Closing Reception & Events, for GATHERING: Women's Caucus for Art Carolinas Member's Exhibition - Open to the Public (Free)!

Join us Saturday, March 29th for an afternoon of events hosted by the Women's Caucus for Art Carolinas. 

3:00 Speaker La Ruchala Murphy will present Tips and Tricks for Grant Writing*

4:30 Artist talks in the Gallery

5:00 Closing reception for Gathering: Women's Caucus for Art Carolinas Members Exhibition

*La Ruchala Murphy currently serves as the Director of Development at the SC Humanities Council. An experienced nonprofit professional with proven skills in grants management, organizational leadership, relationship-building, program development, and data management for over 20 years, La Ruchala serves others in communication, education, development, and program implementation and administration. When La Ruchala is not serving as an Arts and Nonprofit Administrator or serving on nonprofit boards, she is creating her own multi-media art; from collages, to painting, to clothing and jewelry from recyclables personally and through AmyrrhDesigns.

The Women’s Caucus for Art Carolinas is a regional chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art. The mission of the WCA is to create community through art, education, and social activism. The WCAC was founded in 2020 to support the mission of the WCA in the Carolinas and surrounding states. To join: https://nationalwca.org/

Questions? Contact the WCAC at wcacarolinas@gmail.com

Join us for a day of art education as well as the Closing Reception for our show by WCA Carolinas!

Come meet the talented ClearWater Arts Center & Studios artists in action in the creative sanctuary of their art studio!

Feel free to pop by, ask them questions, and soak in the artistic vibes.

This event is reoccurring and happens every 2nd Saturday of the month!

This event is always free to the public and always accepting of all people.

Come mingle with the creative person that's right next door.

Thanks to you all & hope to see you there! 🎨🎉

Free Demo with the CAG

Instructor: Josh King

When: Sunday February 16, 2025

Time: 2:00-4:00

Where: Clearwater Arts Center and Studios - Greenway Gallery

223 Crowell Dr. NW Concord, N.C. 28025. Enter at Kerr St. side doors, lower parking lot

Join us for a free event with Josh King, a creative producer, animator, and retired First Sergeant with 20+ years in broadcasting! He’s an Emmy and Telly award winner known for his innovative storytelling and large-scale sculptures. Watch him create a 3D sculpture live! Josh will be showing us how he uses his artistic ability to create a 3D sculpture on a computer and then print his work in 3D. No registration needed—just arrive before 2 PM to not interrupt the presentation.

🎉See you there!

No need to register. For more information visit www.Cabarrusartguild.org

This event is free and open to the public. Please arrive before 2:00 PM so as not to interrupt the instructor.

See You There!

Come meet the talented ClearWater Arts Center & Studios artists in action in the creative sanctuary of their art studio!

Feel free to pop by, ask them questions, and soak in the artistic vibes.

This event is reoccurring and happens every 2nd Saturday of the month!

This event is always free to the public and always accepting of all people.

Come mingle with the creative person that's right next door.

Thanks to you all & hope to see you there! 🎨🎉

Free Demo with the CAG

Instructor: Susan Tobelman

When: Sunday January 12, 2025

Time: 2:00-4:00

Where: Clearwater Arts Center and Studios - Greenway Gallery

223 Crowell Dr. NW Concord, N.C. 28025. Enter at Kerr St. side doors, lower parking lot

Susan Tobelman is the creative force behind Energy& Ore Custom Jewelry in Mint Hill, NC. She has been crafting distinctive metal clay jewelry for over six years. Holding certifications in metal clay Techniques and Teaching, Susan combines her technical ability with a deep passion for design. She offers a range of unique, personalized pieces, that reflect her client’s individual stories and emotions. In addition to running her jewelry business, Susan is dedicated to sharing her knowledge through beginner metal clay workshops in her local area. She is also helping others discover the artistry and joy of silver jewelry making via virtual classes!

No need to register. For more information visit www.Cabarrusartguild.org

This event is free and open to the public. Please arrive before 2:00 PM so as not to interrupt the instructor.

See You There!

Come meet the talented ClearWater Arts Center & Studios artists in action in the creative sanctuary of their art studio!

Feel free to pop by, ask them questions, and soak in the artistic vibes.

This event is reoccurring and happens every 2nd Saturday of the month!

This event is always free to the public and always accepting of all people.

Come mingle with the creative person that's right next door.

Thanks to you all & hope to see you there! 🎨🎉

Come meet the talented ClearWater Arts Center & Studios artists in action in the creative sanctuary of their art studio!

Feel free to pop by, ask them questions, and soak in the artistic vibes.

This event is reoccurring and happens every 2nd Saturday of the month!

