You are Invited to Skaneateles Artisans First Friday Art Night, September 3rd from 6 to 9 PM.
Please join us for our monthly celebration as we feature exciting new works by two of our members: Sue Hosey – Fiber Artist and Susan Poppenger – Floral Arrangement with Fresh and Dried flowers. Enjoy festive music provided by DJ Silence. Refreshments will be served.
Skaneteles Artisans is located at 11 Fennell St, Skaneateles, NY. The gallery offers off-street parking and accepts major credit cards. Exhibit Runs through September 30, 2010. For more information visit www.skaneatelesartisans.com or 685-8580.
Contact person: Teresa Vitale
315-689-5037
email: tvitale1@twcny.rr.com
Sue Hosey – Fiber Artist
Creating unique baskets, gourds and art pieces brings together many passions of my life – the need to create; the joy of working with my hands; love and respect for nature, nurtured by my father; and my curiosity about tools and fascination with making things. I collect compulsively: stones, shells, leaves, feathers, and all forms of natural materials.
In 1999 I signed up for a class and made my first basket. That class reawakened my passions and started my journey. Since then, I’ve taken hundreds of classes with local, national and international artists to improve my skills, experiment with a wide variety of techniques, and explore different types of baskets. I travel with clippers, saw and gloves so I don’t miss any opportunity to gather “treasures from the earth!” I love using the beauty and bounty of nature to explore my creativity and create my art.
I grew up and raised my family in Skaneateles. I have a BS degree in Human Ecology from the University of Maryland, a Masters in Consumer Studies from Syracuse University and a NYS Teaching Certificate. After forty years in education and the food industry, my husband and I now split our time with family in Skaneateles, Florida, Kentucky and Vermont.
Susan Poppenger – Floral Arrangement with Fresh and Dried Flowers
Susan Popenger is the farmer and florist for Pods & Poppies, a family owned flower and herb farm located in the hills south of Skaneateles.
Entering her 9th year in business, the farm has grown from a half acre and sales at two farmer’s markets to over three acres and sales at markets, local country stores, weddings, parties, and a weekly delivery service. They conduct workshops with garden clubs, the BOCES Adult Education program, and at the farm. Their floral designs have been on exhibit at local art shows, including the Everson’s Fine Art and Flower show and Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery’s Clothesline Festival, as well as the AAUW’s Women in Art shows. They also participate in the Skaneateles Art’s Council events and most recently have been honored with membership in the Skaneateles Artisan’s gallery.
Susan is a Master Gardener with Cornell Cooperative Extension and is a strong advocate for farming with sustainable practices, which the farm has followed since its inception.
Susan’s floral arrangements are enhanced by the wide variety of flowers, herbs, trees, and shrubs they are able to grow in our region. The farm has over 200 varieties available and they try new varieties every season, giving their arrangements a fresh and unique look. The colors, scents, and textures provide endless inspiration for Susan to express her art with flowers.
Skaneateles Artisans is proud to welcome four prestigious artist from the Roycrofters At Large Association. The works of Kristine Baker, Lea Corey, Howard Lehning and Laura Wilder will be on display for the month of August. The opening reception will be on Friday August 6th from 6 to 9 pm, with Live Music by Kate and Paul: www.kateandpaulband.com. Refreshments will be served.
Kristine Baker
She enjoys both fashion and color. Kristine Baker combines both in her
hand painted designs, using fiber-reactive dyes and the ancient medium of silk; each piece is unique and handcrafted by Ms. Baker from start to finish. Painting on silk for over twenty years, Ms. Baker has sold internationally and has been awarded the Roycroft Renaissance Artisan status for the last three years. Her work is currently carried by a Rochester, New York gallery and four museum stores.
Lea Corey “I just gotta bead….”
One cannot grow up in Corning, N.Y. and not have at least a small fascination with the many possibilities of glass as an artistic medium. Combine that fascination with a mother and grandmother who embroidered, tatted, quilted, smocked, and needle pointed. Needless to say, I was strongly encouraged to sew! My artistic journey has evolved from that humble beginning beyond anything my mentors had ever envisioned. This has been a 30-year evolution of what I consider a very unique style. Textural beadwork in jewelry has dovetailed into three-dimensional sculpture, both large and small. My miniature work for dollhouses, baskets, vessels, and wearables have taken the simple glass bead on a journey through mixed media, loom work, and a variety of free hand stitching techniques. I received my Roycroft Mark in 2005 and attained the level of Master Craftsman in 2009 for my artistry in beads. Every day I look forward to some time in my studio………bead therapy!
