ArtExposure! - A Place for Artists and the Community
ArtExposure Artists Association Members

Congratulations!

One of our members, James Lincon, got 1st place at the VAE (Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh), a juried competition for "Drawing the Line" theme.
There were over 125 submissions by artists.

 
Karen Crenshaw: Oils and Watercolor
Studio 1 at  ArtExposure!
Karen grew up in West Virginia where she obtained a B.S. in Art Education from Concord College. After teaching in Rockbridge County, VA, she returned to her studies at George Washington University in Washington, DC, receiving a Master of Fine Arts in Painting. Her paintings have been exhibited and have won awards in New York City, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and DC.  Karen’s work is currently exhibited at ArtExposure in Studio 1 and in her home in Jacksonville, NC.
  Karen has been accepting portrait commissions for a number of years and specializes in portraits of women and children. Her work is traditional and lifelike, yet it maintains a painterly quality. She enjoys providing her clients with an heirloom that will last for many generations. “ I especially love working with children and capturing that innocence that seems to pass so quickly,” the artist says.
  When she is not working on portraits, you can find her painting landscapes. “Coastal Images,” her recent one-person show at UNCW, featured scenes from Topsail Island painted from photographs and studies done before the devastation of recent hurricanes. “I am particularly intrigued by the pinkish-blue tones of the early morning light and the amber light of late afternoon. When the sun is low on the horizon, it creates wonderful contrasts of forms and oblique angles and shapes. I’m always looking for a dynamic abstract pattern on which to base the composition,” she explains.
 
Derick Crenshaw ( no relation to Karen) :  Derick Crenshaw was drawing as soon as he was old enough to hold a pencil.
He was always considered “the Artist” by classmates and teachers as he was growing up.
Educated in Advertising Design, Derick was soon doing illustrations for advertising
where he earned the title of Master Pictorial Artist. His illustration career and success
spans over twenty years, earning numerous regional and national awards, including “Best in Show” in regional Addy Competition and “Gold” in the national Addy Awards. After completing a number of commissioned portraits and paintings, Derick left the world of illustration to paint his magic for the world.
 Derick was showing his art publicly as early as the 5th Grade. At the age of 17, he was invited to show at the prestigious Piedmont Arts Festival in Atlanta Georgia. At 19, Derick was featured in a one-man exhibit at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. Derick worked as a Scenic Artist for DEG Film Studios and was a member of the Cape Fear Filmmakers Accord. He has shown successfully in juried shows in the southeast. His work hangs in many private and corporate collections.
 
Ellen Elder:  Mixed Media and Glass
Originally from Northern California, Ellen taught multi-handicapped children for several years there. She took a leap in 1986 and applied to teach overseas for the Department of Defense Dependents' Schools in Japan.  She was finally able to teach art at a large school at Yokota Air Base.  Ellen arrived in southeastern NC when she met her future husband in Japan and he was transferred to the southeastern coastal area of NC in 1988.   She taught art at Camp Lejeune and the New River Air Station for twenty more years and retired in 2007 after 30 years of teaching.
Her dream was to create an art center for the community and for struggling artists in the area.  Thus ArtExposure was created in 2009.  Although she formerly used watercolors and pastels as her favorite media, she turned to fusing glass several years ago.  Since being at ArtExposure, she has been inspired by the incredible artists around her and has been working on a technique using acrylics and metallic powders while applying paint and removing it to create the texture and movement desired.
                                                                                         
                                                                    Greg Patch: Mixed Media
Greg is a graduate of State University of New York where he received a BFA. His work is currently on display at Sapona Green Building Center in Wilmington, NC.
Greg paints with colorfast, carefully selected pigments  that are food
container safe mixed with beeswax. They are free of turpentine, processed oils or toxic chemicals like cadmium, chromium, pthalos and lead, and the preservatives and fungicides found in acrylic, encaustic, watercolor and gauche paints. The medium of beeswax and pigment, which has been used since prehistoric times, also intensifies the clarity, richness and integrity of color, line and form.
                                                          
Patrick Raynor:  Oils 
Patrick has been drawing and painting his entire life. He paints in the "impressionist" style.   Some of his paintings are painted
"plein air" while others are painted in his studio using photographs for reference.
Tracy Sorensen:  Acrylic/Mixed Media
Studio 1 at  ArtExposure!
Tracy was awarded the UNCW Kathleen P. Bryan Art And Theater Scholarship in 2002 and graduated with honors from UNCW In 2004.  Tracy has participated in numerous juried shows and has won several awards for her work.  Her work can be seen at The Trading Post in Sneads Ferry, NC and at Earthbound Spa in Carolina Beach, NC. She currently teaches art for the Onslow County Schools.
 
