Paula Atwell
Welcome to Lake Erie Artists Gallery! We are a gallery that takes pride in our local heritage and promotes only local artists. All of our painters, potters, jewelers, photographers, etc, etc, etc are from Northeast Ohio.
Why not be a national or international gallery? Well we really are both national and international because we sell all over the world, but there is so much artistic talent in the Cleveland area that there is just absolutely no room for anyone else.
I, myself, am both a jeweler and a watercolor painter. As a child, I was always interested in art, but as I grew older I was steered towards a more traditional academic route, and art somewhat fell by the wayside. I still appreciated it, but really didn't create any of my own.
Later on in life, when I became dissatisfied with my job and day to day life, I started to take art classes again. I started with beading because I just love jewelry (and what self-respecting woman doesn't) and thought it would be fun. As I learned the techniques to put together a necklace, I just couldn't find the type of organic looking beads that I was looking for. Someone suggested that I try PMC--or Precious Metal Clay.
PMC was a brand new product when I took my first class. It is a product made by Mitsubishi Corporation that was an offshoot of one of their main manufacturing projects. It is very tiny particles of silver or gold that are bound together with an organic binder. The material can be worked with in a similar manner to ceramic clay. Then it must be dried, green finished, and fired in a kiln. The kiln firing forces the binder to burn away and you are left with a fine metal.
After firing, the piece must be cleaned and then finished like any other metal piece, silver, gold, copper or brass. It can be drilled, hammered, treated with different finishes, or soldered.
With PMC, I have found my niche in the jewelry world. I can create my own components by hand for the look that I like and then I can combine them with glass, pearls, crystals and found objects to get the mixture of textures and finishes that I love.
Just 4 years ago, I started watercolor painting. It is fairly new for me, and I dislike about half of the paintings that I create. But I am becoming more skilled and have found a style that I like. All of my items can be purchased through Lake Erie Artists Gallery both retail and wholesale.