Celebration of Craft
(Holiday Show 2006)
Directions and Map

34 Fine Craft Artists
Glass | Ceramic | Wood | Metal
Jewelry, Enamel and Beadwork
Fiber | Photography
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Nick Grant Barnes is a silversmith, designer and educator. Staring into each piece the eye is drawn down the folds and creases to the hole: sometimes as dark as the deepest cave: at times a shining light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Each piece is fold formed, raised and planished with traditional and not so traditional techniques using steel, plastic, and wooden forming stakes and hammers. Pure fine gold has a color like no other. The application of 24k gold foil (a technique known as Kum-Boo) means the gold is worked, pressed and formed into the surface of each piece. This values the surface permanence equal to the warmth of color it emits. The forms follow his desire to explore the shapes and textures the materials will allow him to inflict on them using his hands and tools.

Joanne Bast rediscovered stitchery as an art form after earning several scientific degrees. She began with beads first to weight down fiber adornments, then as a medium in their own right, and has since moved into knitting and felting. Whether working with beads or wool, her primary artistic focus is color and color transitions as well as shaping sculptural forms. www.jbast.com

Cindy Brandt creates silk wearables, fused glass objects and jewelry incorporating silk, glass, silver, copper and aluminum. Her studio, cbdesigns, is located in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia. Her "Scarf" silkscreen design was chosen to adorn an Surface Design Association banner at the Kansas City Art Institute and will continue to represent the association at venues throughout the US. www.cb-designs.com

Elizabeth L. Braun began her training in stained glass at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Aix-en-Provence, France in 1981 and has studied with some of the world's leading glass artists. In 1986 she founded Elizabeth's Glassworks, specializing in custom architectural windows for homes and businesses. Using traditional leaded and copper foil methods, beveling, etching, and painting on glass she earned a position in the front ranks of commission artists. Her glass art pieces are installed throughout the U.S. and abroad. In addition to her architectural work, Elizabeth specializes in warm glass methods including fusing, kiln forming, glass casting, and pate-de-verre, and has established a growing reputation for works of conceptual flourish and cutting edge technique. Her work has won awards at major exhibitions on the east coast. www.elizglass.com

Ed Burck has worked in glass for over fifteen years, the last five exclusively in kiln formed glass. His innovative designs and compositions have produced pieces shown in galleries across the United States. He has a home studio in University Park, Maryland. www.EdBurck.com

Eileen Doughty loves the concept of "place" and so her preferred subject matter is the landscape. Her background in cartography has been useful in designing quilts, since mapping also relies on understanding how people view and interpret colors and symbols. The tactile nature of fabric is explored and celebrated in Eileen's art. She often uses "thread sketching" to convey an image into the textile medium. Details are added with surface design techniques such as painting, collage, discharging, and stamping, sometimes on nontraditional fabrics. Eileen's quilts have been exhibited across the U.S. and several other countries. They are in private, government and corporate collections in the United States and Japan, including the John A. Wilson Building in Washington, DC. She is a member of the Potomac Craftsmen Gallery at the Torpedo Factory, and Studio Art Quilt Associates. www.DoughtyDesigns.com

Debra Dowden-Crockett is a glass and jewelry artist in Ashburn, VA. Her passion for nature, especially flowers, inspires her to replicate its beauty and intricacy. With glass, she is able to create small details and to mix colors according to each idea or vision. Her objective for her glass art is to replicate the beauty nature offers in a small object that can be held, worn, and cherished forever. Debra's work has been featured in publications on glass art, has been exhibited at the Corcoran College of Art & Design, and is part of a permanent collection at the Bead Museum in Washington, D.C. In 2005, Debra's work was awarded third place (glass category) in the Virginia Best of Artists Juried Competition and was recently featured at "Once Upon A Bead", a juried exhibition in New York. www.glassinbloom.com

Rona Eisner is a photographer and artist in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She draws her inspiration from nature and a strong sense of place and of color. In the DC area, Eisner's work has been shown at Results Gallery, Touchstone Gallery, Gallery West, Strathmore Hall, the National Press Club and Georgetown University Hospital Art Gallery, among others. She recently took first place in a show I'm Ready for My Close Up of the Capitol Arts Network and that image (Magic Puff) has been selected for inclusion in NANPA's 2007 journal, Expressions. Her photograph of Pablo's Poppy appears on the cover of City Lights' The Essential Neruda, edited by her son Mark. She is a member of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA), Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, and Second Sight DC.

