Galleries Visual Arts

Woolworth Walk: Art on Salvaged Windows

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Flipping Five. Rob O’Sheeran, artist

For the month of June, Woolworth Walk will feature salvage artist Rob O’Sheeran in the F.W. Gallery. The artist uses old windows as canvases, allowing for a depth and movement that is unique to his work. “Every painting is like a puzzle,” O’Sheeran says. “I’m constantly flipping the window over back and forth, adding color, carving into and removing paint and layering paints to create new hues until it comes together, until it’s complete.”

Born in Williamsburg, VA, O’Sheeran studied at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Richmond. “As an art student, I couldn’t afford many of the art supplies required for my classes, so I had to be resourceful,” he says. O’Sheeran lived in the Fan District of Richmond, where many of the row houses were being renovated at the time. The budding artist found value in the old windows that were being thrown away during renovations. “I immediately preferred a window as my medium rather than canvas,” he says. “I thought the colors of oil paint on glass were more vivid and the process of applying paint to both sides of the window much more challenging and varied. I found I could create additional dimensions in ways that I couldn’t on canvas.”

O’Sheeran’s work has been showcased across the Carolinas and Virginia. He has lived in Asheville for 20 years and was one of the first artists to join Woolworth Walk. “It’s always an honor and pleasure to showcase my work in the front gallery,” he says. The artist will be present at the gallery for a reception during the Downtown Asheville Art District First Friday Gallery Walk on June 7 from 5–7 p.m.

F.W. Gallery at Woolworth Walk is located at 25 Haywood Street in downtown Asheville. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 828.254.9234 or visit WoolworthWalk.com.

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