At the start of each year, Brevard’s cooperative gallery Number 7 Arts closes for three days for a complete reorganization that involves removing all art from the walls and moving all artist displays. This year, the refresh includes a show called New Beginnings, on display through March 25.
“This is a perfect show for me because it sums up the new direction I’m taking with my art,” says member artist Carol Clay. “I was painting exclusively with acrylics until last year when I started diving into oil and cold wax.”
New Beginnings. Cheryl Stippich, artist
Clay’s work in the exhibit also reflects a shift in her overall painting style, which now leans more toward abstraction, something she says works particularly well with oil and cold wax.
Cheryl Stippich has two stained glass works in the show. Both pieces are contemporary and abstract in design and constructed in the copper foil method of stained glass made famous by Tiffany. One piece, bearing the same title as the show, features glass nuggets and swirls, hand-formed wire accents, decorative soldering and a sculpted metal cane frame. The other, Magic Comet Ride, is a take on the Steppenwolf song Magic Carpet Ride, and features a repurposed, pressed glass candy dish lid, vintage jewels from Eastern Europe circa World War II, decorative soldering and a cascading rainbow of colors with heavily textured clear glass accents.
New Beginnings also includes two watercolors by Laurie Davis. The first is a sunflower, intended to represent the promise of warm, sunny days ahead.
“I have found a great deal of inspiration with the flower farmers at our Saturday farmers market,” she says. “It is always a joy when the sunflowers arrive after a long winter.”
The second, titled Circle Theatre, Abstract in Brown, features an autumnal color palette and is inspired by the river rocks found along the French Broad River.
Number 7 Arts is located at 2 West Main Street in Brevard. To learn more, visit Number7Arts.org or call 828.883.2294.
