Abstract Art and Hydro-printing in Dec.

Clayton resident Nina Schmidt, a master of abstract art, and Erin Tapley of Whittier in western North Carolina, a professor of art education at Western Carolina University, are exhibiting pieces of their work during December at the Clayton Center.

Schmidt paints in acrylic with three favored tools—her hands, big paintbrushes and spatulas.

Tapley has recently turned to hydro-printing—better known as paper marbling, an artform that allows a broad range of possibilities for creativity.

Schmidt, a resident since 2006, was born in Denmark, where she studied graphic design at Copenhagen Technical College, the Danish School of Media and Journalism and Thorstedlund Artschool. Later she worked in graphic design and web development.

“When it comes to painting, I like to be spontaneous,” she said, because in graphic design, she finds herself “micro-managing every pixel on my computer screen. It’s a lot like music; sometimes it’s a few simple notes, and sometimes it’s more elaborate.”

Tapley, a life-long printmaker, now produces art through hydro-printing, which involves a combination of chance and learned manipulation, as well as watery, organic results. Traditionally, paper marbling has been a commercial activity in which pattern consistency is sought because marbled papers are used for purposes such as bookmaking.

“I view marbling as a form of drawing and printmaking," she said.

Design in marbling is done on a slippery surface--usually thickened water--and requires an understanding of chemistry and physics. Its materials, which include hand-held tools, starch, alkaline-based pigment, oily media and human movement, all can be manipulated to produce different effects, each unique.

Tapley has traveled to five continents and sixteen countries researching various visual art interests. She earned a bachelor’s in art from Skidmore College, an MFA in printmaking from the University of Alabama and a Ph.D. in art education from the University of Iowa. Her work has been shown in solo shows at Hothouse Gallery in Chicago and Hopkins Center for the Arts in Minneapolis, among others.

Clayton Visual Arts is funded in part by a grant from the Town of Clayton’s Cultural Arts Fund.