Kathy D. Miles-Morgan lives in the beautiful town of Chapel Hill,N.C., home of the Tarheels.  Go Heels!!

She has done art all her life practically and was a National Scholastic Award Winner in High School and she is studied Studio Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a wife and mother and works full time. She also coaches gymnastics part-time. She recently started back doing her passion, art, now that her children have gotten older.

She is a realist, loves doing nature related art but does do portraits and other abstract art occasionally. In addition she does murals and has done them for private homes in the area and businesses including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Kathy is a member of the N.C. Pastel Society and the Orange County Artists Guild.

Online Gallery:  www.yessy.com/kreations

    My work investigates the use of glue as a translucent encaustic-type medium. Ink pen stipples and etched line work hover between the layers, existing in tandem with organic patterns formed by mixed media reactions. Taken as a whole, my paintings transcend the boundary between craft materials and high art, while simultaneously representing the delicate balance between artistic control and the choice to relinquish it.

A native Virginian, I am currently an undergraduate at Duke University, pursuing majors in Visual Art and Psychology and a minor in religion. I was recently recognized as a winner of the Chelsea International Fine Arts Competition, and was also named a recipient of the 2012 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship. She has exhibited professionally in Virginia and Georgia, and will continue to pursue her artistic career at the School of Visual Arts in New York this fall.

Tom Griffen is originally from California and now resides in Carrboro, NC.  He’s visited 40 US states and lived in 8, and his international travels have taken him to 22 different countries. He’s pitched fish on Alaskan docks, developed anatomy curriculum for a shoe store franchise, worked as a high school teacher, a roofer, and a warehouse manager, among numerous other positions. Though Tom’s professional resume makes him seem transient, in fact, he’s just a sucker for anything that’s new and exciting. These myriad experiences have given him the ability to mingle with nearly anyone.

As a child, Art was a secret friend with whom Tom met at his easel in the attic, filling up sketch pads with cartooned word-searches and pencil drawings while also practicing his autograph.  At some point this friend disappeared and didn’t turn up again until 2002 when Tom was living and working at a winery.  One evening while waiting for his clothes to dry at the laundromat, Tom ran into Art browsing at the local hardware store.  His otherwise inexplicable purchase of a few gallons of erroneously mixed paint led to a few months of happy dabbling.

A few years later, Art visited again during therapy and decades-worth of emotion exploded on to canvas.   These pieces, along with his work from the winery, formed the collection for Tom’s first official show in Santa Cruz in 2010.  Since then he’s regularly displayed his work in Carrboro and is proud to say that one of his pieces hangs near an original Dali in the living room of one of his generous buyers.

In 2011, Tom finally recognized himself as an artist.  Art, the elusive friend, became incorporated into Tom’s life such that he quit his job and dedicated himself to his creative work.  And though it took some practice, now when you ask Tom what he does for a living, there’s at least a 50% chance that he’ll tell you, “I’m an artist.”

www.tomgriffen.com