Meet the Collective
Featured Artists
All artists featured in our gallery are local to Western North Carolina. Mediums include oil on canvas, acrylic on canvas, watercolor, metal/stone sculpture, ceramic sculpture, photography, and printmaking.
Currently, the ARTSOUP Collective includes Rae Miller, Johannes-XIV, Rachel Goldstein, Lyra Shelton, Rachel Allina, owner Beth Boone, Danalee Pipes, Pat Cheshire, and Claire Gillespie.
Please scroll down to view their galleries!
RAE MILLER
Rae has been working with paper media most of her life. She discovered photography as a medium of artistic interest in 2016 and began printing photos which led to her current mixed media style using cut photos on cardboard, canvas, and most recently on flooring samples. The “flooring” sample collection, inspired by the local summer Appalachian landscape, was created with acrylic painting as an underlayer and then the application of cut photograph strips. “In some sense, a visual scene is always only pieces of a whole, and in the breaking apart of a part of a landscape or other photograph, the essence of the beauty of all the parts appears and disappears like a dance. In the other sense of an overlay onto a background landscape, as in the more recent works, there appear endless clues and riddles to the inner mysteries and colors of the underlying landscape painting.”
Rae moved to western North Carolina in October 2022 from Tucson, Arizona. Her work has been shown in several juried shows in the Tucson area including “We Live Here Now” at the Tucson International Airport and at the Tubac Center for the Arts Museum. Her artwork won best abstract artwork at the “We Live Here Now” exhibit. Her other interests include songwriting, guitar and mandolin playing, and geology. The cut-photos in Rae’s art often have a unique story of their own - places, seasons, weather, trips taken, moods, time with friends, and the many ups and downs of our life journeys. I invite you to join the wonderful intimacy of this crazy journey through my art.
JOHANNES-XIV
I am a 30-something artist originally born in the Netherlands, whose family moved to America when I was just 3. My life has been surrounded by various mediums of art and artist who have all encouraged, inspired, and fostered my creativity.
As a kid I always loved video games, eventually being enrolled into a video games art summer program hosted by iD Tech camps at Villanova University, where I received my first taste of the gaming arts and was inspired to start pursuing it as a career path. After graduating from Garnet Valley High School in Pennsylvania, I immediately enrolled at Fullsail University in Orlando, Florida for an accelerated 2-year bachelor’s degree program; starting with early summer enrollment a few days after finishing high school. There I honed my skills toward being a “professional” artist and learned the game design production pipeline and how to develop art assets for video games.
After a very intense two years, I graduated with a degree in Video Game Art, specializing largely in Environmental Art and creative team leadership. While there I managed to be the lead artist on an awesomely creative final video game project, present publicly on behalf of our team, and speak in a Q&A panel for incoming university students about being at the end of the graduation process. Coming home and trying to navigate where to take my skills next… I decided to attend Deleware County Community College to study an architecture degree and focusing my time on some independent and freelance game design work, teaching the very game design classes for iD Tech Camps that got me started a few short years prior. I began to learn and develop my own lines of jewelry designs and other forms/mediums of art.
After a short time in the military (National Guard Infantry) getting injured and then being retired, I returned and helped found a nonprofit organization for metal clay jewelry artists called "The Impact Artist Project". Here I was able to put my design skills to work, creating all of the graphic assets, design direction briefs, and website development. I eventually left that project and started working at CornerStone Software Development Inc. I stayed at CSDI for about 3 years working on a large variety of 3D interactive demos to show off new upcoming technology that was being developed by clients such as Qualcomm, Intelsat, OneWeb and others. These were interesting opportunities to get a glimpse of where technology is going while challenging myself to go outside the comfort zone of my normal skills, as a generalist has to wear many hats and do a bit of anything. I am now pursuing my next opportunities and am excited to see where that leads. I have now finished a new Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Business at Mars Hill University, while simultaneously studying Robotics engineering and Mechatronics at Mayland Community College. Spent much of that time developing my Watercolor painting style and public performance practice, Starting and presenting business concepts, and creating more computer graphic experiences. As an extra job, I've walked the halls of a state prison, taking on the responsibilities and uniform of a Correctional Officer... This has offered my creative eye yet another set of perspectives on the complex spectrum of humanity. Always blending my many talents, experiences, perspectives, and skills into ever-evolving unique expressions. Every road leads to the next!
