Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg is hosting Carol Funke and Kate Thayer in the Guild Gallery this month in their exhibition Textures in Colors.
There will be an artists attended reception during ArtWalk on Aug. 20, 5:00 to 8:00 pm. The gallery is open Monday-Saturday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and Sunday, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, with free admission.
Texture and color are the themes of Funke and Thayer’s exhibit. Funke’s textured handmade papers and pigment dyes has an exciting, interesting feast for patrons’ eyes. Thayer, using pastels and oils, thinks of her paintings as poems – wordless encounters with stunning voices of nature – in its colors and forms.
Funke’s handmade paper creations have received many prestigious awards for their three-dimensional aspects. Viewers frequently ask, “Is that really paper?” then comment, “I just want to reach out and touch it.” An award winning artist/author, Funke began drawing as a young child and has always had an interest in art. She has studied the art of handmade paper in several states in the U.S. and internationally. One of Funke’s distinctive handmade paper pieces titled “Flower Maze” exhibited at Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg’s Gallery will catch patrons’ curiosity.
Many of Funke’s pieces are excellent examples of textures and fluid colors that widely appeal to observers of her work. Funke states that contrast, texture, and color are the main attributes she strives for continually. Also featured at the art exhibit are some of Funke’s unique crafts: a large elephant gourd and book art to mention a few. Funke’s wide varieties of visual images are featured in Circle of Life Trilogy, a tabletop book series, in Playhouse of My Mind Vol. I,Scattered Rainbows Vol. II, and Life on a Seesaw Vol. III. Funke’s website is www.FunkeOriginals.com.
Thayer’s believes that from any perspective, “Nature’s ways are awesome. There is nothing more challenging to an artist of nature – which I am – than to capture her moods, her forms and colors and stories, and to translate what I see and feel… for anyone who is drawn to my perspective of that awesome world we so often pay little attention to.”
“We came from nature. To nature we will all return. In the meantime, we should be paying attention to her – the Mother of us all. We should appreciate her more. That’s what I try to do,” Thayer said. “I try to capture her beauty, her power, her mysteries, in all of her nuanced awesomeness. If it comes through to my viewers, I feel I have been somewhat successful in portraying nature for the shaman she is.”
“I relish endlessly the real thing. If you can relish what I have tried to capture in pastels and in oils, then my enchantment with my subjects has been as well rewarded as you have been.”
“It may be some evidence of the breadth of appreciation of my work to note the many shows into which my work has been juried, the active galleries in which my work is featured, and the many awards my work has won, including being recently selected to appear in Vol X (2015) ofInternational Contemporary Artists.” Thayer’s website is www.KateThayer.com.
Textures in Colors will be exhibited in Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg’s Gallery Aug. 1-28. Both Funke and Thayer will host an opening reception Aug. 20 during ArtWalk, 5-8 p.m. Patrons are invited to enjoy their passions, food, and drink.
For further information, please contact Caitlin Boice, [email protected], or call 864.764.9568.