Courtesy of Jan Bennett. The rebranding of Gulfport’s Art Walks continues. The inaugural First Friday Art Walk kicked off October 2 with curated art and an overall theme for each iteration. What was formerly known as the Third Saturday Art Walk has also had a makeover:Third Saturday IndieFaire, an outdoor market featuring an array of art, jewelry, plants, crafts and pottery with street food and live music, which will debut on October 17.
“The new IndieFaire is going to be a high-energy, family friendly event with an eclectic mix of art and unique handmade creations,” says Gulfport Merchant Chamber board member Margo Dalgetty. “We will also have street performers, music and entertainers adding to the eye candy. And for your tummies, the local restaurants will be making walkabout street fair food.”
The Gabber has rounded up a few artisans who are showcasing their work at IndieFaire to provide a sneak peek of their work and their creative processes.
Casey Green
Courtesy of Casey Green.
Casey Green, of Casey Green Designs, is a Gulfport artist who creates unique micro-macrame jewelry using crystals, gemstones and fossils.
“Macrame is a variety of fiber arts and is the practice of tying knots with cord. I find inspiration through nature and geometry,” says Green. “All of my pieces are free form. I do not follow any patterns.”
Green also has a booth at theweekly Tuesday Fresh Market. For more information about his work, go toCaseygreendesigns.com or find him on Instagram @vibrationvacation.
Courtesy of Casey Green.
Shirley Baldwin
Courtesy of Shirley Baldwin.
Shirley Baldwin says, “My message to anyone is that you are never too old to become an artist. I’m 69 years old and, until the age of 62, I never pursued creating art.”
After moving to Gulfport nearly four years ago, she discovered epoxy resin art, a two-component system consisting of resin and hardener. By mixing the two, a chemical reaction takes place so that the liquid resin gradually hardens to a solid plastic.
“Resin seems to have a mind of its own, so no two pieces are alike. Once the resin and hardener are mixed together, you have about an hour to complete the initial phase of the piece,” says Baldwin. “I paint on wooden canvases that have been primed with two or three coats of gesso and paint. Having a design plan is essential before mixing the resin. Each layer takes 24 hours to cure, and I frequently use three to four layers to add depth.”
Baldwin’s work is on display at Zaiya’s ArtiZen Market and Mermaid Mercantile. Find more details on Facebook.
Courtesy of Shirley Baldwin.
Jan Bennett
Courtesy of Jan Bennett.
Jan Bennett’s love for the Caribbean led her to begin her art expression through jewelry by bezeling sea glass she gathered on the beaches of St. Croix. After 20 years in the Virgin Islands, she and her husband bought a tiny house in Gulfport.
“As life experiences both challenge and inspire my spirit, I continue to focus my designs on life’s ever-changing tides,” says Bennett. “I would describe my ‘Tokens and Talismans’ by saying say that I have melted precious metals with emotions and a bit of whimsy to create my jewelry. I personally design my pieces beginning with a simple message or image that I want to share.”
Bennett begins with raw materials, using sterling sheet and silver wire, mixed media, 14 karat gold accents and whatever else seems to make the piece “happen.”
“I create a few of my designs by carving wax and using wax casting. Nearly every piece that I make has been designed and created to be worn as a token of personal energies, inspirations and experiences which have shaped our lives.”
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LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