Barbro Eriksdotter Gendell creates contemporary art jewelry and small objects. Her native Sweden informs her aesthetic; clean, minimalist lines of mostly abstract shapes derived from nature dominate her work. Rich, tactile textures are frequently in playful dialog with a smooth, pristine surface. Barbro is a charter member and former president of Washington Guild of Goldsmiths. She is a partner at Studio Metallum, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA, since 1983, and a teacher at the Art League School, Jewelry Department. Her work has been exhibited in numerous juried local, national and international shows. Notable recent achievements include Table Sculpture in Art in Embassies Program, Seoul, Korea; Jurors' Special Recognition, Washington Guild of Goldsmiths Biennial, Alexandria, VA; Five entries, Two Capitals-Contemporary Art Jewelry, Moscow, Russia; and First Prize, Saul Bell Design Award Competition, Albuquerque, NM.

Julie Anne Gibson is an award-winning floral artist who creates unique contemporary fine art from blooms of exceptional quality, framed and preserved for the viewing pleasure. To create these unique floral compositions, Gibson utilizes only the largest and most colorful varieties harvested at the very peak of freshness, from some of the leading growers in the world. A student of floral art since 1974, and a recipient of numerous awards, Gibson's unique skills were professionally recognized in 1989 when she was inducted into the pre-eminent company of the most distinguished association of Floral Artists in the U.S., the American Institute of Floral Designers. At her studio in the beautiful mountains of Arizona, she is inspired by her surroundings and spends her days creating new designs and collecting many natural desert materials.

Abby Schindler Goldblatt's art explores and reacts to the relationships between atmosphere, texture, movement, space and color. These elements become the vocabulary of an expressive and intuitive journey of self-reflection and understanding. All things are autobiographical, universal in their references to humanity, and the viewer is urged to join the journey. Abby received her B.F.A. and M.F.A. from Kent State University. She is an adjunct professor at Montgomery College, Rockville, MD, heading the enameling program, and also teaches at the Art League of Northern Virginia. Abby is a member of the Torpedo Factory Artists Association, Alexandria, VA; the Sculptors Group; and the Goldsmiths Guild of Washington. Abby exhibits both nationally and internationally, and her work is included in many private collections. Abby lives and works in Silver Spring, MD.

Cherry Goldblatt has been involved in crafts throughout her life. In the 1970's, she designed handmade purses that were sold in craft galleries on Madison Avenue as well as Soho in New York City. She then became the co-owner of Renaissance Fine Arts Gallery in Bethesda, Maryland. She began experimenting with beads and made her first beaded box in 1997. By manipulating beads into a composition, her works tend to read as mini-mosaics. She paints with beads while at the same time sculpting the beads into the desired from. Teapots are among her favorite forms due to their connection to her beloved British grandmother who lovingly served tea at all occasions. This year, her work is being exhibited in The James Renwick Alliance Auction in Washington, DC and SOFA Show in Chicago.

Ruth Gowell apprenticed to a weaver in Denmark in 1970, and continued her studies after returning to the United States. Her work developed into an exploration of color through the use of shiny rayon dyed in color progessions, and woven in multiple layers. A workshop in fused glass in 1999 led to the purchase of a kiln and an exploration of the technique of fused glass. An immediate love of iridized glass and the possibilities of pattern and texture have resulted in the development of platters and bowls which continue her exploration of color interaction, color gradation, pattern and texture. Both her fiber and glass are shown in Studio #23 at the Torpedo Factory Art Center. www.ruthgowell.com

Roz Houseknecht weaves, felts and dyes fibers to create wearable art. Her work includes accessories such as scarves, shawls, hats, jewelry and clothing such as ponchos, vests and jackets in vibrant colors using natural fibers including wool, silk, rayon, cotton and tencel. Roz has been a member of the Potomac Craftsmen Gallery at the Torpedo Factory for many years, as well as an active member of ArtSites, the guild for Judaic Arts. www.artsitesjudaicguild.org

