Exhibiting, Associate and Aspiring artists

Exhibiting artists

Ellen Schwarzbek​

about ellen
Ellen has recently returned to making art seriously, creating work that is informed by many years of art historical study and work in museums.  She loves the magic of art materials, working mostly with acrylic paints, colored and graphite pencils, and various fiber techniques.  A major interest is exploring the line between realistic and abstract images.​
Visit Ellen's facebook page: click here

Richard Sinclair

about richard
One of the founding members of Full Circle Arts in 2000, Richard has long been well-known in the area for his sculptures assembled from reused pieces of metal and found other materials.
One never knows what unusual creatures will emerge from Richard’s Shop in the woods.

Beth Oczkowski

about beth
Beth is a quilling artist.

Meredith Janssen​

about meredith
Meredith studied art at Newcomb College of Tulane University and George Washington University where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Predominantly a watercolor artist, Meredith also works in oils, pastels, and graphic art printmaking. Photography and copper and silver jewelry design are included in her interests as well.
She concentrates mostly on realistic landscapes and still-life paintings, although she also occasionally moves to figure painting.
Meredith lived and worked in Amsterdam, the Netherlands for 8 years where she worked with Dutch video artists in the seventies.
​Originally from Monmouth County, New Jersey, Meredith has lived and painted in Hickory for over 18 years.
See more of Meredith's work: click here

L. ​Michelle Bitler

about michelle
I started doing photography in the 70’s. It became a serious hobby in 1990 when I got a job at a camera store. That is where my creativity started.
Negative prints from slides, Darkroom manipulation, IR film. Then came computer manipulation. Adobe Photoshop was one of my favorite tools. Now I use Photoshop Elements. Since technology has changed so much for our phones I have many of the creative apps. The main app I use is Prisma for color variations. ​

Chris Parsons

about chris
To come

Ernest Sills

about ernest
Ernest “Ernie” is the recently retired president and managing partner of CBSA Architects in Hickory, North Carolina and has more than 51 years of experience with all facets of architecture and planning. Ernie started painting as a young person, which he continued through college. (By chance, Ernie was in the same art class in high school as Tommy Stine and Joe Lafone). He continued painting for a short while after graduation from NC State University and two years in the Army, but kids and demands of work finally got in his way.
About eight years ago he promised his wife, Cindy, that he could recreate a painting they had seen of Santorini while visiting there. The picture now hangs in their living room and Ernie has renewed his love of painting. He has exhibited in several Downtown Hickory Art Crawls and tells us he has even sold a painting or two.

Julie Stephan

about julie
Julie Stephan is a Charlotte area-based painter who creates vibrant works primarily in alcohol ink.
Born and raised in Northern California, Julie spent most of her free time experiencing the outdoors through hiking, biking and swimming.
In 1981, she majored in Commercial Art at East Tennessee State University. As a junior, her art was chosen to represent The Department of Art and was made into a poster that hung all over the region to encourage other artists to attend the college.

Moving to Atlanta, she continued her art education at The Art Institute of Atlanta. After graduation, Julie went on to a career in Graphic Design working her way up to Art Director. In her career she worked on Design, Illustration, Animation, Photography and Web Design.

Her work has been exhibited in both commercial galleries and institutional museums throughout North Carolina, such as, e.g. Full Circle Arts Gallery, Trade Alley Art, Nine Eighteen Nine Gallery, NoCo Arts Gallery, Hickory Museum of Art and the Mint Museum Uptown. Her work can also be found in many private collections around the country.

Sarah Bracewell

about sarah
Sarah has had a love for beads and jewelry-making since childhood. She started making lampwork
glass beads in college. She combines unique color patterns and designs to create her beads. Each bead is made using rods of glass which are wrapped around a metal mandrel using a propane and oxygen torch. The rod is continuously turned to allow gravity to form the bead into a spherical shape. Each bead while still red hot from the flame is decorated with different colors and patterns. The beads are then put into a kiln at 950F for several hours. They are then ready to be made into jewelry. Recently, she has explored acrylic painting and combining beads to the canvas to add dimension to the art work. Sarah is a practicing physician. Because of art, she has been able to problem-solve and be innovative for her patients in their diagnoses and treatment which is important to tailor care to an individual patient.
Associate artists
  • Renee Abernethy-Miller
  • Laura Susan Barlowe
  • Rhett Barlowe
  • April Drake Bell
  • Earlie Bryant
  • Claudia Bujold
  • Jacob Christopher​
  • Vyvyan L. Dunne
  • Michaele Faro
  • ​Genie Greenlaw​
  • ​​Norma Ridenour
  • ​Judy Rider​
  • Nora Jean Smith
  • Vicki Truesdale
  • Robin Turner
  • ​Aaron Vigardt
  • ​Ava Weaver​​​​
Aspiring artists
  • Bill Baker
  • Deborah Crawford
  • Henry Logan

Support local artists! Everyone is welcome!