Holiday Showcase
Drescher to feature jewelry designs at Louisville Artisan Guild show
Hand-painted barn quilts also
among the offerings at event
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (November 2015) – Metalsmithing is artist Linda Drescher’s passion. Her stunning hand-sculpted jewelry is always a favorite at art shows.
She describes her work as “very wearable art.” The only metal she does not work in is gold. She sets her own stones and her pieces have a “kind of contemporary look to them,” she said.
Drescher, a native of Louisville, started taking metalsmithing lessons in 2004. She has been attending art shows and selling her handcrafted jewelry since 2006.
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Drescher will have her work on display at the Louisville Artisan Guild’s Holiday Showcase on Nov. 7-8 at the Triple Crown Pavilion at the Ramada Plaza, 1776 Plantside Dr. in Louisville. Hours for the show are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday.
“This is our biggest show,” said co-organizer Mary Ann Hoskins, also a jewelry artist. “This year we have new artists and twice the size in venue.”
A retired first grade teacher, Drescher “did lots of arts and crafts as a teacher,” she said. She had a friend who made jewelry and encouraged her to make and sell her work. “I enjoy working with my hands.”
To hone her skill, she took classes with Lona Northerner, a jewelry artist and silversmith at the William Holland School of Lapidary Arts in Georgia. Drescher said each individual that took the class was able to “work for a week in your art form.”
Many things in nature inspire Drescher when creating a piece of jewelry. When setting a stone, the colors and shapes often influence her design. In addition to creating pendants, her biggest selling item is spinner rings, which are a combination of rings that have a band ring with another ring around it that moves freely.
The Holiday Showcase has been held for more than 20 years, and this year has switched to a larger location. Previously 36 artists have been showcased, but this year the number has doubled, said Hoskins.
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A wide variety of medium will be on display for holiday shoppers to purchase. This year special guest artists from Indiana-polis, Nashville and Berea, Ky., will be set up, she said.
Emerging artists from three local high schools – Ballard, Fern Creek and Wagner – will be showcased as well. The Guild gives away scholarships to students pursuing a college education in an art related field. A donation table will be set up to collect funds with the proceeds going to the Melle Peterson Scholarship Fund.
Drescher, current president of the Guild, said “There are a lot of good Louisville area artists. Louisville has become a city that appreciates hand-made art.”
She said she has “found a lot of people in the area who like to support local artists and appreciate the quality of art we offer.”
Catherine Clore is an Oldham County artist who will also be participating in the Louisville Artist Guild’s Holiday Showcase. She paints quilts on squares of wood that can be displayed inside or outside.
“They are similar to barn quilts,” she said. “I had seen barn quilts as I was out traveling,” which gave her inspiration to create her own artwork. Pieces range in size from 4x4 feet, to 6x6 inches.
Clore lives on a farm and had wanted something decorative to hang on her brick smokehouse. Her first creation was a four-foot quilt out of plywood. A few years later she made a 2x2-foot one to give as a wedding gift. The pattern for the smaller one was the Double Wedding Ring, and from there her artwork caught the attention of several people who asked to buy her work.
In the four years she has been crafting the wooden quilts, she has made more than 100 of them. “They have been placed in nine different states,” she said. Clore attends several art shows a year but also works on commission.
She said she has never had formal training in any art form, but has two children who are both art majors in college and a third in high school who is interested in art. She sent in her application to the join the Guild on a whim almost a year ago and was surprised that she was invited to jury into the organization.
This will be Clore’s first time participating in the Holiday Showcase. When she is displaying her artwork at shows, she also likes to look around to see “what everyone else is doing. There is talent all around us.”
Clore said she has never sewn actual quilts herself, but is “a huge fan of people who do. I like to go to the State Fair and look at the quilts.”