Artist Barbara Gregoire used to collect rocks with her late geologist father. Today, she incorporates some of those found treasures into her ceramics work.
“I put crystal geodes on my boxes – for handles instead of knobs,” she said. “Sometimes they’re implanted in a piece.”
Gregoire is the newest member of Gallery Moab, an artist collective at 87 N. Main St., and one of nine venues open during Moab Art Walk on Saturday, Oct. 8, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Gregoire creates other functional pieces, such as pitchers, mugs, platters and bowls, using what she describes as a “desert varnish” with reds, yellows, a splash of white and turquoise.
She also makes nonfunctional sculptural artwork such as “cairns” – by creating clay “rocks” to build the piece. The sculptures are hollow and are often used as vases, she said.
The Gallery Moab artists’ reception on Saturday also welcomes guest artist Helen Becker, a painter whose newer works will be exhibited at the gallery through early November. Becker was a founding member of the gallery.
Becker’s exhibit includes her “Freeway Series” created from aerial photos of big city highway intersections, as well as semi-abstract leaf paintings using a variety of materials.
Additionally, “We will have a small display of visiting en plein air artists,” said founding board member Peggy Harty, a pastel artist who manages Gallery Moab.
If you had your eye on a painting created this week during the Moab PleinAir festival, be sure and stop by the Moab Arts and Recreation Center, 111 E. 100 North – where the majority of the visiting artists’ works will be displayed and for sale during Art Walk.
Approximately 100 artists from around the world came to Moab to paint outside and participate in competitions during the weeklong event that ends Saturday, MARC Assistant Director Liz Holland said.
Other participating Art Walk venues include the Moonflower Community Cooperative, 39 E. 100 North; Tom Till Gallery, 61 N. Main St; Triassic Industries, 7 N. Main St.; Moab Made, 82 N. Main St.; Lema’s Kokopelli Gallery, 70 N. Main St.; Framed Image, 59 E. Center St.; and Museum of Moab, 118 E. Center St.
Annie Dalton, who describes her artistic process as “an alchemy of dreams that feeds off clay and oxides, textiles and ink, mountain biking and coffee,” is the featured artist at Moonflower.
Tom Till’s new 2017 calendar will be available at his gallery, along with his new book, “Seasons of Moab.”
At Triassic, you can see the work of Yasmin Uriel, who creates unique art pieces from “cast-off objects like bicycle parts and soda cans.” The Triassic exhibit will also include wooden spoons and spatulas made by Uriel, in Triassic’s workshop, manager Shayla Hall said.
Moab Made’s exhibit “Table to Table” will be filled with holiday artwork for sale, while traditional ceremonial-style handmade Navajo flutes will be on display at Lema’s Kokopelli Gallery.
Framed Image will feature new work by Karen Barnett, Mark Knudsen, Leslie Thomas, R. Lillian Siefer and others.
And, at Museum of Moab, visitors will see the work of Antonio Silveria and Lorena Lopez, local artists originally from Juan Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, Mexico. Both come from a family of artisans who have passed on their pottery traditions from generation to generation, according to a Moab Art Walk news release.
If you visit all Art Walk venues with a map-stamp-postcard available at any Art Walk location, you can have it stamped for a chance to win a Survival knife and multi-tool from GearHeads. Completed and stamped postcards can be dropped off at the MARC for the drawing.
Nine downtown venues to join Oct. 8 event
“If you had your eye on a painting created this week during the Moab PleinAir festival, be sure and stop by the Moab Arts and Recreation Center, where the majority of the visiting artists’ works will be displayed and for sale during Art Walk.”
When: Saturday, Oct. 8, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Where: Nine different venues; Artist reception at Gallery Moab, 87 N. Main St.
Cost: Free
Information: moabartwalk.com; 435-259-6272
For more information, go to moabartwalk.com, or call 435-259-6272.
