By Linda Jerkins
As summer kicks off, favorites include sophisticated ocean art, porcelain bowls shaped like sea life and driftwood mirrors. Beach not included.
Back to the beach
Growing up, Karen Robertson often vacationed along the Florida beaches. Her love of water and marine life later drew her back. In 2003, the former antiques dealer moved to Ponte Vedra Beach. The following year, the artist started the Karen Robertson Collection, creating nature-inspired artwork for the home using sand dollars, starfish, shells and sea fans. Her framed sea fans, which can be tinted in various colors, are top sellers. A 24-inch-by 24-inch framed sea fan is $625. Colors include orange and blue haze -- and Robertson’s current favorite, sea lavender. She also creates framed artwork using seaweeds gathered from the Florida coasts. Other popular collections include starfish and anchors. Always inspired by shells, Robertson has created shell flowers, like pussy willows. To make hydrangeas, a Southern favorite, she uses white or purple shells. To learn more, visit karenrobertson.com
In her element
Ceramic artist Heather Knight works in Asheville, surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. But she draws inspiration for much of her elegant and understated bowls and wall tiles from sea life. Working exclusively with porcelain, Knight creates modern pieces that mimic scallops, urchins and anemones. A white color palette enables her to focus on texture and form. Prices range from $30 to $450 and up. The set of three nesting scallop bowls (pictured) is $172. The bowls are safe for food, your dishwasher and microwave. With their spiky exterior, the sea urchin-inspired bowls ($58 and up) make a statement (especially in a group) on a table. Visit www.elementclaystudio.com or Knight’s studio and showroom, Element Ceramics & Design, in the River Arts District in Asheville. In Atlanta, find her work at MudFire Gallery (www.mudfire.com) in Decatur.
Mirror, mirror
For several summers, Anne Johnston Lomax and her children traveled to the South Carolina coast for a two-week visit with family. Before heading home, they would make a gift and leave it behind as a reminder. One year, they collected driftwood and made a mirror for her parents’ beach home on Fripp Island. The mirror was a hit. That summer project eventually led to Drift with Anne in 2005. The family business is based in Statesboro, where Lomax and her sisters grew up. Using weathered and worn driftwood found along the South Carolina beaches, she handcrafts products, such as lamps and sconces. But it is her crosses ($95 to $300 and up) and mirrors that are favorites. Prices for mirrors vary depending on size. The most popular mirror size is 4 feet by 3 feet. It is $740. Check www.driftwithanne.net.
Best of the South
Do you have favorite finds from around the South that you give as gifts, buy for your home or rave about to friends? If, so please share them with us. Send suggestions to: ljerkins@bellsouth.net. In the subject line, write Southern Made. Include your name and a contact number.