 
Robin Wynn:  Photography
Robin is a self-taught artist focusing primarily on landscape and nature photography.  Photography came naturally to Robin after her father gave her her first camera at the age of 18. She now uses a DSLR and has been showing her work since July of 2008. Robin was raised in Florida and now lives in Hubert, NC.                         
 
BF Reed:  Pastels and Watercolors
Studio 3 at  ArtExposure!
For more than 20 years, B. F. Reed’s distinctive watercolors have been displayed in art galleries along the east coast of the United States, and abroad, in Japan and South Korea. She is one of the few artist that has been recognized twice by the prestigious National Watercolor Society and three times by the Watercolor Society of North Carolina.   She has also been awarded the Regional Artists grant, twice from the Eastern North Carolina Arts Council, which is partly funded by the North Carolina Arts Council.  The power of her work reflects rigorous years of study at the prestigious Moore College of Art and Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA.   There she honed her artistic sense of design and composition. B. F. began her professional career as a medical illustrator and as her reputation grew, she became a freelance artist and was commissioned by numerous collectors and private organizations. A “B. F. Reed” print was presented to First Lady, Hillary Rodham-Clinton, during a Presidential visit to Seoul, Korea.  Her original watercolor was also presented to the South Korean Secretary of Defense, US and foreign diplomats and military dignitaries.  B. F. Reed’s watercolors can be found in the US Presidential Art Collection, Foreign Diplomatic collections in Asia, corporate collections, such as the Coca Cola Bottling Company, owned by NBA Hall of Famer, “Dr.” Julius Erving, and numerous private art collections.
 
Bobbie Mayes:  South West Inspiration
Studio 12 at  ArtExposure!
 
“We only go around once in this life and I want my audience to stop, take notice and think-not so much my thoughts, but what the painting inspires them to think or enjoy. Life is full of beauty despite all the “ugly” I choose to try to capture the beauty. I want my life’s walk to be in beauty and color.”
   Primarily working in oils, Bobbie paints in southwestern and spiritual themes invoking thought, excitement and possibility.
   Bobbie Mayes was born in Dearborn Michigan, the daughter of WWII Veterans. Mayes’ Father was a refugee from Poland. Her father later became a Psychiatrist;
As a child, Bobbie loved to draw and her career as an artist began when she won first place for sculpture at a competition in Boyne Highlands Michigan,  Bobbie graduated from Petoskey High School as a  National Honor Society recipient. She was an exchange student to  Montevideo Uruguay. As a military wife, Bobbie has traveled extensively. Having lived in Japan for three years, and three years in  California’s Mojave Desert, where her love for the southwest began. In Taos, New Mexico she studied, painting and weaving, at the Taos Art institute under the instruction of  the Navajo master artist Pearl Sunrise. Her husband’s military retirement currently provides Bobbie opportunities to embrace ocean scenes into her body of work.
Bobbie was educated at the following Universities: Saddleback College, College of the Desert, University of Maryland-graduating cum laude, and Golden Gate University -Graduate degree-M.S. Her pursuit of education lead to a varied work career as a: nurse, art teacher and mental health therapist. However, art has always called to her and she has answered the call. Primarily self taught, Bobbie received artistic training at the Interlochen Center of the Arts, in Michigan. Bobbie credits her artistic abilities to being born into a family of artists and musicians who valued the pursuit of the arts and encouraged her to paint. The highlight of Bobbie’s career was being invited, as a special guest and to display her work of Leon for the press opening of the show, at the North Carolina Museum of Arts (Raleigh) exhibition The Naked Soul, in May of 1993. Her great uncle, Leon Wyczolkowski, was one of the featured artists represented. Leon was a renowned impressionist in Poland who was a colleague of Claude Monet. As an emerging artist, Bobbie has been involved with local shows in Jacksonville, N.C. Her art can be found in private collections in Boston, New York, New Mexico, Korea, Florida, Chicago and California.
Despite the long road to recovery from a life threatening brain tumor, eight years ago, Bobbie has remained true to her art. Her bold use of vivid colors reflect the boldness she has experienced in her life.
 
