Guest Artists Rebecca Christopher & Jan Butler
Hirdie Girdie Art Gallery welcomes Guest Artists Rebecca Christoper and Jan Butler. Like many artists, Rebecca started creating art at an early age. In the beginning, she focused on watercolor portraits. After moving from Atlanta, GA to New York, NY and started working at publishing giant, Simon & Schuster, where she rarely, if ever, had time to paint. After giving birth to twins, her art took a back seat…and she assumed that this would be the end of her art career.
Her greatest inspiration is nature’s glorious beauty, whether she is painting a scene of the dunes, a array of flowers, or a sea animal, she tries to include her technique of blowing the colors into place. She has always admired impressionist art, and she feels that term best suits her style. Instead of just painting what she sees, she prefers to let the colors drive her creation.
Jan describes herself as a lifelong art medium sampler. She ” tried every painting class, acrylic, oil, watercolor, pastel, even silk scarf painting but nothing felt just right.” When she moved on to pottery she knew she found the art form for her. Then, after 15 years of pottery, a group of pottery friends and she heard about fused glass. After a few years of working with fused glass, she knew she had to choose a favorite. “Fused glass is as much science as it is art, with a lot of excitement each time one opens the kiln. There are so many techniques and so many types of glass, that for someone who is willing to keep learning and experimenting, there is no end to the journey.”
Our 17 local area artists who are members of the gallery are Chris Christian, Tracy Owen-Cullimore, Tamara Culp, Renee Farr, Zdenka Fiala, Maureen Ginipro, Nancy Gray, Sue Housler, JoAnn LaPadula, Oliver Martin, Christine Music, Nikki Taylor Pombrio, Penny Ripley, Gilberto Sanchez, Sharon Shaw, Marty Sherman and Kay Stammers. Our guest artists for the month of November will be Rebecca Christopher (2D-acrylic artist) and Jan Butler (3D-glass artist).
Chris creates a variety of ceramic pieces such as bowls, vases, platters, canisters and hanging orchid vessels. He uses both wheel thrown and hand formed methods and works with both Raku and electric kiln firing Much of his inspiration is drawn from the Sanibel environment and is especially interested in form, texture, positive/negative and experimenting with color through a combination fo glazes.
Tracy’s work is considered to be on the border between realism and impressionism, as she captures more than the essence of her subject-an unmistakable likeness but in a loose artistic way. She has participated in many one woman shows, Invitationals and won national acclaim. Artsy Tracy paints in both water media and oil, specializing in figurative work and portraits of animals and people, and she happily does custom commission work
Tamara has augmented her studies with workshops both in-person and on-line though she considers her weekly plein air sessions her most taxing and rewarding teacher. She is a current member of the Pastel Society of America as well as the Colored Pencil Society of America and locally the Fort Myers Beach Art Association, the Sanibel Captiva Art League and the Southwest Florida Pastel Society. Her work has garnered many awards and has been included in national publications. Tamara loves to bring her visions to life and is always gratified when those visions also resonate with others.
Renee’s obsession with glass began in the early 90’s when we settled in Southwest Florida. She loves all things ordered and symmetrical and that obsession is apparent in her art. . She is inspired by life’s beauty and her love of color as can be seen in all her work. She is a member of several nonprofit groups that help promote the arts through scholarships, workshops and events.
