The American Craft Council will be having their annual exhibition in Baltimore February 20-22 at the Baltimore Convention Center. They will be showcasing the work of over 650 of the top contemporary crafts artists from all over the country. Six of these craftspeople reside in the tiny town of Chestertown, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Chestertown and its craftspeople were recently written up in the February issue of American Craft magazine. They are: Rob Glebe, Dave and Patti Hegland, Robert Ortiz, Marilee Schumann and Faith Wilson.
When Rob Glebe decided 10 years ago that he wanted to be an artist, he made it happen. With no formal training and only a few years of dabbling part-time with making lamps and small tables, he set out to reinvent himself. Having attended the Baltimore ACC show for numerous years, he understood the talent, creativity and level of excellence that must be his goal.
“I had trained as a toolmaker and so I naturally turned to metal as my medium. I have always loved vessels and texture and so I began trying to replicate the vessel forms I had seen in pottery, wood and baskets with metal.”
Starting with flat sheets of steel, he transforms the metal into colorful openwork vessels and unique wall art. He is inspired by nature, texture and an inner voice that urges him to fabricate. Rob has real passion for design and loves creating custom art work to fit a specific space. Most recently, he has turned to larger outdoor sculpture to express his ideas. He is honored to have one of his sculptures featured outside the Massoni Gallery in downtown Chestertown. He has won numerous awards at Fine Arts and Crafts shows.
“When I decided to be an artist, I worried that I might not have enough ideas and now I realize, I don’t even have enough time for all my ideas.”
This year will be the fourth ACC Baltimore appearance for Dave and Patti Hegland, kiln glass artists, known for their contemporary vessels, trays and sculpture“Earlier careers in engineering and finance ingrained in us an acute attention to detail which we apply to all phases of our craft from the complexity of our designs to the precision applied to the finishing processes used to polish and shape each piece”, Patti explains. “Our open designs reflect the rural horizons and lively waterways that surround us”. Their work can be found in fine galleries across the United States as well as at their Hegland Glass studio in downtown Chestertown.
Bob Ortiz has been making furniture for 30 years, the past 18 have been from his shop, Robert Ortiz Studios, in downtown Chestertown. Ortiz’s designs incorporate influences from the Arts & Crafts movement, Japanese and Asian Cultures, Shaker crafts and a lifetime of playing music. This past year has found him collaborating with potter Marilee Schumann and metalworker Rob Glebe.
Marilee Schumann makes and teaches pottery in Chestertown. Her passion for pottery goes back thirty-five years. With a diverse background in art, and an MFA in sculpture, her work includes the humble uses of pottery, food preparation and serving, as well as the more abstract symbolic uses like flower arranging, human remains, sacrifice, ritual, and contemplation.
Faith Wilson is no stranger to showing at the ACC Baltimore show. Her first craft show ever, was this very show 30 years ago, in 1985. Starting out as a weaver, she has transitioned into mixed-media and painted floorcloths, which she has shown at ACC shows for the last 10 years.
“Baltimore has always been a nurturing place for my craft”, Wilson says. “The ACC show there was my first craft show ever. When I came back eleven years ago with my new craft, Artscape was my first showcase of that work, then I showed at the Artists’ Market at the American Visionary Art Museum, and then I was back in the fold of the ACC”. In the last 10 years , in addition to the ACC shows, Wilson has shown at The Smithsonian Craft Show, The Philadelphia Museum Craft Show, The American Craft Exposition (in Evanston, IL) The Washington Craft Show and CraftForms, in Wayne PA, to name a few shows
“There are a lot of reasons we are all coming from Chestertown,” Wilson writes. “It’s quiet, peaceful lifestyle is conducive to contemplative, intensive art and craft work. We are inspired by nature, but we are also close enough to Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia and New York to not be left out of current cultural zeitgeist and places to market our work”.
Carla Massoni says
BTW – River Arts is sponsoring a bus to the ACC show. Make your reservations early!! Saturday – February 21 on one of their retail days!!