TURNER MOLDS HIS PASSION FOR FIBER INTO ART

by Karen Foley

It began with pencil, brush and clay. Those were the toolsTimmy Turner used as a budding artist in elementary school. However he took a turn later and found his love of fiber art growing.  

“I started picking up sewing and crocheting around sixth grade. I would make my own stuffed animals out of old socks and blankets”, explains Turner.  “I started crocheting hats and scarves for the cold Wisconsin winters and continued in college where I started knitting my own sweaters and graduated from sewing stuffed animals to making puppets”.  

When Turner said “he graduated to puppets” the artist was being  humble. Turner’s puppet are as renowned as his reputation.

“I've created puppets and costumes for Beauty and the Beast and Little Shop of Horrors that I've rented out to high schools and colleges for their theater productions. I also helped build puppets for Rockefeller Productions Live Winnie The Pooh production in New York City”.

Turner considers fiber arts to encompass knitting and crocheting and  textile art to include clothing and quilt making. Turner’s soft sculpture covers  the stuffed animals and puppets.  

Currently he is focused on quilting. His finished quilts as creative as his puppetry, He didn’t begin piecing fabric together to create amazing patterns until COVID encouraged artists to explore other venues.   

Turner believes it was his parent’s fondness for blankets - each room in his home growing up contained a basket of blankets. Those warmers instilled the ‘love for comfort’  that encouraged him to turn his love of fiber into art and soft sculpture.  

The history of American fiber folk art started with quilting by enslaved women who began quilting to supplement their inadequate bedding. While quilting developed out o  necessity it grew into an allowing for creativity. Quilting also became a time to bond with other in  the community. Quilting was a creative outlet that allowed quilters to assert their identity and legacy. Quilting as an art form became popular in the 1970’s and 1980’s and has now become a recognized art form.

“Since many of the quilts, sweaters, and puppets I’ve made have been gifts for loved ones, I spend a lot of time browsing through different colors and styles of fabrics and yarns,” notedTurner, “I pull together the raw materials that feel right, and then I often "wing it."

With his busy schedule as the Store Manger of Surf, Wind and Fire and also as Edenton’s part-time events coordinator for Main Street Edenton, he rarely does commission work, but hopes to in the future.   

“I have a website timmyturner.comand I'm hoping to do more shows in local arts councils,” said Turner.  

Walking into Patrick Dablow’s studio and King Street Marketplace shops, it's apparent the artist has an eye for nature. His fondness of the subject is captured on canvas throughout his studio. You’re greeted by large canvas paintings of floral and historic interpretations of Edenton’s architecture. When the door opens, Dablow is most likely painting ‘barefoot’ in the back studio and will holler out a ‘hello’, before quietly appearing.

Dablow’s medium is Acrylic and has always been drawn to nature. Living in Edenton, he derives inspiration in its blue sky, architecture, landscapes, waterfowl and flowers. He is also known for his painting of the historic Edenton Teapot which is located behind the studio in the downtown historic district. The original bronze teapot is perched atop a Revolutionary War era cannon and commemorates the political Edenton tea party.

“I am drawn to create those categories because of the subject matter, light play and color on each subject”, Dablow explains, “Edenton is a NC version of Monet's Garden”.  

Dablow’s artistic talent was inspired by his Grandfather, a high school art teacher. He started painting in grade school and continued through high school and college but put painting on hold for 40 plus years during his extensive retail career.  

“Fine Art is in a new era for artists due in large part to the digital age and social media,” expressed Dablow, “ A single painting can be copied, printed and reproduced on a multitude of products and formats and viewed globally immediately”.  

Dablow gives the example that an original painting sells once in the Gallery, but the canvas wraps and prints are sold in sizes that the customer can pick up for their particular wall space at very reasonable price points.  His art also appears on greeting cards, tote bags, and mugs offering the same image at a very reasonable price points for gift giving. Wife Lorrie Mahaffey Dablow works closely with him on the development and interpretation of his art on to other products sold at their quant King Street Marketplace shops which also houses her Edenton Tea Company, a book store and Artemis and IOa lifestyle shop for those who love the magical, whimsical and beautiful things in life.