Young at Art – Studio Ten Art Camps – July Guest Artists

image2 IMG_3806 7-9 camp (2) 7-9 camp (3) 6-8 camp 10-12 camp (3) 12-14 campVictoria graduated from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill with a degree in Art Education, and a Painting Major. For 25 years, she taught art full time with the Wake County Public Schools while exhibiting her own art professionally.

As a professional artist, Victoria’s talents span a large range of media. She has worked in abstract acrylics, realistic watercolor, a multitude of fiber arts, black and white film photography, mixed media, clay, and recycle arts. She has been engaged in oil painting since 2007 and enjoys doing work for her clients by commission.

Victoria earned her National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification (NBPTS) initially in 2002, and recently renewed her certification in 2012. In 2009, Victoria was awarded the North Carolina Art Educator’s Association (NCAEA) Elementary Teacher of the Year Award for the state.

In December of 2010, Victoria opened up her own private art studio at Blake Street and began teaching her first private art camps the summer of 2011. On January 1, 2014, Victoria retired from the WCPSS and “transitioned” to working full time at her Blake Street Studio. In addition to offering children’s art camps during the months of June and July, Victoria also offers private art lessons to all ages, and adult Sunday afternoon “make and take” art workshops, call “Sumptuous Sundays”.

Victoria is celebrating her 4th camp from 6-14 years old and representing 8 different schools. The half day, morning camps focus on drawing, painting and mixed media and each camp completes at least one project in each of the subject areas of portraiture, still-life and landscape. Campers are offered a daily snack and treated to an art reception in their honor the first Friday in August each summer. Each August, Victoria is excited to invite the public to join her in celebrating our “Young at Art Month” here at the Blake Street Shops and Studios! http://www.victoriapowersstudioten.weebly.com summer of teaching summer art camps to children ranging in age

Recompose – Jonny Gilroy (August Guest Artist)

Gilroy.Reinvent Gilroy.Restructure Gilroy.Symbiont Gilroy.Litterfall“Art is about expressing a thought or a feeling through spontaneity. I conform the expression using design elements as a meditation. Through the formation, art is created reminiscent of natural processes.”

“Recompose,” is a study of sculpture using a collection of experiences within nature and rural surroundings. I find a feeling of aliveness when in nature as when making art. There is a connection there that is spontaneous, dynamic, and free. I wanted to take ideas, objects, colors, and shapes from my surroundings and give them new composition, or new life, as art.

Originating from Olean, New York, Gilroy has always had a creative instinct. He attended the State University of New York at Geneseo and graduated with a BA in Art Studio, focusing on drawing and sculpture. Gilroy continues to live a creative lifestyle. He currently resides in Raleigh, NC as a studio and graphic artist.

www.jonnygilroyart.webs.com

Brain Pickings – Zac Bender August guest artist

Lola Cudi LouisHello, my name is Zac Bender, and I have been making art ever since I could remember. I use watercolor, acrylic, gouache(a material that is between watercolor and acrylic), ink, markers, and others to create works of art. Creating has always been as much about the process as much as the product. Craftsmanship and mastery of materials is something that has always meant a lot to me and was solidified throughout my high school years by a hard nosed traditional art teacher.

Inspiration comes from anything from pop culture and music to H.P. Lovecraft and the bizarre. I have always had an inclination for the weird and as I get older I seem to become stranger. Eccentric is a word I hear a lot and it seems to fit me pretty well. I go through phases in art. I get obsessed with ranging subjects like traditional japanese tattoos, or redheads, or underwater scenes , or the majesty of nebula and galaxies.

I make art because since I was a kid it was my escape, if I felt awkward I drew. If I felt like I didn’t belong I drew. As I grew up it was less about daydreaming in a boring class or avoiding awkward situations and more about making things that speak to how I felt and generally making my personal demons pretty on a page. I try to express how I am feeling when I make the pieces the best I can. I express my worries and fears. It is my way to cope and deal with personal and general matters.