Joel Hunnicutt is a wood artist focused on the shape, color, and design of the vessel. The primary technique he uses is called "segmented" turning. This technique allows him great flexibility in designing shapes that would be impossible to create from solid wood. His goal is to generate the flowing feeling of glass in the organic medium of wood. Hunnicutt also teaches woodturning for Central Carolina Community College and has been a guest demonstrator at Duke University. As an exhibiting member of Piedmont Craftsmen and American Crafts Council, he won the Award of Excellence Piedmont Crafts Fair in 2005 and was a Niche Award Finalist in 2006. www.joelhunnicutt.com

Bonnie Inouye has been weaving since 1967. Flowing lines, intriguing textures, and bold images characterize her award-winning work. She enjoys using weaving software to create new drafts for each piece on her 16 and 24-shaft looms, often with hand-dyed yarns. She has taught workshops in eight countries, has written many articles and a book on weaving, Exploring Multishaft Design. Her work has been included in shows at the Textile Museum, the Philadelphia Art Museum's craft show, the Smithsonian Craft Show, Baltimore Winter Market, and many juried exhibits. Her articles have appeared recently in Handwoven Magazine, Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot, and Complex Weavers Journal. www.bonnieinouye.com

Jan Jacque has been a full-time potter for over 28 years. She received a Bachelors of Fine Art degree from Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Craftsman in 1977. She has received many awards for her creations, and four of her pieces are in the permanent collection at the Mint Museum of Craft and Design. Her sculptures are made from a fine-textured white clay and she uses "slab" and 'coil' building methods of construction. Her handcrafted creations in clay, wood and mirror, express her deep admiration, respect and love for nature.She has always been drawn to the forms, lines, asymmetry and delicate complexity in nature. Clay subtly implies earth. Wood and plant images reflect the growth of living things. Mirrors suggest water and sky. The vessels and mirrors she creates are the result of her careful balance of all these elements. www.janjacque.com

Lori Katz has worked as a studio potter in the Washington, DC area since 1979. She maintains a studio at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia, and is an instructor in the ceramics department of the Art League School, also in Alexandria. Lori is best known for her innovative teapot designs which have been featured in publications including HOME magazine and The Washington Post. Lori has participated in numerous shows and exhibitions, and is the recipient of several awards, including the "Niche" award for excellence in design and craftsmanship. www.lorikatz.com

Joyce Keister creates handwoven jackets and other garments and accessories. She uses natural fibers, and paints the warps to be woven on her 16 shaft loom. Weave structures are designed on the computer to complement the blending and over-lapping colors for a painterly look. Her jackets are further enhanced with buttons made of either polymer clay or natural stones. Joyce has been weaving and designing for over 25 years. Her work is currently exhibited at the Potomac Craftsmen Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA.

Galina Kolosovsky's feather creations provide striking images, some abstract and some representational. Her compositions dance before the eyes, with the feather textures and patterns giving the illusion of brush strokes, while the dimensionality of the feathers adds a sense of depth. Galina was trained as an artist in Russia and moved to the Washington, DC area in 2003.

Mickey Kunkle thinks of herself as a recovering fiber artist. After many years of sewing, knitting and crocheting in the traditional way she was introduced to melting glass with a torch. Torches and what flames can do has consumed her since then and she now owns six torches used for either glass or precious metal. Unwilling to give up fiber techniques completely she has found ways to combine jewelry techniques and fiber techniques. She is a member of Potomac Craftsmen Gallery in the Torpedo Factory, North End Gallery in Leonardtown, MD and CalvART Gallery in Prince Frederick, MD where she is the Executive Director. In addition she does retail shows and this year won Honorable Mention at Hyde Park Square in Cincinnati.

Kathie Perry Lynch is an artist in residence at VisArts (formally Rockville Arts Place). She began her career with the Glen Echo Glass Arts Consortium as a resident artist and teacher. Her work is defined by her use of bold color, graphic design and woven layers of glass for a highly textured effect. She has studied with many great glass artists at The Studio at Corning and UrbanGlass. Her work has been exhibited at local galleries and juried craft shows throughout the US. Kathie lives in Chevy Chase, MD.

Marilyn Nugent has been working in glass for 25 years. During her 12 years as a resident artist at Glen Echo National Park, she received a $5000 grant from DC, taught several hundred students to fuse and cast glass and to make lamp worked beads. She has shown her work in numerous galleries and venues. Marilyn moved to Lewes, DE where she has concentrated on bead making and maintains a studio for fusing and casting. Her beautiful bead jewelry is often intricately patterned, some whimsically colorful, some elegantly sophisticated.

