Winter in the Smokies painting by Lil Clinard. Image by the artist |
Recent works by painter Lil Clinard and fiber artist Julia Malia will be on display Dec. 28 through Dec. 31 at the Art Market Gallery in downtown Knoxville. An opening reception for the featured artists will begin at 5:30 p.m., Jan. 1 , with complimentary refreshments and music performed by Patrick Mulligan during Downtown Knoxville’s monthly First Friday Art Walk.
Lil Clinard has enjoyed drawing and painting ever since she can remember. She has been fortunate to live in and travel to many beautiful places and take photographs as references she paints. She particularly loves to recall these enjoyable places and times as she paints. Through reading, taking workshops from renowned artists, observing fellow artists and painting every chance she gets, she has been able to acquire sufficient skill to portray the world around her.
Clinard is a member of the Knoxville Watercolor Society, Tennessee Watercolor Society, Tennessee Artists Association (Past President), the Tellico Village Art Guild (Past President), Oak Ridge and Fountain City Art Centers. Her original art hangs in corporate and private collections throughout the Southeast and is on display at the Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay Street, Knoxville TN.
Julia Malia is a fiber, jewelry, and stained glass craftswoman as well as a watercolorist and musician. As a fiber artist specializing in wearable art, she uses a variety of fibers and techniques. The styles of her original designs are usually either classical or folk-style in nature, drawing inspiration from historic or ancient themes. For instance, she often bases garment designs on her family’s Irish and Scottish roots by using ancient Celtic shapes and symbols. She also favors Japanese kimono garment shapes. Rich textures and colors are central to her life and her work, and she utilizes techniques that combine and enhance color varigations.
She is a juried member of the Foothills Craft Guild as both a fiber artist (specializing in knitting and crocheting) and a jewelry maker. She is also a member of the Tennessee Valley Handspinners Guild, the Precious Metal Clay Guild of East Tennessee, and the Fountain City Art Center. She is drawn to fabrics and, as a child, used to play at sewing garments and piecing quilt squares for her grandmother, eventually learning standard clothing construction techniques as a teen. Her mother taught her how to knit when she was a young child, and she learned to crochet from a friend when she was in her early 20s.
In 1977, she won second place in the state of Iowa for her original design and creation of a hand-hooked rug entitled “Sarah’s Fantasy Rug.” In 2013, she had two of her original fiber designs selected for runway appearances at the Dogwood Arts Festival Diva Luncheon Fashion Show in Knoxville. In 2014, she was the invited featured artist for the month of July in a one-woman fiber art exhibit at the Charles City Art Center in Charles City, Iowa. Her exhibit, entitled “Wearable Art: Themes and Variations,” was a retrospective of her craftwork in fibers and jewelry over the decades.
Owned and operated by more than 60 professional regional Tennessee artists, the Art Market gallery, at 422 S. Gay St., is a few doors away from Mast General Store and next to Downtown Grill &Brewery. Holiday hours are 11 a.m. To 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Saturday; 11 a.m. To 9 p.m. Friday; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. The gallery is wheelchair accessible and parking in the abutting garage and on the street is free on weekends and after 6 p.m. Weekdays. For more information, call 865-525-5265, or visit artmarketgallery.net or facebook.com/Art.Market.Gallery.
