Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
Sept 4, 2008
Open To All—Carlton Gallery Celebrates 26 Years
Story by Sam Calhoun
Toni Carlton, owner of Carlton Gallery, has used a wide range of media to create her art over the years—weaving, sculptural basketry, drawing, wall hangings, mixed media, collage and photography. Yet, despite her various approaches to channel her inner expressions, there has always been a common denominator with her themes—all people are connected, there is a universal connection of all of our relations and her art is “open to all,” she said.
It’s only fitting that her gallery demonstrates that attitude as well.
Welcome to Carlton Gallery, a sanctuary for self-expression, art, community, workshops and exhibitions. The gallery is open to all who wish to learn how to create art and to those who want to see Carlton’s art, as well as work from local, national and international artists.
“Carlton Gallery is all about fine art, but it’s also a center for the community to come and experience art and fine crafts or to take workshops and learn from teachers,” said Carlton.
Carlton Gallery turns 26 this year and recently moved to a new location, just up the road from its home of 22 years. Carlton Gallery is now located at 10360 Highway 105 South in the Grandfather Community.
“[The new location] seems very supportive of the art we have—it shows it off in a new way,” said Carlton. “And it’s handicapped accessible and there’s no concern for flooding like at the former location.”
Carlton is a Boone native who attended Watauga High School and then ASU. At ASU, she earned a degree in art marketing, as well as a degree in industrial art, with a business minor.
After graduating, Carlton worked as a waitress while trying to find a space to store and use a weaving loom she made in college. As a child, Carlton did a lot of drawing but at age nine, her grandmother taught her how to weave on an old handmade loom. Carlton wove placemats, napkins and scarves using traditional Appalachian weaving patterns she learned from her grandmother. Her grandmother’s tutorials influenced Carlton’s study in college.
In 1982, Carlton found a home for her loom, a small building on Highway 105 in Foscoe where Gallery 9 used to be. She and two other weavers moved in with their looms and opened Woven Works Art Gallery and Studio. The weavers specialized in naturally dying yarn with vegetables, roots and walnuts, and then created woven products on their three looms.
In 1984, two weavers left, leaving Carlton to fend on her own. Around that time, Carlton started inviting friends who were artists to exhibit in the studio. Around ten artists signed on. They helped pay rent and some helped staff the gallery during the week.
In 1987, Carlton realized she needed more space for her studio and more space for art outdoors, so she started to rent a space just up the road at 140 Aldridge Road. The 4,000 square foot space allowed for “more access to more artists’ work,” said Carlton, and she stayed there for 22 years.
In the following years, Carlton fully moved out of her first location, relocating the rest of her gallery to the Aldridge Road location.
Throughout the inception of the business, through the moves and to this day, Carlton is still very much an artist, more so than a businessperson. She started her adult art career as a weaver doing abstract wall hangings, eventually creating landscapes on the loom. Next came sculptural basketry, custom designed to fill lackluster spaces in art collectors’ homes. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Carlton started drawing again.
“I began drawing again and it was almost calligraphy—drawings that came from movement. It was more personal, expressive artwork,” said Carlton.
From drawing, Carlton shifted her attention to mixed media in a series called Spirit of the Heart. The series featured shapes that showed the connection of all people through hearts, she said.
“Spirit of the Heart depicts the odyssey of interrelationship amidst personal growth,” said Carlton. “I’m committed to co-creating heartfelt expressions of life’s journey.”
Carlton’s mixed media collages incorporate metaphors from personal life experiences, a love of dance, calligraphy, ancient symbols and text, photographic images taken during travels, as well as multicultural images to represent the universal connections of peoples’ relations.
“I use transfer images of my own photography—images that show different cultures, different religions—to show that we’re all connected as one,” explained Carlton. “I use my art as a way to express myself and the different aspects of what’s happening in my life. But it’s all universal—it’s for all people.”
Carlton is constantly creating new art and honing her skills in media that interest her. Recently, she took calligraphy classes from KiChung Lizee, a Korean Buddhist priestess, and used the tutorial to create a new series of art. The series features hand-woven fiber from her grandmother’s loom, paired with calligraphy drawings and free-form brush strokes. One of the pieces was selected for inclusion in the 2008 Seoul Calligraphy Biennale, an international competition so prestigious that only five to ten American artists make it to the final cut.
Today, Gallery Manager Caroline Witt, Bookkeeper Doreen Carson and employee Sahasa Ben-Avari assist Carlton at the gallery. In addition to Carlton’s art, the gallery is filled with the work of more than 200 local, national and international artists, such as Warren Dennis, Debbie Arnold, Jim Crompton, Martha Gimlin, Andrew Braitman, Vae Hamilton and Charles Lawson.
Some of those artists teach workshops at Carlton Gallery. The gallery hosts workshops multiple times a month in the summer. Large-scale workshops are not offered in the winter. Instead, Carlton Gallery hosts small, intimate workshops taught by local artists.
Summer workshops from May to October last from one to five days and cost anywhere from $100 to $560.
The price of the workshop depends on the number of days and instructor. Last week, Kate Worm led a workshop on figure painting and this week, Jim Crompton led a workshop on sculptures and painting. This Tuesday, Vae Hamilton is leading a four-day workshop on mixed media collages. The cost is $295 per person.
“People just love the workshops,” said Carlton. “People find a whole new self by coming in and experiencing a workshop here. Young people find a new path and older people find something new that they can enjoy later in life.”
Carlton Gallery is also home to four large art exhibition openings—the Spring Exhibition, the Mid-Summer Exhibition, the Autumn Exhibition and the Holiday Open House. Instead of hosting openings for individual artists featured at the gallery, Carlton and her crew of artists debut new work together at each of the four annual exhibitions. The Mid-Summer Exhibition is currently on display and will remain in place until September 15.
The packed schedule of workshops and exhibitions and the constantly changing art offering at Carlton Gallery garner a large customer base. Carlton sees many customers from Blowing Rock and local resorts, as well as a large base of customers from Charlotte, Raleigh and Winston-Salem.
“We have a lot of return customers,” said Carlton. “It’s at least 50 to 75 percent of my business, because they know we change [the art selection] all the time and because there’s so much to see—paintings, pottery, jewelry, woodworking, blown glass, mixed media, drawings, garden sculptures, fiber art.”
Carlton’s art, gallery and taste definitely bring customers to the business, but customer service is also a big part of the allure.
“[One of our business secrets] is just being nice to people,” said Carlton. “We enjoy each person as they come in and we connect with people. We find out what their needs are, their interests, personal information and what’s going on with them. And then we find out what piece of art fits their life.”
In other words, Carlton Gallery is open to all. Come on in, relax and feel at home.
Carlton Gallery is located at 10360 Highway 105 South in the Grandfather Community, between Linville and Boone. The gallery is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 828-963-4288 or click to www.carltonartgallery.com.