Spotlight on Karol Bobb

Who: Karol Bobb 

This week, we're putting the spotlight on Karol Bobb. Karol says that art has always been a part of her in one form or another. She was a musician who loved how words could paint a picture and invoke such emotion. She started playing the guitar around the age of 14 and it was a place she could go and be in the zone so to speak. She liked writing her own music and found great pleasure in the words. Karol played with several bands as she got older, but as time went on it just didn’t fit her schedule of raising a family which was another passion of hers. She soon found art instilled those same emotions of love, wonder, sadness, and joy she felt with music. When she was creating, be it in oil, acrylic, pastel or mixed media, time stood still. She was back in the zone!

Here's what Karol had to say about her art...

 What medium do you prefer and why?

I always admired handmade silver jewelry as a child. I don’t know why but there you are. After taking some art classes at a university near me, I decided to learn silversmithing. I studied silver soldering and design at the Taos School of Metalsmithing and Design in New Mexico. I absolutely loved it.

I work in many media. I think a lot of artists do these days. We no longer feel we have to stay with any one medium or style. For me, it’s about loving what I am working on. Finding a moment in life that brings me pleasure, peace, or a sense of saying something I feel is important. I have found working in mixed media a great pleasure and have incorporated metals into many of my pieces.

My latest pieces are able to speak to the plight of the buffalo. To my delight, they have returned in abundance, largely due to programs sponsored by our national parks. Most often you will hear them referred to as “Bison.”  I am told the Native Americans still call them “buffalo” All this being good news, their history of near distinction bears thought.

  What inspires or motivates you to create your art and what does your art mean to you?

So many things inspire me to create. A culture, a landscape, an emotion. Life in itself is a wonder and to capture a moment in time, is humbling. What it means to me is belonging. A sense of being where I should be.

 What makes your art unique?

I think everyone's art is unique. I truly do. It is a piece of them and is as unique as they themselves are.

If you'd like to see more of Karol's art, please visit the Strawbridge Art League and Gallery in Historic Downtown Melbourne, Florida at 819-2 East Strawbridge Avenue.

Spotlight on Tammy Miller

 Who: Tammy Miller

Today's spotlight is on Tammy Miller. She has been drawing or painting since she was old enough to hold a crayon or pencil in her hand. Throughout grade school and high school, she had some form of art lessons or interest in improving her skills in art. She did go to college after high school but life and children happened and her creative endeavors were mostly in the form of baby clothes, costumes and filling sketchbooks.At 40, she went back to college and got a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design. She worked in that field for a few years until the need to create her own art took over and she has been painting, collaging, sewing or stitching ever since. You can find her work on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/myartofhearts/ or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MyArtOfHearts/ 

What medium do you prefer and why?

 This is a tough question because I like a lot of different mediums. I love to paint with Acrylics and I love to create with textiles. I make my own clothes by redesigning what I have. I either print, paint, dye or discharge fabrics and then sew them together to make what I like to wear. I do also make them to sell and for friends and family. I like mixed media or anything not ordinary when it comes to how it is made or what  the supplies are. I will paint on whatever i can find. As a way to process the grief of losing my mother about two years ago I did a project I called 100 faces in 100 days. Every day i painted on the papers, cards, letters and wrapping papers that my mother had been saving for many years. I sewed these items together and painted a different face every day for 100 consecutive days. I also wrote a story about what influenced the face that I did. I painted fifty human faces and then fifty animal faces. It was a lot of fun and very affirming to create that work! I still have some of the faces for sale at the Strawbridge Art League and you can look at my blog www.thesearedbluehaircomment.blogspot.com and see all the faces and all the stories that went with them. 

What inspires or motivates you to create your art and what does your art mean to you?

Very simply,  art is my therapy. It is my saving grace in life. I paint to deal with whatever is happening in my life. Over time they become the maps of my life. I sew to adorn myself or others in creativity, individuality and love. I want to wear what makes me happy and comfortable and I decide what it will be. I imagine those first people on earth that created clothing and had the total freedom to adorn themselves or decorate their clothes with what ever they had and how ever their imaginations could create it. I enjoy this process immensely. My paintings are often of faces and are my own made up versions of expressions that either I am feeling or not wanting to feel. I paint to give joy to my self and other's. I am always influenced by the world around me and nature. Trees, the ocean, water, leaves and bugs and birds. Nothing is off limits in nature. 

What makes your art unique?

I think what makes my art unique is that I love alternative processes and ways to use what I have. New things are happening in my art world !! I am excited about the future and what turns my work will take! 

More Art by Tammy 

 If you'd like to see more of Tammy's art, please visit the Strawbridge Art League and Gallery at 819-2 East Strawbridge Avenue, Melbourne, Florida 32901