Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sharen Chatterton and Karen Rester. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Sharen and Karen, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Community Projects are such a sweet spot for Moon Over Water Gallery. We absolutely love involving our community, underscoring our belief that art is accessible and joyful. We have a wall in our Artisan Food Market where the community can create a 5×7 card and add it to a community display. We created a community collage for World Collage Day, representing the iconic Rockport blue crab. This project gave us all so much sheer happiness, it sparked even more fun ideas. We were so excited to have the opportunity to launch the Austin Street Art Walk, sponsored by Rockport Center for the Arts. We are in our second year and this recurring event has brought even more people into our cozy seaside gallery on the second Saturday of each month. It creates the perfect opportunity for people to become a part of and be involved in the Rockport art community. Most recently, we engaged the community in using a variety of glazes on a gorgeous wavy bowl that one of our potters, Susan Myers, created. When completed, the bowl will be auctioned, with proceeds benefitting the Aransas County Council on Aging Meals on Wheels Program. Additionally, we involve the next generation of creatives by sponsoring a New Moon rising artist, and currently, that artist is twelve year old Violet Belle Ayala. Nurturing young artists in our community is important to us, as well, and fits solidly under the umbrella of Meaningful Projects for us.
Sharen and Karen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
We are Rockport based twin sisters and artists, Sharen Chatterton and Karen Rester, we fancy ourselves to be unique in our own respective creative processes, although being twins, we do often walk together down a creative path. When working together, we bring magic to whatever we are doing. Our Art is as varied and eclectic as we are. “It is all about listening to the wisdom of your soul.” Whether painting in acrylics, watercolor, sculpting with clay, spinning, weaving, collage or mixing it up creating a mixed media piece, it is a journey, a path that we have created together. Every piece of art we have created is filled with our heart and soul. Every piece of art is imagined with color, texture and feeling, to bring forward an emotional response from the viewer. “We like to think that every paint stroke brings energy and light to the piece. Each is a journey, unique and ever evolving.” We have been artists all our lives and taught for a good part of it. We have taken and taught mixed media, watercolor, and art healing workshops in Texas, New Mexico and Online, for many years. Karen’s art is a reflection of her works in collage, mixed media, acrylic and fiber and Sharen’s art reflects her work in acrylic, clay, watercolors and mixed media.
Karen and I have always been intensely creative, and that creativity has always been a presence in our lives that needed nurturing and expression. We knew that a creative life was our path, and even though we are twins, we each hold our own ideas about our methods, media, and the creative journey we share. While we create different works of art, we are nonetheless each other’s most ardent supporter. Creativity is infinite and boundless, but it also must be tended, and giving oneself time in studio is critical for an artist to be deeply, genuinely fulfilled and happy.
Sharen and I consistently answered the call of our collective creativity, whether that was by setting up at art shows, to having solo shows in multiple galleries over the years. Along the way, we met a variety of eclectic, like-minded souls, and the idea of creating our own gallery where we could showcase a variety of art and artists began to take root. Opening Moon Over Water Gallery is our most challenging and successful endeavor to date, and it’s the one that has given us the deepest satisfaction. Our artist tribe is what drives our success, at Moon Over Water Gallery. We have gathered a group of over 18 like-minded Coastal Bend artist and artisan under the Moon Over Waters Roof, they enrich our lives and the vibrant Rockport art community, every day. Each of the artist we represent are passionate about what they do and Moon Over Water Gallery give each of us as artists, the opportunity to tell our story and the space to present each of our unique art to the public. What we see every day at the Gallery, is that beautiful art, created by passionate artists, is providing joy and happiness to more and more people. What could be better than that?
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
As creatives, we are both committed to sharing our love of art and the artists that create that art. Sharen and I, started down the path of opening Moon Over Water Gallery and Artisan Market, because of our unfailing love for art and the artist community. Creating a space that artist could show a body of their work and create their passion. We believe in Art and the Artist who create it. Art can exist forever; and with this longevity, so may the artist. We believe in dreams, in seeing those dreams come to life, in whatever medium the artist may choose to express them. There is a magic that lives in each of us. We wanted to create a gallery space that would reflect that spark, that inner light that the artist calls upon. Every day brings those magical moments when a piece of art finds its place in an art lover’s home.