This event is always free to the public and always accepting of all people.

Come mingle with the creative person that's right next door.

Thanks to you all & hope to see you there! 🎨🎉

CLEARWATER ARTS HOLIDAY MARKET 2024 !

ClearWater Arts Center & Studios invites you to its second annual Holiday Market to sell* or shop!

Join the ClearWater Tenant Artists - 13 individual artists, the Cabarrus Art Guild (CAG) and the Southern Piedmont Woodturners (SPW) - along with other local artists and artisans, selling their original hand-crafted wares! Enjoy a celebratory atmosphere and explore ClearWater’s expansive site while finding one-of-a-kind gift ideas and exceptional art that are sure to delight everyone on your gift list.

Everyone is welcome;

• Open Studios/ Local Artists

• Original Art for sale

• Food Trucks

• Light Holiday Refreshments & Music

• Gifts for Sale – Arts, Pottery & Other Crafts by local Artisans

• All Original; Wide Variety

An event not to be missed!

Artists will be set up in studios and/or on sale tables in the Main Gallery upstairs, the Pass & Greenway Gallery downstairs, and in the newer Ceramics Center building.

*Guest Vendors, space is limited; Register online by Nov. 23 or before all spaces fill! (QR code on the flier at right goes straight to the Vendor Registration page). First come, first served (Registration opened 9/1/24).

ClearWater's Ceramics Center, too, will be open with its Saturday ‘Intro to Clay’ class in session 10am - 12:30pm and a Public Workshop, "Gingerbread House Tiles" clay craft class from 2pm - 4pm … open for viewing! (Register in advance to take the Public Workshop or any Ceramics Course; see our Civic Rec Registration online.)

A New Exhibition of ClearWater Tenant Artists' art will be featured in the Main Gallery - Installation is the previous day. Be the first to see the new show!

Saturday, December 7th, 2024: 10am – 4pm

ClearWater Arts Center & Studios, 223 Crowell Dr. NW, Concord NC 28025

Free Demo with the CAG

by Johnna M. Ritchie

Rug Hooking

When: Sunday November 10, 2024

Time: 2:00-4:00

Where: Clearwater Arts Center and Studios - Greenway Gallery

223 Crowell Dr. NW Concord, N. C. 28025. Enter at Kerr St. side doors, lower parking lot

Retired high school art teacher, Johnna M. Ritchie has dabbled in all things art-related fromdrawing to painting, ceramics to sculpture, photography to mosaics, fibers and printmaking.

She has gained proficiency in various media so that she could assist her students in building their skills to aid their creativity. She has always been intrigued with fibers and until two years ago, had never tried rug hooking, a skill of her mother and her mother’s mother. She got hooked.

In rug hooking, she is mostly self-taught with the aid of published guides and encouragement from fellow hookers. Her hope is to use her years of artistic knowledge and drawing to help her translate portraits into realistic interpretations in the media of rug hooking. She uses hand-dyed, thrifted and purchased woven wool cut into very thin strips to create the form, line and value of the person’s face and features using small loops pulled through a linen fabric.

In her demonstration, she will show the evolution of her rug hooking development and theknowledge gained and current project(s) in progress.

No need to register.

This event is free and open to the public

Please arrive before 2:00 pm, so not to interrupt the presentation.

For more information, www.cabarrusartguild.org or call 704-920-6600

Come meet the talented ClearWater Arts Center & Studios artists in action in the creative sanctuary of their art studio!

Feel free to pop by, ask them questions, and soak in the artistic vibes.

This event is reoccurring and happens every 2nd Saturday of the month!

This event is always free to the public and always accepting of all people.

Come mingle with the creative person that's right next door.

Thanks to you all & hope to see you there! 🎨🎉

Wildlife Fine Art Demonstration with Walter Stanford

When: Sunday October 13, 2024

Time: 2:00-4:00

Where: Clearwater Arts Center and Studios - Greenway Gallery

223 Crowell Dr. NW Concord, N. C. 28025. Enter at Kerr St. side doors, lower parking lot

Topic: You are invited to join us for a demonstration/talk by Walter Stanford, Fine Artist, Designer and Illustrator.

Walter is a 1986 graduate of East Carolina University where he earned a BFA from the School of Art with a major in illustration and a minor in printmaking. Over the course of his career, he has worked as a national freelance illustrator, advertising art director and screen print artist. He now brings all these experiences together to create dramatic wildlife portraits. He brings the subject in close where the viewer can get a sense of the animal’s personality. As Walter states, “I want to bring that animal into a person’s home!”

Walter’s studio is in the ClearWater Arts Center & Studios in Concord and his works are represented by the Art Cellar Gallery in Banner Elk, NC.

