Gallery on the Square adds new artists

Gallery on the Square in Gainesville has added four new artists and craftsmen, expanding the original offerings of local and regional fine artists to the north Georgia community. Founded in 2010, Gallery on the Square is an artists’ cooperative created to bring together fine artists to showcase their works. Located in Main Street Market, many of the organization’s members also show their works in galleries across the Southeast and the nation.

Meet the Gallery’s newest members:

Kim Barge

Gwinnett County native Kim Barge’s diverse artistic styles range from flowers and nature to abstracts. Large color blocks play a major role in her works, whether creating large geometric-filled canvases, flowing silk scarves with floral designs or colorful fanciful flowers.

Kim earned her BFA in Textiles/Surface Design from Georgia State University, her Masters of Arts in Teaching from UNG, and her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from SCAD.

Her textile studies at Georgia State provided another 2-dimensional opportunity.

“Working with textiles is a specialized medium and lends itself well to creating fluid designs that can be wearable,” she said. “For me it’s a way to work in multiple media and apply different techniques and skills.”

She was an art educator at Buford High School for 10 years and is now a professor at UNG.

Twenty years ago she moved to Buford in Hall County.

She describes her style as varying between classic and realism but she also creates strong abstract designs.

“I knew in my first college class that I wanted to be an artist,” she said. “It was many years later that I found my passion for teaching art. I am blessed to do what I love everyday. I hope to continue to inspire my students because they certainly inspire me.”

Tom Gonzalez

Tom Gonzalez liked to draw from the time he was 3 years old. His parents moved to Atlanta from Cuba when Tom was 10 and he found a real calling to art as he entered high school.

Studying at the Atlanta College of Art (now the Savannah College of Art and Design) he focused his education on design and advertising.

“It paid off because I spent 24 years of my career at The Coca-Cola Company as design principal and creative development manager involved with global brands,” he said. “Then I worked with other businesses in the Atlanta area before retiring from corporate work to pursue the fun side of art.”

That fun side includes having illustrated at least a dozen children’s books. His first, “14 Cows for America,” became a NYTimes best seller.

Post-corporate life, the Dawsonville resident has joined Gallery on the Square where he continues to nurture his creativity using acrylics, oils and pastels mixed with polychromos pencils.

“My work is a mixture of contemporary and classic, depending on what mood I’m in, but recently I’ve been exploring abstracts, particularly landscapes,” he said. “As an independent artist, I’m free to follow my instincts and creative vision. To me, art and drawing is just a natural thing, like breathing.”

Ginger Licata

Gainesville’s Ginger Licata calls herself an “accidental artist.” The Atlanta native creates florals, still life and landscapes using oils.

A graduate of Georgia Southern majoring in business, she began taking art classes. Online art classes and workshops helped her fine-tune her work.

After graduation she worked for Xerox as a sales representative. Once her children were born she became a stay-at-home mom.

“Although I loved art at an early age, I didn’t pursue painting until later,” Ginger said, who has been painting for the past 15 years. “As my skillset grew, my painting inventory overflowed in my closets, so it became clear that I needed to sell them. It has been very rewarding and fulfilling.”

She sold her first painting nine years ago.

She said her inspiration comes from the classical approach of the Masters over the centuries.

“My style is representational, in between Impressionistic and Realism,” she said. “I love that I work on two diverse themes – landscape and florals. It gives me the chance to stretch my style from large-scale subjects to creating the delicacy of flowers.”

Wally and Victoria Roth

Victoria and Wally Roth follow their hearts unapologetically. As a former psychiatric nurse, Victoria’s love of design pairs perfectly with Wally’s satisfaction working with wood. While they spent most of their lives on the West Coast, the beaches and warm water drew them to Florida in 2018.

Over the years, Victoria worked in stained glass, calligraphy, tole painting and carving; Wally, whose relationship with wood ranges from boat-building to relief carving. They’ve also built full-size replicas of English gypsy wagons featuring scroll work.

“When we moved to Florida a whole new world opened up for us creatively,” Victoria said. “Seeing all the driftwood and beautiful seashells inspired us to open Coastal Creations by Roth. Crafting pieces from natural materials captures the timeless beauty of weathered seashells, glass and driftwood and allows people to bring this beauty into their own homes.”

Their handcrafted work combines the natural curves of gnarled and worn beach wood with bright glass to add color and create mixed-media sculptures inspired by nature.

Nearly two years ago the couple moved to Lula.

In addition to their craft, they are part of the band Gold Country Players, a traditional acoustic folk and mountain dulcimer band that performs at local heritage events.

“We have always been drawn to creative pursuits, working with our hands, and a love of nature,” she said. “Our music is just another dimension of our appreciation of heritage, craft and traditions.”

They join these other artists whose work is available at the downtown gallery – Ann Alexander, Lydia Ferguson, Jane Hemmer, Anne Brodie Hill, Paula Hoffman, Joyce Horner, Pam Kohler-Camp, Connie Lynn Reilly and Shirley Seguin.

Many of the artists accept requests for specific subjects.

Gallery on the Square is located at 118 Main Street SW, Gainesville. For more information about Gallery on the Square, visit the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/GalleryOnTheSquareGainesville.

Photos: by Anne Brodie Hill