Artists Reveal Process of Creativity and Collaboration

Downtown was buzzing with artists and their most recent creations as art lovers came out to. The art on display ranged from the elegant and decorative to the whimsical and humorous.

At, Denise Konicek presented several quilts that resonated with color, texture and patterns.

"I've been sewing since I was in grade school," said Konicek. "It was one of my activities in the local 4H Club."

Koniek explained that she was inspired to take up fabric art when her sister-in-law introduced her to antique Amish quilts. She began to sew for world class quilting clubs doing repairs. Before long she was making quilts.

"I became restless with traditional patterns," Konicek recalled. "I'd go to fabric suppliers and look for material that appealed to me. It might sit on my shelf for months before an idea came to me. Then a concept would spring into my mind and different pieces would look right together."  

Konicek sews by machine and by hand depending on what works best for the nature of the piece. Her inspirations come from photographs,  paintings and some serendipitous combination of imagination and material.

At Debbie Taylor-Smith displayed her hand-painted silk scarfs and beaded jewelry. The former owner of Sassie Sissy and the current president of the Winchester Cultural Council used swirls of color in pale shades and vibrant tones to create fashion statements from her art.

"My impulse was always to follow the arts," said Taylor-Smith. But when it came time for college her mother induced her to give up a four-year scholarship to Massachusetts College of Art for something more practical -- library science.

"You couldn't find anything more out of my character," she laughed. "Eventually I found a way to be in touch with my love of art and creating. It all came together for me."  

Scrap metal artist Madeliene Lord and photographer Bob Hesse showcased individual pieces and collaborative work.

"We've both worked at our crafts individually for years,"said Lord. "But working together changes things a bit. Sometimes we disagree about the next step in a piece we're working on. We can argue and then discover a metal scrap we have really works. A sculpure comes out of the collaboration just when you think its not going anywhere."

Hesse displayed two books,"Around Quebec: There is Much to Please the Eye" and "Recent Work." These images give testiment to his mastery of capturing the every day in nature and in what is man made showing how extraordinary they are.

"I have a doctorate degree in chemistry," said Hesse. "At some point I wanted to express more than what science offers. I turned to pictures."

He also had several unique photographs processed in a way that preserves and alters them. He shoots with transparency film then coats the image in overlays of materials such as clear epoxy giving them the illusion of "floating" images. With this process the image is captured and transformed giving them what Hesse calls "depth and a jewel-like quality in the color."

Hesse's experiments with combining pieces made of metal and silk hang in the Pairings window.

Century 21 and Pairings will display these artists throughout the month of August.