Howard Lehning
Howard Lehning attended Carnegie-Mellon University / Architecture, and Rochester Institute of Technology / Photography and Design. Was engaged as a professional draftsman and designer for 20 years. Was employed as Senior Designer for the Kittinger Furniture Company in Buffalo, NY and for the Baker Furniture Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I have been involved with the Colonial Williamsburg Furniture Reproduction Program, and the Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island. A woodworker and inveterate tinkerer all my life, in 1983 I started HEARTWOOD, a small woodworking shop in East Aurora, NY. Was accepted as a Roycroft Artisan in 1984. I continued my shop commission work while otherwise gainfully employed.
In 1992 I reorganized as HR LEHNING FINE FURNITURE & TIMEPIECES and started full-time as furniture maker. I have been engaged for 17 years producing commission work as well as developing my own product line of furniture, clocks, and small wood items. Part of my business has been to design and build high-end kitchen installations, and several residential libraries. I have also produced furniture reproductions for Graycliff, the Darwin and Isabella Martin summer home in Derby, NY that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I have trained three apprentices, one of whom has started his own cabinet business. My current apprentice is also an Air Force Reservist.
I currently sit on the Board of Directors of the Roycrofters-at-Large Association, the parent Not-For-Profit organization that administers for the Roycroft Artisans. At present there are 60 Roycroft Artisans and Master Artisans. We produce a summer festival and winter craft shows each year, as well as an educational lecture series, scholarship program, and the renowned Roycroft Chamber Music Festival.
Laura Wilder
For 13 years, Laura Wilder has been a Roycroft Renaissance Master Artisan specializing in vintage-style block prints. She has won many awards for her work, which she exhibits at shows, in over 20 galleries and shops nationwide. Laura’s artwork centers on the themes of trees, sunlight and slowing down to appreciate the small, simple things in life.
Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell Street
Skaneateles, NY 13152-1117
(315) 685-8580
http://www.skaneatelesartisans.com/
Skaneateles ARTisans, 11 Fennell Street, Skaneateles, NY will feature the art of Steven Fland and Ed Levine during the month of July. The opening reception is Friday, July 2nd from 6 until 9 PM.
Both artists are well known throughout the area and beyond. Steven is a sculptor of wildlife with pieces ranging in size from a hummingbird to a hippo and a table featuring a kingfisher. Ed is a watercolorist, known for his landscapes, still life paintings and has recently finished a commission for the Skaneateles Antique Boat Show.
In honor of this event, there will be refreshments provided by the blue Danube www.bluedanubegourmet.com and live music by E.S.P Jazz Trio www.espjazz.org.
The gallery offers off-street parking. Skaneateles Artisans # 315-685-8580
For more information contact Theresa Vitale at 315- 689-5037 or by e-mail to tvitale1@twcny.rr.com
Ed Levine – Watercolor
Ed Levine’s twenty year love affair with Skaneateles Lake is evident in his artwork of the last few years. His paintings of the Lake and surrounding vistas are filled with emotional impact. Born in Albany, New York, Ed Levine received his art education at the State University of New York at New Paltz and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Among the artists that he studied with was George Wexler, a well known painter in the Hudson River School tradition and Arnold Singer, a master printer and graphic artist. Ed now resides on the south end of Skaneateles Lake in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.
Ed has been showing his work professionally for the past thirty years in some of the finest juried shows in New York State as well as other selected shows along the East Coast. Throughout the past ten years of his career Ed has painted still lifes using food as the general source of subject matter. Since retiring after 33 years of teaching and moving to Skaneateles Lake in June of 2005, Ed’s attention has been captured by his new surroundings. The dominant features of Ed’s watercolors are shape, color, and transparent layers combined in an active composition. His paintings radiate with an emotional and physical directness created by their saturated color and bright light.
“When creating my artwork, I attempt to consider all the rules that I’ve learned and taught, and follow only those that I feel are appropriate for that day and that painting. I often remind myself to keep it simple, to be direct, not to add even a single brushstroke that is not necessary. I remind myself that I, not a gallery or client, have to be satisfied with this painting. The principles and elements of design, are second nature to me after painting for over thirty years and are a part of every painting. In the end, a painting is all about choices, what to do, and more importantly, what not to do. I take the privilege of making my paintings richer than life, more colorful, often with more striking compositions. I design my still lifes so that they are comprised of elements that are a comfort to me. My landscapes are of very specific places, but remind me of others that I’ve seen and experienced throughout my life. It is my desire that the viewer will also find them to be familiar and heartwarming.”
