The Arts Council Of Wilmington/NHC

"In Search of Memory" Angela Rowe & Karen Paden Crouch
2026-01-16 10:00 - 2026-03-01 17:00 (America/New_York) | 970 Inspiration Drive, Wilmington, NC 28405, 970 Inspiration Drive, Wilmington, NC, 28405, United States
Through their collaborative exhibit “In Search of Memory,” Art in Bloom Gallery is honored to feature artists Angela Rowe & Karen Paden Crouch! Inspired by the enduring power of memories, Angela and Karen combine their distinct talents to evoke the shared experiences which shape us. Write Angela & Karen:
“Memories have the power to bind us. They tap into our shared experience evoking images and icons from the culture that has shaped us. Even inside a mind troubled by dementia, old memories remain strong and help sustain us. This body of work is about making memories and keeping memories alive. We hope it evokes a place or a moment in time we can share to find healing ground in our fragmented world.”
Join us in Mayfaire on Sunday, January 18th, 2-5pm for our Artist Reception! Meet the artists, enjoy special refreshments, and listen to live music by Robert Beauchene. And celebrate Traudi Thornton’s (1940-2023) legacy through her Final Raku Sale! In alignment with her kiln restoration at Fat Cat Pottery, we’ll release our final selection of Traudi’s ceramics from storage — 70+ masterpieces pit-fired with Traudi’s stunning glazes!
About the Artists
Although Angela Rowe grew up drawing and making objects, she took other career paths, working as an architectural historian, in arts administration, and managing high complexity global projects for IBM. Since 2013 Angela has focused on making art, maintaining a studio practice at ACME Art Studios since 2014.
Angela enjoys moving between the three freely based on which medium fits what she wants to say at a given time. Primarily a painter, Angela also works representationally with ceramics and papier-mâché. Her collage / mixed media work is largely non-representational. Regardless of the medium, all share her same intention of portraying things which are more than they superficially seem. Angela wants to suggest a story, show a certain light, a moment, a mood, a shared memory. She takes her own reference photos. These are images which said something to her.
After more than twenty years of trial practice, Karen Paden Crouch traded her law office for the welding shop and began learning direct metal sculpture. Despite a successful career advocating for clients, nothing has ever been so frightening and exciting to Karen as sharing her own artwork. Whether it is good or bad, understood or misunderstood, trite or significant, it has come from within her.
Karen works in bronze, copper and steel to create organic pieces for the house and garden. An avid gardener, Karen grounds her work in the structure and movement of living things. Although Karen begins with a vision, sometimes the very piece that sparked the idea will be the piece that gets cut out as the sculpture evolves. But Karen has always lived by instinct and, with assembled pieces and bronzes alike, the sculpture will tell her where to go if she is patient and listens.
