NOTE: Steven Silverleaf is participating in the Studio Tour on both weekends. Find him at Studio #47. This summer, I spent the month of August in residency at Tenjinyama Art Center in Sapporo, Japan. I had done a residency in 2023 and was in need of a working space and they let me know that if I would apply they…
Book arts/Mixed media - Carrboro This is one in a series of posts about artists in the Orange County Artists Guild. What is your medium? I make handcrafted boxes and books, and my medium falls under the label "book arts." My passion for this art began with a weeklong book-making class at Penland School of Crafts and I was immediately…
Floral Triptych I MM on Paper My art life and previous life are coming together in a delightful way. I have been asked to teach classes on painting and collage through the OLLI program at Duke. Long before I picked up a paintbrush to make art, I trained and taught high school English (my first job was in Cary, a…
Beginnings - Mixed Media 8 x 8 inches Every winter, my thoughts shift from the skies to what lurks underground. Dormant seeds and water channels were on my mind this past winter and I began a series of small pieces inspired by these thoughts. In this series, I focused on the idea of a seed, or a cell, and its…
I work in a variety of sketchbooks of varying sizes in my art making. A few years ago I realized that hundreds of books were headed for the landfill, so I began reclaiming some of them as sketchbooks to work in. In the first photo I have arranged a number of them on a table top along with my usual…
A Spanish dance troupe from Chicago on the outdoor stage at Jacob’s Pillow This summer, I returned to the Berkshire Mountains in western Massachusetts to hear live music at Tanglewood and attend dance programs at Jacobs Pillow. As usual, I brought my journal-sketchbook with me like I do whenever I go on a trip or attend a concert, theatre or dance program. The…
I began using maps in my artwork several years ago when I was trying to solve the dilemma of painting a toucan's large beak and keeping it interesting. I decided to collage an antique map of the toucan's homeland underneath the bird, and I was thrilled to find a picture of a small section of a South American map drawn in the 1600’s…
You look out and see the trees through the studio window. Green leaves, the sunlight making them yellowish with darker green shadows. Warm, tan tree trunks; deep, green foliage further away; a cascade of green in different shades. You assume that everyone looking out on these leaves sees them the same way that you do. So many people get cataracts…
Life Decisions. Funny how they are made. In January of 2012 I decided to set out in a new direction and see if I couldn't find the abstract world within myself. It remained evasive and a total mystery! I am not the type who gives up easily but my spirit quickly became disillusioned with all of my attempts. A few…
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” People differ in their tastes for art forms and color palettes. People also differ in their interpretation of a work of art’s meaning, with art critics endlessly debating over an artist’s intent. I believe it is important for the viewer to form his or her own experience of a work of art…