Duy Huynh’s ‘Perpetual Dance’

Lark & Key is excited to announce a relocation coming in January 2019.  Every year we re-evaluate the business and make any shifts needed to propel us forward. This time around we found ourselves craving more substantial changes that would allow a bit more freedom from the day to day of a a brick & mortar business. The funny thing is, when you finally settle into what you want, things often happen very quickly!

A new opportunity, and location, quickly presented itself.  We will be closing our South End location in mid-January, then reopening and reimagining Lark & Key, joining forces with friend and fellow artist, Charlotte Foust. The new space, conveniently located on East Blvd in Dilworth, will be open with limited weekday retail hours, a once-a-month weekend open house, by appointment and for special events.

With a planned reopening date in February 2019, we look forward to beginning our 11th year – sharing our new space and continued vision, which will also include the launch of a revised website. We already have our 2019 exhibition schedule set and our new website underway! We will provide updates via the website, newsletter and all of our social media accounts – announcing our new address, hours, etc. – as we get closer to the move.

In the meantime, Lark & Key’s South End location will be open with regular hours, 11-5 Tuesday through Saturday, through January 12^th 2019. The gallery is also until 8pm for the South End Gallery, Friday December 7^th. 

The post Lark & Key is Moving appeared first on Lark & Key Gallery.

Bridgette’s ‘Outside of Time’ mixed media encaustic, 15.5 x 18″ (framed 17.75 x 20.75″)

“When I was thinking about creating work for Collected and Gathered I really wanted my pieces to communicate how my work, and life in general, is often very much about collecting and gathering. In terms of form, the majority of the work was created by piecing together different panels with each other as well as with pieces of wood and metal. And I added bits of things from my collections.

In general, though I think my role as artist is to collect and gather and weave things from my life and my experiences together with paint, and speak to the things that matter to me and that I hope speak to others.

The inspiration for my work comes from photographs when I am out on hikes or things that catch my eye during every day routines. As an artist, I am always observing the world, no matter what I might be doing right at that moment. Experiences, fleeting thoughts and emotions are gathered and saved.

My inspiration comes from nature, observing the cycles of life and how time always makes its presence known. I feel most at home with my hands in the dirt and my feet bare in the grass. And when I am in urban settings, I always notice the life that against all odds growing through the cracks in the sidewalks. And how no matter how accomplished and modern we are, nature is always in charge.

I collect feathers, pieces of bark, cloth, old pages from books, lace, rusted bits of metal. I have a thing for old rulers. Worn and turned golden from use and age. And wood- I love the patterns of the grain and the feel of worn wood. And metal- all aged, rusted, beautiful cloak of patina and time. I have carried dried pods filled with poppy seeds across the country, through three houses, to remind me of my beautiful poppies in my first garden in Seattle. Memories are carried in these objects. And when I have lost these objects, I still carry the memories with me…but as a visual and tactile person, I love to have them within sight. I will never be a minimalist in my home.

My inspiration comes from words – collected and gathered. Poetry, fiction, essays on the natural world all feed my curiosity about this world and what it means to be alive and living on this planet. I’ve been reading lately about sacred spaces out in the natural world where there’s a feeling of a blurring between what separates our earth present time with another time, maybe heaven, maybe the spiritual world, but always something deeper and mystical.

Thin places, the Celts call this space,
Both seen and unseen,
Where the door between the world
And the next is cracked open for a moment
And the light is not all on the other side.
God shaped space. Holy.
-Sharlande Sledge

Does memory exist outside of time? Does our sense of time differ from the way trees sense time? I think so. There are so many worlds that are existing side by side, within and without. Can awareness and stillness allow us to crack the door open between worlds?” – BGM

Click here to view Bridgette’s available work.

The post Bridgette Guerzon Mills appeared first on Lark & Key Gallery.

 

An avid hiker and nature lover, Lesley seeks to “capture the feeling not just of a place, but of a moment.”

 

How did you get started as an artist?
I was always a creative kid and both my grandmothers were hobby oil painters, but it wasn’t until I was in college that I really discovered my love for painting. From the first class,  was hooked on everything about it – the beautiful way the colors mixed, the sound of the brush on the canvas, the way the paints smelled, everything. I kept painting after college but back in pre-social media days, I didn’t really see anyone I knew making a living as an artist, so I stuck to painting just for myself while working creative day jobs. It wasn’t until I got married and started traveling with my husband that I slowly came to the realization that being a professional artist is what I was mean for and was something that I could actually be.

