Influenced by his work at a contemporary furniture company, Charlotte’s Mark Ellis started his own design business: building modern houses. For birds. The artist: Born and raised in Marine City, MI, Ellis grew up in a log cabin on the St. Clair River. His family had sailboat and powerboat and enjoyed fishing from dock and…
In Houston, self-taught ceramicist Jodi Walsh specializes in “oritatami nendo,” the art of folding clay. The artist: Born in Toronto, Ontario, Walsh left Canada in 1967. Since then, she has lived and traveled to more than 25 countries, including Bangladesh, Africa, Taiwan and England. In 1980, she moved to the United States and now lives…
Balancing elements, both classic and modern, North Carolina’s Jane Jaskevich carves out a quiet elegance in her figurative sculptures. The artist: Born in Greenville, SC, she was the kid in grammar school who got voted to do the art on the bulletin boards. After that early art start, Jaskevich went on to earn a BFA from…
Joel Scilley, founder of New Orleans-based Audiowood, artfully blends technology and organic forms in his novel audio designs. The artist: Scilley grew up in Florida and after high school, headed for New York, where he received his undergraduate degree from Hobart & William Smith College. He then earned an MA from Carnegie Mellon and a…
Georgia’s Robert Patterson makes elegantly austere wood objects with little concern for utility. The artist: Born in Baton Rouge, LA, Patterson grew up in North Carolina. Both his father and grandfather who were woodworkers. At college, he focused on drawing and painting. Patterson earned a BFA from the University of North Carolina and an MFA…
Atlanta’s Roxane Hollosi calls her multi-layered art a visual document of the energies she feels – and those around her. The artist: Born in North Dakota, she grew up in southern Minnesota and Iowa. She earned a BFA from ISU College of Design in Ames, IA, and received additional training at the School of the…
When Nashville’s Jeremy Mitchell started his company, the longtime baseball fan hoped to hit a homerun with his heritage-inspired, hand-painted baseball bats. He has. The artist: The Tennessee native grew up in Hendersonville and studied sports marketing at Western Kentucky University. After college, Mitchell worked in advertising for 10 years before starting his company in Nashville,…
Using local woods, North Carolina’s Steve Miller carves, burns and carefully applies layers of nuanced colors to create his highly textured hollow vessels and sculptures. The artist: Born in Miami, Miller graduated from Florida International University and served 33 years with the Miami-Dade Police Department before retiring in 2007. In the beginning: Miller started woodturning…
In North Carolina, self-taught wood artist George Peterson uses busted old skateboards to make striking textured art. The artist: Born in Long Beach, CA, Peterson grew up in Bishop, a small town in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. At age 6, he stepped on to his first skateboard and remained an active skater, often building…
Influenced by the simple, clean lines of the Bauhaus movement, Virginia’s Christina Boy draws on a love of classic modern and rural environment in her furniture designs. The artist: Born in Gießen, Germany, Boy grew up in Bonn, where she combined a two-year-plus retail apprenticeship in an office and commercial design show with trade school…