Thursday, July 30, 2009

August - Sherry Wells - The Purple Pomegranate

The Purple Pomegranate, a fine craft specialty store, is featuring work by Kalispell potter Sherry Wells during the month of August. Sherry’s studio, Free Flight Studio, is located at the base of the Rocky Mountains close to Glacier National Park. She has been working with clay for over 30 years and has a degree in art education. Sherry has taught classes to all ages. Her goal is for folks to transform their kitchens and household items used in day to day life into works of art. They then can take a moment out of their day to stop, interact, touch, enjoy, and appreciate a piece of art made by someones hands. They can stop to appreciate art at unexpected moments throughout the day to hopefully enhance and improve their day and possibly even their outlook.

Sherry’s pieces are individually thrown on a potter's wheel and/or hand built using white stoneware or porcelain. Most are a combination of wheel thrown work that has then been altered. Nothing is wasted, all clay is recycled, what does not get fired becomes another piece. The pieces not meeting selling standards can be found as garden art, mosaics & stepping stones around her studio grounds. All work is fired to 2400 degrees F and is oven, dishwasher & microwave safe, except Raku which is intended for decorative purposes only. The work on display will be from Sherry’s two most recent wood firings.

Meet Sherry during Whitefish Gallery Night, Thursday, August 6, 2009 from 6-9 PM. Sherry’s work will be displayed during the opening and throughout the month of August.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Stephen Isley Jewelry presents Scott & Kerry Nagel


Stephen Isley Jewelry, 241 Central Avenue, will feature the work of Whitefish artists Scott and Kerry Nagel for the month of July. Opening reception will be Thursday, July 2, during the Whitefish Gallery Nights celebration. The Nagels, founders and previous owners of Wasabi Sushi Bar, have been spending long hours in their studios, creating three-dimensional art. Scott’s medium is wood, with emphasis on whimsical boxes. Kerry works with paper, building art pieces that are organic in nature and influenced by abstract sculpture, ceramics and basketry.

Shown in this photo is Kerry’s piece entitled, “Quill”, a sculptural coupling made of commercial and handmade papers, India ink and African porcupine quills.