What are your biggest influences?
I am most influenced by landscape and the natural world. My husband and I are avid hikers and nature lovers, and the memories of what I observe when we hike and travel is what comes out when I paint.

A sketch from Lesley’s morning #watercolorandcoffee series is followed by an afternoon in the studio

 

What five words best describe your work?
Atmospheric, mysterious, peaceful, organic and tranquil.

Tell us a bit about your technique.
I approach a blank canvas with excitement – no intimidation here! I begin with a quick sketch in a loose, abstracted manner, allowing the compositon to emerge as it comes. I try not to impress my own will upon it, but let it be what it will, whether that be mountain-scape, seascape or something else entirely. I work in transparent layers, often scraping into, spraying onto, or rubbing back to reveal what is hidden. Often within that process of adding and subtracting is where the composition and beautiful little details, what I like to call “sparkles”, emerge. Once the composition has taken shape, I try to tread lightly, carefully adding a little color or light here and there, and in the case of my LEMOLO series, a final opaque line or two to finish things off.

Currently living in the Pacific Northwest, Lesley is surrounded by a wealth inspiration.

 

What is a typical workday like for you?
A typical studio day begins with coffee, always! I’m not much of a morning person, so I tend to do administrative type work first thing in the morning – answering emails, posting to social media, updating my website, etc. Mid-morning, I’m on my second cup of coffee and will usually sit down to do some watercolor sketching to loosen me up for the day (my #watercolorandcoffee series on Instagram are the result of this sketching time). I may start working on acrylic paintings then, or eat a bite of lunch and catch up on some of my favorite blogs before taking a walk, then spending the afternoon in the studio. I’m definitely an afternoon painter – my creativity reaches peak between 12pm-6pm, so I try to leave afternoons open for painting and will work on several paintings at a time. Usually my husband’s text that he is on the way home signals that I need to begin winding down what I’m working on and clean up. I do some minor studio clean up, then take a break and prepare dinner, eat, and dish detail (my hubby washes and I dry), then I go back and add an isolation layer of glazing medium to whatever I’ve painted that day. Because I work in so many layers, I find that the isolation layer helps add both physical and visual depth. And I love the smooth work surface it creates. Once the glazing is done, I clean my brushes and lay them out to dry in anticipation of the next studio day.

What is your favorite thing about being an artist?
I love that I am adding beauty to a world that can seem so ugly sometimes.

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Kim’s recent work is inspired by simple pleasures and the exuberant enjoyment of life, what the French refer to as “joie de vivre”. These small-scale oil paintings feature an array of anthropomorphic woodland critters and their pastimes against a backdrop nodding to french rococo landscapes.

How did you get started as an artist?
I’ve always loved to create things and at a very young age would amuse myself with coloring, drawing, sewing, embroidery, knitting (though I still can’t figure out how to make anything but a rectangle). My first experience with oils was an introductory painting class at UNH. I found it so frustrating, I couldn’t make anything look the way I wanted, I struggled with mixing colors and how to get the paint onto the canvas. I eventually worked thru the frustration and fell in love with the medium. My professors encouraged me to pursue my B.F.A.

These curtains were the original inspiration for Kim’s recent paintings. ‘The Letter’ is a nod to her husband’s keepsake box of beautifully hand-written letters from his mother and aunties.

What are your biggest influences?
My work has always been influenced by my interests. I love history, literature, taking walks in the woods, going to antique shops… I’m always happiest when I’m making something, whether it be a cake, new curtains or planting seeds in my garden. The imagery for my paintings are essentially fragments of my daily life.

Animals first found their way into a few series of self-portraits a few years ago. The tortoise and the hare, lions and lambs, a fox and a bear, served as both universal and personal symbols. Since having my daughter, the critters have taken over! The original inspiration for this series was actually a pair of curtains I sewed for her nursery featuring illustrations of little rabbits, squirrels and owls having a party in the woods.

I also like to make art historical references to other paintings in my work. In this series, the backgrounds are allusions to the landscapes in paintings by French rococo artists such as Fragonard, Watteau, and Boucher, to name a few. In my own way, I am celebrating frivolity and simple pleasures by focusing on little things that spark joy. These paintings bring out my inner child and give me a much needed escape from the real world.

