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Introducing the New Meraki Arts Studio

Our new Meraki Studio

Our new Meraki Arts Studio

Meraki (may-rah-kee)

verb or adverb (from the Turkish “Merak”)

  1. labor of love; done with pleasure
  2. applied to tasks, usually creative or artistic
    Leaving a little piece of yourself (your soul, creativity or love) in your work. When you love doing something, anything, so much that you put something of   yourself into it.

Springmoor’s new Meraki Arts Studio opened this weekend. Our residents had the opportunity to meet the artists who will be teaching in the studio. Fall classes will include glass fusing, acrylic painting, fabric dying, charcoal drawing, calligraphy, zentangle arts and so much more. Each artist will bring something new to the studio.

New additions to the studio - personal lockers and a fused glass kiln

New additions to the studio – personal lockers and a fused glass kiln


Our newly renovated space includes larger tables and work spaces. Lockers have been added to store personal supplies. New flooring, chairs and cabinetry have been added too. A glass kiln was purchased for many of the classes that artist Linda Martin will teach at Springmoor. A sewing machine for fabric classes will be installed next month.

Fused glass kiln with before and after sun-catchers


Class sizes depend on each artist. There is enough space for thirty to participate in a project but often not enough time for each instructor to help with a large crowd. Scheduling the classes on multiple days will certainly allow for everyone to experiment with their own creativity and have one-on-one time with the artist. We have night-owl classes, Saturday classes and early afternoon studio times on the calendar.
This fall we welcome a few of our favorite artists back as well as a few new faces to the Meraki Arts Studio. Gretchen Phillips, mixed media, Tony Midyette, acrylic painting and Linda Martin, fused glass instructor, have many dates on the Springmoor arts calendar. New instructor, Marcelle Hooks, a portrait artist, will also be joining our creative fall schedule. There are other artists in the works, so stay tuned!
Gretchen Phillips

Gretchen Phillips

Gretchen – Jewelry & Silk Screen

Gretchen Phillips likes to “dabble in different art forms.” Her current interests are in jewelry making, silk screening, and acrylic painting. Her background in print making and drawing gives her a wide range of abilities and class ideas. She has taught in the public school system, for the parks and recreation departments, at Artspace and Pinot’s Palette. Her wide smile and enthusiasm make each class exciting. The Springmoor residents participated in several paper projects and silk scarf dying classes this summer.

Linda Martin

Linda Martin

Linda – Fused Glass

Linda Martin has been teaching fused glass classes the past few months much to our residents’ delight! They have tried their hand at decorative glass bowls, jewelry pendants and bracelets, houseplant sun catchers and holiday ornaments. The new glass kiln in the studio brings a wonderful new media to the art offerings. Her work will be on exhibit in the Meraki Gallery during the month of October.
Linda works out of her home studio blowing and fusing glass. She teaches for the City of Raleigh, the Town of Cary and the Town of Wake Forest. She uses both a glass kiln and a torch to create her pieces. She paints with glass enamels, transfers images to glass using screen prints and stamps. She finishes her projects with glass saws, belt sanders and an assortment of other manual tools. Her pieces are the talk of the community! The staff at Springmoor has requested classes also after seeing the beautiful pieces that the residents have made.

Tommy Midyette

Tommy Midyette

Tommy – Acrylic Paint

Tommy Midyette has been teaching painting classes at Springmoor for several years. Earning a graphic design degree from NC State, he pursues his art in acrylics, oil, pastels, charcoals, colored pencil and pen and ink. He brings with him a great teaching style and very creative canvas ideas. Tommy also offers fun Wine & Design classes for resident groups. His three-hour painting classes include landscapes, animals and still-life objects. He brings the supplies and you bring the creativity.

Marcelle Hooks

Marcelle Hooks

Marcelle – Pen and Ink

New to Springmoor, Marcelle Hooks, a classical oil figure and portraiture artist, joins us this fall. She has been teaching in the Raleigh area for more than twenty years at her private home studio as well as Wake Tech Community College, the Cary Arts Center, Cape Fear Community College and other South Carolina and Virginia galleries. We look forward to welcoming her to the new studio in October.
 

Springmoor resident, Linda Jones at NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ Art Gallery

Linda – Colored Pencils

Our community is filled with artists – those that have had private showings and those that just like to dabble. Linda Jones, a Springmoor resident, recently presented her artwork at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ Nature Art Gallery. “Using my own photographs, I paint with colored pencil to capture this natural beauty as realistically as possible. The majority of my subjects have been found in North Carolina, many in my Raleigh neighborhood.”

Kathy and Dick – Watercolor and Stones

Springmoor resident, Kathy Canary, has beautiful watercolor paintings throughout her house that she painted while living in Tennessee, Florida and now her new home in Raleigh. Retired NC State professor, Dick Volk, first tried his hand at stone cutting machine while he was pursuing his college degree. Throughout his time at NC State, he was not only a teacher but also a student taking classes in silver working and stone cutting. Now in his retirement you can find him designing jewelry, working with precious metals and stones in the Meraki studio.


If your grandchildren are in town and you want to bring out the glue and paint, we welcome you to this new space too. An artist, a craftsman or a dabbler: we invite you to try a new class. Come find your creative side at the new Meraki Arts Studio.

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