September First Friday: Sugar and Spice- Celebrating Women Artists

Sugar and Spice

featuring

Pam Doss, Hanah Hailey, Tomoko Hamada, Kate Horne, Amie Oliver, Kristin Polich, Katie Shaw Sweeney, & Blair Waters

Friday, September 2

6:00pm-8:00pm

Sponsored by Theresa and Troy Stavens

Arts on Main will be celebrating women artists with an all-female exhibit, Sugar and Spice, during the month of September. The show will feature regional and local artists. Sugar and Spice will be on display from September 2- October 1. The exhibit opening will take place at First Friday on September 2 from 6:00pm-8:00pm. This event is free and open to the public.

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Pam Doss

   

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Hanah Hailey

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Tomoko Hamada

   

Tomoko Hamada is a native Japanese anthropologist and professor emerita of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.  She has been painting flowers and plants in watercolor for several decades. She received botanical art training at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and Royal Botanic Gardens Kews in England. Tomoko is a member of American Society of Botanical Artists, and also a Master Naturalist in the Middle Peninsula Chapter of Virginia.

In recent years, she became interested in painting ancient plants of Japan, such as Ohga Lotus, which is included in this Exhibit.  While not so well known in the US, lotus has played a significant role in Asian culinary, medicinal, cultural, and religious histories.   During the 1920s, Japanese botanist, Prof. Ichiro Ohga of Tokyo retrieved ancient lotus seeds from a muddy pond in Chiba, that proved to be more than 2,000 years old. He successfully germinated some seeds and distributed them. Today hundreds of nelumbo nucifera “Ohga” bloom in famous Japanese ponds. Lotus symbolizes beauty and longevity.

Japanese water iris called Kakitsubata or Iris laevigata grows in shallow waters. Kakitsubata has been cultivated in Japan for more than a thousand years and has been the subject of many famous poems and paintings. For example, Ogata Korin (1658-1716) created elegant folding screens of blue-purple irises blooming in golden pond.

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Amie Oliver

   

Amie Oliver balances her full time studio practice with teaching and mentorship to artists of all ages.  Her experience teaching painting, drawing and mixed media for the MIS Degree and Studio Arts Foundation Program of Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts , as a lecturer  at  John Tyler Community College and an Associate Professor at Longwood College and Mississippi State University has helped many artists find their way pre and post degree.  She currently offers art workshops and short courses for adults and teens at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and other non-profit art centers. Her private studio consultations for artists of every level are rewarding for both the artist and mentor. Amie’s experience teaching in higher education includes summer courses overseas for Tyler School of Art of Temple University and for Mississippi State University at The Glasgow School of Art as well as weekend courses for The Richard Bland College of William and Mary.

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Kristin Polich

   

Kristin Polich is a fiber artist and passionate art educator living and working in Richmond, VA.  She creates delicate fiber pieces that walk the line between drawing and installation.  Polich studied art at Hollins University and has continued her education at Penland School of Crafts during her summers off from teaching.  She is currently teaching art at Saint Gertrude High School.  She has participated in multiple artist residencies and last year had her first solo exhibitions at Artspace Gallery in Richmond and The Petersburg Art League in Petersburg.

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Katie Shaw

     

Katie Shaw was born in Asheville, NC in 1974. She began her studies at the University North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC. Shaw received a B.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia and a M.F.A. in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Over the past twenty years, she has worked as a practicing artist, educator, and curator. Her work has been exhibited regionally and nationally. She currently resides in Richmond, VA.

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Blair Waters

   

From a young age, Blair always knew she wanted a paintbrush in her hand and bright, bold colors in her paintings. Blair graduated from Winthrop University in South Carolina with a B.F.A. in Art with K-12 certification. She is a Coast Guard spouse and a mother of 3. Moving every few years has allowed Blair to explore different climates, terrains, and cultures across the country. Blair grew up in “the country,” surrounded by family who loved the land they lived on and the God who created it; they passed all along to her. Her work is influenced by where she grew up, the people who have influenced her life, the places she has lived, and in recent years, her role as a mother. Blair has always been fascinated with color and loves using as many as she can in her artwork.

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Live music will be provided by Jerry Sowers.

Jerry Sowers is an acoustic singer-songwriter from Newport News, VA. Singing and playing music from the age of 14, he continues to sing traditional as well as original folk music. Audiences enjoy not only his music, but his ability in keeping them both engaged and entertained with song subjects that range from humorous to serious social concerns.
Throughout his career, Jerry has performed in coffee house venues as well as larger auditoriums in several states up and down the East Coast, Ohio and in Michigan. His first CD, ‘Simple and Free’, was recorded and published in 2009 with a balanced mix of original songs and covers.

Jerry’s full-time occupation is teaching music in the Hampton City Schools system, where he has worked with children of all ages to inspire music and creativity in our youth. He also leads the music program in a local Methodist Church in Hampton, VA. Jerry’s two sons and three grandchildren are the pride and joy in his life.

 

First Friday will be held on Friday, September 2 from 6:00pm-8:00pm. This event is free and open to the public. Beer and wine will be available for purchase.

Thank you, Theresa and Troy Stavens, for being our First Friday Sponsors!