On Oct. 26, 2013, MATTIE, eastern North Carolina’s newest teaching art center, will celebrate its one-year anniversary.

MATTIE is an acronym for Mattamuskeet Artisans, Teaching, Training, Instructing and Educating. The event is free and open to the public.

On this day, in conjunction with the seventh-annual Down East Arts and Crafts Show being held in the Hyde County government building in downtown Swan Quarter, the public is invited to engage with local artisans and artists as they wield their crafts inside and outside of the MATTIE teaching studios. MATTIE Arts Center is located in the historic courthouse building at the corner of Main Street and Oyster Creek Road in downtown Swan Quarter.  

MATTIE’S celebratory kickoff begins at 10 a.m. with the installation of an interactive outdoors sculpture built especially with MATTIE in mind. The sculpture, “The Gateway to the Outer Banks,” is a fine-art consignment designed and fabricated by renowned sculptor Jim Gallucci of Greensboro. Gallucci’s works appear throughout the U.S. and as far away as Australia.

The sculpture is eight feet tall and 12 feet long, and four feet deep with a theme exclusive to Hyde County. McLawhorn declined to give further details, saying, “You’ll just have to come see.” As Gallucci describes it, “The unloading and anchoring down are the exciting parts” so be sure to plan your arrival for 10 a.m.  

Judy McLawhorn, administrator of the arts center, met Gallucci in February of this year at the Southeastern Entrepreneurship for the Arts conference at UNC- Greensboro, and after a conversation at his studio, Gallucci made the offer to build one of his interactive “gateways” to help make MATTIE a tourist destination. McLawhorn said she and Gallucci  have a close, personal friend in common — Jerry Jackson, deputy director of Penland School of Crafts.

Throughout the day, local and area artist will be “in motion” at MATTIE,demonstrating their techniques, answering questions and, in many cases, inviting visitors to try their hands at something like mural painting with Carol Lynn of Engelhard. She has more than 400 commissioned murals displayed throughout the nation.

Other accomplished artists “in motion” include Ed Clarke (Middletown), stretching canvass decoys; Gregory Berry (Engelhard), detailing wood decoys; Jessica Credle (Fairfield/Bath), etching glass; Jane Gibbs (Engelhard), with vegetable art in the morning and oil painting in the afternoon; Mark Hierholzer (Richmond/Swan Quarter), a regular MATTIE instructor painting en plein air and and offering portraits in charcoal; Jimmy Huggins (Belhaven), crafting continuous chain-link necklaces from walnut; blacksmith Joe Pugh (Gull Rock), at the forge (weather permitting); Pat Bertke (Belhaven and formerly with Yadkin River Arts) weaving; Cathy Clayton (Ponzer), woodburning and acrylics; and Laura Hayes (Engelhard), crafting faux stained glass.

The MATTIE sales gallery will be open all day, offering a broad selection of unique local artwork and gifts. There visitors will find work by local artists who do not have enough of an inventory to support a full booth at the adjacent Down East Arts and Craft Show or who are unavailable to attend the event. Information on upcoming classes and workshops will be available. Visitors will have the opportunity to be included in MATTIE’s email database.

For more information about MATTIE and the celebration, contact Judy McLawhorn, MATTIE administrator, at 252-943-8991.