We have been absolutely over the moon, as we continue this journey at Moon Over Water Gallery. We are rewarded each and every day as we mesh art, artists and art lovers. Moon Over Water is about artists, artisans, working a variety of mediums and building a small creative community. As our name reflects, we believe in the relationship between the art created and the artist as the creator. The moon is symbolic of the art we create. Art, like the moon, is powerful, with the ability to ignite strong emotions, to illicit change, to draw you in and then set you free. The water is symbolic of each of us, the artists. The artist, like water, experiences that ebb and flow within their process, we use our energy to create a wave of emotions or to calm the senses. Our journey is guided by our art. The moon is over the water.
As part of our small community of unique artists, showcasing many mediums and creative journeys, the rewards of working with such a creative group are boundless. Our gallery is intentionally filled with the unique and unexpected! It is simply everywhere you look. Further, each of our artists is in awe of each other! We are each other’s biggest fans and most ardent supporters, and every time a customer or collector purchases a piece, we all celebrate. That kind of environment, uplifting and pure, creates the space to be unique and allow the unexpected to emerge. All of our artists are wonderfully unique, we are creatives amongst a beautiful tribe of creatives, that share and enrich our lives, there isnKaren Krumm’s collage, oil, and acrylics joyfully celebrate color and the outdoors. Founder Karen Rester’s painted paper intricate collages and her fiber art speak to the elements. Founder Sharen Chatterton’s works are a celebration of vibrant colors of nature expressed in her birds and shell heads. Kimmi Norvell Moake’s reverence for the natural world is expressed in various mediums to create fascinating and spiritual paintings and assemblages. Elizabeth Jones marries cold wax and oils in a quest to explore texture in great detail. L.A. Carroll’s expresses her faith through layered contours, flowing lines with touches of gold, and Debra Lalumia’s exceptional watercolors combine flowing color coupled with skillful, practiced control. Gallery artist Mary Sitzes’s three-dimensional unique fiber sculptures, adornments, and baskets use natural elements and breathe new life into these materials, and Emily McCauley presses coastal plants to preserve and celebrate our aquatic ecosystems, and then we have our jewelers. Diana Casabar, Danya DeLeon, and Lori Fisher are all superior silversmiths, creating unique pieces in their own styles. Our Janice Clark creates her pieces with cultured freshwater, Tahitian, and South Sea Pearls on leather. Working in clay, Chris Dawson hand builds her pottery and fills it with unexpected textures and dimensions, and Linda Frank’s thrown functional pottery showcases creative glazes. Susan Myers pottery explores exquisite combinations, irregular shapes, textures, and smooth lines, and our own Vivian Rood’s Raku techniques are stunningly beautiful. Each of our artists is unique, and we showcase and champion them individually all throughout the year.
When we say that there is Magic in Moon Over Water Gallery, we really mean our artists and their creations make the Magic that is Moon Over Water.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Fundamentally, we have always been crystal clear in defining our mission: our love for art and artists needed to meld with the concept of community to create an accepting atmosphere in which artists can show work that evidences the passion that drives them to create. We knew that art could heal, can cheer, can evoke emotion, and it can provoke thoughtful conversations. We knew that each person possesses magic that can flourish if given the space and place and time to develop it. That magic can spark into amazing artwork, and we wanted to create a gallery space that would encourage and showcase that inner light and magic that the artist draws from when creating. As for our patrons, we seek to show them the beauty and truth in art and provide a welcoming environment in which they can find the art that resonates with them. When our support of local art and artists connects with the person who wants to include art in their everyday lives, the result is nothing short of magical. The energy created by making these wonderful connections fuels us, and each day, we renew our dedication to our mission.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.moonoverwatergallery.com/
- Instagram: moonoverwatergallery
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoonOverWaterGallery
Image Credits
Photography by Lillian Reitz