Exeter Fine Crafts is pleased present Nancie Bogart of Maine Island Designs as our January Artist of the Month. Having lived on the coast of Maine or Maine Island for 57 years, she is constantly amazed and often overwhelmed by the beauty and healing spirit of the ocean. Creating an array of beautiful pillows, Nancie’s work is a reflection of her admiration for the rhythm of the sea and the peaceful solitude of the outdoors. Finding peace in the simplicity that surrounds us, Nancie especially enjoys the natural elements of the things we walk by everyday, without notice. In such a busy and connected world, it’s the little things we do that give our lives meaning and she strives to feature such elements in her work. With subject matters that range from nautical themes to more whimsical designs, Nancie makes her artisan pillows out of cotton canvas, wool and brightly colored wool blend felts. Having been raised in a family where creativity was highly valued, Nancie has been a life long lover of fiber arts and all things handmade. Throughout the years, she has worked on making boat cushions, canopy covers, swings, bags, pillows and much more! Now as a retired teacher, moving her creativity from the classroom into her sewing room has been a wonderful transition. With the support of her husband Bruce and two daughters who (according to Nancie) not only enrich the world but her life everyday, Nancie continues to strive for her work. Her whimsical pillows can be found at select galleries in Maine and at Exeter Fine Crafts.

Artist Visit Date: Saturday, February 9th, 2019 12 — 3 p.m.

Tom Burns moved to Vermont in his 20’s, had a baby, and started making jewelry when he couldn’t find a decent job. his first pieces were silver earrings, that he took down to sell over a weekend in Connecticut. Three hours later, the whole batch was gone. Now 30 years (and 3 babies) later, he’s still making fun, affordable jewelry for fun people. Along the way he’s had a successful retail store, sold his work wholesale, and shown his work at Arts and Crafts Fairs. Starting with real stones and silver, both direct from the earth, Tom forms them into attractive jewelry. He truly enjoys handing each of his creations off to the person who’s going to wear it. How could you beat that? He still lives and works on the homestead where his kids grew up, producing jewelry in his cozy little workshop. Three of Tom’s kids worked with him in their high school and college days, and he’s happy to say his son, Brian, is still helping out. His work can be found in galleries throughout New England.

Artist Visit Date: Saturday, March 9th, 2019 12 — 3 p.m.

William Mitchell has been working on serigraph prints of the New Hampshire landscape since 1983. Bill gathers inspiration for his prints while hiking and skiing in New Hampshire. Each serigraph is printed by hand using traditional screenprinting techniques. Bill uses only one screen to achieve his prints using the block-out fluid method. After printing a color, the corresponding area of the screen is filled with glue or lacquer. The next sequential color is then printed on top of the previous. Bill enjoys demonstrating this process at craft fairs and teaching classes with the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. Bill is a juried member of the League of New Hampsshire Craftsmen.

Artist Visit Date: Saturday, April 13th, 2019 12 — 3 p.m.

Ceramic artists Lars and Connie Turin of Lars Turin Clayworks began their collaboration both professional and in life in 2012. Prior to meeting Connie, Lars worked as an art instructor, but his first love was always creating pottery. Working under the guise of “Hillplace Pottery,” Lars perfected his technique while also teaching and raising his family. Connie’s fascination with ceramics began in high school. She spent her summers as a potter’s apprentice, only to shift gears and head in other directions until she and Lars began collaborating. Utilizing his skill on the potters wheel, Lars creates incredible one-of-a-kind textural vessels by employing a technique that forces the clay surface to fracture as he expands and refines the form. Working in a variety of clays and pottery techniques, Lars unique sculptural pieces are often created with a central theme, connecting nature and people while highlighting the dynamics between them. Connie focuses on a variety of hand building methods. Like Lars, she uses the fracturing technique to create more organic vases and bowls. Inspired by color, Connie’s interest in surface treatments can be seen in her intricate sgraffito pieces and hand painted ‘story’ cups and bowls. Living and working in Southern Maine has captured the hearts and creative minds of the pair who continue to explore both the coast of Maine and their love of ceramic fine art and craft. Members of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, their work can be found in fine craft galleries throughout the state.

Artist Visit Date: Saturday, May 4th, 2019 12 — 3 p.m.

Megan Stelzer learned her craft at the Santa Monica College of Design, Art, and Architecture in California as a teen, after forgoing the traditional high school institution. Initially, Stelzer made furniture using scrap metal and rusted steel. She made tables and couches, mostly for outdoors. Today, she has returned to the metal art that first interested her. Megan’s first job at 13 was working for Thomas Mann in Portsmouth. Most of the time she filed and buffed, but the environment and Mann’s attention had a serious impact on her. It opened a window into the art world. Mann took Stelzer and her sister under his wing, even taking them to New Orleans, his base of operation. This experience allowed Megan to see there was something for her in this world. While Stelzer designed jewelry during the years she fabricated furniture, she eventually switched exclusively to adornment. When describing her jewelry Stelzer uses words like clean and sharp, or organic and hammered. There’s a modern, techno edge to it. Whatever the finished look, there is a common denominator, according to Stelzer. “I make all my work from my own voice, my own perspective.”

Artist Visit Date: Saturday, June 1st, 2019 12 — 3 p.m.

