As Monty Python famously put it, “And now for something completely different” probably best describes my decision to try painting after a long career representing universities in Washington, DC. Once discovered, the challenge, the surprise and the satisfaction of painting has kept me returning to the easel. Simply put, I paint because I love it. [...]

Alley Bird Number Seven is a homegrown multi-media movement of two artists that are joined by proximity and philosophies that translate the awe and curiosity of the every day world into art. Artists, Mark Cunningham and Lee Moore Crawford, create multi-media art in various forms such as visual art, music, parenting, comics, community events, gardening, [...]

Greg’s painting is a means of meditation for him and a vehicle for contemplation for us. It is a literal expression of “being in” nature. “There is a wave in the landscape,” he explains, “where the movement is behind our eyes and before our eyes in lines, shapes, forms and color. It is in our [...]

Arthur’s love of photography began in the 1930′s when he took his first picture as a boy in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  The love and the photographs continued in the 1940′s during his service in World War Two with the Merchant Marines, where he photographed Ruins at Le Havre, France, canons at Edinburgh Castle, a ship [...]

I create scenarios, stimulate associations, play with perceptions in the mental sandbox of the canvas.  I always work from an idea, preconceived visually and often sketched in color.  I let the ideas morph once again in the painting, distilling their essence and freezing them in time.  The process involves equal focus on forms and spatial [...]

My journey into art started from an attempt to figure out how I actually learn, to unravel this from how I was trained to think.  I began to feel confused about what constitutes thinking.  Many years ago a friend urged me to “just think harder” when I was stuck in some aspect of my History [...]

clark designs are always sophisticated, sometimes urban and often vintage-esque. owner and designer julie lellis specializes in handmade jewelry using a variety of semi-precious gemstones and high-quality metals. motivated by her love for the city, creative fashion, and the people in her life, lellis – a trained visual artist but self-taught jewelry designer – established [...]

Franco is a visual activist awakening his audiences through conscious and exciting art. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Art at North Carolina Central University with a concentration in Visual Communications and a Certificate in Multimedia at The School of Communication Arts. Franco primarily works in the digital environment but also enjoys acrylic and other mediums. His artwork [...]

Beth Palmer is a former elementary art teacher for Durham Public Schools.  She began taking her own artwork seriously after a breast cancer diagnosis in 2003 and several subsequent near death experiences as a result of her cancer treatments.  She has exhibited her work many times since then, and frequently donates work to benefit individuals [...]

Born in New York, and raised in Houston, Texas, Claudia Corletto is a visual artist and a writer. She grew up watching her mother sew all kinds of wonderful things. Over the years, she has shared her passion and gift for creating art with close friends. Her clutches are her labour of love she’d like [...]

Jim was born and raised in New Orleans. As a teenager, he apprenticed with a commercial photographer and learned color and black-and-white darkroom technique. His camera has been his companion through the intervening years documenting explorations as an undergraduate at the University of Colorado, as a drop-out working for the US Forest Service on the [...]

I paint for the same reason that I first began to like drawing.  In Mrs. Burney’s third grade class at David Fairchild Elementary School, I drew hundreds of airplanes. While I drew, I could feel the thrill of flying in them and soaring above the ground.  When I stopped drawing, the feeling was no longer [...]

My work is directly influenced by my surroundings and my travel experiences. I’m especially drawn to the delicate shapes, textures, and colors of fruit; the mark of graffiti and tag art; and the lines created by cityscapes, mass transit and trains. For reference and inspiration, when creating work, I use photography, sketches, Xerox, and video. [...]

Kelly attended the prestigious School of the Art Institure of Chicago where she studied painting in the fine arts program. She is the owner of LabourLove Art Gallery in Downtown Durham, NC where she is the curator and arts director. Please call LabourLove @ (919) 373-4451 if are interested in learning more about Kelly, or [...]

Originally from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, I currently reside in Raleigh, NC-fortunately for me, both areas are rich in the visual arts. In addition to commissioned portraits, I enjoy painting still lifes and landscapes.  It is hard to pinpoint the genesis of my fascination with painting natural landscapes, fruits, vegetables, and flowers.  Maybe is was growing [...]

“Bull City Craft outpost at LabourLove” The arts and craft shop Bull CIty Craft will be selling a select assortment of art supplies, books, and items to inspire your creativity at LabourLove Gallery. Bull City Craft is excited to partner with LabourLove and be a part of the arts community at Golden Belt. Jessica Greene [...]

In my abstract oil paintings I search for intense color by working with palette knife and brush and applying many layers of colored glazes.  I hope to achieve a vibration that will resonate with the viewer.  I am interested in the interplay of geometric and biomorphic forms and lost and found edges. Early travels throughout [...]

Some of my photographs have been described as a cross between documentary and “artistically symbolic”.  Consequently, as influenced as I am by narrative photography and straightforward images, I rarely tell a linear story.  Mixing styles allows me to apply layers of meaning through a whatever-it-takes approach to image making.  In many cases, there is an added figure, landscape [...]

I am a native of Durham, North Carolina and I have been creating ethnic inspired jewelry for about 8 years. I love studying jewelry from different cultures to gain inspiration for my own designs. Currently, my designs are reminiscent of Egyptian and Indian culture. I am also fascinated by the healing properties of natural gemstones. [...]

Around the age of seven, I lingered in the front yard and let my gaze drift to the night sky. With my eyes wide, and a deep sense of wonder, I stood in awe and open. I felt a connection to every star beyond my reach and every blade of grass beneath my feet. I choose [...]

