Jeff Weber
For Immediate Release
Five nationally known artists ing their work together in unique collaboration
Chestertown, MD, May 13, 2016 – Located at 113 South Cross Street in historic Chestertown, Maryland, the new Create gallery is a collaboration of nationally known fine art and craft artists. The gallery ings together five Chestertown-based artists to create a fresh, new way to experience art, fine craft and design. Guests who visit can get to know the artists and understand the creative process. It will be the home for a variety of existing work while presenting the opportunity to work directly with the artists to create personal or commercial custom pieces.
The goal of the new gallery is to promote a deeper understanding of the creative process while demonstrating the potential for contemporary fine craft to enrich both living and work spaces. In addition to work of the founding artists, Create will feature the work of guest artists across the fine craft spectrum including metal, glass, ceramics, wood, jewelry, fiber and mixed media. The gallery is being curated by Carla Massoni, owner of MassoniArt, considered by many to be one of the finest gallerists in the mid-Atlantic region.
The five artists include:
Trained as a tool maker, Rob Glebe chose metal as his art form when he began creating his work 11 years ago. Starting with flat sheets of steel, he transforms the metal into colorful openwork vessels and unique wall art. Rob began his career trying to replicate the vessel forms from pottery, wood and baskets in metal. Today, Rob has taken his passion for design and now creates custom art work to fit a specific space, in addition to the unique colorful vessels and wall art.
Dave and Patti Hegland are a husband and wife team known for their innovative kiln art glass. Earlier careers in engineering and finance ingrained in them an acute attention to detail which they apply to all phases of their craft from the complexity of their designs to the precision applied to the finishing processes used to polish and shape each piece. Winners of numerous fine craft awards, the Heglands are particularly proud to have been selected as the 2013 winner of the prestigious Niche award for kiln & cast glass, recognizing creativity and technical excellence among American professional fine craft artists
Bob Ortiz has been making furniture for more than 30 years. Ortiz’s designs incorporate influences from the Arts & Crafts movement, Japanese and Asian Cultures, Shaker craftsmen and a lifetime of playing music. In his studio, Bob offers unique ‘vacation workshops’, where participants can work under Bob’s tutelage for a week of furniture making, creating their own crafted wood piece to take home.
Marilee Schumann has been passionately making and teaching pottery for 35 years. With a diverse background in art, and an Masters of Fine Arts in sculpture, her work includes the humble uses of pottery, food preparation and serving, as well as more abstract symbolic uses like flower arranging, vessels, sacrifice, ritual, and contemplation.
Faith Wilson has been making textile art for more than 30 years. Starting out as a weaver, she first showed at the American Craft Council Baltimore show in 1985. Transitioning into painting and mixed media work, she started her lauded floorcloth series in 2001. Her work has also been shown at the Smithsonian Craft Show, the Philadelphia Museum Craft Show, the Washington Craft Show, and Craft Boston, among many others.
The origin of Create dates back to 2013 when Curator Carla Massoni, recognizing the strength of these individual artists, ought this group of artists together to help establish Chestertown as an arts’ lover destination while encouraging more tourism in the area. The artists first exhibited together at the 2015 American Craft Council show in Baltimore, MD. Shortly after, they came together in a month-long ‘pop-up’ gallery in Chestertown which was a terrific success.
“Rather than competing, the partners’ style and approach complement one another, elevating the art to another level, said Massoni. As a result, a more formal partnership was forged and the group began to seek a permanent space in downtown Chestertown, which has become Create. Visit the gallery Wednesday through Monday at 113 South Cross Street.
For more information:
Carla Massoni
410-708-4512
