‘I was good to the horse business and it was good to me.’

Ron Hill “the horse carver”

A highly realistic team of draft horses at left; race horses, titled “Spring Break”, at far right.
Ron Hill, at top centre, with one of his early sculptures; below, figures are outlined on
 basswood before carving. The carving and finishing method is described in the video below.

‘We’re all creatures struggling to be creative ─ anyone can do it.’

Watercolour artist Sabrina Shaw


Shaw’s watercolour art displays a wide variety of themes although each work
 seems to zero-in on the key subject matter. Here the artist talks about an
 abandoned truck, one of her more unanticipated paintings.

‘I have a traditional approach that some say is a nice kind of weird.’

Clay artist Denise Violette Michaud

Michaud with two of her art dolls and, along the sides of this image,
 several heads she has sculpted recently in her atelier near Grand Falls NB.

‘I’ve put down roots here and want to make a difference.’

Arts entrepreneur Paul Twyford

Paul Twyford at the Creek Village Gallery with some of the
 fine pewter products, made in Harvey NB, that he retails locally

‘I like to make them and I like to get rid of them.’

Woodturner Dale Slipp

Slipp, at left, in his workshop turning the outside of a new bowl on the lathe.
Centre, from top, the bowl after the first turning then going to the second, inside phase.
At right, rough bowls take at least four months to dry in the “bowl bank”.

‘I use art to overcome life’s challenges. It’s liberating.’

Brenda Thebeau

Brenda Thebeau holding the lion page that changed her life. Insets: other art journal pieces.
“My new work is far less personal… but it’s all about exploration.”

Loyal to oil: Artist of the Month at Creek Village Gallery

Artist Wanda Black

Even Black's flora can be quite captivating as demonstrated here in a detail from
 a larger painting (bottom) which invites the viewer to imagine the story beyond the canvas.
 The lush images at top form a tryptic.

‘I used to carve and display in the back of a barber shop.’

Francine Simard Levesque 

Gnomes and Santas on view this weekend for the Art in the Valley Studio Tour (Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7, 2015) at Levesque's riverside studio in Rowena include, from left, a richly carved and painted  child’s sleigh, a welcoming doorway sculpture, an intricately carved birdhouse (detail here), a 7-foot high sculpture (only a portion of which is shown).

Art in the Valley Studio Tour celebrates Canada’s 2015 Craft Year

Next weekend, June 6-7, 2015, the Art in the Valley Studio Tour is saluting Canada's Craft Year with special events and open houses from the Grand Falls area to Woodstock and points between and beyond. Some of the highlights: From top left, Francine Simard Levesque’s 7-foot sculpture (a portion of which is shown here) at her studio in Rowena demonstrates her meticulous technique; necklace and earrings inspired, according to Perth’s Japheth McKinney, by a sudden “craving for watermelon”; a particularly fine ceramic piece by Wendy Johnston (formerly of Woodstock), part of an extraordinary show at the McCain Art Gallery in Florenceville; pigs do fly, occasionally, on the broad lawn in front of sculptor Kerry O’Toole’s gallery in Grafton; wood-turner Randy Hathaway’s lighthouse-inspired showroom on the banks of the Tobique. Bottom: necklace by Sarah Smith Stewart recently on display at the Creek Village Gallery in downtown Woodstock.
 (These items subject to prior sale or may not be available for purchase.)

‘I’ve become a YouTube junky. That’s how I learned the craft.’

Jeweller, artist Japheth McKinney

  McKinney is fond of fluid, colourful pieces like this which are produced using a pouring medium combined with acrylic paints. Once the paint compound is applied to the canvas in layers, the whole piece is tilted to produce the bleeding effect. "I just love the intensity," he says.

‘I had a hard time finding a market. Now I can rely on word-of-mouth.’

Artist Craig Smith Dow

The artist surrounded by canvases in his Somerville NB studio which will be open to the public Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7, 2015.
PHOTO © CRAIG SMITH DOW