                                                                                                                    
Barbara Bear Jamison: Oils
 Barbara began painting in Post Office Alley in Wilmington at a young age.  She  graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in Art Education.  She works in oil and has participated in numerous shows in the Wilmington area.  She has also served as the president of the Wilmington Art Association.  Barbara will be teaching oil painting at ArtExposure in the near future.
 
 
Carol Hovey:  Watercolors
"For me, an important part of making art, and my greatest pleasure, is being absorbed in the process, whether it's drawing with a pencil, pushing color around with a brush, or stroking with pieces of pastel."
Carol works both large and small, often using flowers, complex still life compostions or local marsh as subject matter.  She has exhibited largely in the Wilmington and Southport area, being a member of both the Wilmington Art Association, Associated Artists of Southport and the Watercolor Society of North Carolina.
 
 
John and Marilyn Stover: Ceramics
Marilyn and John are a dual based pottery team, dividing their time between Red Oak in Eastern North Carolina, a pottery rich environment steeped in tradition, and the tranquility of Douglas Lake in Northern Michigan. Marilyn first started her clay endeavors in 1989 under the direction of Master potter, Dan Finch. She has continued her studies with him and has been influenced through classes and workshops of nationally and internationally known ceramic artists, such as Rudy Autio, Don Reitz, Tom Coleman, Paul Soldner, Peter Callas, and Debra Fritts, to name only a few. Marilyn's handbuilt clay forms include coiled stoneware baskets, platters and wall reliefs. She incorporates natural accents, such as handles made of seasoned cedar, grapevines, bamboo and driftwood. The harmonious blending of basic elements of nature is not only esthetically pleasing, but very rewarding to accomplish. The fusion of form and function in the creative process is a direct result of her two passions in life, travel and clay. A legacy of Marilyn's fifteen plus years as an international flight attendant is her continued passion for travel. During her global wanderings she is always in search of that special piece of driftwood or unique weathered branch to incorporate in her clay creations. From the experiences of travel and the constantly changing input from the varied sights, sounds, natural vistas and tactile interactions, she has tried to maintain a constantly fresh and evolving perspective in her work. The blending of clay, wood, glass and metal provides a rich melange that enables her to project what she has experienced.
John began his clay efforts after participating in a two week woodfiring workshop by Peter Callas in 2000. Since that pivotal event he has been influenced by ceramic artists such as Don Reitz, Dan Finch, Jack Troy and Ron Meyers. His main focus is wheel thrown pieces, both functional and decorative. He has been influenced by Asian and Indian work, from both Americas, as well as contemporary thrown, altered and carved work. He enjoys creating form and contour which are both functional and yet have a decorative effect. He blends experience from a scientific and liberal arts background. Still practicing as a diagnostic radiologist, John finds that clay offers a means to create from both without and within.
 
Wanda Harris:  Basket  Weaving
Wanda has been weaving baskets for more than twenty years.  She is a master of basket weaving and has designed many of her own patterns. Wanda can create variations of a particular style and has written patterns for a line of baskets.  She is a member of the North Carolina Basketmakers Association and the Port City Basketmakers. Wanda also demonstrates and teaches classes in basketweaving.  She will be offering basket weaving classes here at ArtExposure.
 
Stephen Greer:  Oils and Acrylic
" I express myself drawing and painting.  Depicting the North Carolina coast and doing candid sketches of people in public places provide the visual references used in creating both my abstract and realistic work.  Carrying a sketch book allows me to take advantage of those fleeting elements. Life and art engage me fully in the evolution of growing and learning" .
A resident of Jacksonville, NC, Stephen has exhibited widely in the area and has won numerous first place awards as well as Best of Show.
 
 
Janie Johnson: Watercolor
" My journey for the past twenty years has been one of learning to express myself in new ways, studying the work of others and finding my own voice in artistic media.  I have had the opportunity to study with a variety of local and nationally known artists.  Some of the classes were intensive sessions to help me develop my own personal style, while others were in a group setting that provided insight to other artists and their approach to 'seeing' in the world of art.  Two artists, Sterling Edwards and Chuck McLachlan, have had a major impact on my artistic growth.  These two have shared their incredible knowledge and encouraged me to have the courage to continue my journey."
Janie has been teaching most of her adult life, and is presently teaching watercolor classes at Jerry's Artarama in Raleigh, NC and will be teaching a workshop on September 19th and 20th at ArtExposure.
 
