Artist Stories

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 […]

Selden Lamoureux grew up in Whippany, New Jersey not far from NYC and had a circuitous route to her Bynum, NC pottery studio. After receiving a degree in anthropology at Boston University, she continued her studies in archaeology in Mexico. “After that, I had my back-to-the-land period, living in the Virginia and Carolina mountains, raising bees and doing occasional […]

“I have always felt compelled to create,” stresses Andrew Wilson. “It gives me energy to create objects for aesthetic and functional use.”  This desire came early. When he was a student at Chatham’s Northwood High, Andrew accessorized with macramé and began to practice photography. Wooden art is now the center of his creative life in […]

Not long ago, Nurse Bronwyn Watson lived on her 10 acre farm just outside of Siler City. Years ago, she had attended the San Francisco Art Institute, made baskets, did some printing and temp jobs to make ends meet. Then, at 40, she decided to attend nursing school and pursued a health care career, most […]

Janet Resnik has been in Chatham County since 1967. Her husband took a job with UNC and they moved to a farm with horses. “Our road (Collins Mountain) and Crawford Dairy were dirt roads back then. Ours was not paved until 1992”, says Janet. “I started making pottery and went to a lot of crafts […]

Michael Thompson made the natural transition from managing forests to working with wood grown in them. “I have a degree in forestry. My career focused on teaching people how to recognize what is in their forest and how to better manage it. I spent 31 years in my forestry career here in NC. When I […]

After retiring from a job in New Jersey, Jeff relocated to the area and moved 2 planers, 4 lathes, 2 band saws, a table saw, a jointer and more into a new building housing a 1,500 square foot shop dedicated to woodworking. “I really got going when I moved here. Colleague and fellow guild member […]

Whether her work of art is inspired from a personal photo, a patron’s photo, or as a form of play thru geometric design, Gretchen Niver receives great pleasure creating and sharing her paintings made of glass. “I grew up doing various crafts with my mom, went into Graphic Design in college, and continued doing crafts […]

Doug took his first pottery class while working as a Software Developer after moving to the Triangle area from Florida. And that was when his obsession with clay began. Starting with selling pottery at street fairs, he moved on to rent a pottery studio space from one of his teachers in Durham. Then, after a […]

Beginning in second grade, William Moore made a clay lion. He immediately realized that if he drew a picture, he could make it better out of clay. And so it began– digging clay up in the back yard and “cooking” it in the household oven. He started taking lots of summer classes, riding his bike […]

The first time Colleen worked with clay on a wheel was in 1989 at Pottery 7 in San Francisco, located near Golden Gate Park. Her earliest clay memory was as a child making a mold of her horse’s footprint from the earth in the dug out. “I’ve come a long way from those early mold-making […]

Martha Danek has exhibited her unique natural art in her Red Barn Studio in Bynum, North Carolina. It is the original barn down a grassy path behind her house that was built in the 1920’s by her great-grandparents. Martha became intrigued with decorated gourds in the early 90s, when her parents saw some in the […]

Annabelle Stein started out making little clothes out of felt for her troll dolls in pre -school.  By junior high, she was sewing all her own clothes. She went to art school in Oakland, California, then moved to Oregon and continued her work there. Eventually returning to California, she earned a BFA in Textile Studio […]

One of Chatham Artists Guild’s founding members, Vidabeth Bensen, has “been there” and “done that.” And after 60 years of making art she is still doing “that.” An accomplished screen printer, Vidabeth says she has been pulling ink through original hand-cut stencils ever since her Brooklyn College days when she was asked to make posters […]

Lara O’Keefe has a “clay personality” or so she was told early on in her career. To be more specific Lara is earthy, warm, and has a rich common sense about her.  When speaking to what excites her, she says it is extremely satisfying to look up and see racks full of pots at the […]

“Artists seem to like my work more than photographers do,” quips Eric Saunders, who lives and creates in Fearrington Village. Saunders’ images appear to represent the literal meaning of photography – drawing with light. “My studio is actually wherever I am taking pictures,” he notes. “I am trying to create compositions that are calming and […]

Marsha creates delicate hand-built and carved porcelain ware – vases, bowls and sculptural objects, each enhanced by her original carvings. She has been working with clay for over ten years, after taking courses at the Arts Center in Carrboro and Claymakers in Durham. Marsha’s journey in art was circuitous, but it was always anchored in […]