New Artists Showcase
- Frame Gallery Gifts and Art 12569 Sollace M Freeman Highway Sewanee, TN, 37375 United States (map)
Frame Gallery is celebrating its 7th anniversary with a New Artists Showcase of locally-produced art from February 7 to March 22, 2025.
The art exhibit features works by seven new artists at the gallery: Kate Gundersen (cut paper), Tom Howick (watercolor), Margaret Matens (wood carving), Bill Mauzy (woodworking), G. Sanford McGee (metal), Jeanie Stephenson (bronze sculpture), and Larry Wilson (sculpture and painting).
Artist Statements and Bios
NOTHING COMPARES TO THE LOOK AND FEEL OF BRONZE
I learned the “cire perdue”, or “Lost Wax”, method of producing bronze sculptures while I was in college, but it wasn’t until I spent almost twenty years hitchhiking around the world, driving taxis, teaching high school science and becoming a wife and mother that I resumed sculpturing. My life experiences are all a part of my work, and I try to instill a little of my own joy in the diversity of life into each piece.
To produce a bronze requires not only the creative process of sculpture but also a lengthy labor of transmuting that form from clay into the durability and beauty of bronze.
Although most sculptors send their clay models to a foundry to be cast, I turn each piece into bronze in my own foundry called backyard, using the ancient “lost wax” technique. From clay to wax to bronze, no hands but my own are involved in the creative process.
To produce a bronze requires not only the creative process of sculpture but also a lengthy labor of transmuting that form from clay into the durability and beauty of bronze.
Although most sculptors send their clay models to a foundry to be cast, I turn each piece into bronze in my Flogiston Foundry in my own backyard in Decherd, TN, using the ancient “lost wax” technique. From clay to wax to bronze, no hands but my own are involved in the creative process.
I make each piece individually by hand from the original sculpture, through the pouring of the molten metal to the final finishing and patina. Each piece is signed and ready to hold or display.
G. Stanford McGee is a native of Beersheba Springs on the Cumberland Plateau in southeast Tennessee. Having taught biology for eighteen years, his academic background is in the sciences. Now, he is bringing elements of ecology, botany, and zoology into his works of art on copper.
I bought my first lathe in 2003 at the suggestion of my son. The first time I used a lathe was in 8th grade shop class. I turned a lamp, which still sits at my desk. I knew then that this was something that I wanted to do again. I have been turning continuously since 2004 but have truly been addicted to the process since around 2010. We woodturners call what we do “unlocking nature's secrets.” You never know what you are going to find when you start the process. Most of my bowls are twice turned. By this, I mean that I rough turn the bowl, leaving the wall thickness at about an inch. I then date it and put a coat of wax over the entire bowl. The wax slows down the drying process, helping to prevent any cracking. The bowl’s shape will distort during this period. After about 8-9 months, I will finish turning the bowl, revealing the perfectly round finished shape. I then sand and finish the piece. All of my finishes are food-safe (actually, all finishes are food-safe once the volatile organic compounds evaporate). There are times, however, that I will completely turn and finish a bowl in one day. This is one of the things I enjoy about turning wood. You can finish a project in one day! I also turn platters, candle sticks, rolling pins, Jefferson cups, and various hollow forms. Hollow forms are turnings that typically have a small entrance hole at the top and are somewhat round in shape. These have to be turned completely once they are started.
As a native of Louisiana, I grew up near swamps full of Bald Cypress trees, which grow in the water and are often surrounded by “cypress knees.” What stimulates knees to form and the function of these “roots” remains unknown, but cutting off the knees does not hamper the growth of the tree, and the root soon grows over to hide the cut.
I have been fascinated by the incredible shapes, and years ago I began carving them into wizards and gnomes. Our family had property near Ponchatoula, La., and my father and I harvested cypress knees by boat for me to cure and then carve. My goal is to follow the form of the knee and leave as much of the bark on as possible. Over the years, I have been commissioned to create “Cypress Knee Gnomes” for collectors and those intrigued by these wonders of nature.
I am a lifelong science educator and nature artist. My study of science and art over the years has kept me connected to the natural world. Connecting science with art has been an important part of my professional career. It is a joy to share my passion and skills with students of all ages as they learn to observe what is happening around them in the natural world. What better way to connect than with creating art? For example, I have guided college students (Sewanee: The University of the South) and adults in Master Naturalist classes to keep field notes.
While I consider myself a self-taught artist without a formal art degree, I have been painting birds and fish and other subjects for more than twenty years. I love to fish with my sons and spend time near the rivers in the southeast and out west. Nature journaling continues to challenge and push me to become both a better observer and artist. I have taken numerous art classes and learned from very talented teachers. I believe we can always learn new techniques and improve all skills with practice.
My meandering life path and curiosity have provided inspiration for a vivid and varied creative life, allowing me rich experiences: “back to the land" child in 70s rural northern California, student of painting and printmaking at Grinnell College, traveler, and worker over the years in Europe, Central America, Africa, and Asia, graduate social work student in New Orleans. In each context, there were new visual experiences, influences, and techniques to explore and absorb. I've worked in stained glass, printmaking, fabric, and abstract painting. Currently residing in a house of my own design, I practice psychotherapy in Sewanee, TN. My latest passion is paper cutting.
- Posted In: Art Exhibits