“Lighthouse” – Pastel, by Mike Terenik
The theme for April’s featured artists show at Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery is “On the Road.” Members Robin Goldy and Michael Terenik have both recently returned from their travels with batteries recharged. The exhibit features work inspired by their journeys. A “meet the artists” reception will be held Saturday, April 2 from 4 to 7 p.m. The public is welcome.
Robin Goldy, silversmith and lapidary artist, took to the road this winter for a 2,500 mile journey throughout Arizona. Her goal: to source and collect some of the best mineral and gem specimens that this amazing state can offer. In a little more than two weeks of prospecting, Robin and her mining partner/son Bill Bittman explored 13 different public and private mining sites deep in the vast mountains and deserts of the state. They found various types of Agate, Jasper and Rhyolite which display many different patterns and colors depending on location. They also discovered geodes, thunder eggs, chrysocolla and rainbow petrified wood to name a few specimens.
After sending hundreds of pounds of rough gem back to Cape May, Robin begun the pain-staking process of cutting and grinding the stones into cabochons. Every polished gem takes on a life of its own after being creatively set in silver to complement and enhance the natural beauty of each gem stone. Her award-winning artisanal adornments are sure to make you feel like a passenger on this amazing time on the road through the American southwest.
Robin says, “I like to start with an interesting stone that I have personally shaped and polished and combine it with the warm luster of hand worked silver to create an artisan adornment.” She finds the inspiration for her designs in nature and ancient cultures she has discovered in Peru, Belize and Costa Rica. Robin has studied stone cutting at the Tuscarora Lapidary Society with John Chickadel. She has studied design with Jim and Joan Seibert and silversmithing with Kim St. Jean and Richard Salley. Robin is a resident of Dennisville.
Michael Terenik began his recent trek through Florida near the city of Ocala. He visited Silver Springs State Park, 4,600 acres of unique ecosystems, and the location where the early Tarzan films were shot, where he spent an entire day painting the trees and foliage and watching the birds fly and feed continuously. Next stop was the Hillsboro Inlet Park at Pompano Beach. The Inlet boasted many great views to paint, including sailboats, foliage and the Hillsboro Lighthouse, said to be the strongest light beam in the U.S.
Next up was the Seminole reservation in Clewiston, Fla., where he stopped outside the reservation on Rt. 75 (“Alligator Alley”) and found a birdwatching tower. His next location was the Anne Kolb Nature Center in Hollywood, Fla., an Urban Wilderness area created 20 years ago by local environmentalists. To his delight, he found a sailboat graveyard in one corner of West Lake. His trip ended with a stop in West Palm Springs to check out the plein air painting festival that is sponsored annually by the Lighthouse Art Center in Jupiter
Born and raised in Millville, Michael Terenik began expressing himself through art, poetry and music at an early age. Encouraged by his father Dimitri, a spiritual and creative man who narrowly escaped execution in Russia, he began his formal training at the age of 10 at the Barn Studio in Millville. He continued at the Hussian School of Art in Philadelphia where he majored in advertising design and illustration. In 1993, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was awarded a contract to paint murals on the walls of a drab technology plant in the former East Germany in order to brighten the employee environment. Nowadays when not working his day job, Michael has taken on the challenge of being creative both through woodworking and painting. He is happy to be exhibiting his exotic wood cutting boards, assemblage sculptures, furniture and pastels in the Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery, as well as other locations in New Jersey.
The Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery is the county’s only true artists cooperative and features the work of 17 members. The gallery carries a full selection of members’ work, including original paintings, photography and prints, jewelry, works in glass, works in wood and bird carvings, clay and works in paper, fiber arts, mixed media and mosaics. The gallery, located at 122 Sunset Blvd. in West Cape May, is currently open Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Credit cards are accepted. Parking is available behind the store. For more information, call (609) 435-5253.