Visit my web site at: www.edlevineartwork.com
Steve Fland – Wood Sculpture of Wildlife
Steven Fland is a self-taught sculptor specializing in life size birds in which the wildlife species and habitat all start from a block of wood or piece of metal.
“I reside in Moravia, a small community in the Eastern Finger Lakes region of Central New York State. Upon receiving a BS degree in Biology, from SUNY Potsdam, I taught middle school Life Science for 36 years. While doing ornithological graduate work at Cornell University, I had the unique opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant for the late Dr. Peter Paul Kellogg. Always interested in art, another teacher and I opened a wildlife art shop during the summer of 1976. It was there I saw this particular form of bird sculpture for the first time. Having a desire to try my hand in the art form, I completed my first carving in 1978 and entered my first competition in 1979, in novice class. In less than one year, I moved up and began competing in open/professional class and in 1982, I won my first of five “Best-of-Show” awards at the (now defunct) U.S. National Decoy Show. At the first New York State Wildlife Art Competition, I received first, second and third place awards. (The following year the rules were changed allowing only one entry per artist in the competition.)
My early pieces were highly detailed floating sculptures (“decorative decoys”) that in competition are judged on the water. Aside from having to be accurate to the species, in anatomy, color and posture, they must float correctly in a natural, lifelike attitude. I still carve floating sculpture but I have expanded my art to include a category referred to as “interpretative”, which does not float but focuses on a more stylized, loose impressionistic approach. Another genre is a highly detailed non-floating piece (“full size decorative”), in which the bird is set in a habitat.
Specialty commissions have included the creation of four vertical sculptures carved out of Basswood logs. These sculptures were originally designed for an Adirondack split wood cabinet. The poles were meant to honor the Haudenosaunne (Iroquois) culture and feature renditions of their clans, false faces and beliefs. When the cabinet was moved to a different location, the poles were removed; their paint was intensified and they are now installed in an entryway to a conference center.
All of my work reflects a desire to capture “the character of the bird” and its habitat and behavior. One of my sculptures is a juvenile Coopers Hawk with a Mourning Dove clutched in its talons, expressing the feel of an efficient predator. Whether it is a regal Canvasback, an elegant Wood Duck, a well fed Alligator, Snapping Turtle going after a duckling, a juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk begging for food, or a pre-copulatory pair of Cinnamon Teal, all of these pieces evoke an important action in the life of the animal. A recent carving of an Eastern Bluebird on a Pussy Willow branch, established the time of year.
The process used in all of these pieces starts with very extensive research including, at times, the purchase of aviary specimens to study. This research also includes studying the habitat that would be appropriate to the bird, such as Aspen, as opposed to Maple leaves in the setting for the American Woodcock. After research, a pattern is then drawn and cut from a block of wood which is generally Tupelo, Basswood or Black Walnut. From these blocks, wood is removed with knives, chisels, grinders and, depending upon the size of the piece and the task, I use a chain saw all the way down to a small tool that uses dental bits and turns 400,000 rpm. After the piece is carved, it is then textured and “burned” with an instrument that puts a knife-like cut in the wood using heat. This preparation creates a lifelike reflective surface, with natural undulations of highlights and shadows, on the sculpture. After developing the surface of the piece, acrylic paint is applied using as many as twenty, thin, watery washes. Metal is sometimes used for structural needs or for habitat such as a fall Goldenrod made of brass with the dried leaves made from various types of paper. In all cases, except for the eyes, I create the entire carving. The sculptures are all life-size renderings of the species depicted. They have ranged in size from a Ruby-throated Hummingbird to the pair of Red-tailed Hawks (the tallest piece ever displayed at the World Championships of Wildfowl Carving) to a piece of floor sculpture, in Black Walnut, of a Hippopotamus emerging from the water with two Cattle Egrets looking for insects on its back.