Anne Elise Pemberton studied fine art and glass techniques with many artists, such as Brent Kee Young and Doug Anderson, after a successful first career as a translator in England. Using a technique similar to pâte de verre, she creates abstract, lattice-style panels. She also specializes in kilnformed pictures with silver inclusions. Her atmospheric and intimate creations symbolize our hopes, aspirations, and relationship to the world, and are inspired by nature, music, and her interest in psychology. With over 20 years of working in glass and fine art, she has exhibited nationally and locally at numerous galleries, including The Glass Gallery, the World Bank, the National Liberty Museum, Atelier Carmel, Strathmore Hall, and Rockville Arts Place. Her work is featured in 500 Glass Objects (Lark Books), on local and national television, and is included in private and corporate collections in the US and Europe.

Christopher Rich trained at California College of Arts and Crafts and the International Glass Centre in Brierley Hill, England; and held apprenticeships in California and Murano, Italy. He built his own glass studio in Portland OR in 1994. His glassblowing style combines traditional skills with northwest flair and his own innovations. Challenging techniques are his trademark: swirls transposed to the vertical face of the vessel by changing the axis mid-stream; color-banded incalmo vessels and rondels; and metallic wraps executed with precision or free-form verve. His work is exhibited in shows throughout the United States and he has executed large-scale installations for Marriott and Westin hotels. www.richglassstudio.com

Josh Ries is an artist in residence at Art of Fire Contemporary Glass Studio in Laytonsville, MD. He started his career by taking glassblowing classes at Art of Fire in 2003. He has continued to learn from Italian masters Gianni Toso and Elio Quarisa during their teaching seminars at Art of Fire, as well as continuing his education at The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass. There he has also served as a teaching assistant. Josh's style uses the old with the new, by taking the classic style of Italian glass and giving it a contemporary twist. His work can be found in many galleries and shops nationwide. He also teaches classes at Art of Fire. www.artoffire.com

Gayle Roehm spent many years as a management consultant before deciding to focus on her long-time interest in fiber art. She knits, spins, dyes and experiments with other techniques. Her designs arise from her interest in unusual construction techniques and from her extensive travels. Several of Gayle's original knitting designs have been published in Knitter's magazine, Interweave Knits, and the book A Gathering of Lace. In addition, she translates Japanese designs for Dancing Fibers, and contributed the Japanese section to the book Knitting Languages. Her work has been exhibited in Not the Knitting You Know at Eleven Eleven Sculpture Space in Washington DC; at the Kiana Malekzadeh Gallery in New York; and at the recent FASG show in Cumberland, MD. She is also a member of the Potomac Craftsmen Fiber Gallery in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA.

Marla Rudnick has been incorporating fiber techniques into her metal work for the past 20 years. Her knitted metal work has evolved from a basic understanding of the craft to an investigation of how knitting techniques can be integrated into functional jewelry. She exhibits her work in the Potomac Craftsmen Gallery at the Torpedo Factory (Alexandria, VA), Wesleyan Potters (Middletown, CT) and craft shows on the east coast. Marla is a member of the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths and the Potomac Craftsmen Fiber Guild. www.marlasrudnick.com

Sylvia Saborio makes wearable fiber art accessories-hats, bags, scarves, vests, jackets, wraps, belts and necklaces-using various techniques, such as sewing, beading, embroidery, knitting, crochet, hairpin lace and felting. Her trademarks are bold color, supple texture and the use of simple geometric shapes to make complex patterns, using the joints as integral parts of the design.