No need to register.

This event is free and open to the public

Please arrive before 2:00 pm, so not to interrupt the presentation.

For more information, www.cabarrusartguild.org

Come meet the talented ClearWater Arts Center & Studios artists in action in the creative sanctuary of their art studio!

Feel free to pop by, ask them questions, and soak in the artistic vibes.

This event is reoccurring and happens every 2nd Saturday of the month!

This event is always free to the public and always accepting of all people.

Come mingle with the creative person that's right next door.

Thanks to you all & hope to see you there! 🎨🎉

Come join us for the Opening Reception:
CAG Annual Fall Judged Art Show, 2024

You are invited to the Guild’s Opening Reception on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 at 2pm ,in the Main Gallery at ClearWater Arts Center & Studios, 223 Crowell Drive NW, Concord (Enter at main entrance on Crowell Drive NW). Winners will be announced and light refreshments will be served. Come and meet local artists and join us in celebrating their artwork. This is always a terrific event. Don't miss a moment!

No pre-registration is required.
Free event.

Gibson Village Community meeting: Tuesday, Sept. 24th from 7-8 pm

Clearwater Arts Center and Studios Greenway Gallery (Lower Level)

ClearWater Arts Center & Studios Provides the venue for the Gibson Village Community Association, a Recognized Neighborhood Association of City of Concord NC, for its Community Meetings. Residents of the Gibson Village Neighborhood, in Concord NC are welcome to attend and learn about their community and meet each other.

Often, a selected 'authority' will be invited to share something of particular interest with the community. Members of Police and Code Enforcement attend to report on the latest crime statistics and receive community members' recommendations and answer questions. ClearWater Coordinator, Sarah Gay is usually there to give updates on the Arts Center.

ClearWater Arts does not determine the Agenda nor content of these meetings. For more information please see the Gibson Village Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/gibsonvillage

WHERE TO GO: Meetings are held in the LOWER LEVEL Greenway Gallery; Go to the GLASS DOUBLE-DOORS facing Kerr Street near the driveway entrance from Kerr Street, at the end of our largest, long (‘Operations’) building.

The Main Entrance, at 223 Crowell Dr NW, is NOT open for these meetings.

Why is this neighborhood called Gibson Village? Because the houses were built for the workers at the Gibson Mill (@gibsonmillnc) near by.
(Gibson Mill now houses two breweries, a board game center, axe-throwing outlet, and come pretty sweet places to grab a bite! Oh yes and the giant antiques mall, The Depot...)

Come meet the talented ClearWater Arts Center & Studios artists in action in the creative sanctuary of their art studio!

Feel free to pop by, ask them questions, and soak in the artistic vibes.

Feel free to pop by, ask them questions, and soak in the artistic vibes.

This event is reoccurring and happens every 2nd Saturday of the month!

This event is always free to the public and always accepting of all people.

Come mingle with the creative person that's right next door.

Thanks to you all & hope to see you there! 🎨🎉

Free Demo with the CAG

by Natalie Cranford

Learn About the Dual Primary Colors: It's More Than Red, Yellow and Blue

When: Sunday September 8, 2024

Time: 2:00-4:00

Where: Clearwater Arts Center and Studios - Greenway Gallery

223 Crowell Dr. NW Concord, N. C. 28025. Enter at Kerr St. side doors, lower parking lot

Our speaker, Natalie Cranford, is an art teacher, mom, wife and lifetime creator! In the art world, she enjoys color theory, hand building with clay, mixed media and paint. Natalie is a new Guild Member and we can all look forward to Natalie's art experience and enjoy learning with her!

No need to register.

This event is free and open to the public

Please arrive before 2:00 pm, so not to interrupt the presentation.

For more information, www.cabarrusartguild.org

Art Walk On Union/ ClearWater Arts:

ClearWater is in the Art Walk this year!

Join us 9/7/2024 for Art Walk on Union hosted by @cabarrusartscouncil in partnership with @concorddowntown and sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company. Art Walk on Union is an all-day arts festival for artists and makers to sell their handmade artwork. Art Walk will feature live music, food trucks, local brews, and wines.

🎨Art Walk on Union
📅: Saturday, September 7th
11:00 am - 4:00 pm

ClearWater Arts Center & Studios, at 223 Crowell Drive NW, just a mile away, is participating as a satellite location!

Park at either location and take the comfy, air-conditioned shuttle van - provided courtesy of Concord-Kannapolis Rider Transit;

And also- for the first time,
ClearWater’s Ceramics Center will have a booth in the downtown fair, in addition to ClearWater Arts’s galleries, artist studios and Ceramics Center being open for visitors. At the Downtown booth, you can take part in a fun, free ceramic tile activity, enter a raffle for cool prizes, and purchase t-shirts from our t-shirt design contest! This will also be an off-site opportunity to sign up for upcoming classes and workshops while enjoying locally made art. We hope to see you there!

