Travis Hairgrove, The Herald Banner, Greenville, Texas
Updated 5 min read
Sep. 16—Last Saturday, Greenville saw the grand opening of a new art hub, The Creative Spot Gallery & Gifts, located inside the Uptown Forum.
In addition to being a place where Hunt County area art lovers can purchase original artwork to display in their homes or offices, The Creative Spot is also offering both adult and youth art classes in a variety of mediums and regular events such as its planned adults-only BYOB "Paint & Sip" nights.
"So many people have said to me that they're looking for fun things to get out and do, so we're hoping to provide that," said owner Carrie Sharp.
At the gallery's opening, Sharp had several of her works on display and ready to sell. Over the years, she has worked with a variety of media, including painting on canvas, sculpture, shadow boxed and mixed media, but she got her start painting rocks.
"I've been doing art since I was about 7 years old with painting rocks, before I had even heard about the rock painting movement," she said.
Regardless of the medium, Sharp enjoys depicting nature with a whimsical "fairy tale" art style. Many of her pieces depict a colorful variety of flora and fauna, which include wildflowers, cacti, caterpillars, piglets and even popular fictional characters like Baby Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy film franchise.
"My passion is creating art that makes people feel good," Sharp added.
In addition to Sharp, the gallery/shop currently has the work of several other area artists on sale, including pieces by James Pence, Donna Norton, Kathy Derby and Jennifer Owen — some of whom will also be teaching classes through The Creative Spot.
Pence, who's known in the community as a musician, a published author of more than 11 books, and as an active worship leader (particularly in prison ministry), also creates art in multiple mediums. Works of his currently at The Creative Spot are mostly digital (including AI) art and polished rocks.
"I've always been a bit of a techy. In fact my first three books were about web design," Pence said. "So, with digital art becoming more accessible in recent years due to not needing as expensive of equipment and software, I started familiarizing myself with different apps in 2016.
"Eventually, in one of the Facebook groups for digital art I belong to, someone started complaining about AI art, but I automatically thought it sounded fascinating," Pence said. "As I've been working with AI art, I've been figuring out ways to keep the AI from doing everything and keeping myself as part of the process.
"AI evolves quickly, though. It's even a little scary, but I think it's a pretty cool thing," he added.
Another artist with works for sale at the new gallery is Donna Norton, an artistically inclined former teacher from Lone Oak who discovered a new creative outlet about 10 years ago — Zentangle.
Zentangle is a "meditative" or "stream of consciousness" approach to drawing in which someone draws and connects together a combination of simple shapes — such as dots, lines, simple curves, S-curves and orbs — to create sometimes-intricate patterns called "tangles." The unplanned nature of the method, in which the drawer is encouraged to not worry about the end result but simply let the pattern take form, is one of the reasons why many zentanglists find it therapeutic.
"I've always done art — ceramics, jewelry, watercolors, pen and ink — if it's art, I've probably done it ... but Zentangle changed my life. It's such a relaxing exercise," Norton said.
Norton's Zentangles show varying degrees of symmetry, and while some are colorful others are monochromatic — but what catches the eyes of many perusers is Norton's expert use of shading, which creates an eye-tricking 3D effect.
Another set of pieces currently at the gallery explodes with color, and it's the work of Kathy Derby — who like many people, explored her creative side in 2020, during the height of COVID-19 restrictions.
With the help of instructional videos she found online, one of the techniques Derby explored was "acrylic paint pouring" — which involves applying a somewhat heavy amount of paint (usually in several colors) to a canvas or tile through a funnel or similar device, and then spreading the paint in just about any way imaginable. These methods include: picking up the canvas and tilting it in different directions, spinning the canvas on a potter's wheel or lazy Susan, blowing on the wet paint through a straw or with a blowdryer, and dragging strings of beads over the wet paint.
Paint pouring often creates abstract-but-striking kaleidoscopic effects. On Sept. 8, one of Derby's paint pouring pieces was the first official sale at The Creative Spot.
Another featured artist at gallery is Jennifer Owen, whose work includes mixed media art, vintage Americana/Western art, and pet portraits.
One of the pieces she had for sale at the gallery was a mixed media piece with a Halloween theme, which depicts a smiling woman wearing a witch hat while holding a stereotypical "old hag" mask. The subject, combined with the colorful, "smudgy" background and simple, superimposed images of spiders and webs gives the piece a multilayered, almost graffiti art kind of look.
Before becoming more focused on mixed media art, Owen started her pet portrait studio, called The Forever Cherished Pet Portrait, through which she was commissioned to paint highly detailed and expressive portraits of clients' pets — which ranged from photorealistic to whimsical.
While Owen's skill is well-recognized in the community, many often comment on how humble and generous she is in sharing it, as she regularly donates works to charity auctions and tries to sell them at affordable prices.
"With everything costing so much, it's nice to be able to buy something special just for you sometimes," Owen posted on Facebook. "It's never been about the money for me when it comes to creating and selling my artwork. I've always wanted to be able to offer original art for everyone to enjoy.
"I hope y'all find something you love and fits your budget, and also something that is not mass produced," she added. "Remember to support local artists."
