Featured Artists, April: Community Artists Gallery, New Bern

Featured Artists of the Month

April 2019

Sandy Bruno,
Paintings

Sandy moved to New Bern in 2001 after having lived in Berlin, Germany for three years. While there, she had the opportunity to travel throughout Europe and visit many galleries and museums. In Berlin, she studied oil painting at the Technical University and led art tours throughout the city. Sandy as a BA in Art History with a dual minor in English and Studio Art from St. Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut. Her artwork has been showcased at the former Baxter's Fine Art, Bear Hand Art Factory, and the Bank of the Arts. Sandy has taught art to children and adults in Connecticut and New Bern. She served on the Board of Directors of the Craven Arts Council & Gallery, is a member of the Twin Rivers Artists' Association and the North Carolina Watercolor Society, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors of Community Artist Will. She has studied under Miles Batt, Tony Couch, Skip Lawrence, Jeff Jakub, and Dan Nelson.

Rebecca Preece, Photography

Becky has worked in photography off and on for over 50 years, starting during her college years with black-and-white film in a chemical darkroom. After a 25-year hiatus, she decided to return to photography and explore color in the digital milieu. She shoots with Nikon equipment and post-processes with Photoshop. She has studied with Bill Barksdale and Eric T. Kunsman, also keeping her techniques honed with various online classes. Her work has been exhibited in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and North Carolina. She has been a member of Community Artists Gallery & Studios since 2014. Her mission is "to light a spark, whether it is beauty, curiosity, or a sense of wonder."

Ann Marie Hodrick,
Jewelry

Ann Marie founded her line, Heart’s Desire Jewelry, in 2004. Using responsibly-sourced, high-quality natural stones and organic elements, Ann Marie creates necklaces, earrings, and bracelets that not only look good, but also help the wearer feel good, too. Her jewelry collection is all one-of-a-kind or limited-edition pieces. She personally selects the most unique gemstones, lustrous pearls, and exotic elements like ancient fossils and artifacts of the highest quality to use in her stunning designs. “I want the person who wears my jewelry to benefit from the love, strength, desire and power that I feel as I create,” Ann Marie says. “Above and beyond the physical elements that go into each design, it is these spiritual elements that set my work apart from mass produced jewelry."

Ann Marie’s appreciation of our world and its peoples has led her to make a priority of using supplies from socially responsible vendors. Many of her gems are cut by a family-run business in Jaipur. She especially likes to work with suppliers who make it a point to present the gems as they are when they are unearthed, without enhancements of any kind. Ann Marie uses .925 sterling silver, .999 fine silver, gold-fill, vermeil and solid gold and is aware that the mining of most new precious metals negatively impacts the environment and the cultures surrounding the mines. Because of that, she now buys her silver and gold wire and sheet metal from vendors who sell refined (recycled) metals and she collects her scraps to be refined so that she can help to minimize her effect on the environment and promote a healthier world.
Discover her work at Community Artists Gallery & Studios and on line at Heart's Desire Jewelry.