Featured Local Artist of the Month Archives
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July 2008 - Dave Derrig - Pottery and Ceramics
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June 2008 -
Amy
Kaye Taylor
 To sew a quilt is like painting with fabric...
Sewn, woven and quilted, fabric and
thread act as paint and brush for Amy Kaye Taylor's bold vibrant
fiber wall hangings. Amy is primarily a contemporary
landscape painter, but when she is not playing in oil paints, she
is shuffling through fabric scraps, and composing fiber puzzles.
When all the pieces are just in the right place, they tell a
beautiful story! Like her paintings, Amy prefers to sew with
bright and vivid colors to allow the subject to come alive and pop
from the wall.
Her fabric stash is her paint and her
sewing machine is her brush! Amy explains her process this
way because she is amazed how her two favorite mediums, painting
and quilting, feed into each other. Quilting helps her
understand how pieces must come together through layers to make a
cohesive whole while painting helps her delve into the depths of
color. Consequently, Amy's quilts are intricately pieced and
beautifully quilted to compose works of art that are truly one of
a kind. Although Amy appreciates and is inspired by
traditional quilting, she does not use patterns for her quilts.
She starts with a story or concept idea and draws it on paper
first, mapping out the order in which each piece of fabric must be
sewn. She will rarely make the same quilt twice preferring
to make each piece a new and exciting challenge.
Her composition "With Respect to Those
Who Taught Us" not only reflects her roots as an artist but also
won Best in Show at the 2006 Ohio Art Annual in Zanesville, Ohio.
This particular quilt retells an intricate story of how the Navajo
people learned to weave their rugs. Amy spent three years
teaching art on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. While
there she also observed storytelling and the use of color in their
art. It was this experience that inspired her career as a
painter. However, Amy got into quilting as a way to be more
creative with the sewing she learned from her mother as a young
girl. She missed the hum of the sewing machine and the
tactile advantages of working with fabric. Amy then
discovered art quilting and has been creating what she calls fiber
paintings ever since.
Where she feels she is tied to her
landscapes when she paints, Amy feels freer to quilt whatever
comes to mind on a certain day. Recently, red eyed tree
frogs have caught her imagination. She has also been
experimenting with weaving fabric to create unique textures and
sophisticated color stories. Amy's wall hangings range in
size from 14x14 inches to 48x68 inches. See samples of her
colorful quilts at
www.amykayetaylor.com and in person in June 2008 at Creekside
Home Treasures.
May 2008 -
J. Michele Hawkins
 J.
Michele Hawkins,
a local emerging
artist from Cuyahoga Falls, graduated from Myers School of Art / The
University of Akron with a BFA in painting. Her plans include
obtaining a masters degree in art therapy. Michele discovered new
and exciting ways to share the joy of art by doing volunteer work,
arts and crafts with preschoolers, and activities in an assisted
living home and with MRDD. She has always dreamed of making a
career out of helping others, and art therapy is how she intends on
doing this. Michele’s current work has been inspired by her faith.
She credits her achievements to her encouraging and loving family
and her God given talents.
The main concept in Michele’s paintings is that God
is in nature and He is all around us. Her work expresses her belief
in the greatness and wonder of God that can be found in a landscape.
Religion has always been an important part of Michele’s life, but
she did not attend church regularly. She has always been very
close to her family, and they taught her about the Christian God.
They would show her the miracles in nature and how plants grow. It
is important to Michele to show people how great her God is without
an image of Him. The images of God that are found in a church are
how you would learn about Him. She wants to show how she feels and
experiences her God.
Michele works with 6’ x 8’ paintings in order to
convey her feelings about God. The large sizes help the viewer to
become engulfed in the powerful images and feel as though they are
actually there. The symbolic trees that are in bloom are used
throughout her grand paintings to symbolize the Holy Spirit. The
sunlight shines upon and has affected everything in the paintings to
show that the light of God is everywhere and touches everything . .
. thus causing all to bloom.
Michele’s paintings consist of images on linked 2’ x
4’ panels. The linked panels represent how there are many kinds of
Christian religions, but they all come together to create the same
big picture. Michele creates her paintings with such fine detail to
show the miraculous beauty of nature and as her way to express
devotion to God. The bright colors used create warm and
inviting paintings. The goal is for the viewer to experience a calm
and uplifted feeling, in an almost spiritual way.
March/April 2008 - Judith Salamon
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Judith
Salamon
is an Artist, Designer and Educator who has been doing various forms of
artwork all her life. She has her Masters Degree in painting from New
York University, has studied in Nice, France and Venice, Italy and has
continued to produce an exciting variety of paintings in water-media and
collage. As a designer she has created large canvas floor cloths, painted
Caribbean resort wear, collaged furniture, designed sculpture and made
pottery. Her main love is painting.
