Artist Stories

Sally Pilcher grew up in a little town in Illinois, near a farm. “I had a totally unstructured childhood, playing in the river, collecting arrowheads, being awed by nature.” She had her first encounter with ceramics in 1972 at the University of Illinois, but raising a family put her passion for ceramics on hold. Rather, […]

Randi Markowitz has always been steeped in design. She earned a BS in design at Buffalo State Collage, then worked as a graphic designer in New York City. “This was before computer design became the norm, and graphic design actually involved cutting and pasting physical materials.” She continues to work as a designer and photographer […]

In his Oasis Studio at Meadowview in a rural community near Pittsboro, photographer Bobby Izquierdo creates images reminiscent of Duch master’s still life or contemporary abstract paintings. He named his studio in honor of his family’s heritage. His father came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1956 to further his education as a classical opera […]

Even though Barbara Hunter first tried her hand at oil painting just after high school, it took a global pandemic years later to ignite her exciting art career. To add to the excitement, her new studio addition recently achieved national acclaim when it won the Best in American Living Award from the National Association of […]

Jody Nash moved to her home and her Jody Nash Studio in Chatham County from California in 2020. She grew up in San Rafael, California, her family’s home tucked away in a eucalyptus forest.  “My parents encouraged me in the arts from early childhood, recognizing my passion. However, despite my desire to be an artist, […]

Mixed-media artist Donna Stubbs creates amazing abstract compositions from a plethora of diverse materials she has accumulated through her everyday life. “I love to search for discarded items in thrift stores that speak to me in some way.  I take photos everywhere I go and use these images in my work. Searching for such ephemera, […]

Janet Place, of Janet Place Glass Designs Studio in Pittsboro, creates brilliant utilitarian and decorative fused glass art and jewelry. She assembles glass fragments and fires the designs in a kiln. The designs can be molded into three dimensional objects by further firing. “I am inspired by the colors and flow of the glass. Further, […]

Karen Greager Hall has a passion to paint wildlife and landscapes that evolved from her childhood of nature adventures with her family in the country near Philadelphia.  Those endless nuances of color, light and shapes now inspire her use of watercolors and colored pencils. She and her sister were encouraged to appreciate artistic activity. “My […]

Laura’s V Studio is a rustic building on Chicken Bridge Road. It was built by her husband Tom and adjacent to their home, also built by him. They moved to the rural property in 1995 from Chicago, where she practiced Clinical Psychology. They lived in a trailer while the buildings were constructed. Laura had grown […]

Darcy Szeremi ‘s artist journey started in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her father was an entomologist at LSU. The family soon moved to Athens, Georgia, where he continued his research at UGA. It was there that Darcy acquired her life-long love affair with metal. “I was one of four daughters, and my parents didn’t quite know […]

Painter Nancy Ann Moore shares a rural Chatham County home and studio with her photographer husband Timothy Dowdall. “As long as I can remember I have been an artist. Growing up I was always drawing, painting, making things and thinking up new ideas. I was fascinated with any medium I could get my hands on. It didn’t […]

Photographer Timothy Dowdall shares a rural Chatham County home and studio with his painter wife Nancy Ann Moore. Timothy started taking pictures as early as  age of 11, his first camera was a Kodak instamatic camera purchased with blue chip stamps. Timothy was struck with photographer Robert Freeman’s photograph of the Beatles on the cover […]

Pastel artist Daphne Boder has enjoyed drawing and painting since childhood, she has specialized in pastels for about five years.  “My son was working in a gallery and sent me pictures of new work.  One painting caught my attention and he told me it was done with soft pastels. I was intrigued.  I purchased some […]

“I was chatting with my friend just before church,” Kathy reflects. “She was contemplating doing something different and interesting and I was excited by the idea.” The something different and interesting turned out to be painting classes given by Chatham Artists Guild member Kathy Flood, who lived nearby. The two friends attended watercolor classes and […]

Fiber artist Kristin Bergsten has been weaving since she was 6 years old. “I was at home sick, and my mother went to the Woolworth’s Five and Dime. She came back with little kits to make potholders.” Born in Evanston, Illinois, Kristin was living at the time with her adoptive parents in Iowa city, where […]

