Local Artists

Brian Watson and Ben Boyher are coppersmiths, the two team up to create metal artwork featuring a wide range of works from artistic copper range hoods, to one-of-kind accent furniture, to large outdoor sculptures fashioned from recycled, naturally aged scrap metal.  Ben has a lifetime of construction and carpentry experience, and Brian has experience in engineering, machining and computer technology. Both are creative and intuitive.

In addition to being a singer/songwriter & musician, Gloria Attoun is also a fiber-arts artist.  Using texture, color & objects found in nature, Gloria experiments with the layers and hidden spaces of her own handmade paper elements which provide an almost unlimited pool of inspiration.  Gloria loves the landscape in and around Augusta and spends a lot of time exploring nature and all it has to offer.  Most of inspiration and objects in her art come from the bottomland countryside and trails.  This fiber art is made with cotton rag, abaca fibers–sometimes wax and natural objects.  It is then tinted, painted and sewn and/or woven onto.  Sometimes there are drawings or paintings involved in each one-of-a-kind, handmade piece.  Gloria is also a Creativity Coach and enjoys supporting others in moving forward in their creative lives.  For more information on Gloria’s music, art & creativity workshops, please visit her website:  www.gloriaattoun.com

I began blowing glass in 1992 in Toyama, Japan. Glass is still the most exciting material I have ever worked with. I love its unlimited possibilities.

I am a potter/artisan. Clay appeals to me because of its elemental nature. The alchemy of using earth, air, water and fire to create something that is more than the sum of its parts appeals to me.

My desire for my work is that the shape be elegant yet human, and that the surface displays the process by which it was made. I specifically focus on wood atmospheric firings. While I tend to make forms that lean toward the functional, my purpose is not to create functional objects, but rather to give a nod toward function emphasis on shape and surface.

“I make wooden vessels because I have found in them a form of expression that is nearly limitless and that offers the viewer a handle with which to access this sculptural work.  I like the way my ideas flow from one vessel into the next… into the next, with no effort from me.  The only work involved is the physical labor of laminating, turning, carving and polishing necessary to bring them into the world.  I don’t hide the marks of this craft. I want people to feel the energy that went into making the piece, but in a restful sense…the way I feel at it’s completion.

Most of my vessels are built up out of layers of wood stacked horizontally. I start with a wide thick board from which I cut rings…one inside the next.  These are glued upward to make the rough form. It is then carved, turned, etc.  I like to use a variety of woods and finishes, which give a rich color tone to the vessel.” – Michael Bauermeister

Exhibited in museums across the United States and is included in numerous permanent collections, including the Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI, the Smithsonian Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C., the Mesa Museum of Contemporary Art, Mesa AZ, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. In 2014, Michael Bauermeister was invited to be the Artist in Residence at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, where he became inspired by colors and textures of the Western landscape.

Mike Phelps, like most artists, can trace his  love for art to an early age.  He was born in   Los Angeles California and raised in the Pacific Northwest, where art programs were prevalent at every level of education.  Mike puts a great deal of realism in his paintings, but with a spark of color, yet maintains a painterly effect. His works evoke memories of bye-gone days and the beauty of outdoor majesty.  His goal for every painting is to draw the viewer into the “peaceful calm” that inspired him.  Mike is a landscape painter who enjoys “Plein-air” events. Recently retired from ministry, he and his wife Lynn now reside in Augusta, Missouri. He can be found teaching watercolor, acrylics,  and oil painting techniques to various age groups

Original designs in handblown glass made in Augusta, MO.

As an artist, I observe the immediate world around me and use a mixed-mash of materials to draw my interpretation of this world, tying always to experiment with techniques and materials so as to add fresh methods to practiced skill creating a narrative of my own. I often hear from people that they relate to my work in personal and emotional ways.

I have experimented with many materials and methods, often finding myself creating in three dimensions when two doesn’t quite say what I want to say. I worry sometimes that I stray to far from the path and appear “all over the place” with my work. But when I look at what I have made in a collective, I see that no matter what material or subject matter I tackle, it has a signature feel that cannot be mistaken as mine.

As a life-long maker of things, I am confident and relaxed that the things I bring to life are always valid, often important, and have the ability to touch and affect the lives of others in ways I know well, because making them does so to me.