She taught art at the
Cleveland Institute of Art and at Cleveland Heights High School where she
taught ceramics and weaving and was the art department Chairperson. She
has recently worked in the School of Art at Kent State University where
she worked with student teachers and she also worked for the State of Ohio
Praxis III program doing Teacher Licensure Assessments. She and her husband,
Mike, sailed their 32-foot sailboat to the Caribbean (in 1980) and
purchased a house on the island of Nevis, West Indies. They are very much
connected to the culture, color and flavor of this tropical island and she
exhibits her “tropical work” at the Café des Arts Gallery and also at the
Four Seasons Resort Hotel there. They are still sailing their boat
“Elusive” in the summers on Lake Erie with their favorite destination
being Kelly’s Island. As a resident of
Cuyahoga Falls Judy exhibits her paintings and collages locally. Her work
is also included in various private and corporate collections throughout
the country and abroad. Her paintings have been displayed in many juried
exhibits and she has received numerous prizes and awards. Judith recently
received a “Woman of Achievement Award for 2005” and her biography is
published in the book Great Women of the 21st Century. She holds memberships in
the National Art Education Association, National Collage Society, Women’s
Art League of Akron, Nevis Conservation and Historical Society, Artists of
Rubber City and the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center where she is on the Board
of Trustees. Judith has a
passion for painting and creating. She loves to experiment, pursue
new ideas and explore combinations of materials to produce an exciting
variety of work. She enjoys layering design elements in her work, using
vibrant and exciting color combinations and adding texture and objects.
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February 2008 - Allie Elia
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Allie
Elia,
an emerging local artist, lives in
Stow and is working in Akron as a fifth year senior at the Myers School of
Art, a part of the University of Akron. She is currently majoring in
ceramics, with a minor in painting. Her recent projects have been
illustrating a children’s book, performing live paintings and ceramic
demonstrations at local churches, and exhibiting artwork in both galleries
and outdoor settings.
Allie is scheduled to graduate from Akron
with a BFA in ceramics in the summer of 2008. In the time between
graduation and graduate school, she plans to make use of her own electric
kilns to produce sculpture at home. Her area of artistic focus is
figurative ceramics and paintings, though she also enjoys drawing and
writing. In the future Allie plans to receive an MFA in ceramics, and
continue creating art as a gallery artist. She also has a passion for
teaching art, and considers a career as an art teacher to be something
exciting that the future might hold. She owes her current success and
future achievements to the strong love and support she continually
receives from her family, friends, teachers, and her trust in a God who
gave her an amazing artistic gift.
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January 2008 -
Trish DePamphilis
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"My camera and I saw a lot of
things that most people never get to see!"
Between 1988 and 1998 Trish
DePamphilis was always on the inside of major events happening around
her. She spent a year on the road following and covering a semi-pro
racing series, a year as a fashion photographer, 4 years as a music
scene photographer, and about 4 years as a freelance photo journalist.
At one point in her career Trish was working for Associated Press,
Universal Records, Scene Magazine, Chicago Sun Times, the Plain Dealer,
the Akron Beacon Journal, a number of regional bands for web sites and
CD covers at the same time. Her assignments varied from Hillary Clinton
on the campaign trail for Bill Clinton, the Cleveland Browns, the
Cleveland Indians in the '95 World Series, the NEC World Series of Golf
to local events in small-towns of Ohio.
Throughout Trish's time as a
paid photographer, she still kept an interest in shooting her own
photos. In 1998, she took a full-time job as a pre-press artist at the
Beacon Journal, got married and started a family. This is when her
photography took a back seat and stayed on the back burner for years.
Currently Trish is shooting
for herself again. She is seeing the world in a different way and
beginning a new chapter in her photography. This renewed interest in
creative endeavors brought her to write a book about her life and search
out new avenues to show her work as an artist.
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November/December 2007 -
Todd V.
Todd V.
was so gracious being
Creekside's first Featured Local Artist. Todd's paintings first
caught the attention of Creekside's owner, Maria Daw, while she was at
the first Art Walk in Akron, Ohio. Todd's works are so full of
life, color, and fun - something we all need in our life.
While preparing to open Creekside's first
location, there was no question as to whom Maria wanted as the first
featured artist. Todd's works are all so vibrant and unique she
quickly contacted him, and was thrilled that he was willing to be the
first of many featured artists. Thank you, Todd, for helping
start off another new tradition in the Akron area, for your patience,
mentoring, and most of all, for your continued support and business
relationship.
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