Nichola Hays:  Oil, Acrylic and Watercolor
 
Over the last year Nichola has been doing transcriptions of Indian paintings and then creating somewhat minimalistic still lifes based on them. Her work is about intense looking, color, and balance. She has received the Francis Niederer Scholar-2005 (Awarded to an art major in their junior year for their ability and work) and has participated in the Hollins Juried show - 2005 Hollins Juried show - 2006 Senior Art Exhibition - 2006 Hollins Juried Show - 2007 (2nd place).
 
Catherine Thornton:  Acrylic and Ceramic
 
Catherine earned her BFA in Painting and Sculpture from Longwood College (currently Longwood University) in Farmville Virginia, while in her mid 30’s, but she was not able to consistently pursue her art career for another fifteen years. In those fifteen years, however, ideas, concepts, and techniques were explored, diligently filed away on several sketchpads, envelopes and dinner napkins and assigned to the future. Her professional launch came about through a summer course at Penland School of Crafts and consequently being accepted into what she notes as a “nurturing and progressive artist community.”- Artspace. Thornton is tenaciously inquisitive with an appetite for discovery. She states, “I regret the day when I wake up to find no new thing, no reason to grow.” Her work reflect that attitude.
Thornton has received several awards and her work included in many solo and group exhibitions. Most recently, her work was chosen by Craft Alliance in St. Louis MO as part of a five year traveling exhibition beginning at the Forbes Gallery in New York.
 
Kristin Van Wynen:  Photography    . Kristin's award winning photographs are intended to relax the viewer, to create a quiet place, a still-point that may help people experience inner, quiet freedom. God's beauty is all around if it can only be noticed. Kristin has lived in Wilmington since 1977. She loves and is inspired by the outdoors from the seashore to the mountains. She likes hiking, exploring and kayaking in the tidal creeks. She also enjoys art museums and doing fiber arts, drawing, painting, and beading. Kristin's images reflect primarily the southeast from the mountains to the seashore including: sea, cloud and landscapes, animals such as shore birds, butterflies, horses, flowers, gardens, salt marsh creeks, to mountain streams and waterfalls. Her work also includes observations of our naturally abstract surroundings. Kristin has exhibited work across North Carolina, in New York City, Washington DC, Orlando, Florida, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Chicago, Illinois and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is represented in galleries in eastern North Carolina.
 
Will Rees: Sculpture and Fine Woodworking
Born October 10 1980 in Jamestown, North Carolina, between the two cities of Greensboro & High Point in Guildford County, Will grew up while the piedmont was transitioning from agriculture to industry, so the scenery and schools of his hometown were always changing.  For a more consistent learning environment, he attended an historic school on the outskirts of the Guilford Co. Known as Oak Ridge Military Academy from grades 8-12 graduating May 1999.  While growing up, Will spent his summers at the NC coast and after High School; attended UNC-Wilmington for 2 years studying writing and literature.  Curiosity, however, led him to work at Millennium Music Store, which caused him to intensify his focus on music.  The Music study, in turn, fueled an interest in music instruments and coincidently, interest in music instruments coincided with his following job working 1 year as a logger.  This experience is where he learned the skills to salvage, and later sawmill, the timber that would provide all of his woodworking materials.  Will decided that if he could learn to work wood into music instruments, he would be combining his skills and interest while learning a valuable marketable trade.   In 2004 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri to study Music Instrument Construction one on one with craftsman Sasha Radicic at the European Luthiery School.  Sasha had moved from the former republic of Yugoslavia and was a very skilled and influential teacher.  By 2006 he was collecting woodworking tools and repairing music instruments with hopes of having a more professional shop and beginning September 2007 he moved into and converted his home in Hampstead, NC into a Woodwork Studio, where he uses his skills as an instrument maker & restorer to create distinctive, functional and lasting works of wooden art of any genre.   From sculpted wood bowls, to guitars, to dining tables, if it can be visualized, Will can build it.                                                 
 