I grew up in San Diego, and moved to North Carolina in 1989. I have lived in Durham since 1996. I began making jewelry as a child. I don’t know how, why, or when, but I always remember making jewelry. I sold my first pieces in 7th grade – bracelets made from aquarium tubing filled [...]

I have spent most of my life being drawn to science and working with my hands.  My educational and professional backgrounds are in plant biology and forestry. I want to convey the beauty of what I study to other people, and I do this through research, teaching, and art.  My work is nature based. I [...]

Renata McConnell’s art is inspired by nature, energy and dreams; she began painting after a series of dreams and visions of painted canvases. Now she is an abstract expressionist and Energy Art painter, driven to create not only what she sees, but also what she feels. In each piece, she strives to remain true to [...]

The process of creating fabric art is both tactile and visual, for the colors and the textures of fabric suggest stories, present ideas, and offer challenge. To experiment, to imagine, to reach beyond tradition is a wonderful adventure. My background is eclectic. I have authored many YA novels and short stories amongst other writings. I [...]

In my professional life I was a teacher of English literature and writing, a reader of narratives by others, but for the last thirteen years, I’ve looked out at life and endeavored to capture what I see and understand with paint and pencil. This environment of visual activity, with its elements of light, shapes, colors, [...]

I was born on a snowy day in the suburbs of Philadelphia into the home of two wonderful accountants.  You could say I was predestinded to be an artist.  It took me a while to get there, and I think I am still on my way.  However, when I first started painting my freshman year [...]

I have been drawing, painting and photographing things my entire life. Always a skilled illustrator, in college I studied with Herb Jackson who changed my attitude toward action painting and abstract imagery.  That exposure was instrumental in changing my thinking about imagery from the purely literal to a more conceptual approach.  It has informed my [...]

My work deals with making sense out of an abstract expression of self. When I first started painting I was drawn to color. Ignoring form I would begin each piece by putting color on boards wherever it instinctively seemed fit. After a while, from the chaos I would begin to make out abstract figures which [...]

I began doing glasswork as a hobby to occupy my time while healing from a divorce about 8 years ago.  I had never thought of stained glass before, but I happened upon a shop that gave classes.  I immediately fell in love with glass, the process, and the finished product.  It is deeply touching and [...]

People interest me most and I study and paint them to capture these complex times.  It is a candid view of the inhabitants of the late 20th and early 21st century.  I like to tell stories in my art and I look for character, emotion, and often humor in my subjects.  My figures have been [...]

Michael is an artist and a magician living in Morrisville, North Carolina.  He was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up on the Chesapeake Bay around steel men and dock workers.  During the 80’s his father’s factory was closed and he swiftly joined the Marine Corps, sending the family to Memphis, Tennessee and then Jacksonville, North [...]

I work to visually extract color, form, and the synergy of these elements, from an existing environment.Some days I find the color itself is sufficient to make a visual statement and other days the form emotes the message. I was raised in New York City and attended art classes at MOMA as a child. I [...]

Imagination is not a gift but an object of conquest par excellence ~ André Breton Kristy Lynn’s work explores the realms familiar to dreamers and wanderers. Texture built with wax-infused oil paint and soft color blended from pastel tones flesh out her visions from the subconscious. Delicate lines define her drawings and also form the [...]

Influences in my ceramic work are interests in Architecture, Archaeology, and History and I strive to create forms and surfaces that, at once, embody a sense of present and ancient time. Works that achieve that desire appear to have been lifted from ancient tombs. Further, the use of archetypal imagery through associative play allows exploration [...]

“Creativity is contagious; pass it on.” … Albert Einstein I’ve always been a mixed media artist, and now mostly work in metal. Unless we choose vintage, handmade or personalized objects for ourselves, we can end up looking like human peas in a pod. My intention is to make objects that have personal meaning for the [...]

I am entirely self-taught and by design so.  I learn everything I can about painting from experimentation and from the process of working itself.  For me, this method is not only the most enjoyable, but also the most conducive to learning by intuition and experience. I work with oils and acrylics and occasionally with chalk and pastels.  I [...]

I’m a poet and psychotherapist. My photographs are intended to be poems of a sort, insights of a sort. Most important, like poetry, my photos are intended to “evoke.” My most recent book of poems is If This World Falls Apart which won the Blue Lynx Prize for 2010. I live in Chapel Hill.

I fell in love with painting around the end of my thirty-three year career with IBM. I now live the artist’s life. Painting outside, en plein air, is where I draw my greatest inspiration. Plein air painting is one of the toughest ways to paint. Nature throws a lot of obstacles and information my way. I don’t always come some [...]

In my paintings, animals always take on a pivotal role. Sometimes the animals I paint are simple portraits, and other times they are more symbolic. In my series “Optimal Foraging”, birds are chained to the pharmaceuticals which they hunt for. Birds are often used to represent freedom, but the repetitive display of these birds foraging [...]

While in high school I feel in love with painting. I dreamed of studying art but my friends and family encouraged me to go into dentistry. I opened my endodontic practice in Durham after serving overseas as an officer in the army. That left very little or no time to create art. Suddenly losing most [...]

My current work is on canvas; mixed media w/acrylic, gold leaf, oil sticks, pumice, marble dust, silk tissue and collage elements. Intense color continues to be the core of my process, sometimes brilliant, other times muted, with hues hinting at the mystery of the process. I am constantly in awe of the creative energy that leads me to the [...]