Join us to hear an Carl give us an overview of how (and why) he makes big sparkly mixed media mandalas! A mandala is typically composed of circles with repeating symmetrical shapes. They often symbolize balance, harmony, or unity and represent that everything in the universe is connected.
Carl Gombert was born in Brimfield, Ohio in 1959. He started taking painting lessons at the age of 14 with money he earned delivering newspapers. He completed a BFA in Drawing from the University of Akron and an MFA in Painting from Kent State University. He worked as a stagehand before earning a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts at Texas Tech University. He has exhibited in more than 350 exhibitions across the US and abroad and his work is in numerous museum and university collections. Since 1993 he has taught painting, drawing, and art history at Maryville College in Tennessee.
Join us to hear Debbie Alley share her journey as a textile artist, a look into the art of eco-printing and how the process works, and samples of her work.
Debbie is a fiber artist living in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her passion for painting and eco-printing on silk and paper moves her to experiment with color and texture and she finds that her favorite place to create is where nature, science, and artistic expression come together.
Debbie fell in love with fiber arts as a young girl while learning to sew under the artistic eye of my grandmother. She learned to experiment and embrace creativity and push the boundaries with design. She spent many hours selecting fabrics and patterns and putting them together for a design that was unique and beautiful.
Her former creative textile endeavors have included silk painting, quilt design and construction, longarm machine quilting, fabric dyeing, eco-printing, mixed media collage, watercolor, and simple bookbinding. She has professional experience in HR with a focus on digital content development, graphic design, and marketing.
Debbie recently launched her Lifestyle Textiles Collection of beautiful 100% Kona Cotton eco printed and hand dyed. This is the first step in the expansion of her brand into the home interior space and will be including her textile designs for art for home decor.
Her work can be found at:
The District Gallery in Knoxville, Tennessee
Artisan Woodworking and Design Gallery, Knoxville, Tennessee
Have you ever wanted to see what Photoshop is all about? Or maybe you’ve tried Photoshop and threw your hands up in the air?
Join us to see a wide variety of what Adobe Photoshop has to offer. This high-level overview will show examples from watercolor, oil, and impressionistic painting to professionally retouching photographs and combining digital assets to make a masterpiece — all with an unlimited supply of paint and never having to clean a brush!
Future class offerings will be discussed for the Art Guild from Beginning to Intermediate Photoshop, Advanced Photoshop for Artists and Photographers, and Photoshop Fabric and Fashion Design.
Artist Bio: Dan is a member of Professional Photographers of America, Nature First: The Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography, and the Tellico Village Art Guild.
Described as “the Van Gogh of Beach Art” Dan’s lifelong passion has developed with decades of travel, family, and nature photography. His skills have been refined with education by leading photographers from National Geographic Magazine and digital editing techniques by leading instructors, built on hours of experience in the darkroom spanning as far back as the 1970s.
Sharing the inspiration from the intro of Jimmy Buffett’s One Particular Harbor, “La ora te nature” (Long Live Nature), Dan and Tracey support the Sea Turtle Conservancy with their art as sea turtles are one of the leading indicators of the health of our oceans.
Dan’s works have been selected for showings in the southeastern US, ranging from his hometown of Knoxville to Tampa with collectors spanning Seattle to San Francisco, and New York to Key West.
Join us as Marianne Woodside shares her photographs each illustrative of specific subjects, techniques, and creative contexts of her photography. She will introduce topics that include photographing glass, manipulating images, and capturing images during travel. She will also discuss learning in a workshop setting, establishing a body of work (e.g. home place, wildlife, and birds), and establishing partnerships.
Marianne is known for her use of color and light, and her emphasis on creative approaches to digital photography. Embedded throughout the presentation will be themes of surprise, joy, creativity, and learning as Marianne traces the evolution of her work from its beginning to the present date.
Artist Bio: Marianne Woodside was born in 1948. She spent her early years in Orange, Texas. At the age of 17, she moved with her family to the Kuwait City and graduated from the International School of Kuwait in 1966. She then left to attend college at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Subsequently, she received a University Fellowship to study at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, graduating with her Masters in Counseling and Curriculum Studies. This graduation was followed by a move to Blacksburg, Virginia where she studied Counselor Education and graduated with an Ed.D. in 1974. While in Blacksburg, Marianne worked as a school counselor and then assumed an Assistant Professor position in Teacher Education.
Marianne spent the remainder of her professional career holding professorships in Teacher Education, Human Services, and Counselor Education at Virginia Tech, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She also held various administrative positions as Coordinator of Advising and First Year Studies, Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, and Program Coordinator in Human Services and Counselor Education. During Marianne’s career as an academic, she was recognized as an outstanding teacher and researcher. Areas of expertise include human services, case management, supervision, and counselor development. She continues her writing in human services and counseling today.
