Got a Heart For The Arts?

Wondering what to do today?

What a better way to spend a Saturday than supporting local artists at Caritas Village!  This Saturday, from 10-6, Caritas happily invites you to make a happy plate in Caritas Café (try the burger) and enjoy the work of local artisans.   If you’re feeling a tad uninspired by all of the holiday’s rolled back prices and blue light specials, the artists at Caritas might revive a little bit of your holiday spirit! 

Daniel Frederick is a recent transplant from Austin, Texas.  Daniel is, first and foremost, a photographer but he moonlights as a dichroic glass artist. Dichroic glass, when baked at a temperature between 1400 and 1600 degrees Fahrenheit , melts and produces a strange optical effect.  The most distinctive element is its ability to morph colors depending on the angle at which it is viewed.  So, a piece of dichroic glass that appears blue from one angle will appear green from another.  Daniel uses dichroic glass to create pendants.  His glass pendants take on strange shapes, making sort of wearable abstract paintings or sculptures.  Daniel makes a deliberate choice to create the pendants in this way; he wants his work to not only be visually pleasing, but tactile.  The decision to do this was inspired by his wife, who suggested that the way the pendants felt were just as important as the way they looked.  Daniel might not have made the choice to approach the glass this way if it were not for his wife, who is visually impaired.

Dena and Paul Francis are a creative couple.  They spend their free time in their garage with a chop saw and a special router that they use to cut out fun shapes like trees, gingerbread men, and a funky Santa.   A couple of years ago, Dana became inspired by work that she had seen around town and on pinterest and she thought to herself “Hey! I can do that too.”  So, she did!  Dana and Paul’s work is an invitation to smile; almost every piece has something to say.  For example, on the funky santa, the phrase “Peace, Love, and Santa!” is hand painted on his belly.  Many of her other pieces are simple blocks that spell out positive words like “Joy” and “Believe.”  Dana says that she makes her pieces because they make her happy.  In turn, her work brings happiness to others.  

Sarah Brubaker works with Nepali refugee women to make one of a kind, handmade jewelry.  The Nepali women of Memphis first began making jewelry with the help of Steve Moses of Christ Community Ministries.  Two years ago, Steve decided that he wanted to find a way for female refugees in the Binghampton area to make money.  With the help of Sarah, many friends and local artists, Steve started Ekata, which means Unity.  The name was chosen by the Nepali women who come together for thirteen to fifteen hours a week to make these delicate pieces of jewelry.  Sarah says that the first thing a person usually notices about Ekata jewelry is the fact that it is beautiful; the good cause is just an added bonus.  And, it is; the jewelry features semi-precious stones and spiraling sculptural elements of 14k gold filled and silver pieces.   Ekata serves as a means of income and a place to build community for the refugee women that call Binghampton home.

Andra Mccoy graduated with her MFA from The Memphis College of Art with an emphasis in textiles.   Her vibrant scarves, jewelry, felted wool pieces, and small hand sewn dolls demonstrate that she is a Jane of All Trades.  Andra’s scarves and fabrics are multi-dimensional.  She weaves pieces of felted wool, beads, knitted and crocheted accents and mismatched fabrics into many of them.  The accents in her scarves and jewelry are upcycled; fabrics and beads that lost their flair on something old and out of style and have been repurposed into Andra’s fun and whimsical wearable pieces.  Andra’s first memory of fabric is one of her mother and grandmother’s quilts.  In a sense, Andra’s work is like a really great quilt; it brings together old, new, forgotten and precious pieces of her world to create a one of a kind piece. 

Harriet Buckley is also a Jane of All Trades.  Her philosophy on art is that, in order to keep ideas fresh and creativity alive, it’s important to work across all mediums.  Harriet seems to have a particular allegiance to leather, though.  She makes bracelets, pendants, earrings, change purses, and anything else her heart desires out of leather scraps.  The scraps come from larger sculptural pieces.  Harriet has been working in leather since the 80’s.  At some point, she came to the realization that the scraps could be put to wearable use.   She paints the leather and adds repurposed metals to the painted pieces.  Harriet’s booth at Caritas features watercolors, jewelry, and a lot of other fun flair!

Daniel, Dena, Paul, Sarah, Andra, Harriet, and some other great Memphis Artists will be at Caritas from 10am-6pm on Saturday.  Come on by and say hello!!!