Grab the family and bring them to downtown Concord for a fun day. After visiting the artist’s booths, explore the shops, and restaurants downtown, visit the galleries at the Cabarrus Arts Council, or hop on the free shuttle to visit ClearWater Arts Center and Studios. Art Walk on Union vendors and music will be set up on Barbrick Ave. SW and Market St. SW.
Come visit us at the Cabarrus Arts Council's Art Walk on Union on Saturday, September 7th from 11AM-4PM! 

Our community meeting is this Tuesday, August 27th from 7-8:15 pm at Clearwater Arts Center and Studios. Guests from the City of Concord Parks & Recreation will share updates about the park and engage with the community. Plus, we will cover other topics like the new mural, Coltrane-Webb redevelopment and more.

ClearWater Arts Center & Studios Provides the venue for the Gibson Village Community Association, a Recognized Neighborhood Association of City of Concord NC, for its Community Meetings. Residents of the Gibson Village Neighborhood, in Concord NC are welcome to attend and learn about their community and meet each other.

Often, a selected 'authority' will be invited to share something of particular interest with the community. Members of Police are there to report on the latest crime statistics and receive community members' recommendations and questions. ClearWater Coordinator Sarah Gay is usually there to give updates on the Arts Center.

Community Association President, Tara Bengle has recently been also making Community Meetings available on Zoom, for residents who cannot make it in person. The link is available on request.

WHERE TO GO: Meetings are held in the LOWER LEVEL Greenway Gallery; Go to the GLASS DOUBLE-DOORS facing Kerr Street near the driveway entrance from Kerr Street, at the end of our largest, long (‘Operations’) building.

The Main Entrance, at 223 Crowell Dr NW, is NOT open for these meetings.

Why is this neighborhood called Gibson Village? Because the houses were built for the workers at the Gibson Mill (@gibsonmillnc) near by.
(Gibson Mill now houses two breweries, a board game center, axe-throwing outlet, and come pretty sweet places to grab a bite! Oh yes and the giant antiques mall, The Depot...)

ClearWater Arts does not determine the Agenda nor content of these meetings. For more information please use the Gibson Village Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/gibsonvillage

Don’t Miss the Opening Reception and Artist Talk!

Jerome Hall Western Art!

Opening Reception & Artist Talk

Saturday, August 10, 2024

3:00 p.m. until 5 p.m.

ClearWater Main Gallery

Come meet this accomplished artist and hear him discuss his passion while being able to ask him questions!

FREE and Open to the Public! Free Parking all around our Site.

Exhibition will be On View in our Main Gallery Aug. 3, 2024 thru Sept. 28, 2024

Resident artists will be present and working in their studios. They will be available for questions and observations.

This event is free and open to the public & all are welcome.

WE WANT YOUR INPUT! If you are interested in helping craft the direction of what will be ClearWater Arts Center & Studios’ first large mural on an exterior wall, please give us your thoughts!

Rebuilding Together of Greater Charlotte (RTGC), in collaboration with the City of Concord and Republic Services Foundation, has commissioned local artist, Jonathan Grauel for a community mural project. The planned location for the mural is on an exterior wall of the ClearWater Arts Center which faces the interior of the campus, along the driveway leading in from Kerr Street.

Community input on this mural is important for the success of this project. In addition to taking this quick survey, (Linked also if you click on the header image at top of this post), we invite you to join us for a Community Input Forum with the artist: Friday, July 19th, 6-7:30 p.m. at ClearWater Arts Center & Studios, 223 Crowell Dr NW, Concord, NC 28025.

Jonathan’s plan for the meeting on Friday 7/19/24 is to :

- interact: ask questions and listen and take notes

- have people do some creative exercises: drawing shapes, building with blocks and potentially cutting out shapes from foam squares

More information about the Commissioned Artist, Jonathan Grauel:

I have lived, worked, played and made art in Charlotte for the last 23+ years. My children have grown up here, it’s our home. I create whimsical scenes expressing juxtapositions of relationships and environment; I seek to tell the story of our day-to-day existence. Part of the motivation behind why I make art, is the belief we all have shared in unique yet similar internal and external "events". The villages I create are a means of forming common "locations" that denote these connections. I love making art. I want the art I create to bring encouragement, energy and contemplative joy.

Please take our quick survey at https://publicinput.com/ClearWaterMural and take part in the creation process of this exciting mural coming to ClearWater Arts Center & Studios and join us for our community input discussion on Friday, July 19!