Composition is of major importance because I want to force the viewer’s eye to flow through the sculpture and still be of interest when seen from all directions. When viewing my work, look at the bird with regard to its behavior and the overall design, while at the same time remembering it is sculpted from wood.” Visit my web site : www.stevenflandgallery.com
Skaneateles ARTisans, 11 Fennell St., Skaneateles, NY, will feature in June the work of DeeAnn and Robert vonHunke. Opening reception Friday, June 4, 6-9pm.
DeeAnn and Robert vonHunke have been collaborating in the studio for decades, first as potters and more recently in jewelry design. DeeAnn and Robert make annual trips to Arizona and California to acquire rough semi precious stones from around the world, which the artists apply lapidary methods to laboriously make polished gems for DeeAnn’s jewelry designs and creations. DeeAnn combines her hand crafted silver metal clays and bezel mounts to create contemporary wearable art. Robert also works in acrylic painting and digital photography, creating a record of his observations and interpretations of time and place in landscapes and close-ups from Skaneateles to China.
With Live music and refreshments. The gallery offers off-street parking and accepts major credit cards. Exhibit runs through the month of June.
Contact person:
Teresa Vitale
315-689-5037
email: tvitale1@twcny.rr.com
DeeAnn vonHunke
I have been a creative designer/craftsperson for over thirty years. I started 
out working in porcelain, sculpting and wheel throwing large graceful translucent forms. PMC silver eased the transition from pottery to jewelry. My work in silver and gemstone is divided between one of a kind personally inspired pieces, and work that is a custom created collaboration with a client/collector.
I personally and thoughtfully creatively craft nearly every aspect of each jewelry piece; often right from selecting the rough mined stone to doing the lapidary work prior to my visualizing the design and working the silver for the finished piece.
I use a variety of semi-precious materials collected from around the world and brought together using multi-step processes, forming thoughts and feelings; discovery and craft; story and art. I hope you find the same sense of discovery and fulfillment with my work that the art and craft has provided me.
Robert vonHunke
I work from life. I studied painting and drawing at the University of Michigan where
I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting. I also pursued interests in printmaking, ceramics, photography, and computer graphics. After receiving a Master of Science and Doctor of Education degrees from Syracuse University and teaching for 34 years I am recalibrating back to the studio where I work in acrylics and digital photography. My creativity is self-disciplined, guided largely by personal visual statements expressed permanently through the use of a variety of media in paint and print. My art provides a vehicle to summarize and document an experience, a visual journal. For example, the series of paintings I did as a response to lengthy travel in nearly all 50 States but especially to the beaches of North Carolina, the rocks and sky of Sedona, Arizona, the canals of Venice, Italy, and Suzhou, China. Diversions include trains and the prairies of North Dakota. My art poses a way for me to share an aspect of a story through what I saw and felt, and lived. In a sense they are autobiographical – a portrait without the person. I work from life.
When not painting or shooting images I work with my wife in her studio where she is a jewelry designer. There I cut cabochons – taking raw rough semi-precious gem stones and cutting and polishing them prior to their becoming wearable art forms.
Skaneateles Artisans is featuring the work of Gretchen Hamlin and Bob Ripley at our First Friday Art Night, May 7th from 6 to 9 PM.
Please join us for our monthly celebration as we feature exciting new works by two of our members: watercolorist Bob Ripley and glass artist Gretchen Hamlin. Enjoy festive music provided by Alize of Ithaca. Welcome Spring with wine tastings by Anyela’s Winery of Skaneateles from 6 to 7 pm. Refreshments will be served. The gallery offers off-street parking and accepts major credit cards. Exhibit runs through May 31, 2010
Contact person:
Teresa Vitale
315-689-5037
email: tvitale1@twcny.rr.com
Bob Ripley: Bob is a native of upstate New York, born and raised in Elmira. A Navy veteran, he is also an honors graduate of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University where he majored in Advertising Design. After graduation, he spent the next thirty-six years as an art director at three different upstate advertising agencies. His work has won numerous regional and national awards.
During his busy career, Bob never lost his life-long interest in drawing and painting, and continued to hone his skills during his free time. He was and still is inspired by the masters of the medium, especially Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth. Soon to be retired, Bob will be able to pursue his love of painting full-time in his home studio.
His artistic philosophy and motivation are both simplistic and genuine: “Wildlife and natural forms have served as inspiration for my artwork since I was a little boy painting watercolors on cardboard shirt boxes. I’ve always been drawn to water and the creatures that inhabit the earth’s lifeblood… ducks, loons and especially fish. Encounters with nature through my numerous outdoor hobbies provide a wide array of creative opportunities.
