Two artists – two styles | ArtWools Studio of Susan Feller

The gallery Lost River Trading Post is in Wardensville, WV. Visitors to West Virginia from the east enter the town having traveled along the paved highways and country roads following paths over the mountains which were carved out by native cultures centuries before our cars. It is a town that reflects its past heritage and is filled with small commerce for today’s lifestyles. Our paintings and fiber drawings depict the mountain layers evoking the surrounding natural beauty in the exhibit NEAR AND FAR. Visit until January 4, 2021 to see and select some of the artwork for your own home.

Abbie Chessler and Susan Feller’s work in this exhibit is a bringing together of expressions of far mountain vistas and the intimacy of the forest when it surrounds you. Susan and Abbie look to the natural world around them for inspiration. This emotional connection to the forest and mountains is reflected in their use of color and form. It is the thread that makes their work seem as if it belongs together.

Abbie describes her process “I continue to be inspired to paint the far mountain views. The light, the sky, the colors are always changing. My creative process is very much a meditative practice. I stop to breathe and remain in the present moment as I am working. Each painting emerges as I layer the colors, looking out of my studio window for inspiration.

I hope my calm mind is transmitted to the viewer and that my paintings provide an invitation to appreciate and protect our earth”. Visit abbiechessler.com or @archessler on Instagram

Susan states “The message in all my work is to consider human impact on nature. Are the trees, coal and even hay, resources for us to exhaust or materials to carefully harvest? Makers for generations used traditional hand work skills (embroidery, applique’ and rug hooking) to create utilitarian objects. They left their unique voice in the designs and often spoke of their social environment. I am carrying on that legacy, hoping others will join me on this journey”. Visit ArtWools.com to explore, react and connect

These two images show just how similar our design sense is – it boils down to seeing shapes and lines.