Cape May Artists Cooperative Announces Featured Artists for September

CAPE MAY – The Cape May Artists Cooperative will feature the work of members Eliza Dietz, Barbara Hoepp and Anita Roth in its recently renovated gallery at the West End Garage from Sept. 11 through Oct. 7, 2011.
Eliza Dietz has always loved wearable art. As a small child, she would go to her father’s jewelry study and watch him working. Sometimes she would join him, stringing large beads on leather cord for hours . Playing with beads captured her attention in ways that no other medium she had experiment with did. However, she never consider making jewelry beyond simply a hobby until she had been in art school for two years. Eliza started out focusing in graphic design, but more and more of her projects became wearable and she switched her focus to metal and glass working. Taking different colors, shapes, sizes and textures of beads and combining them into something someone is going to love wearing is so fulfilling. Eliza says, “A single bead can be very beautiful, but a piece of jewelry being worn and enjoyed is so much better!” Eliza lives in West Cape May.
Barbara Hoepp is a lifetime social worker and fiber artist who enjoys creating things by hand. Barbara brings the textile skills of another generation to her work, using new and recycled vintage buttons, beads, yarns and textiles in the creation of wearable art. Barbara has a whimsical way of incorporating the fiber of women’s lives past and the present into her art. After courses in wet felting at the John C. Campbell School of Folk Art in North Carolina, Barbara’s creative juices are overflowing. “Designing and creating my own textiles has been a dream for over twenty years. This process allows me to soak and push fibers until they become fabric. I then embellish with needle felting or little eclectic gems from my collection.” This Spring, Barbara will be adding denim jackets to her repertoire. These have been needle-felted and some will showcase her wet-felted fabric in three dimensional designs. Linen will also be playing a part in some of her new ‘Bobby Jackets.’ “Spring is a time of hope and rebirth and working to upscale these iconic American jackets is bringing out the best in me.” Barbara’s wearable art has traveled to Ireland, England, California and parts unknown. Her work is shown at the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery in Cape May.
Anita Roth began taking photos for enjoyment about five years ago and quickly got hooked on the medium. She is largely self-taught and likes to work with macro focus (very close up), showing the tiny details in everyday things like flowers and shells.
She loves the beach and a lot of the sea glass and shells that she collects becomes the subject of her photos. She favors images of the beach and sunsets as well. The time Anita spends on photography is her down time, her time to relax. Anita explains, “I often just go for a walk with my camera with no plans of what I am going to photograph. I find something I feel is beautiful, and try to capture that beauty and share it with other people. I am always honored when people see that beauty and enjoy my images as much as I do.” Anita lives in Cold Spring with her husband and four active kids.
The Second Sunday Reception will be held on Sun., Sept. 11 and the featured artists will be on hand to discuss their works.
The Second Sunday Reception is part of the city-wide Second Sunday Gallery Walk, a partnership of the Artists Co-op, Gail Pierson Gallery, Splash, Soma Gallery, Spiritcatcher Gallery and Mad Batter Restaurant. The event runs from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. It’s easiest to start your gallery walk at the Artists Co-op in the West End Garage, 484 West Perry Street, Cape May, where there is plenty of free parking, and spend your afternoon enjoying the beautiful and unique work each gallery offers.
Light refreshments will be served at each gallery.
The Artists’ Cooperative Gallery is a group of local artists who have joined together to showcase and sell their work as well as educate the public about their art forms. Co-op president Diane Cutshall is delighted that Second Sundays are now a city-wide celebration of local art. “We began Second Sundays so the community could meet our artists and learn about their work. Now the opportunities for artists are so much greater with the wonderful gallery scene that has grown in Cape May.” The Artists Cooperative Gallery is open daily. Call 609-770-8261 for information.