Art
by Paula McInerny
January 3, 2012 - February 28, 2012

Paula McInerny is a native of Atlanta, attended the University of Georgia and graduated from Georgia State University. She is an award winning artist who paints exclusively with a palette knife.

She loves the textured quality that is best achieved using this technique. After a long career as a professional photographer, Paula turned to oil painting as an extension of her artistic expressionism.

She strives to keep her work fresh and lively, as evidenced by those pieces on display. She can be found daily in her studio at Tula on Bennett Street in Atlanta, or she can be reached by e-mail at phmcinerny@earthlink.net.

Art and books are two of my loves and go hand in hand.

I majored in Art at Agnes Scott College and then graduated from Emory’s Division of Librarianship. My career has been as an elementary school librarian and I’ve loved presenting literature with beautiful illustrations to children.

When my husband, Bill, and I moved to Smyrna almost seven years ago, one of the first things we did was join the Friends of the Smyrna Library. We enjoy the benefits of living nearby. Our children are grown, but we’re the parents of Lily, a West Highland white terrier who loves her walks around the Library.

After not doing any art for a number of years, my friend, the accomplished Beverly Key, handed me some watercolors. When I asked her where to start, she said, “Paint what you like best first.” It’s been fun ever since. My subjects are my dogs, my garden, and my travels.

I’ve had wonderful teachers. I studied figure painting in pastels with Kate Fetterolf at Callanwolde. Now I’m enjoying my watercolor classes at the Chastain Art Center from my excellent teachers Kathy Rennell Forbes and Marie Matthews and being with a fun group of fellow students.

Photography
by Fielding Etheridge
May 1, 2012 - June 30, 2012

Artist Statement:

Yes, Fielding really is my name. My first name. Not my last name. :) Bet you never heard that name before.

I am 20 and have never had a day of photography training in my life. One day when I was 15 I simply picked up our family's little digital camera and began taking photos as it came so naturally.

Now I am lucky enough to have Nikon D40 (hoping to get a D5000 soon!) All in all, I simply love the art of photography. I suppose you could say it is in my blood, as my grandfather was a professional photographer.

Myrtie Cope earned her college degree in interior design but after many years in the office furniture and the retail fabric business, decided to get serious about her passion for

Photography. She spent five intensive months at Rocky Mountain School of Photography before returning to the Atlanta area where she is active in Women in Focus and Southeastern Photographic Society. She has participated in numerous juried exhibits and has had two dual events exhibiting her work. She loves photographing the lines and angles of historic and contemporary architecture and has begun to explore the landscape and natural areas of the Southern states.

Graduate of Florida State University and Rocky Mountain School of Photography

Previous careers with Pintucks & Pinafores-Heirloom Sewing Store and Ball-Stalker Company Office Furniture Company

Clients include Wilma Lofts in Missoula, Montana; Hodges, Ward, Elliott; Northside Drive Baptist Church; Bass Hair Salon; Pursley, Lowery, Meeks LLP; Working Buildings, LLC; Table One Dinners

Juried Exhibits and Awards include: Two Views – Joint Exhibit at UUCA 2009; Slow Exposures 2010; Trees Atlanta 2010 – My Favorite Tree – Honorable Mention; Women in Focus XVII at the Georgia Tech Ferst Center 2010; Crossroads at Jill Celeste Gallery; Women in Focus XVIII- Illumination at Mason-Murer Gallery 2011; Southeastern Flower Show 2011 All Things Musical – Third Place.

Jim, a retired insurance executive, began his newfound art career only in the year 2000. At the time, he was successfully recovering from a bout with Cancer and at the suggestion of his wife, Dolores, took a pen and ink course taught by a noted nature artist. By the end of the third class, the instructor asked Jim to join him in teaching the class and later encouraged him to enter juried art shows.

Jim has a natural talent, with minimal formal training, who somehow is innately aware of the various drawing techniques as well as the principles of light and perspective. His specialty is drawing landscapes, seascapes and animal life, in great detail. Later while recovering from a heart attack, Jim expressed his grief at the tragedies of 9/11 in two paintings, embodying an emotional property. One of these drawings was delivered to then President George Bush, where it remained on the wall outside the West Wing and now is part of the George Bush’s private art collection. Another print hangs in the Office of Emergency Management near ground zero.

Originally, he sketched only in pen and ink, but later enhanced his drawings with color, using pencils, watercolors, acrylics, oils and pastels—and when called for, he employs a number of different media in the same drawing.

His drawings contain an intrinsic, spiritual quality, drawn on his personal beliefs and convictions. “Living in the mountains of Georgia, I am constantly amazed at the natural beauty all around us—just waiting for artists like myself to capture on paper.”

Jim has served on the Boards of the Cherokee County Arts Council, the Sharptop Mountain Arts Association and The Lake Arrowhead Arts Association--and is also a member of the Arts Alliance of Georgia and the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association. He has received many First Place ribbons over the past ten years.

James can be reached at 770-704-0390 or at topdog197@windstream.net.