What five words best describe your work?
playful, charming, romantic, sentimental, idyllic

Kim’s late father-in-law played the accordion, serenading her with old standards the first time they met.

Tell us a bit about your technique.
I love working with oils, building up the layers, working wet into wet and being able to form an object with a single brushstroke. I begin with a very simple drawing to work out the composition. I find myself getting into the finer details with a small brush early on (I just can’t help myself) and getting looser with bigger brushes as I progress.

What is a typical workday like for you?
A typical workday has looked very different from year to year. Right now, I am home with my 9 month old daughter and so I am able to paint while she naps (we’ve been blessed with a great sleeper). My morning ritual includes a feeding, cappuccino and NPR. We usually go for a walk or play then she’s down for a nap. This is when I typically prep panels and sketch, respond to emails, sometimes I’ll begin a painting… She wakes up and we do our thing – read a book, play, eat, spend time in the garden, or another walk, perhaps a trip to the library, etc. and then she’s down for another (longer) nap in the afternoon. I covet this time, typically three hours, to paint without interruption. I am very happy with the balance between family and my art making at the moment. When I am not painting I am often thinking about painting. 

One of Kim’s cats, Agnes, is always nearby as she works.

What is your favorite thing about being an artist?
My current work is a celebration of all of the little things that make my world go round. I love being an artist and having the ability to share pieces of myself with others, it’s a wonderful way of connecting with people.

Contact info@larkandkey.com for more information or click here for our current inventory.

The post Featured Artist: Kim Ferreira appeared first on Lark & Key Gallery.

Kelly Jean Conroy was born in 1983, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Growing up in New England she was raised by an artist mother who encouraged innovation and creativity. This maternal influence eventually led her to attain her BFA from Syracuse University in Art Education and Painting. She completed her MFA in Jewelry Metals from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2013. She is currently teaches metalsmithing at Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School, courses at Metalwerx and is an Adjunct Faculty member of Jewelry Metals at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Kelly’s work focuses on life cycles in nature within a jewelry format. Her specialties are enameling, working with natural materials: carving bone, piercing, etching and casting.

How did you get started as an artist?
My grandmother and mother are both artists and it was only natural to always be creating in our household. I had some great art teachers in school and the path was always clear that art was something I was going to do. I originally went to school for art education and painting- and was smitten with enameling after graduating. While working as an art teacher, I pursued the enamel work independently which became my gateway to jewelry and metalsmithing.

What are your biggest influences?
nature and the perfect imperfection of it all.

What five words best describe your work?
Small little stories in stone.

Tell us a bit about your technique.
Currently i am creating drawings based on vintage botanical illustrations & nature guide books and scanning them into the computer. From there I create small vector files that I can size up or down & then etch onto mother of pearl and semi-precious gemstones. I then create sterling silver settings to frame the drawings & make them wearable. It starts with the hand and ends with the hand with the magic of the laser etching in the middle.

What is a typical workday like for you?
I work full time as a Metalsmithing teacher at a high school 15 miles west of Boston. So I wake up at 5am and get myself to school for first block!  I spend afternoons reading or drawings and perhaps doing some of the jewelry items that are on my never ending to-do list. I also teach night classes at Mass College of Art and Metalwerx which is a school for jewelry for adults.  Jewelry is my passion and I love passing on my passion to others!

What is your favorite thing about being an artist?
I can create the things in my mind —with my hands. I can make things I’d want to wear and have never seen… and that the objects I create bring other people joy.

The post The Jeweler’s Bench: Kelly Jean Conroy appeared first on Lark & Key Gallery.

During her time as Studio Tech, the Pincu Pottery business was formed and Elise traveled to various outdoor retail art/craft shows where she took home numerous awards. In 2000, Elise took a brief hiatus from clay and began a 5-year career in Library Science, earning her MA degree. In 2006, after moving to the mountains of Western North Carolina, Pincu Pottery was born again.

Elise strives to make comfortable and beautiful pots for the home that enhance the pleasure of food and the nourishment of the soul. In a world that typically severs the connection of object (or food) and maker (or grower/cook), she finds it necessary to produce functional pottery that may help remind us of our earthly surroundings and our ability to create and enjoy the handmade/homegrown in our daily lives.

“After the first firing (bisque) I paint with food safe ceramic color stains and glazes using brushes and applicators.”

