Slowdance Art Charlotte, NC
Dee Blackburn – When I was young I spent hours painting with my aunt, side by side. As I grew up my teachers stepped into her role. Then, in turn, I stepped into their role.
Today I’m an artist as well as a licensed architect who also has a Masters in Scene Design, and I love it all. In all my work I’m fascinated with layering, and how it can both reveal and conceal what lies below the surface. Some layers are evident. Others are unseen and known only to me.
A couple of years ago I underwent radiation twice a day for many weeks. I was far from home, so each day I painted a postcard – abstract, full of lines and vivid colors, a kind of response to the treatment of the day – and I mailed them to friends and family.
As you can imagine, the treatments felt like an anchor weighing me down. But the postcards could literally fly away. My new work is built on top of those postcard designs. The colors are softer and the paintings more whimsical. There are hints of suns and moons. And there are buildings and boats – askew, fixed, tilting, traveling.
Elizabeth Kelk (Lyz) has been attracted to art since childhood. After graduating with a computer science degree, she took many informal art workshops and realized that art had to be a part of her life. Lyz loves exploring different media, such as encaustics, assemblage art and concrete. Encaustics in particular provides a free-spirited and curious exploration of color and texture for her. Assemblage art reminds Lyz of the story telling dioramas she created years ago in grade school out of show boxes. In her assemblage and encaustic pieces, you will see old photographs, letters and documents, her grandmother’s watercolors, buttons, gears and found objects, even trash. With concrete Lyz creates unique lamps, frames and garden fountains. Her belief is that art, whatever form it takes, should bring happiness to the person who produces it and the person who experiences it. http://www.slowdanceart.com