Artist-in-Residence: Table Rock State Park

Table Rock State Park is in the upstate of South Carolina, only about an hour northwest of where I live, but it’s another world out there - the tall mountains and windy roads, the pitch black sky at night, the never ending hiking trails - there’s no shortage of inspiration.

I recently spent a week as Artist-in-Residence at Table Rock State Park, my 6th residency with the South Carolina State Parks Program. Each time I participate in a residency, the experience changes me. Sometimes in major ways, like becoming confident hiking alone, and sometimes it’s little things, like learning the difference between various woodpecker calls. I explore and create all week, and it fills my soul. Part of me wishes I could do this every day, but then it probably wouldn’t be so special. I get to slow down and sit still if I choose, but most of the time I get out and see as much as possible. The residency is a true gift!

This particular residency included over 25 miles hiked (both inside and outside of the park), it included 27 needle felted pieces, 1 painting, 6 towns visited, 2 nights out in the cold watching the meteor shower, and several exciting creatures sightings including an armadillo, wild turkeys, and a huge black bear on my very last hike of the week.

I hope you enjoy this short recap video that shares a little more about what I did, what I saw, and how it inspired me. It’s so hard to condense a week, which felt like a month (in a good way) into a few minutes of footage!

All of the pieces shown in the video (plus more) are available for purchase on my website. If you see something you like but would prefer a different size or frame, please message me, I’m happy to recreate any of these.

Shop the collection!

Artist-In-Residence: Dreher Island State Park

My 5th Artist-in-Residence opportunity with South Carolina State Parks brought me to Dreher Island State Park this October, just outside of Columbia, SC. I spent the week hiking, exploring, observing, and creating art. The spacious lake-side villa gave me an opportunity to watch the sunset every single day of my stay and also a peaceful place to create fiber art & paintings surrounded by nature.

I only left the park for a few hours one day to hike the Firebreak Trail in Harbison State Forrest, but other than that, all of my hikes and explorations were inside the park. There’s enough trails and flat walkable roads that you can see almost all of the park on foot, if you like. It’s a large park but most of it is lake, so although I didn’t have a boat, I can see why so many people visit just for the fishing. The park is on a series of islands in Lake Murray and so there’s an enormous amount of shoreline, countless coves and plenty of peninsulas.

During my time at Dreher Island I created eleven needle felted landscapes, one mixed media fiber art landscape, two small paintings, and two series of painted pendants, all inspired by the natural beauty around the lake and forest. I loved the way the color of the lake depended on the sky, and one of my favorite color observations was the shock of orange at the shore where the water meets the red clay.

A huge thank you to South Carolina State Parks for selecting me for this program - it’s an honor! And thank you to Dreher Island State Park for hosting me for the week - I really enjoyed it! South Carolina really is a beautiful state and we are lucky to have so many parks to visit. I can easily find inspiration in all of them!

I hope you enjoy this short recap video of my week and all pieces are now available at www.onceagainsam.com

Artist-in-Residence: Cheraw State Park

Time in the woods, by a lake, or anywhere out in nature is what restores me the most. Making things with my hands is what gives me energy and joy. Put the two together and I’m one happy adventuring artist! My week as Artist-in-Residence at Cheraw State Park in South Carolina was such a wonderful experience. This was my fourth consecutive residency through the Parks program and as before, each experience is totally unique and always exceeds my hopes and aspirations. I feel so lucky to be invited to these parks each time, and it’s definitely one of the highlights of my year.

Cheraw is a small town near the Great Pee Dee river in northeastern South Carolina. I’ve lived in SC since 2010 had never been to this part of the state, so I was eager to get out and explore. The park sits on 7,000 acres of lake and woodlands, and is home to a huge variety of birds and other creatures.

Each day during my stay, I watched the sun rise at the lake, then went off for several hours of hiking either around the park or within a 30-40 drive. The afternoons were spent back at the cabin, creating needle felted landscapes, jewelry designs, and paintings inspired by what I’d seen earlier that day. Then I’d head back over to the lake for the sunset and a quiet stroll before a little more creative time back at the cabin in the evening. I love this schedule - explore, create, explore some more!

Favorite Things: about Cheraw:

Hiking Trail: The Cheraw State Park Trail

Sunrise Viewing & Birdwatching Spot: The Eureka Lake Boardwalk

Park Wildlife: Fox squirrels, woodpeckers, and deer!

Plant Life: Cypress trees growing in the water and the carnivorous flowers by the beach

Daytrip Destination: Carolina Sandhills Wildlife Refuge (Tate’s Trail)

The new collection created while at the park is now available on my website. I hope you’ll enjoy this short recap video of my art-cation experience!

A huge thank you to the South Carolina Parks program for hosting these residency’s and a special thanks to the Park Rangers at Cheraw for making me feel so welcome.

