Contributed by Holly Knott / Skaneateles Artisans

The story behind Holly’s Quilt that’s being exhibited:

This stunning American Sycamore sits next to Lafayette’s Quarters (Gideon Gilpin’s House), on what is now the Brandywine Battlefield in Chadds Ford, PA. It’s approximately 396 years old as of 2008, which means it witnessed the Revolutionary War battle that took place on its grounds, being well over 150 years old at the time. Legend says that the Marquis de Lafayette rested against this tree while his wounded leg was being tended to during the Battle of Brandywine in 1777. The diameter of this gigantic tree’s trunk is 9′ ! This quilt portrays just one branch.

My husband, parents and I visited this tree a few days after 9/11/01, on a gorgeous, breezy, late summer day with a deep blue, cloudless sky. It was quite moving to be standing on the grounds where a battle was fought for our nation’s independence during those intensely stressful days following 9/11. In this quilt, I tried to capture that sky, the breeze, the light, and the enormity of the tree.

Event Details:
State University of New York at Oswego Announces Exhibition of Contemporary Quilts Tyler Art Gallery will feature work of nineteen upstate artists September 5 through October 19. Tyler Art Gallery, on the SUNY Oswego campus, will display the work of nineteen upstate quilt artists in an upcoming exhibition entitled “A Personal Landscape: Contemporary Art Quilts.” The exhibition opens on September 5th and runs through October 19th. (more…)

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Contributed by Teresa Vitale / Skaneateles Artisans

You haven’t missed First Friday have you? If you have then you’ve missed the best that Skaneateles has to offer in the Arts, entertainment and fine dining. Make it a point and join us every First Friday of each month from 6PM to 9PM. For information visit us at Our Website Here or call Skaneateles Chamber of Commerce at 685-0552 … Art Lives!!!

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Contributed by Holly Knott / Skaneateles Artisans

Artist Opening: Skaneateles Artisans, 11 Fennell St., Skaneateles. First Friday, 8/1, 6:00 – 9:00pm. Skaneateles Artisans is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibit featuring artists Holly Knott (contemporary art quilts) and Liz and Rich Micho (stained glass). Eclectic acoustic music by Bone and Doolittle; refreshments. Through 8/31. 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.

Liz and Rich Micho
Stained glass

Liz and Rich Micho of Marietta specialize in a wide variety of stained glass artwork, ranging from large, intricate window panels with a traditional feel, to smaller suncatchers of all subject matter. One of their specialties that they are well-known for is their colorful stained glass “garden art.”

Garden art is created by selecting special pieces of stained glass, including round nuggets, agates (sliced stones), bevels, and even antique depression glass, placed in a mosaic fashion surrounded by a wrought iron garden stake. Each piece of glass for ‘garden art’ is hand cut, and then hand foiled and hand soldered. The solder is then coated with a black patina. You’ll find very abstract, free-form colorful designs in these outdoor ornaments, as well as more refined styles.

Liz and Rich take great pride that they can offer a piece of art that is truly one of a kind. They feel they are best presented in natural surroundings, such as a garden, where they are winter hardy and will add a burst of color to our very white and gray snowy upstate NY winters, but they have also found that many of their patrons choose an indoor or patio setting. Anywhere the light shines through them is a perfect location. Each piece has a unique name which adds to their enjoyment while creating them.

Free-standing stained glass used as an element of garden design is a novel idea which they have not encountered elsewhere. Liz and Rich’s hope is that they bring beauty and a touch of whimsy to your home or garden!

Holly Knott
Contemporary art quilts, handbags and scarves

Holly Knott’s contemporary art quilts, handbags and scarves are featured at Skaneateles Artisans this month. Holly works in a wide variety of media, including fabric, photography, watercolors, acrylics, hand-painted furniture and website design. Inspiration for her artwork comes from her surroundings, including her love of colonial and victorian architecture, cityscapes, rural landscapes, historical sites, cottage gardens, nature, and the enchantment of nearby riverside and lakeside towns.

Many of her pieces are inspired by the Finger Lakes – small framed sunset scenes and landscapes using hand-dyed fabric are a specialty of hers, as well as larger designs that highlight the beauty of our rural farmland. Her art allows her to record some spectacular part of life, such as a stunning sunset, the curvy lines of a closeup of a leaf, the dappled light in tree leaves, lavender-blue shadows on snow, peeling paint on a rusty red barn, architectural ornaments on old city buildings, colorful reflections in glass, or the pattern created by ripples of water lapping at a shoreline. She considers art quilting to be a method of “creating paintings with a fabric palette.” The wide variety of “painterly” fabrics available, such as the batiks and hand-dyed, provides her with a wonderful palette. You can create layers of color and add sparks of light just as you would with paint. There’s a challenge in creating a piece of art with only commercially available fabrics, but if she can’t find fabric to fit her needs, she will paint or dye her own. After the initial design is completed, she incorporates thread work using a variety of colored threads to add another layer of color, texture and design. (more…)

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Contributed by Holly Knott / Skaneateles Artisans

Several of the artists in our artist-owned and operated gallery have been recent recipients of awards.

Painter and illustrator Maureen Stathis of Onondaga Hill received an Honorable Mention for her watercolor painting in the Art and Poetry contest cosponsored by the Post-Standard and the CNY Chapter of the League of American Pen Women. This year’s juror for the Adult division was Bill Delavan.

Evelyn Dankovich of North Syracuse was awarded Grand Prize at the Cooperstown Art Association National Juried Exhibtion for her oil painting “River View.”

Potter Sallie Thompson of Bridgeport received the Eureka Galleries Prize for “Body of Work” in the Syracuse Ceramic Guild’s recent juried exhibit at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse. The show was juried by Jo Buffalo, professor of ceramics at Cazenovia College.

Sallie also recently had a soda ash-fired vase accepted into the Annual Juried Exhibition at the Carbondale Clay Center, located in Carbondale, Colorado. The exhibit was juried by Jeff Oestreich, an internationally recognized potter from Minnesota, and 28 pieces from 24 artists representing 19 states were chosen.

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Contributed by Holly Knott / Skaneateles Artisans

Artist Opening and Anniversary Party:

Skaneateles Artisans, 11 Fennell St., Skaneateles. First Friday, July 4th, 6:00 – 9:00pm.

Skaneateles Artisans is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibit featuring artists Carol Adamec (sculpture), Cheri Haring (pottery) and Barbara Schramm (traditional and trompe l’oeil painting). Music by Peterson and Dennihy, Alternative Folk. Refreshments will be served to also celebrate our 1st birthday. Through July 31. 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.

Nourish your spirit, foster the arts, and increase your knowledge of the process of creating art.

Drive and or walk to the unique shops, restaurants and lodging facilities in Skaneateles to meet artists who create visual or performing art. View their work and enjoy entertainment and refreshments.

Look for merchants displaying a blue ribbon. Inside find an artist to speak with, while enjoying the commerce of the establishment.

Artist’s Bios: (more…)

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Contributed by Holly Knott / Skaneateles Artisans

Artist Demo: Skaneateles Artisans, 11 Fennell St., Skaneateles. Saturday, 6/21, free, 12:00 – 3:00pm. Liz and Rich Micho: “Making Garden Art.” Liz and Rich will demonstrate their unique method of creating stained glass garden ornaments that add color and art to your garden all year long. 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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