Carolina Art Garden

I’ve watched with a sort of happy jealousy the soft opening of the Carolina Art Garden in Cornelius. Owner David Austin has transformed a large part of his family’s Oak Street Mill (behind Cornelius police station) into a soaring space dedicated to local artists, potters and jewelers. Soon he will add a coffee bar and frozen yogurt to reach his dream of making art accessible to the locals. This is just the sort of thing I’d dream of doing in my retirement. David just got to it first!

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Public art is everywhere in NoDa. (Lisa Jewel/DavidsonNews.net)

The kid is back in school and the weather is cooling (well, at least the humidity is dropping), so it’s a perfect day to visit a few art galleries and have some lunch in NoDa.

NoDa, the North Davidson Street in Charlotte is just three minutes northeast of uptown and has a funky urban feel that is hard to come by in the relative suburbia of Charlotte.

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A decorative fence in front of the Wilgus home, Woodland Street. (Lisa Jewel photo)

Most school days, I use Woodland Street as a shortcut to Davidson Elementary School, and that takes me past the home of David and Robin Wilgus. I always stare at the heavily detailed wood and iron fence and their home’s Victorian trim. Although the original house is not from the Victorian era, its imposing facade and generous porch make you want to pull over, park and take a look around. Read the full story

Dollhouse by Robin Wilgus. (Lisa Jewel photo)

If you’re a big antiques hound like me, you’ve probably visited Oak Street Mill Antiques and Collectibles in Cornelius, behind the Cornelius police station. There behind the counter, you’ll see Robin Wilgus, the manager, orchestrating consigners’ booths with aplomb and skill. Read the full story

Diana Beard Dean's Davidson studio.

Part 2 of 2

There’s a magazine at Barnes and Noble in Huntersville called “Where Women Create: Inspiring Work Spaces of Extraordinary Women.” It covers the studios of all different types of artists. I love eyeballing this magazine because it inspires me to be more creative with my own environment such as my home, office, clothes, jewelry, and my own artwork (so amateurish, I can’t tell you). I bring up this magazine, because last week I told you I was going to share with you the home of Dee Beard Dean, the portrait and landscape artist here in Davidson.

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"Amber"

Part 1 of 2
For some time, my husband and I have been wanting to have a family portrait painted. I happened to be in Merrill-Jennings Gallery dropping off some framing work when I saw this magnificent portrait of “Amber.” Amber was large and reminded me of the lush portraits by John Singer Sargent. One of the staff at the gallery was happy to hand me a binder with the information on Davidson artist Dee Beard Dean. (Dean also has a studio in Charleston)

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