Oil Paintings
by Helen DeRamus

Art Gallery
January 3, 2025 to February 28, 2025

Artist Statement:

A native of Atlanta, Georgia USA, after college I lived in the New York and New Jersey area during the seventies and eighties, moving back to Georgia in the late ‘80s. I am married and have a daughter and stepson. My husband is a retired musician who is currently working as a fine art photographer. My hobbies are many but among them are photography, journaling, and reading art history, and poetry. Poetry influences my work profoundly. I read and study books and articles about trees and follow a number of writers whose focus is on the environment and the landscape. My library is very diverse and each book is a path to inspiration.

I am lucky to have begun my art career in fabric design, fine art and commercial photography. Studying Asian and medieval art history at Emory University was a catalyst for my current work. The skills I learned during my early years have influenced my work as I often use both design knowledge and photographs as a basis for inspiration. I still enjoy taking and printing photographs for my own pleasure and use them for inspiration for my drawing and painting.

My paintings, work on paper and monotypes investigate memory in both its fragility and power. Exploring my personal history leads me to create abstract landscapes that serve as a metaphor for the passage of time. Inspiration for images comes from working many hours in the studio and in the field: observing, and drawing. I like to use many layers in each painting, using those layers to reveal how memory may be recorded in color, texture and shape. My painting process I think of as aging the surface.

I work in a studio that is housed in an old art deco factory building built in the 1940’s in Metro-Atlanta, the Artisan Resource Center. I give demonstrations and art talks in a variety of venues including schools, art organizations, colleges and universities.

My work is in corporate, private, and public collections throughout the United States. The collections include: Ventyx Corporation, Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, Georgia, Perimeter College, North Georgia College and State University, The ART Station, the Ben Hill-Fitzgerald County Library, the Women’s Center at Kennestone Hospital, the Atlanta Women’s Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia, Jacksonville State University and Livingston College at Rutgers University in New Jersey. I am represented at TEW Galleries in Atlanta, Georgia; Roan and Black Gallery in Saugatuck, Michigan; Art Alley in Birmingham, Alabama and RobertKent Gallery in Marietta, Georgia.

Artist Website: https://deramusstudio.com/

On the Edge of Wild
by Kathy Walton

Display Gallery
January 3, 2025 to February 28, 2025

Artist Statement:

I grew up on a farm in central Illinois making holiday door decorations of evergreen trimmed from the yard and leaves, seedpods and pretty roadside treasures collected throughout the year. My mother always said you can’t have too many rocks, sticks and twigs. You never know when you’ll need just the right piece. After college I spent a couple decades running stores. From lawnmowers to diamonds I was still making arrangements pleasing to the eye with what was at hand.

At 40 my husband and I bought a house, quit our jobs, cut our hair and quit smoking—all on the same weekend!! We started a contracting business working with hotels. I became quite adept with a power drill and a saw. A course on metal sculpture to learn to use welding equipment we’d acquired led me to another new world.
Sculpture~On the Edge of Wild came about and now I sort through stacks of junk and debris for just the right part for a nose or an eye. Recycling while creating sculptures for the garden and home! I have definitely come full circle--From roadside weeds into flower arrangements to roadside junk into sculpture. And I’m still scouting for great finds wherever I go.

I describe my style as an enhanced line drawing. The steel sculptures are light and airy even made of heavy–duty junk. Ceramics have texture and character with rough edges--and great critters.
I work from my home and studio in Marietta, GA. Call to view the collection. I enjoy showing off my critters in their natural habitat.

Artist Website: https://www.kathywaltonarts.com/

Mixed Media
by Denise Gunter

Art Gallery
March 1, 2025 to April 30, 2025

Artist Statement:

I create unique, one of a kind, personalized mixed media collages. My love of gardening extends far beyond my own flower beds. I enjoy painting my own interpretation of scenes from my travels and love of gardening. Nature has a beautiful way of removing our burdens. By combining clippings from magazines, newspapers, found material and my own painted papers and photography, I collect a variety of textures, patterns and colors. By layering multiple substrates I create vibrant landscapes that serve as wonderful focus points and as a form of motivation.

Through my work, I aim to capture the ordinary in an abstract way. My work is created to inspire people through my portrayal of nature’s gift, and offer it as a form of healing for all. Nature shows us time and time again how beautiful rebirth and growth can be. I often share plant clippings and perennials with neighbors in my community. You’ll also find me organizing beautiful vision boards and collage workshops.

I often find people are so attached to what they believe their limitation to be. However by letting go of these, they can open themselves up to not only embrace the beauty of nature but also discover their own talents.

For commissions, I use a creative and collaborative approach, as I want clients to feel as though they are an integral part of bringing their vision to life. This make the process even more personal and touching. My clients are always proud to display their finished pieces.