How did you get started as an artist?
I was at the University of Florida thinking about studying engineering when I found clay. I dropped a math class and with that extra time, decided to try throwing on the wheel – something I remember being fascinated by from watching a PBS show. I went to the basement of the student union and signed up. Once I touched clay and struggled at the wheel I knew that I was doing what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. ‘Art’ came later when I began taking the Fine Arts Department clay classes, art history, drawing and the like. Since then I feel compelled to make pottery that is ‘artful’.

What are your biggest influences?
My college professor, Linda Arbuckle, is/was a big influence on me – her teaching style and her amazing, hand-painted Maiolica pottery. I love looking at historical ceramics for inspiration – currently my favorites are Goryeo Korean Celedons and Islamic tin-glazed wares.

“Nature plays a large role in my inspiration for both the design and decoration of the pottery.”

“My (surface decoration) process is similar to watercolor painting.”

What five words best describe your work?
Delightful, useful, colorful, floral & beautiful.

Tell us a bit about your technique.
Many of my pots start as a lump on the wheel. After I shape the pot I sometimes alter the wet clay into a flower shape. Some work I hand build from slabs of clay and some is a combination of thrown and slab. When the pots are dry I coat them in a white, liquid clay slip. After their first firing, I paint them with ceramic stains that are mixed with water, and a flux to help the colors melt into the glaze and sometimes drip a bit from the heat of the kiln. My process is similar to watercolor painting. Each pot is considered before painting so my designs vary on each piece. Once painted, the pots are dipped in my unique glaze and fired again in the kiln. The glaze varies in the kiln – it is always translucent, showing the painting underneath, but sometimes it glosses more than others, sometimes growing micro-crystals that look like sugar on the surface. I like the variety of that surface.

From start to finish – freshly made plates and the final product.

What is a typical workday like for you?
There is no typical day other than being at my studio by 10 AM unless I am teaching. I start a making cycle by rolling slabs and throwing forms on the wheel. When the slabs are ready, I cut them from templates and bend them into shape. Wheel-thrown pieces need time to dry, so I may work on handbuilding. When I have made enough to fill the kiln, I wax bottoms, lid seats and anyplace I want the red clay to show. Then I dip each piece in my white slip. This could take about 2 days. Then I load the kiln and prepare my studio for the glazing process, which could take a week. After the glazed ware is in the kiln, the cycle begins again. I try to be in my studio 6-8 hours every day except Sunday. Evenings and some mornings are for computer and paper work.

What is your favorite thing about being an artist?
I love the process of making and problem solving the forms and decoration. I really love experimenting and trying new forms and figuring out how to finish their surfaces; though I don’t give myself much time to do this because it can feel indulgent.

Contact info@larkandkey.com for more information or click here for our current inventory.

The post Featured Potter: Elise Delfield appeared first on Lark & Key Gallery.

Looking forward to another year!
Grateful – Sandy and Duy

FLIGHT – 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition
(a brilliant, imaginative display)

Feb 2nd – March 31st, 2018

Click here for more information about FLIGHT and the list of participating artists.
And here for a peek at some other upcoming exhibitions.

Artwork by Duy Huynh, detail of ‘Eggxaltation’.

The post 10 Year Anniversary! appeared first on Lark & Key Gallery.

We look forward to hosting jeweler Alice Scott for a Trunk Show, Friday November 3rd from 5-8pm during the South End Gallery Crawl.  Meet Alice, learn more about her inspiration, jewelry making process, and pick up a few fan favorites as well as new designs!

Click here to read more about Alice.

The post Trunk Show – Symbology Jewelry appeared first on Lark & Key Gallery.

In the Middle Of My Forest, 2017

Deborah G. Rogers is a self-taught American ceramic sculptor. She uses air-dry clay to hand sculpt charming, narrative pieces that express and communicate her ideas, questions and pent up opinions.

Deborah’s work is a combination of her distinct drawing style that developed from experience as both a children’s book illustrator and a pen and ink realist. Her home studio is filled with treasures – years of photos, objects, odds and ends that serve as inspiration and/or the perfect little something needed to make a piece just right. A love of antiques led Deborah to develop a final patina for her work – layers of varnish and wax that provide an otherworldly feel with an occasional retro flair.

Deborah currently resides in Norfolk, Virginia and is a guest artist for our Keepsake exhibition.

(*Note – Deborah joined Lark & Key as a regular exhibiting artist after her guest spot in the Keepsake exhibition.)

