SVFAL’s Studio 5 Artists Get Inspired

Viewers encouraged to look beneath the surface.

For Karen Paquette and Eileen Ross their Studio #5 at the historic Red House in Black Mountain, NC is a tribute to their fortitude and dedication to being artists in spite of their limitations. Karen has Fibromyalgia, and Eileen, Multiple Sclerosis. Both refuse to let these medical labels define how they see the world or the world sees them.

These studio mates met when Karen started an experimental art group for the Swannanoa Valley Fine Arts League in 2009. Both are intuitive painters and share a love for mixed-media, collage, mark making and water media art techniques.

Karen uses her lifetime experiences in working with many different mediums: ceramics, weaving, textile arts, basket making, and papermaking to explore these many dimensions of art in painting. She soaked copper flashing strips in vinegar to get the patina look to make elements for her “Interpretive Layers” series, which includes the piece “Turquoise Memories.”

“I don’t want you to look for something realistic in my work, says Paquette. “I want you to look beneath the surface and discover the layers of mystery… to find something that sparks your imagination! This is what non-objective art is all about.”

Ross’ work is lyrical and metaphorical rather than representational. Her themes range from jazz musicians and circus performers to lively impressions of her mood. Indeed, her beautiful and sometimes haunting collages are an apt representation of the renewal and reconstruction of a multiple layered life. “My art is an expression of me, at the time I make it,” says Ross.

View recent creations now in Studio 5 at The Red House Studios and Gallery, 310 West State Street in Black Mountain. Home of the Swannanoa Valley Fine Arts League, (serving NC for 49 years). Hours: 11-3 Tues-Sun. Free parking and free admission. For more information, call (828) 669-0351, and visit svfalarts.org