Artist Website: https://www.paintandpapervisions.com/

Pottery
by Moira Brennen

Display Gallery
March 1, 2025 to April 30, 2025

Artist Statement:

It’s a funny story, really. I was accepted into Alfred University right out of highschool. I always knew I wanted to be an artist, but didn’t know what kind. I wanted to be a graphic designer… or so I thought.

At Alfred, we were encouraged to take all types of classes. I took plenty of painting and drawing, as well as graphic design. It wasn’t until my Sophmore year that I took my 3D arts classes, glassblowing and beginning ceramics. I loved every minute of both classes, and quickly forgot about being a graphic designer. I seemed to take better to glassblowing at the time, although I was still interested in the idea of pottery. During my final critique for my pottery class the teacher looked me in the eyes and said, “you should stick to sculptural work, sweetie”. I mistook this as an insult at the time and decided to focus my energies on glassblowing. It, along with lighting design and neon, became my major. I graduated in 2005, and was lucky enough to find a job as a glassblowing assistant in Reading, PA. But I wasn’t ready to give up on pottery.

After a year or so of working on someone else’s work in the glassblowing industry, I decided to do something for myself: I took a pottery class at the local arts center. When I sat down at the wheel in that small studio full of other beginners, it was as if I had been throwing pots my entire life. Something clicked! Maybe it was the no-pressure environment or the students, or a receptive teacher. Whatever it was, I haven’t been able to stop playing with clay since. And the real irony is that my sculptural work is one of my strengths.

Who knows what might have happened if I had read the tone of my Alfred professor differently and persued pottery instead of glassblowing, but I’m happy to have had all my experiences and be where I am now.

Artist Website: https://hellosplendorpottery.com/

Fine Art
by Anita Gill Stewart

Art Gallery
May 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025

Artist Statement:

Creative International Artist: The Rebel

Her parents would never have guessed that the red bearded Santa in kindergarten and the art lessons at the “Y” in junior high would have lead to this. She graduated from the University of Memphis in 1977 with a major addiction to art and a minor one to art education. After moving to Atlanta in 1983, with her family, she advanced as both artist and art teacher. As an artist she achieved awards in national, international and local juried competitions. Her work has graced the walls of universities , art museums and private collectors. Her work has aired on TV on numerous occasions. Her Anita’s ArtsCool founded in 1998, was recognized as one of the “crown jewels of Buford,(Georgia).” (Gwinnett Daily Post)

Her passion is traveling and painting solo in different countries :South Africa, Swaziland,Italy, Peru, Ecuador, Panama Australia,Mexico and New Zealand. These resulted in series that sing “Celebrate the Differences”.Many of her pieces were done on site in different countries.Such a wide scope of wonderful experiences for anyone!

She has drawn,painted while sitting on the ground next to cathedrals and lemon trees in Italy.She painted in the presence of a glowing sunset in South Africa and combined it with nearby mysterious ancient rock art .She painted the emotional responses witnessed in the faces of pilgrims doing penance in Panama .She painted a life size diptyct of a little girl in Equador confronted by an iguana longer than she was tall!! .

She was honored to reside in Beverley, Australia for a month as their first international artist in residence.

She was an artist in residence in Mexico and New Zealand in 2019.Her art from these trips resulted in expanding her Lacy Ladies series,,turned Internstional.

In 2022 she enjoyed traveling to Cuba with a group of art enthusiasts .One of her fellow travelers produced a video highlighting some of events of the trip.She has spoken to several art groups such as Duluth Fine Arts League and shared this video.

In 2023 she was thrilled to exhibit 150 pieces of her art from 11 different countries she has visited since 2009.

Patrons connect with her crazy real life stories that inspire her art. Many can't wait to bring a piece of her international adventures into their home or business to inspire them to reach for adventure as well.

Artist Website  

Coins & Currency in
Times of Strife

Display Gallery
May 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025

Exhibit Overview:

Coins and Currency in Times of Strife is on exhibit in the Smyrna Public Library 2nd Floor Display Gallery through June 30. It tells the story, though money used at the time, of wartime, rebellion, the rise and fall of colonial empires, and other interesting historical factoids. This history exhibit features the following displays on the 12 shelves in the cases (from upper left to bottom right):

1. Imperial Russia & USSR
2. German Empire & Austro-Hungarian Empire
3. German & Austro-Hungarian Notgeld & Weimar Republic Hyperinflation
4. Nazi Germany, Empire of Japan, and Axis Powers Wartime Occupation
5. VE Day & VJ Day and Allied Forces Liberation & Post Ware Occupation
6. Great Britain & the British Empire
7. France & the French Empire
8. Canada
9. Australia, New Zealand & Ireland
10. US Seminole War of 1818 to WW1 to Interwar Years
11. US WW2, Post War Era & the End of US Silver Coinage in Circulation
12. Select US Commemorative Silver Proofs & Georgia-Specific Coins from the US Mint