious stone.  From there, I create a color pallet.  These things also help to develop an idea for the basic design of the skull. 

However, the design usually changes throughout the process, often not at all resembling the initial idea.  The final design develops throughout the process; creating a “real time” design.

How has your art evolved over the years?
I try to incorporate more sparkly glass, beads, and tiles into my art.

Thursday ArtWalk ~ 2/8/24
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

What Inspires you to create?
I want to share my photographic pleasure by creating really good photographic prints, and also teaching photography

Describe your creative process.
I go out on a photographic excursion without any preconceived notions on what to shoot, take pictures as the opportunities present themselves, go home, and process the resultant images to recreate the pleasure of looking through the eyepiece so that the viewer of the print feels like he is looking at the original scene Through an Open Window

How has your art evolved over the years?
I have enhanced my technical capabilities while developing a simpler understanding of what to do to achieve better technical results.

What Inspires you to create?
Making art inspires me.  Making something from nothing inspires me.  Playing and discovering new things inspires me.  Seeing other beautiful art inspires me.  Seeing beautiful scenery inspires me.  Listening to music inspires me. 

There is so much in the world to be inspired by, and I'm grateful that I have the time and means to appreciate it.
  
Describe your creative process.
When I start a painting, I typically begin with dark shapes to begin to define a composition.  I then decide what colors would be fun to play with, and I'm off to the races!  Every mark or brush stroke leads to the next one, and the next one, and pretty soon it comes together.  Some come together quickly, and others take a long time. 

People think abstract work is easy, but it's really not.  There's a lot of thought about values and energy and textures, and ultimately it's about solving the little mysteries that show up as you work.

How has your art evolved over the years?  
In the five years I've been doing this, my work has become more varied, more complex, and more interesting overall.   This is a time when abstract art is "in," so I feel like I'm in the right place to be developing my work.

What Inspires you to create?
The Universe is inspirational.  These vast expanses of space contain deep space objects ... nebulae, galaxies, star clusters ... that are colorful, dynamic, and thought-provoking.  Knowing I can capture this beauty for others to enjoy is what inspires me.

Describe your creative process.
Since deep-space objects are dim, dark, and distant, multiple sub-exposures are required to capture enough light.   These raw sub-exposures require many unique and special computerized post-processing techniques to reduce "noise", improve clarity, and increase resolution. Throughout these processes, which takes many hours, the original image gradually becomes clearer, brighter, and more vivid. The final limited-edition image is then printed on metal.

How has your art evolved over the years?  
When I first moved to Arizona, I embarked on a 10-year self -imposed apprenticeship to learn how to do astrophotography.  During those 10 years, while camping regularly in the desert, I took hundreds of images and spent countless hours at the computer learning about processing techniques.  Finally, in 2015, I sold my first image.  Since then, much of my astrophotography equipment and software have improved ... more sophisticated, more functionality, more options ... and my expertise has also evolved.

Saturday, 2/10/24
Sat-ART-Day
10:00 am - 2:00 pm

What Inspires you to create?
I always have ideas on what I want to create. Color, movement, nature, design, and materials all influence what I do
 
Describe your creative process.
intuitive, random, transforming chaos into a personal vision.

How has your art evolved over the years?  
I spent years painting wildlife illustrations for a company in Alaska that produced giftware for the cruise industry, I have evolved into an abstract artist and am not concerned with realism. It is very freeing.

What Inspires you to create?
Nature! The beauty of wood and stone is amazing. Combining the two in the right dynamic creates some incredible pieces.

Describe your creative process.
I look for unique pieces of wood that have personality. Burls are one of my favorites because of the patterning and texture of the wood. I select the piece of wood and then determine the type of inlay. Sometimes it is pieces of stone and stone powder mixed with epoxy.

Other times it could be just the stone or the stone powder. I also like to use copper and copper powder for inlay. Then the inlay process begins. Once the entire piece is sanded and sculpted, I use tung oil to finish. It can be anywhere from two to five coats of tung oil depending on the wood.
 
How has your art evolved over the years?  
Like everything, the more you do something the more you gain knowledge and try different things. I've started doing more live edge wall art lately because it’s an extension of the live edge tables.

Thursday ArtWalk, 2/29/24
Gold Palette: "Native Spirit!"
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

What Inspires you to create?
Being an avid outdoorswoman, most of my inspiration comes from diving in the ocean, hiking, and trail riding in the desert. My work mimics the constant movement of the ocean and the diverse shapes in the desert.

Describe your creative process.
I start with a shape that intrigues me from one of my forays outside. I do a quick sketch on paper. I then start with a base of flat clay. I then use my variation of coil building to build my sculpture from the base up. The movement comes from the compression and stretching of the clay into the form that I have envisioned. I then fire the sculpture using multiple layers of glaze for depth of color.

How has your art evolved over the years?
Working with clay involves many years of experimentation and failure. Figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

I started with large simple forms. Through the years I was able to hone my sculptures into more complex forms with more complicated glaze combinations. 

What Inspires you to create?
My love of all things Native American is what moves my heart and influences my art.  I love to share my work with others and their appreciation of what I do makes me want to create more pieces.

Describe your creative process.
I use maple wood, wood burning, and India ink to create my pieces.  The wood is turned on a lathe to obtain the desired shape.  Then a series of lines are drawn from the center of the piece to the outer edge, much like spokes on a wheel.  These pencil lines are burned with a wood-burning tool to make the lines permanent and to burn the wood to discourage the ink from running when coloring a design. 

When all the lines are burned, thousands of little squares appear on the surface of each piece.  India ink is used to apply color and create the pattern.

How has your art evolved over the years?
My art has evolved by creating more complicated designs on my pieces.  I have also included more traditional patterns to which I sometimes add some color for appeal. More recent pieces will have extra wood burning to enhance some traditional pieces and further the illusion of the piece being an actual basket.

What Inspires you to create?
Internal drive with inspirations from Nature, Human forms, and dance. A lot of my problem-solving is done in my sleep, I dream about how to construct a piece or resolve a design issue, I wake up with a clear sense of direction and cannot wait to get to the studio.

Describe your creative process.
I start with my sketchbook; I will start drawing small thumbnail ideas and flush out 10 to 20 at a time. If I feel uninspired, I draw another 10 to 20 ideas. I evaluate the ideas and see if any of them could be refined and then I expand the size and also create images in 3-D, once I decide one of them is worth construction I proceed to create in clay or wood. I work from the drawings to get the size, and movements correct, but allow myself to create on the fly where inspired. I spend a lot of time reviewing the work after completion, if it does not speak to be in the 3-D, it does not leave the studio in one piece.

How has your art evolved over the years?
I just spoke about this within the last few months, I see my work getting more detailed. The surface is getting much more attention, and I am spending 2 to 3 times more effort to complete the sculptures.