Chattanooga Pulse

Written by Michael Crumb
Tuesday, 25 November 2008 19:36

Winder Binder gallery owner David Smotherman will be hosting the Holiday Art Market this weekend in the lot adjacent to the gallery. The market will feature 25 artists, mostly local, in a dynamic art environment where some artists will be working on-site. Although about half of the artists are regularly represented at Winder Binder Gallery of Folk Art, this market will not exclusively feature folk art.

For me, folk art represents a kind of “comfort food for the soul’, but it actually spans across the spectrum to fine art. Smotherman points out that some folk artists produce work of such quality they achieve the status of fine artists. Participating artist Kimberly Dawn Clayton produces both folk art and fine art, for example. Some fine artists will happily choose materials and concepts that present museum-quality “folk art.” This folk art/fine art spectrum has intriguing resonances not only to artistic vision, but also to mood and style.

My discussion with Smotherman concerning the characteristics of folk art illuminated both the close relationship between folk and fine art (sometimes just a matter of definition), and qualities of folk art. Most artists are driven by some kind of vision, but how they express that vision shows how paths may diverge. A folk artist may create with such a personal focus that they never consider formal training. They may also often work with with recycled materials, producing “green art.” Consider Native American art forms, driven by material necessity and spirituality to achieve spectacular results. So too, the folk artist, working in isolation, may be “discovered” as a fine artist. Thus the paths for folk art and fine art may converge. Ultimately, this distinction is less important than is the appreciation of artistic vision achieved.

A preview of the artists participating in the Holiday Art Market includes:
• Kimberly Dawn Clayton, who works mostly with acrylics in portraits and subjects inspired by nature, such as beaches.
• Deona Fish develops pastoral themes in paintings and pastels.
• Michael Jenkins produces oil on canvas on industrial subjects and acrylic and spray-paint pop icons.
• Cristina Glidden presents innovative jewelry design.
• “Mattanooga”, also a jeweler, works with recycled furniture and old signs.
• Christy Solomon and Julia Hedgedath, both from Nashville, present abstract stained-glass mosaics.
• Charlie Yowell does three-dimensional, animal-inspired stained glass.
• Charles McFarland “sculpts” with scrap metal to produce mostly outdoor pieces.
• Nicole Thurman presents curio tables and tables made from antique windows.

Some of the artists will travel here from Georgia and the Carolinas. Go and enjpy this variety of visions!