Denise Lincon:  Oil, Acrylic and Watercolor
Denise F. Lincon began painting and participating in the arts at an early age in Colorado. After graduating with a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, she pursued a professional career in the NYC metro area as an award-winning graphic designer and illustrator, yet continued creating paintings and small sculptures for her personal pleasure for over 20 years. The paintings Denise is currently creating are colorful, sometimes playful. When asked what her favorite medium is, she often replies, "None". Usually the concept defines her choice of medium, which at time can be a mixture depending on the texture and effects she is looking to achieve. After moving from Wisconsin to North Carolina 2 years ago, she has been actively participating in a variety of juried events and working with artists and students in the Raleigh area. Her current memberships include the Visual Art Exchange, Fine Arts League of Cary, and an active Board Member of the Carolina Designer Craftsmen Guild. Her fine-arts paintings have been shown at a number of galleries and venues throughout the United States including the Greenwich Workshop, Westport-Weston Arts Council, Madison's Art on the Square, Visual Art Exchange, Halle Cultural Center, Cary Ballet, and the Fine Arts League of Cary
 
James Lincon: Oil and Digital Imaging
 
James J. Lincon began his creative career painting in oils in high school in Bayville, NY. After graduating from Northeastern University with a B.S., his desire to pursue a career as an artist led him to the Kansas City Art Institute. There he discovered graphic design, photography and silk-screening. Being one of the first artists to use photo silk-screen technology, he won several best in show and honorable mentions in a variety of juried venues held in Long Island. This exposure also led to a sponsorship by the Town of Oyster Bay for a one-man touring exhibition throughout the Nassau County Library system. After graduating K.C.A.I., James returned to the North East, and pursued a professional career as an Art Director in New York area, and eventually started a business in Connecticut with his wife, Lincon Studios, which gained national recognition as an award-winning creative boutique. His awards as a professional photographer include: New York Art Director's Club, Kodak, Boston Art Director's Club. James was also highly involved in developing digital photography technology in the early '90s. The recent move to North Carolina prompted James to return to his roots and desire as an artist. Today, he is experimenting with a combination of photographic transfers, paints, and digital media to create his work. Some works start with a brush on canvas, another may start with his giclee printer. His pieces have been juried into VAE's "New Show", the annual Fine Arts League of Cary, and Halle Cultural Center. His work has been exhibited at Mystic Seaport, Westport Weston Arts Council, Visual Art Exchange, Halle Cultural Center, and a variety of venues in the Raleigh area. James is currently a member of Visual Art Exchange and the Fine Arts League of Cary.
 
Diane McCord: Pastels and Pencil 
Diane began painting around 1990 after taking an oil painting class at a local Michaels store. 
 "After a few years of classes in oil, I bought my first set of pastels.  Wow!  it was amazing to find all those color values without having to mix them.  Since I tend to work in short painting sessions, pastels were perfect.  I believe in drawing the viewer in through color.  I have been told frequently that my paintings "create mood" and I like that statement." 
 
Sarah McTeer Ogburn:  Studio 11 at ArtExposure! "I truly love what I do. I find it irresistible to create.  My work is deliberately personal and often spiritual. I love presenting it with humor, similes, and imagination, hoping to invite the viewer to imagine his or her own sense of each piece. Working in mixed media gives me such great license to express myself unreservedly. I was six when I first, bare-open-naked, discovered art. I felt astonishing wonder. The marvel of seeing an image come forward on paper, struck with pencil, a crayon, or sloshed with water and a brush filled with color, was remarkable to me.
I work quickly, with bouts of reflection and study, hopeful the results meld a marriage of joy and thoughtfulness. I am inspired by profound love of life, imagination, and the concept that all of nature is healing to the human soul. My work is never intended to be political or culturally insensitive and never rendered with the intent of claiming one tradition is right and others are wrong.I am hopeful my works will convey to those who view them an appreciation of culture, identity, and value of life. It is my intention each piece is aesthetically pleasing and loving in form. My pieces act as a physical communion between me, the subject matter, the materials, the creative imaginative process, and serve as reminders of the eternal link between our cultures and identity. My interest is not in painting exact images, but to create a sense of appreciation for uniqueness, joyfulness, vulnerability, warrior souls and individuality. My intention is imbued with practicality and hope. My goal is to create works that display the sincere grace of woman, innocence of child and honor of man."
 
New Members (bios and pictures coming)
Steve Brooks
Libby Cullen:
James Davis:
Rena MacCullen
Lynn Padgett
Mary Ann Rozear