Described by Art New England magazine as “…gestural realist landscapes with the overall effect of speeding through layers of lighted space,” Daryl D. Johnson's oil paintings are a colorful tribute to the back roads and vistas of New England from which she gets inspiration while motorcycling. Daryl D. Johnson was born in Manhattan, grew up in NY’s suburbs and graduated from Hope College in Holland, MI. She moved to New Hampshire in 1988 with her husband and they raised 2 children in Candia and now Amherst. Johnson's paintings have won numerous awards and are in private and corporate collections throughout the world. She maintains a studio in Amherst, NH. “These works tell a story of the once-familiar viewed in new context and form. The canvas records actual scenes of New England, conveying the mystery and joys of travel and fresh vision. The earth “breathes” in and out with compositions that bend with a heaving shape. Curiosity bubbles up about what is around that distant next bend in the path ahead. Skies are majestic in wide-angle vision.” — Daryl D Johnson Artis

Artist Visit Date: Saturday, July 13th, 2019 12 — 3 p.m.

Cheryl Z. Miller is a textile artist who creates fabric collages using hand dyed cottons, batiks, vintage fabrics and sometimes paper elements that are stitched by machine. Her work incorporates an eclectic mix of old and new, traditional and contemporary elements. She finds inspiration for her pieces from among other things medieval tapestries, and Claude Monet’s paintings, as well as daily walks with her dog, music and happenstance. Cheryl exhibits her work mostly in New England. She has a BA in Art History from Hope College, where she also studied studio art. Originally a plein air oil painter for many years, Cheryl learned traditional quilt making when she moved to New Hampshire in 1996 and occasionally still finishes a painting or makes a quilt by hand. She lives in Hopkinton, NH and is a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and the New Hampshire Art Association.

Artist Visit Date: Saturday, August 17th, 2019 12 — 3 p.m.

Enthralled with the beauty and variety of wood, Gary McGrath creates functional wooden objects with the dual purpose of showcasing the medium’s natural splendor. On some of his more unique pieces of wood, it can be several months or years before Gary uses it. Relying on instinct, he prefers allowing the medium itself to speak to him before transforming it into an incredible work of art. Woodturning on the lathe, Gary creates a number of items from tables and lamps to small boxes and bowls. An amateur woodworker since he was a boy, Gary has practiced all forms of the craft from chip carving to kitchen tables. Now recently retired from engineering, Gary has turned his focus on to creating functional wooden art. His work can be found in fine craft galleries and shows throughout the Seacoast.

Artist Visit Date: Saturday, September 14th, 2019 12 — 3 p.m.

Pottery as metaphor has been a rich gate of spiritual inquiry for Roger Cramer. Shortly after meeting Bud Wilkinson, Roger had a crash course in pottery with Richard Lafean, studied with Nancy Joy at the Corcoran School in Washington D.C. and took a year of courses at the School of the Chicago Art Institute. After moving to Columbia, Maryland in 1972, Roger worked as a part-time studio potter and made wheel-throwing bodies for local potters. Since then he has continued to study at workshops with some amazing artists: Jim Kempes at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, Wayne Higby and Stewart Kastenbaum at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, Jim Romberg and Biz Littell at Laloba Ranch in Colorado and lately with Steven Hill. Roger’s life as a potter has evolved on a part-time basis alongside his primary work for 38 years as an Episcopal priest. In 2005, after 28 years in parish ministry at St. Paul’s Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Roger retired from parish ministry to spend his time working with clay and making beautiful things.

Reception Date: Friday, October 11th 6 — 8 p.m.

Combined with Victoria’s skills as a printmaker and Lawrence’s keen eye for photography, the duo has a creative partnership spanning decades. Included in this special exhibition will be Victoria’s and mixed media drawings of trees and Lawrence’s vivid photography from around the world. Born in Cheshire, England, Victoria grew up in India, Pakistan and the UK where her family lived in East Anglia. This picturesque region provided the first inspiration for her art. She met and married Lawrence while he was serving overseas, and they moved to the United States to raise their family. Victoria studied at the Lock Haven Art Center in Orlando followed by course at the University of Oklahoma. Studying and working with master printmaker Loraine Moore influenced and transformed Victoria’s knowledge and understanding of printmaking. Most recently, Victoria is thrilled to be the recipient of the 2019 Piscataqua Artist’s Advancement Grant awarded from the NH Charitable Foundation. She will be traveling to England in the spring to draw and study ancient trees in that landscape. “The grant will allow unhurried time to abandon the tried and true, stretch my imagination and see where the creative process takes my work. I will include my own roots in the endeavor, looking up my ancestors in graveyards and libraries and also raise awareness about the warming planet and our dependence on trees, when I return.” Lawrence, a self-taught photographer, has taken many workshops and courses over the years. He enjoys capturing the play of light and shadow and the “spirit of each place”. Like Victoria, Lawrence has won numerous awards for his work. Both Victoria and Lawrence are members of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and she is a member of the Boston Printmakers.

Artist Visit Date: TBD

Working as a jeweler for over 40 years, Susan strives to achieve beauty and simplicity of form in each one of her handcrafted pieces. From the curvature of the metal, to the placement of a stone, Susan's designs reflect a distinctive elegance and wide appeal. For Susan, the process of creating and watching that creation emerge is magical. Using different metals and stones, Susan constructs her jewelry in a variety of techniques including, forging, embossing, sawing and soldering. Occasionally the shape or color of a stone will influence Susan's designs, but often many of her pieces evolve naturally. Although mainly self taught, Susan's journey as a jeweler began at the Brookfield Craft Center where she learned the basics of metal smithing. Throughout her long career, Susan has returned to Brookfield as an apprentice and demonstrator further honing her skills. Susan has also attended both the Gemological Institute of America and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. A juried member of the League of NH Craftsmen, Susan's work can be found in galleries throughout the northeast.