Ripple River Gallery
& Woodturning Studio
Bob Carls and Amy Sharpe, owners
Fluted cherry burl box by Bob Carls
Photo by Peter Lee
About Us…
After years of packing and unpacking our
work at art fairs across the midwest, we decided to cut back on
the miles. We took a leap of faith, transformed a garage into a
gallery space and opened Ripple River Gallery. When we asked a
few colleagues if they would be willing to show their work in
our backwoods gallery, they took the leap and joined us.
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That was back in June of 2000…since
then we’ve been able to spend less time on the road and
more time in the studio. Now we can spend more time in the
garden and linger over morning coffee to watch the deer
browsing in our backyard (we won’t mention their taste
for bird seed and garden produce). Best of all, we’ve met
and made some great friends—art connects us all!
Who we are…
Bob Carls is a full-time studio artist and has exhibited
his work at numerous juried crafts events throughout the upper
midwest including Cain Park Arts Festival, Cleveland, OH;
Laumeier Contemporary Arts & Crafts Fair, Laumeier
Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO; Art and Apples Festival, Paint
Creek Center for the Arts, Rochester, MI; Art on the Square,
Madison, WI; Brookside Art Fair in Kansas City; and the
Minnesota Crafts Festival in St. Paul, MN.
Bob has earned recognition for his work
at several exhibitions, including Best of Show at the 1998
Flint Art Fair, Flint, MI; an Award of Excellence at the Edina
Art Fair in 2002 and Best Booth in 2006; and a Merit Award at
Fergus Falls Community College Invitational Art Exhibit in
2003.
Faceted walnut vase by Bob Carls
Photo by Peter Lee
Bob’s work was selected for
inclusion in the 2006 juried exhibition of contemporary
woodturning at the Rochester Art Center in Rochester, MN; in a
national woodturning exhibit at Art Resources Gallery in St.
Paul; and in a three-person traveling exhibition with fiber
artist Ann Hall Richards and glass/multi-media artist Dorothy
Hall supported by a grant from Arrowhead Regional Arts Council.
He has been featured on “Venture North,” a public
television news magazine. His work is included in the permanent
collections at the Waage Art Center, Fergus Falls, MN; the
Waterloo Art Museum, Waterloo, IA; and the Minnesota Historical
Society, St. Paul, MN, as well as private and corporate
collections worldwide.
Otter the art dog visits
Sedona, AZ.
Bob, who currently serves as a board
member for the MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids, MN, served
as juror for the MacRostie’s 10th annual invitational
exhibit; on the Minnesota State Arts Board fellowship review
panel; as a juror for the Park Point Arts Festival in Duluth,
and as an on-site juror for the Metris Uptown Art Fair,
Minneapolis, in 2003.
We shape clay into a pot, but it is the
emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
—Tao te Ching
Spinning Top Sets by Bob Carls
Small sets, assorted woods, $20 each
(plus tax & shipping where applicable)
During the winter months Bob is available
to teach woodturning on a one-on-one basis. He also lectures on
“The Importance of Art Objects in Everyday Life” as
well as on the fine craft of woodturning.
Amy Sharpe is
a writer, editor, publisher and graphic artist. Since 1992 she
has been co-editor/publisher of “Homespun”, a regional magazine “celebrating
the art of creative living.” For 25 years she worked as a
journalist; she “retired” in 2004 as news editor
for a weekly newspaper. As a freelance writer, she co-authored
“Outdoor and Survival Skills for the Nature
Photographer” with Ralph LaPlant (Amherst Media). Her
work has appeared in several publications including “Dust
and Fire,” an anthology of women writers published by
Bemidji State University; and “Her Voice,” a
women’s supplement to the Brainerd Daily Dispatch.
While in moments of despair she calls
herself a “lapsed” artist, Amy practices a modern
adaptation of traditional Japanese nature printing, weaves,
creates mixed media assemblages, writes poetry and essays and
reads voraciously; in her “spare” time she
gardens, cooks and daydreams. She says that art forces the
artist to see the planet in a new light—often revealing
the hidden beauty of the most mundane and commonplace objects
and tasks.
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Copyright 2007 ® Ripple River Gallery
