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!!!
