On Saturday, FRANK Gallery in Carrboro held a bird-themed sidewalk art sale featuring various artworks such as mosaic birdhouses, collage birds and bird ceramics.
At the event, tables covered by a white tent sat in two parking spots in front of FRANK Gallery. The tables held different arrangements of the highlighted bird-themed art, while the artists and attendees circled around speaking to one another. The gallery doors were also open to the public, with people roaming around observing the art inside.
Cathy Kiffney, an Orange County artist whose work was displayed at the art sale, draws inspiration for her bird-themed pieces from observing the many species of birds that visit her home. Part of Kiffney's routine includes regularly filling bird feeders near her house and going out early in the morning to see the first birds that come to these feeders.
“I've always done sort of nature animal-inspired art, and it's kind of narrowed into birds and kind of mythical animals at this point,” she said.
Kiffney said each piece is hand built and hand painted. She crafts some of her pieces using a potter's wheel, adding a finishing glaze after shaping the piece.
Natalie Boorman, an Orange County artist whose work was also featured at the art sale, similarly produces ceramics by hand, specifically perfecting techniques in pit firing. Boorman places her bisque fired ceramics — those that have undergone the first step of ceramic firing — into a pit below the ground and throws organic material, such as banana and orange peels, along with wood chips, copper wires and salts over the pots. She then starts a large fire, and covers it with sheets of tin.
A retired social worker and therapist, Boorman has always made time for art, but in the past 10 years she has specifically spent time improving her ceramics-making process.
When asked what she hopes people take away from her work, Boorman emphasized the importance of a connection between the material and the artist.