If you’re interested in hearing about my past residency’s with the South Carolina Parks Department, you can find them here:

2020 Devil’s Fork

2019 Edisto Beach

2018 Poinsett

Artist-in-Residence: The Reserve at Lake Keowee

I’m just getting back from a fantastic stay at the Reserve at Lake Keowee as Artist-in-Residence. The community was so welcoming, the scenery beautiful, and it was so easy to find inspiration. Not only did I create art on-site, but I also did a workshop, artist's talk, and live plein air demo. I always get so much out of exploring new places, and Lake Keowee had so much to offer!

Lake Keowee in the Round (15” diameter)

Each morning I got up to watch the sunrise and enjoy a walk before the day got too toasty. The Reserve has many walking trails and hiking paths, some in the hilly pine forests, some along the emerald lake. I saw creatures almost every I ventured out, including my first-ever bear sighting in the wild. While distracted by a very busy armadillo who didn’t seem to mind our presence, we followed him down the trail, and suddenly realized there was an adult black bear about 40 yards away. I got one blurry photo and turned around. My husband and I didn’t finish our hike that day!

Black Swallowtail Butterfly in White Frame (6x8)

FAVORITE THINGS:

SIGHTS: Pink sunrises and that glorious color fade from the red clay earth to the emerald green water along the shoreline.

SMELLS: Pine needles in the sun.

SOUNDS: Crows laughing at me and gossiping high up in the trees.

TASTE: The grouper special at the clubhouse the first night of the residency. So so good!

MOMENT: Armadillo/bear sighting on a hike and doing the plein air demo at the pagodas while chatting with a wonderful group of ladies.

Trees at Settlement Village (9x12)

Every day had something to look forward to, whether it was a meal with members of the community, teaching a sold-out workshop full of extremely talented ladies, exhibiting my work and speaking about why I work in so many mediums, or paddling around in a kayak for a few hours. I always made time to work, but I didn’t put too much pressure on myself to stay inside all day and create, as I’ve done on past residencies (and regretted). This was a wonderful balance of scheduled events, adventuring, and creative time.

Flowers by the Green (5x7 oval)

Once Again Sam’s Nature Report:

• Woodpeckers

• Turkeys

• Bunnies

• Deer

• Herons

• Squirrels & chipmunks

• American crows

• Groundhogs

• Black swallowtail & eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies

• Geese

• Lizards

• Snake

• Armadillo

• BLACK BEAR!!!!!

Laurel Pond Pines (13x13): SOLD

Part of the deal with most residency programs is that the artist donates a pieces from the collection inspired by or made during the residency. This piece below is the largest one I made of the Reserve and it was the one I chose to donate to the Community Foundation because it features one of the best views there, in my opinion. This is the view of Pinnacle Mountain from the top of the hill in front of the clubhouse and it looks breathtaking any time of day, even in the rain.

The View from the Clubhouse (14x20): DONATED

I can’t say enough good things about The Reserve. It was an honor to be chosen to be the Aritst-in-Residence for 2021 and it was such a great experience on every level! Enjoy this short video recap of my week and be sure to check www.oneagainsam.com for all available fiber art pieces made during the residency. Many of the pieces found forever-homes with residents which I was still at The Reserve, which is exactly what I had hoped would happen, but several other pieces are up for grabs!

Wool Landscapes Inspired by Movies

Movies & needle felting - they’ve always gone hand in hand for me. I watch a lot of movies (and TV series, documentaries, etc.) while I work on my needle felting projects. The couch is really the most comfortable place to work in this particular media because I’m doing the felting in my lap rather than a table top. Recently I took this movie & felting combo one step further - I let the movies inspire the needle felting!

Many of my favorite movies have distinct visual styles and memorable color stories. For example, The Darjeeling Limited, one of my all time favorite Wes Anderson films, has a bright but tattered feel that is distinctly vintage India. The Fall is a movie with one of the most saturated and whimsical color palettes I’ve ever seen, and even though the landscapes are actual places and the characters are actors, nothing from the dream / story scenes looks like it could possibly be real. In stark contrast, the movie The Road, based on the apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy, is so washed out and faded, there’s barely any color at all. I love how color and composition can be so much more than the background.

In addition to the way color, costume, and set design each have a tremendous impact on films, sometimes the physical location is enough to inspire awe, all on it’s own. Legends of the Fall is one of my all time favorite stories, regardless of the setting. However, the stunning mountains & scenery, certainly help solidify this one’s spot on my favorite’s list for 20+ years and counting. The same is true of the rugged Alaska wilderness setting in Into the Wild. Even though the true story is ultimately heartbreaking, it’s also beautiful.

Using my favorite movies as inspiration for wool landscapes was a great option for the cold and dreary winter months. I’d much rather hunker down and stay indoors when the weather is chilly like this! Some of the other movies that inspired these recent landscapes are The Village and E.T. (fun fact: E.T. was one of the very first & only VHS tapes my family owned in the mid 80’s!). I’ve seen these movies so many times, I knew exactly what scene I wanted to represent in my own work well before re-watching them for the umteenth time.

So what are some of your favorite movies? I would love your recommendations. Who knows - maybe they’ll inspire some future felted landscapes!