It was during Marianne’s years in Wyoming that she developed an interest in photography. There, she developed a love for the wide open spaces of the plains and the rugged Rocky Mountain vistas. After her move to Knoxville, she was mystified as how to photograph the flora and fauna of East Tennessee, especially the dense wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains. Today the perplexity has turned to a deep appreciation of the East Tennessee landscape and the photographic opportunities it offers.
During the last ten years, with the encouragement from family and friends, especially photographer Tom Owens, Marianne has expanded her interest in photography and her ideas of artistic expression. Opportunities for travel to such venues as Central America, South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Iceland have offered time to capture exotic photographs beyond her daily experiences. And, because of her husband Phil’s willingness to make time for photography (stopping the car at a moment’s notice), Marianne is able to find intriguing subjects close to home. An interest in photographing glass has provided Marianne an additional way of expressing the relationship between man-made objects, nature, light, and color.
Marianne has been fortunate to find support from the Arts and Cultural Alliance and has shown her work at the Emporium Center. Her art has been selected for McGhee Tyson Arts and the Airport exhibit, the Arts & Cultural Alliance National Juried Exhibit, the Knoxville Photo Exhibition, and the Oak Ridge Art Center. She has also shown her work at the Knoxville Golden Roast Coffee Shop, the Knoxville Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Gallery, the Westminster Presbyterian Art Gallery, and Maryville’s Asbury Place.
Photography is an important part of her life. Marianne also spends time writing, playing the guitar, hiking, and traveling. She is devoted to her husband Phil, their three children, Michael, Cathy, and Donna Lee and their respective spouses and significant other and grandchildren. And then, there is, of course, their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Clyde, who resides with Marianne and Phil at Asbury Place in Maryville, Tennessee.
Join us to hear Jonathan Howe talk about how to develop a creative process in generating successful paintings. How do you overcome creative blocks and continue to espand your skills as an artist? Jonathan wants to share some of his process in achieving paintings that grab people’s attention.
Artist Bio: I am a professional visual artist, continually developing my skills as a painter. In 2007, I graduated from Maryville College with a Bachelors of Art and soon launched into a full-time art career painting portraits and landscapes. Beginning with several portrait commissions, I soon discovered the joy of landscape painting as a way to communicate a story with moody light, color and expressive brushwork.
I have received much influence from historical as well as contemporary painters. In the development of my love of portraits, I poured over artists like Rembrandt and John Singer Sargent for their use of light and bold brushstrokes yet accurate portrayals. As I developed my landscapes, the works of George Inness and Edgar Payne became alive to me. Inness’ use of tonal and light and Payne’s dynamic compositions and thick paint are the two chief inspirations that effect my work. Contemporary artists such as Richard Schmid and Scott Christensen have given me incredible insight into painting technique and also into the reality of making painting a way of life.
My passion lies in the intimate details that form a true likeness in oil portraits and the subtle lighting of rolling landscapes. My portraits show brilliant color and dramatic lighting that capture the personality and display the very soul of his subject in a unique masterpiece. My landscapes reveal my love for the outdoors developed by many years of hiking the trails of the Great Smoky Mountains and other national parks across the country.
I have had the privilege of creating works for private and corporate collectors across the southeast, with clients including Clayton Homes, the University of Tennessee Medical Center, Kroger, Gaylord Texan Resort, and many others. With the belief that true fine art is the result of a healthy soul coupled with a passion for excellence, my goal is that my paintings warm the heart and delight the eye.
Each day at the easel is a new adventure in creating beauty. My goal as a painter is to capture dynamic compositions with compelling, moody light. I love the life conveyed in Plein Air painting because each work is not just a moment in time but an experience put to canvas. I enjoy a diversity of brushwork to convey color the way that our eyes see, with a variation of soft and sharp edges. Each painting is a story to be told. I use mostly brushes to work with on the canvas but also employ the pallet knife to give thick accents of impasto paint where needed.
In 2010 I married Sarah Atchley-Howe who together as a team manage Jonathan Howe Fine Art. She and I live urban-artistically in the heart of Knoxville, Tennessee. Committed to merging art and faith in Jesus Christ, Sarah and I are active in our local church, combining our talents for art and music and our heart to see others come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Other than our work, we enjoy hospitality, the outdoors and taking care of our two daughters Aidyn and Susanna and our rambunctious little Maltipoo, Amber.
Through examples of her work, Judy Lavoie will explore the differences, advantages, and unique working procedures for using transparent watercolors on both the smooth surface of Claybord and the similar, but slightly textured surface of Aquabord. Judy will also cover the option of using scratchboarding techniques on the white clay surfaces once color is added. Her presentation will show how she approaches this media combination with step by step examples as well as with her finished artwork. Judy will also have samples of Claybord and Aquabord panels, free to any AGTV members who want to try them out.