Hamidou Sissoko immigrated to the US in 2001 from the Francophone West African country Mali. “I grew up fixing cars and bikes.  As I got older, I learned more and more, I started fixing more complex equipment. We never wasted any materials in Mali and would always find creative ways to repair things.” In the US, […]

Anna Julian hails from Cherryville, NC, about 40 miles west of Charlotte. “My fascination with pottery and art started as a young girl.” Anna’s grandmother lived in the mountains of Montreat, NC and took her to the Southern Highland Craft Guild’s Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville. “It was there that […]

When Brooklyn born Steevie Parks was growing up on Long Island, she dreamed of being either an artist or an actress. She studied classical oil painting as well as theater from the ages of 9 to 22. Then studied anatomy, sculpture, printmaking, painting and drawing at the Arts Student’s League of New York, Syracuse University, and Sarah […]

Nestled in the rolling hills near Chatham’s Bear Creek is Inspired Earth Pottery. There, ceramic artist Lynn Flyer, responding to her surrounding natural beauty, creates her own world of flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, birds, and other delights in the form of functional pottery. She has been seriously making pottery for about 12 years. She and her […]

Working as a Molecular Biologist at the University of Maryland, Quimby had always had a strong interest in creative avenues. “As a child my mother took me to museums and plays, instilling in me a life-long love of the arts,” she recalls “I think that I had always wanted to be an artist.” Boots (her father’s […]

Carolyn is a creative that has been involved in some form of art all her life. Her degree is in Fashion Merchandising and she worked in retail, becoming a buyer for a women’s clothing chain in Chicago. After her children came along, she switched to a more family-friendly career in marketing. Upon moving to North […]

Painter Cally Curtis’s Chatham studio is a kaleidoscope of color and pattern. Her acrylic and mixed media creations reflect deep seated inspiration dating back to her childhood. “When I was about four, my parents were commissioned as United Methodist missionaries. They were stationed in the subtropics in what was then called Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. I […]

“I love wood,” says woodturner Greg Wandless. ”I love the feel, the warmth, the look, the way it warms up a home.” Greg has been working with wood for as long as he can remember, creating beautiful wooden bowls, art vessels, peppermills and custom writing instruments. “My father had a shop in the basement,” he […]

“I just love to make something useful and beautiful with my own two hands,” explains potter Amy Wandless. “It is even more thrilling when a pot that came from my eye and my hands appeals to the eyes and hands of someone who lives with it, uses it and loves it.” Amy and her woodworking […]

“I am fascinated with facial expressions and the eyes of the people and animals that I paint,” explains Kathy flood.  She works in graphite, watercolor and acrylics in her Briar Chapel studio. Kathy became an artist in a non-traditional way around 27 years ago. “I was first and foremost a mother, a job I took […]

Jane Eckenrode drew a picture of her father at the age of 6, at about the time her parents enrolled her in her first art class. As a child, she and her dad spent time together walking in the woods and fishing. She still has the cigar box of natural treasures she collected as a […]

Minnie Gallman took her first photograph, with a brownie box camera, at the age of 4.  “It was a picture of my newborn sister,” she remembers.” I’ve been taking pictures ever since.” Folks who come to the 2020 Chatham Studio Tour will see the results of Minnie’s life-long passion in the nature-inspired photographs that she […]

“I have always been fascinated with tools and machines and working with my hands,” says studio potter Vince Pitelka. “I had a little shop at our house as a kid,” he remembers.  Pitelka had a formative experience with clay at the age of four.  A friend of his parents was a potter, and she turned […]

Taking inspiration from her ancestral farming roots and her garden, watercolorist Linda Watkins captures blossoms and bees, birds and berries, bugs, frogs and fish in her work. Her grandparents were farmers and gardening has always been an essential element of her life.  “I am fascinated both by color and detail,” Linda explains.  “I like to […]

Lee Kazanas has been making pottery for over 40 years. “I was in college at SUNY in Plattsburgh and my roommate was taking a ceramics class,” he remembers. “I thought – You can actually take a ceramics class for credit in college.” Lee took that class and it was the beginning of his life-long passion […]