Charleston Crafts Gallery to Presents “Environmentally Engaged”

By: Ron Herzog

Press Release

To celebrate April’s Earth Day, the Charleston Crafts Gallery is spotlighting four artists producing fine craft inspired by nature and expressing ideas concerning our environment. There will be an Open House during Charleston’s Second Sunday on King St, April 9th from 2 pm to 5 pm to highlight these four talented artists. 

Kenny Teague creates his beautifully patterned wood turnings with a process called segmented construction. Carefully planning the shape, colors and pattern of each piece, Kenny meticulously cuts the many small pieces needed to complete the design using contrasting woods. These are cut, assembled and glued together to create a single laminated body. Kenny then mounts the laminated piece on the turning lathe where, using specialized hand tools, he sculpts a complex and intricate completed work of art.

John Stoudenmire crafts unique, nature inspired stoneware pottery pieces. When John makes a piece, basic wheel throwing and hand building are just the beginning. He embellishes his work using hand crafted sculptural forms, incised and pressed texturing, and detailed glaze painting. Many objects are covered with raised, organic details such as leaves, vines, and textured bark. John’s pieces are completely functional and may be safely left outdoors. His serving pieces are food and oven safe.

Bonnie Younginer is a fiber artist working with wool yarns and dyed wool fleece. She produces fiber pieces that reflect the beauty of her environment for inspiration. The techniques used for producing the felt “cloth” are needle felting (pushing barbed needles into fiber entangling the wool with itself to produce the “cloth”) and wet felting (using warm water, soap and agitation to produce the “cloth” from wool fleece). The wet “cloth” is hand manipulated creating a 3D effect.  Surface embellishments such as hand-made felted balls or found natural items like driftwood are added. Bonnie’s weavings are produced on a floor or rigid heddle loom, include wall hangings and table runners.

Ron Herzog creates beautiful and unique wood pieces using a process known as intarsia. It is a woodworking technique using interlocking pieces of wood from different species allowing for variations of color, grain and texture. The pieces are cut, shaped individually, and fit together to achieve the desired design. The art of intarsia dates back to at least the fifteenth century. Ron has been working with wood for over 22 years. He graduated from the University of Illinois and is a veteran Army pilot. 

While these members are in the spotlight, the work of all the Gallery’s members are also on display and available for purchase, including jewelry, wood puzzles, encaustic paintings, mixed media collages, fiber art, apparel and accessories, as well as functional and decorative objects in wood, ceramic and glass.

Charleston’s destination for Fine Craft since 1989, the gallery is located at 84 Society Street, just steps from King Street, in the city’s shopping, cultural and dining hub. The gallery is now open Daily, 11 am to 6 pm and staffed by its friendly and knowledgeable member-artisans. Charleston Crafts Cooperative Gallery is a dynamic community of more than two dozen jury-selected artisans, all from South Carolina, making this the city’s only exclusively local craft gallery. For more information: 843.501.7522 or www.shopcharlesoncrafts.com. 

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