WEST CAPE MAY – Arthur Miller, an award-winning wood-turner, and Ashley Warley, an artist who re-imagines silverware, are the featured artists for June at the Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery. A meet the artists’ party, with food, music and demonstrations, is scheduled for Saturday, June 4 from 4 to 7 p.m.
Following a 30 plus year career in the U. S. Coast Guard, Arthur Miller settled in Cape May, NJ. Interested in wood turning since high school, he returned to his lathe in earnest after retirement, making something round out of anything that stood still long enough to turn. Since he is also a beekeeper, Sweet N’ Round was born, and Art was welcomed into the Artists Co-op. Many objects from the Sweet N’ Round studio are made from wood felled by the artist right here in Cape May County as well as woods from around the country and around the world. Art is a member of the Jersey Cape Wood Turners, the American Association of Wood Turners and the South Jersey Beekeepers Association. He’s happy that there is much to Buzz about at Sweet N’ Round.
Ashley Warley is all about repurposing. She is an artist who finds and repurposes old objects and transforms them into jewelry and home decor. Her main artistic medium is metal, more precisely forks, spoons and knives. Warley hammers, bends, saws and files the utensils to create wearable works of art. She says, “People leave me bags of silverware all the time.” She also buys silverware in thrift shops and has found it sticking out of the sand. “The piece was meant to be mine, it found me,” Warley said as she rubbed an intricate pendent made out of the tine end of a fork. “What’s appealing about working with the metal is no two bend the same way, so they’re all one of a kind, and the more you love it, rub it and wear it, the more clear the tarnish becomes. They are also surprisingly light. I’m all about recycling and repurposing,” she said. “If I inspire someone to recycle, then that’s just as good as selling a piece of jewelry.” For this exhibit, she’s featuring sea creatures in her work.
The Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery is just off Broadway at 122 Sunset Blvd. in West Cape May. It’s the only artists’ cooperative in Cape May County. Owned and operated by its members, it carries a full selection of members’ work, including original paintings and photography and prints, jewelry, stained and fused glass, works in wood and bird carvings, clay and works in paper, fiber arts, and mosaics. The gallery is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Credit cards are accepted. Parking is available behind the gallery. For information, call (609) 435-5253 or visit capemayartistcoop.com.