Typically, my paintings result from a combination of reference photography, field notes and observations. I’m constantly amazed by the colors, textures and compositions in the natural world. Hopefully, my finished works capture a “wild moment” in the beauty of planet earth and remind us of its fragile nature.”
Bob is an avid outdoorsman and spends many hours fly fishing, canoeing, hiking and cross-country skiing. The Adirondack Mountains and the American West are among his favorite haunts and often the setting for his compositions. He and his wife Cheryl live in the country outside of Skaneateles, where they share space with the local flora and fauna.
Gretchen Hamlin: Glass is a fascinating medium; very flowing, forgiving and mesmerizing to work with. The fact that a compact cylinder of glass can be shaped and stretched to great lengths to produce many feet of potential beads is a constant source of wonder to me. Glass overlays and inclusions afford endless possibilities, and I am always thrilled and sometimes surprised by the results in both the hot shop and later when the beads are combined to fashion my colorful jewelry. I select high-quality and somewhat unusual findings to add more variety to the finished product; sterling silver and gold-filled beads add extra sparkle to the glass, while anodized niobium enhances the whimsy of each piece.
By Teresa Vitale, Skaneateles Artisans
First Friday Art Night – April 2nd from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Skaneateles Artisans is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibit featuring a Student Art Show. Three School Districts will be represented: Skaneateles, Marcellus and West Genesee. Join us for live music, punch and appetizers.
The music for our April First Friday event will be provided by Fiddlestyx, a nine-piece ensemble made up of members of the Skaneateles High School orchestra, led by Karen Veverka. The group specializes in string versions of music by rock bands such as Led Zepplin and the Rolling Stones. The students are currently raising money to finance their upcoming trip to Los Angeles, where they have been invited to compete in the Heritage Festival of Gold, during which they will get the opportunity to work with renowned guest conductors and perform in the prestigious Segerstrom Concert Hall.
The Skaneateles Artisans gallery offers off-street parking and accepts major credit cards. Visit their website at www.skaneatelesartisans.com. For more information, call 315-685-8580. Exhibit runs through April 30th.
Back by popular demand Skaneateles Artisans is proud to be invited to participated at the CNY Blooms Show at On Center from March 3rd through March 7th. Our Gallery will be closed during this time. We will be celebrating Frist Friday March 5th at On Center. Our gallery will reopen for business on March 15th.
Artisan’s Garden Art Garden by the Skaneateles Artisans will return for “The 2010 Show”! Featuring garden, flower, and nature paintings, photographs, jewelry, stained glass, pottery, wood sculpting, faux painting, glass blowing, dried and fresh flowers. All items will be for sale on the show floor and live demonstrations will take place in the garden.
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Artist Opening – 11 Fennell St., Skaneateles.
First Friday, February 5, 2009, 6:00 – 9:00pm
Skaneateles Artisans is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibit featuring artists Sandra Philips/painter and Linda Bishop-Surbeck/jeweler. Refreshments will be served by blue Danube Gourmet . Music by Harvyn Tarkmeel/pianist. Exhibit runs through 2/28. The gallery offers off-street parking and accepts major credit cards. Visit their website at www.skaneatelesartisans.com. For more information, call 315-685-8580.
Contributed by Teresa Vitale / Skaneateles Artisans
Come & Celebrate with Skaneateles Artisans at our Holiday Party on First Friday, December 4, 2009, 6:00 – 9:00pm, on 11 Fennell St in beautiful Skaneateles. Music by Harvyn Tarkmeel, pianist. Refreshments & wine will be served. The gallery offers off-street parking and accepts major credit cards. Visit our website at www.skaneatelesartisans.com. For more information, call 315-685-8580.
Contributed by: Teresa Vitale / Skaneateles Artisans
Artist Opening – 11 Fennell St., Skaneateles. First Friday, November 6, 2009, 6:00 – 9:00pm. Skaneateles Artisans on November 6th, First Friday is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibit featuring artists Patricia Tucker, painting, Sharon Terry, jewelry and David Lisi, pottery. Refreshments will be served by Hook & Cleaver Organic Meat & Fish Market . Music by Steve Giacondo, guitarist. Exhibit runs through 11/30. The gallery offers off-street parking and accepts major credit cards. Visit their website at www.skaneatelesartisans.com. For more information, call 315-685-8580.
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