New Bern ArtWorks Presents "Imaginings" by Artist Jill Eberle - Kid's Art Meets Classical Painting

Children draw the darndest things. What might lie within their deceptively simple depictions? Local artist Jill Eberle has vividly brought to life drawings of monsters created by children in a new series of paintings. In fall 2012 Eberle asked Melissa Giglio, then the art teacher at Arapahoe Charter School, to have her first grade students each draw a monster. Eberle then made a careful tracing of the child’s drawing and interpreted it as a 3-dimensional realistic creature in an environment. Each piece uses classic oil painting techniques and some include imagery from well-known historical art works. The results are captivating creatures – cute, scary, charming or just odd – that glimpse into the minds of both the children and the artist. The child’s drawing is displayed along with the painting it inspired which encourages a delightful game of comparison. “The kids drawings are full of imagination”, says Eberle. “As I began developing the tracings, they suddenly appeared rich with character and strong emotions. Creating these paintings has tapped into my own early memories and challenged my representational painting skills as I try to create a logical anatomy and scenario for each creature. 

It’s a departure from my usual work and it’s been pure fun.”

Raised in a beach town in southern Connecticut, Jill Eberle began modeling for noted artist and teacher Robert Brackman as a teenager. Like many others on a journey in the arts, Eberle found herself engaged in a remarkable number of occupations including illustrator, prop builder, architectural draftsman, counselor and sailmaker. Over decade of work in New York City was followed by a six-year stint in the Caribbean living on a sailboat. While there, she began using the skills gathered over the years to start painting. 

Eventually returning to the United States and settling in North Carolina, Eberle attended East Carolina University where she earned her MFA in 2003. Hired her upon graduation, she has taught drawing, painting, illustration and artistic anatomy at ECU since 2003. In addition, this summer she will be teaching at Penland School of Crafts.

Eberle maintains in a studio above New Bern Artworks and exhibits her work throughout the region. Venues for recent solo and small group shows include the Imperial Centre in Rocky Mount, Greenville Museum of Art, Theatre Art Gallery in High Point and the Greenhill Center in Greensboro.

She would like to acknowledge Dave Devries’ Monster Engine as the impetus for this idea.

New Bern ArtWorks & Company Grand Opening

New Bern ArtWorks & Company

Jim Bisbee

Baxter Building

Jill Eberle, Studio Artist

Studio Artist, GeeVee Meyer

Local potter and arts-supporter Jim Bisbee’s vision was to add a jewel to the already rich artist culture of downtown New Bern.

In January, he bought and spent six months renovating the old Baxter Jewelry Store Building on Pollock Street, with its trademark 1920 ornate Seth Thomas clock outside the front door.

Bisbee’s brainchild — Studio 323 — opened in time for the last ArtWalk in September, but the grand opening is Saturday, with an 5 to 8 p.m. public reception.

“I have been thinking about this for a number of years,” he said. “It is something I have always wanted, that place for artists to work together. I do a lot of thinking about the arts in New Bern as a whole. My overall vision is that we (New Bern) be an arts center in Eastern North Carolina.”

Bisbee, who works on public art and with the Craven Arts Council, said he felt the performing arts are doing well.

“We have the (N.C.) Symphony here and we have a lot of active civic groups and the whole new venue Tryon Palace has for entertaining and the arts — it has all come together,” he said. “But I particularly work on the visual arts. With this we have a place where artists can work together and more importantly, people can come and see art and artists creating art.”

The 1915 building, with a large skylight in the main gallery that houses New Bern ArtWorks, includes an entertainment area, which can be rented, along with a dazzling palette of artistic variety by the local artists who now call it home.

“The building was envisioned and laid out as a place where artists could work and market their work, as well as provide an interesting and entertaining place for visitors,” Bisbee said. “With this in mind we have a gallery operated by four partners.”

The group includes Vicki Vitale, who paints miniatures; Donna Slade, a painter who uses a variety of media, including pastel, colored pencil and acrylics, primarily for still-life paintings; Martha Williams, a still-life painter who works primarily in acrylics and Bisbee, a potter who does both functional and decorative work.

The gallery focuses on fine art in a wide variety of media. It also is the new home of New Bern ArtWorks & Company Fine Art Gallery, located in the main first-floor gallery. ArtWorks celebrates a daylong grand opening Saturday.

“The building also has a space for entertaining and teaching,” Bisbee said. “We will be doing ‘Vino and Picasso’ workshops and other fun events as well as holding classes for children and adults in the various art forms that we have in the building. Visiting artists will also be teaching there.”

The Baxter Building is one of New Bern’s finest, most intact early 20th century commercial buildings, according to “The Historic Architecture of New Bern and Craven County, North Carolina,” by Peter Sandbeck.

It notes that “members of the Baxter family have been in the jewelry business since 1892, when E.B. Baxter opened a jewelry store on Middle Street. Dr. J.O. Baxter purchased this building in 1917 from Bettie D. Windley for $20,000.”

In 1920, Baxter moved to the new building.

The façade is distinguished by patterned brickwork, in red and buff-colored pressed brick, with “an unusual Dutch Colonial-style curvilinear parapet.”

>newbernnow.com: Click here to learn more about New Bern, it's history and the many things to do and see.

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>newbernchamber.com: Learn about upcoming events in downtown New Bern, relocating, other businesses and a lot more.

>www.newbernconventions.com: Book a convention on the water and come visit New Bern ArtWorks while you are in town.

>Bank of the Arts: Be sure to visit Craven Arts Council and Gallery aka "Bank of the Arts" on Middle Street in downtown New Bern while you are in town.