Award-winning artist Judy Lavoie creates paintings with intricate detail in a highly representational style. She works in watercolors, inks, and acrylics, on paper, canvas and scratchboard surfaces. Judy has a strong sense of design and composition, with a talent for leading the viewer’s eye to the focal point.
Not content to stick with any one subject, Judy is known for depicting rural scenes, animals, interesting characters, old vehicles, wildflowers, still lifes, and a wide variety of other subjects. Her paintings are rich with textures, colors, and a wide range of values. She feels there is always more to learn about art and enjoys pushing herself beyond her comfort zone.
Metal clay sounds like a oxymoron, but it is actually a versatile medium made up of fine metal pieces, an organic binder, and a small amount of water. You can sculpt with it like a polymer clay, then fire in a kiln to produce a piece of solid metal. Judi will discuss the properties and possibilities for use in jewelry and sculpture, as well as provide examples from raw clay to finished pieces.
Judi Talley is an East TN native and active member of the Foothills Craft Guild. She has worked with metal clay since 2011 and juried into the Foothills Guild in 2016 in the jewelry category. Her love of the Smokey Mountains fuels her creative drive, and regular hikes in and around the mountains provide plenty of inspiration.
Eightmoons Creations is her one-woman jewelry studio set up in her home in Knoxville. Her husband, sister, and four cats all graciously put up with the mess.
AGTV Member Lil Clinard began to pursue art and painting full time after her 30 year career in research and technical management. Upon retirement she took art classes and workshops and began to paint in earnest, teaching herself through practice. Attracted to the elusive quality of light and the wonderful colors that emerge, she began to try different media, surfaces and techniques. Lil discovered that while fear will hold you back, trying new things can create great results and be a lot of fun!
In 2008, Lil began to exhibit and was encouraged by awards and sales of her artwork. Today, she considers herself a professional artist who paints realistically with a nod to impressionism. Her work is available through her website, her studio and the Art Market Gallery in Knoxville, Tennessee. She is active in several art organizations including the National Watercolor Society and American Watercolor Society and is current President of the Tennessee Watercolor Society.
Come hear about her journey as an artist who is willing to experiment with no fear!
Join us as Cheri Jorgenson talks about her discovery of wildlife and her realistic depiction of them in her art. “My recent artwork began during our initial Covid isolation, when I finally noticed the wildlife around our acreage in South Knoxville. The animals have always been there, but I had not been aware of them. I became an observer of our animal residents. To honor them, I wanted to depict them as O’Keeffe did the flowers, so the viewer would truly see them and would appreciate their tender beauty. Since then I’ve been doing drawings and paintings of animals in a variety of media: mostly color pencil with mixed media pieces, on a variety of surfaces: toned or black paper, or painted canvas. “Blessed Are the Meek” is my title for this evolving series of works honoring our local wildlife.”
Cheri has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alabama and a Masters of Science in Art Education from the University of Tennessee. Originally she was a graphic designer, working for the International Energy Exposition (The 1982 World’s Fair), Tennessee Valley Authority, and in her own design firm, among others. After earning her graduate degree, she was an art teacher for Knox County Schools for 20 years, and retired from the L&N STEM Academy in 2020. She was the 2012 Tennessee Art Educator of the Year, the 2020 Tennessee National Art Honor Society Sponsor of the Year, and the 2021 National Sponsor. Cheri co-founded COMMA, a plein air group that meets weekly at UT Gardens since 2004 and exhibits together regularly. She lives in South Knoxville with her husband in their 100+ year-old farmhouse.
Join us as Julie Fawn Boisseau-Craig, a contemporary glass artist, talks about her experience as a full-time artist. Photos of her art will show the evolution of her work from being strictly a glass artist to one who combines clay, metal and/or wood with her glass. Today, her work directly responds to the contradictions of life using her wide range of skills with a mix of materials to create unique art.
Julie works in glass and porcelain primarily but utilizes metals and wood as necessary to create her sculptural pieces. She designs and creates many functional and wearable works at Wild Pony Studio, her personal studio in Rockford, Tennessee and does hot shop glass works at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro, North Carolina. She has shown nationally and participated in many workshops and demonstrations. Her work directly responds to the contradictions of life.
Julie received her Masters of Fine Arts Degree in December of 2012, after which, she taught at Western Carolina University and Southwestern Community College in North Carolina. Julie is currently the President of the East Chapter of Tennessee Craft and Vice President for the Art Market Gallery in downtown Knoxville. Julie now concentrates on her studio work, art shows and teaching workshops.