How did you get started as an artist?
I begin selling my work in outdoor sidewalk (shopping centers) shows in the 60’s about the age of 14.  I don’t think there was actually a conscious journey to “get started as an artist” for me; I have always made, painted and drawn things since I was very young; I never gave it much thought; it just was. It is how I have always naturally expressed and communicated all those ideas, questions and pent up opinions forever spinning endlessly in my mind. I have always felt being an artist must claim you, not the other way around.

“Objects wait to be disassembled, deconstructed or used as inspiration. Over time, I find I use less and less of these reclaimed items. Still, I have yet to part with these things and completely close that door.”

What are your biggest influences?
Words! Flipping through a dictionary and running off on tangents from a single word is often where and how my ideas and directions are determined and inspired.

Life! I have so much to say about what I have learned, what I know for certain, the what ifs, the maybes, what is real and the imaginary that no one can question.

What five words best describe your work?
Narrative, Detailed, Personal, Intimate, Emotional

A work in progress and the completed sculpture – ‘Crossing the River’, 2017.

Tell us a bit about your technique.
As a self-taught artist, I have assembled, played and experimented over my lifetime to reach my current desired look. About 30 years ago, I slowly drifted from 2-D work, settling happily into using a combination of many readily available premixed ceramic products that air dry. This allowed me to hand sculpt the base forms of my current 3-D pieces. My technique of surface treatment, drawings and color has evolved through trial and error over those years as well. My pieces always begin with writing down thoughts, words, rhymes and drawing before ever beginning to sculpt or paint. Some pieces have detailed blueprints  – drawings on paper – before I begin to make them in 3-D.

After each ceramic piece is formed and completely dry, the surface is readied for color by applying several washes of gesso. Next I add an underlay of color – a combination of multiple layers of washes of acrylic or other paints, inks and dyes – before adding the final detail color, drawings and words using a variety of color pencils and inks. The layers of surface coloring are set along the way by using workable fixatives; the final work is coated with water based varnish and waxed several times. I will often experiment with other surface treatments if attempts for a certain effect cannot be achieve from my regular regime. I never consider the use of any unconventional material off limits within my work and I am always open to creative experimentation in order to keep the work fresh.

Deborah’s sculptures are covered in multiple layers of paints, inks and dyes – before adding the final detail color, drawings and words with color pencils and inks. (Detail of “That Dog-Gone Dog’s Gone” from 2015)

What is a typical workday like for you?
I have no concrete routine to a workday, but I generally wake up early, take a walk with my cat, sit under the trees or in the garden. I watch and listen to the sounds of nature as the world wakes up and tune into what the inner voices are leading me to explore for the day. If I have no other outside appointments to attend to for that day, it may lead me straight into the studio in the early hours before dawn. Other days, the pull to the studio comes much later, so you might find me up creating through the night as the rest of the world sleeps. I work with no sense of time and choose to shut the world out when I create – no phone or computer, no interruptions. It is my perfect world and where I am happiest and most productive.

What is your favorite thing about being an artist?
The freedom to communicate my thoughts, beliefs, doubts & questions…and no one can tell me I can’t. I question everything. There isn’t anything about which I don’t wonder why, how and what if. I am always exploring beginnings and endings in life, the available intuitive awareness in all of us, as well as who we are on the inside as opposed to the person we show to the world. I find it interesting how we spend so much time trying to be what we think we should be, rather than who we actually are. I get to be who I am becoming and share my journey all along the way.  How great is that?

Photos courtesy of Deborah G. Rogers.
Click here or contact info@larkandkey.com for information about current inventory.

The post Guest Artist: Deborah G. Rogers appeared first on Lark & Key Gallery.

KEEPSAKE features new artwork from Mary Alayne Thomas with guest artists, illustrator Jess Polanshek and ceramic sculptor Deborah G. Rogers, along with etched sterling silver and gemstone jewelry by Lisa Hopkins.  Their narrative works explore the idea of collecting mementos, souvenirs and tokens that serve as inspiration or remembrance of another person, time or place.

Please contact info@larkandkey.com for more information and/or to inquire about work.

Pictured here:  Ceramic fox sculpture by Deborah G. Rogers, Collector I by Jess Polanshek, Luna Moth locket necklace by Lisa Hopkins and ‘Playing for Keeps’ by Mary Alayne Thomas.

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