Susan Sanders is a native of the DC area and a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University with a degree in Industrial Design. She maintains a studio in the Torpedo Factory Art Center, where since 1974 she has produced her jewelry. She uses a variety of materials in her bold geometric designs, with the majority of them inlaid in stone, a technique known as intarsia. Her work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and in Italy, Russia and South Korea. A winner of several national awards, her work has been published in numerous jewelry and craft magazines in the U. S. and in Europe. www.sanders-design.com

Gladys Seaward has been involved with the fiber arts since the mid-1970s. Experienced in weaving, basket weaving, gourd creations, etc., she became interested in bead work in 1996 when she began studying bead weaving tecniques and stitches. Gladys has chosen to focus mainly on free form and sculptural beadwork to produce her one of a kind creations of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and sculptural figures. Her bead work has been exhibited at Del Ray Artisan, Artisans Center of Virginia, Open exhibition of the Fairfax County Council of the Arts, Bead Work Magazine website, Creative Crafts Council, Greater Reston Arts Center and 5th Ave Gallery in Melbourne, FL. Gladys is a member of the Potomac Craftsmen Gallery at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA and an artist member of the Greater Reston Arts Center. www.potomaccraftsmengallery.com

Judy Sugar has been creating hand-crafted studio jewelry for more than twenty years. Although her work has changed over time, she maintains a continuing interest in surface texture and color and the use of unusual stones. Sugar is a member of the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths (WGG); she is one of the founders of the Pleiades jewelry group. She won the WGG award for excellence in metal at the 2005 Creative Crafts Council. Her work has been shown in galleries locally and in other cities.

Marietta Theodorou–Le Mieux was in born in Greece, into an eighth generation family of traditional potters from the island of Siphnos, Cyclades, know for its ceramic tradition. Since the age of nine, she decorated ceramic forms, some of which are now exhibited in Museum of Popular Art in Athens, Greece, under her family's name. She designed and developed a production of functional/decorative ceramic items, which are marketed in Greece, France, Germany and the U.S.A. Theodorou–Le Mieux was awarded the first prize at the 25th Pan Hellenic Ceramics Contest/Exhibition in Athens, and the following year, her work was commissioned by the Greek government to be given as presents to visiting foreign high officials. Among her many achievements, she received the Fulbright-Hayes Grant and was a Visiting Artist at the Ceramics Department of the University of Minnesota.

Joel Urruty, son of French Basque immigrants, began as a furniture apprentice. He later went on to earn a Masters of Fine Art in Furniture Design and Woodworking from the School of American Crafts at RIT. In his work, he distorts and manipulates the figure, shedding unnecessary elements and creating simple primitive forms, rich in ambiguity and mood. Urruty's work has been exhibited at many prestigious shows such as SOFA New York and Chicago and The World Competition of Arts and Craft, Japan. He has won several awards including Merit Award, Images 200, Robeson Gallery and Richard Guggenheim Award, Best in 3-D, Abington Art Center. www.joelurruty.com

Estelle Vernon's jewelry designs are influenced by both the visual and the tactile. Whether it is the leaves on trees, the roughness of bark or the intricate visual patterns in antique textiles, she distills these images into jewelry designs with an elegant simplicity. Estelle has been a resident Torpedo Factory Artist in Alexandria VA since 2001 and a member of Studio Metallum since 2002. She is a past president of the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths, a member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and the Precious Metal Clay Guild. She has been a Certified PMC Instructor since 1999. www.estellevernon.com

Whichcraft Gallery is owned and operated by Kerry Iris of Chevy Chase, MD and Joanne Brody Spielman of N. Potomac, MD. The business began as a Gallery-On-The-Go selling unique giftware and hand-crafted accessories in a variety of formats such as charity boutiques and home trunk shows. While they continue to maintain the retail gallery, the business has evolved into an art accessorizing enterprise. Together with the artists they represent, they design, sell and install fine crafts and fine arts for both commercial and residential space. They work with individuals and designers to create a one-of-a-kind environment for their clients. Their recent projects include Arlington Westin Gateway, Marriott Crystal City and Gateway Hotels, Sheraton Reston, NY Times Renaissance and several homes in the Washington DC metro area. Artists in Celebration of Craft represented by Whichcraft Gallery are: Julie Anne Gibson, Cherry Goldblatt, Joel Hunnicutt, Jan Jacque, Christopher Rich, Marietta Theodorou-Lemieux and Joel Urruty. Contact them at Whichcraftgallery-AT-comcast.net

Please note: Rossdhu Gallery and the Sculpture Zoo are open
only during scheduled show hours or by appointment.

Rossdhu Gallery is not handicapped accessible; there are stairs at the entrance and between galleries.
If you will need special assistance please call or email before your visit.

For more information, please email info"at"rossdhugallery.com