Holiday Marketplace Spotlight: Jeremy Williams Woodturning and Regina Sargeant Art

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Jeremy Williams has been working with wood since February 2011. Though he is mostly self-taught, he attends some demonstrations and woodworking expositions to keep his mind fresh and the ideas flowing. 
 
According to Jeremy, woodturning is a sweet science. It is a narrow, but deep niche in the world of woodworking. Often a piece is not suitable for anything except burning or turning, and the most beautiful things can be made from wood that was destined for the fireplace. His approach to woodturning is inspired by Michelangelo. He said the final piece was enclosed in the block of stone, and he only had to remove everything that wasn’t it. The unique qualities of wood are almost always also exemplified in the woodturner himself. In some ways, woodturning goes against some of the general basics of other types of woodworking. Jeremy loves turning against the grain. 
He prefers shapes and designs that feature gently sloping curves and give the impression that they extend beneath the table. He uses any kind of wood from domestic to foreign types and from fresh cut wood to pieces rescued from the burn pile. Within trees, wood often distorts itself and creates burls, crotch wood, knots, etc. While these occurrences are often considered undesirable, Jeremy enjoys turning pieces with these “imperfections” to show what lies beneath. His pieces are never stained, just finished to bring out the natural colors and grain of the wood.  

Check his work out here: https://jeremywilliamswoodturning.webs.com

 

Regina Sargeant, Regina Sargeant Art, Florida 
The compliment that resonates with Regina Sargeant the most, and the one that she is most proud to receive, is “your art makes me happy.” Perhaps that is because the process of making art makes her so happy. For Regina, it is a joy and a privilege to be able to devote her days to painting in her art studio, and she is eternally grateful for this opportunity.
Regina was raised in the Mississippi Delta in the ’70s; a unique place and time that has imprinted an appreciation for the beauty of the South – land that is flat for miles but jeweled with fields of white cotton; meandering bayous of Cypress trees and an abundance of wildlife; shotgun shacks with rusted tin roofs and beautiful old churches around every corner and her mother’s garden filled with dahlias, roses, zinnias, and a big old Magnolia. Certainly, the Delta provided a lifetime of inspiration that continues to find its way into her paintings.
She has “played” with art her entire life. She took private lessons on and off through grade school and high school; however, Regina considers herself primarily self-taught and still learning.
Regina’s process begins with constructing cradle boards, thin plywood attached to a wooden frame, in her garage with her husband. After the cradle boards are assembled and sanded, she applies burlap or cheesecloth and then covers the fabric with gesso that she mixes herself. After the gesso has dried, the panel is sanded and is then ready for paint. Sometimes she makes sketches of what she plans to paint and other times she just begins painting with only the image in her head. On a good day, the paint flows perfectly and some days she spends hours painting, only to paint over it and begin again. 
Check her out here: https://www.facebook.com/Regina-W-Sargeant-1678762269073654/