Carlisle Artisans Gallery

Nancy Barkman, Pottery
Nancy makes functional pottery including bowls, plates, mugs, casserole dishes, and jars, in brown or white stoneware.  She loves to carve or stamp patterns, and also uses holes to make lacy patterns on bowls and plates. Runny glazes work especially well with the lacy rims.

Rebecca Bromark, Hair Gear, Paintings & Notecards
Rebecca has always loved the outdoors, functional art, fabric, patterns, and color. Capturing the rural character of Carlisle in paint is an emerging joy. Rebecca’s headbands, barrettes, and clips are made with any combination of soft fabrics: velvet, flannel, jersey; beads, yarn, and other cool finds.  Rebecca is passionate about repurposing materials, as the environment and land conservation have long been central themes for her. She has an Etsy presence and hopes to bring joy to those who wear her art. In her spare time, Rebecca loves taking her daughters and dogs on adventures, big and small.

Tarja Cockell, Contemporary Fiber Art
Tarja enjoys the process of weaving and the unique textures that it creates. Choosing and mixing colors is the fun part of her work. She makes use of dyes, paints, and threads to achieve her subtle color palette. She works with different textile mediums, which she applies to her art and functional accessories. Her studio is located at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell.
www.tarjacockell.com

Cindy Cooper, Jewelry
Cindy is an MD, who uses Ugandan beads that her medical residents bring back from the area local to their sister hospital in Uganda. She makes wire-craft jewelry, primarily using beads rolled from paper as well as crystal and semi-precious stones. She currently sells on Etsy and sold at the NDA in West Concord as well as displays and sells at the 1:1 Self-Indulgence Spa in Acton.
www.etsy.com/shop/COOPSLOOPS

Gail Fitzpatrick, Notecards from original paintings
Gail is a painter, illustrator, and graphic designer. Her paintings explore her particular fascination with rural and suburban scenes where human activity and the natural world are juxtaposed. In 2006 she established a business called Live Event Paintings. She creates commissioned heirloom paintings on location at venues all over New England. She paints at events including weddings, bar/bat mitzvah celebrations, and fundraising galas. She is currently working on a series of paintings called “Town Centers of New England”.
www.liveeventpaintings.com

Teri Matthews, Wreaths and Recycled Environmentally friendly Crafts
Teri Matthews of Teri Town Designs is proud that most items are created using recycled materials [Reused, Renewed, and Recreated]. There are many ways we can lessen our carbon footprint, and one of her ways is through art. She­ has always loved making crafts, sewing, taking photographs, working with dried flowers, making wreaths, and just about any craft. Teri found a way to combine these passions in a mixed media art form that is mindful of the environmental impact. It’s not about mass producing or even creating one type of item… it is just about creating
www.teritown.com

Linda Merwin, Home decor

Linda’s work springs from a lifetime of sewing and walking in nature. She enjoys making items that create a beautiful table/home setting to nurture those gathered around your table or in your home. In addition she enjoys making wall-hangings inspired by nature. It is her hope that her art pieces enable the viewer to connect with the intrinsic Beauty all around us every day.

Myong Jung, Porcelain Sculpting & Painting
Her porcelain pieces are influenced by the technique of 18th Century Meissen, European porcelain. Each collectible is hand-built and hand-painted. Once formed, each hard-paste porcelain object is fired 5-7 times in a kiln, then brought to life with the finest of enamel colors. She loves making things from nature and enjoys hiking, reading, and traveling.
www.mjporcelain.com

Barbara Lewis, Handcrafted Fabric Accessories
In loving memory of Barbara Lewis, she was the heart and soul of the Carlisle Artisans when this organization was created. Gifted with her craft in handcrafted fabrics, her talent with the sewing machine was impeccable. We still have her items from Full Moon Fabrics for sale in our store in memory of her. All items bought, the money will be going to charity.

Bill Schirmer, Watercolor Notecards & Paintings
Bill has always been somewhat of an artist as he used art in his teaching as an educator and biologist at a two-area private school. In his recent retirement, he has been able to devote time to painting classes and showing his art. With his love of making watercolor paintings from inspirations by natural areas and rural views, his interest seems to have focused on notecards where each notecard is individually hand painted with seasonal themes.

Sally Salemi, Rustic Jar Co., candles
Let me tell you a little bit about us and how my intention candles came to be. My husband and I are empty nesters and I noticed while he was puttering around the house, I was bored with not much to do. I knew I had to find something to keep myself busy or I would be unhappy. I have always been intrigued with crystals and their energy, so I decided to combine crystals and candles to make ‘intention candles’.

Little did I know candles would keep me more than ‘busy’ and even busier than my husband. I thought candles would be an easy yet creative thing for me to make and sell. Boy was I wrong! Candles are not easy if you want to create a good product. I was in research and development for the 2 years and started selling in the summer of 2022. We have invested quite a bit of time in my trials and errors along the way. I have created several intention candles and a spring/summer and fall/winter seasonal lines of candles as well. I still have a massage oil candle in the research and development phase. In the future, I will be adding to my intention candle line and seasonal line as well.

I hope you enjoy the intention candles and seasonal candles!

Bonnie Krims, Colorist, specializing in Architectural Color Design
Bonnie Krims is a professional colorist specializing in architectural color design. Bonnie Krims Color Studio has been serving clients for the past thirty years. Her approach has been to recognize human reactions to color and to provide her clients with colors that create happiness and a positive emotional outcome. Color is much more than decoration and aesthetics.

Bonnie is now renewing her lifelong passion for crafts and creative connections, constructing mosaic wands and “Bagua” boxes and re-entering the world of classical music as a flutist. Each of her colorful creations represents the human intention to inspire well-being in love, children, creativity, friendship, family, career, and so on.

Alix Fuerst, portrait artist

I’m Alix, a professional portrait and wildlife artist based in Massachusetts. Right after earning my Bachelor of Fine Arts, I fell in love with colored pencils and decided to start my own business specializing in realistic drawings. 

Since then, I’ve created numerous custom portraits of pets and people, as well as original wildlife drawings that are made into greeting cards and prints. I am especially drawn to nature, and strive to capture the tiny details and unique character of every living subject that I draw. It’s incredibly satisfying getting to do this for a living and to share my work with others.

David Schirpke, Woodworker
​David is Woodworker from Billerica. His specialty is making trivets from solid wood, that can be used in multiple different ways. He also has made birdhouses, desk clocks, wall clocks, along with many other things. Trained as a Machinist David use a blend of modern CNC along with traditional woodworking and vintage tools, to make high-quality pieces

Deborah Shneider Smith, New England Sunlight Note Cards
Deborah, a lifelong New Englander, has been making note cards for thirty years. She used to make hand-drawn pet-themed cards and switched to nature photography in 2011. “New England Sunlight” pays homage to the natural beauty of New England and the dramatic colors that the atmosphere creates. No special effects are used. Deborah strives for a  watercolor quality in her compositions. ​