RACHEL GOLDSTEIN
Rachel Goldstein is a photographer, artist and educator based in Asheville, North Carolina. She recently moved from the Charlotte area, where she taught at 3 local Community Colleges. She graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2009 with her MFA in Photography. She has received many awards for her work, which she exhibits throughout the region.
"Initiations I alternate between exploring the landscape, self-portraiture, the nocturnal landscape, and double exposures, done in-camera. These photographs are about an intense time in my life when several significant transitions took place around me. They reflect the fear and anxiety I felt; anguish, grief, and loss, as well as a journey to connect with a part of me that is always peaceful and knows radiance, warmth and equanimity." - Rachel Goldstein
"My dad was a philosopher, and this was his passion. As I was organizing his books one day, it struck me how the words I saw in them sounded oddly familiar in a way I hadn’t considered. Similar to ideas I might read in some of my books, yet in an almost opposite way. These photographs, I believe, capture the passion and enthusiasm one could see in my dad as he discussed these and other interests in his life, and thus celebrate his life." -Rachel Goldstein
RACHAEL ALLINA
Rachael has 20 years’ experience as a professional makeup artist and 10 years as an entrepreneur in the beauty industry. She is a licensed Esthetician and graduated from Pivot Point International in 2004. Her artistry background includes bridal, celebrity, film, print, fashion and runway. Her work has been featured on the WIT hotel in Chicago, Billboard Ads for Mario Tricoci Salon and Day Spas and Michigan Ave Magazine. In 2019, she was selected on LimeLife by Alcone’s makeup team at New York Fashion Week for Rebecca Minkoff. She considers herself a multi-creative expanding beyond the beauty industry. Her endeavors include web design, jewelry making, writing/speaking and business coaching. Originally from Chicago, IL now residing in Mars Hill, NC.
Her passion is to help creatives explore their gifts and talents through entrepreneurship. She is the founder of Broken Made Beautiful, a not-for-profit that connects sexual trauma survivors to Christ-centered resources. She is also founder of Broken Made Beauty, a boutique and collective supporting various trauma survivors.
LYRA SHELTON
Lyra Huenink Shelton is a long-time resident of Mars Hill. In addition to being a gifted visual artist, she loves nature and was one of the first landscape designers for Mars Hill University Campus. Her paintings and mono prints have been exhibited in several local venues and we are proud to have her as a member of our Collective at Modern Local!
BETH BOONE
Beth Boone is the owner of Modern Local ARTSOUP, a lifelong resident of western North Carolina, and, most importantly, a lover of art in all its forms. She works in both oil and acrylic on canvas and describes her painting style as eclectic but most strongly influenced by figurative abstract expressionism. She particularly enjoys portraiture and welcomes new commissions. Her ceramic sculpture is all hand built using the methods of pinching, coiling and slab construction. She is the author and illustrator of a popular children’s book, Junebug’s New Red Shoes (2022), and is creating its coloring book companion.
DANALEE PIPES
Retiring from nursing over 20 years ago, I began to explore my left-brain tendencies by taking photography and art classes. To say I am self-taught is misleading as I have been fortunate to take many workshops and wonderful courses from some very talented artists and educators. I am fascinated by the techniques of encaustic (working with wax as an art medium,) collage, acrylic painting and more recently, mono printing as an art form. My love in combining everything in many different ways, allows me to identify as a mixed media artist.
CLAIRE GILLESPIE
Claire Gillespie lives in the East Fork community in Madison County with her husband, Robertjohn, two cats, and a dog. After retirement as a teacher at Mars Hill Elementary, she began watercolor painting.
Her interest in flora and fauna began as a child and was enhanced in the art electives she chose as an early childhood education major at Western Carolina University. Teaching, rearing two daughters, camping, hiking, and travel preceded her interest in painting. Around retirement in 2004, Marian Herm, a friend, encouraged Claire to take a watercolor class she was teaching at AB Tech. But it wasn’t until 2011, living in Newfoundland for five months each summer, that she began painting from nature. She and her friend Kaye regularly painted the local surroundings there for six years. Occasional classes by local artists in drawing and watercolor painting brought on the addition of wildlife to her landscapes.
A friend suggested selling her work as cards and prints which are now sold locally. She also has black-and-white illustrations in Steve German’s stress management manual published in late 2024. Participating in a regular painting group and involvement in events sponsored by the Madison County Arts Council keep her painting time active. Modern Local/Art Soup in Mars Hill is now featuring her paintings, prints, and cards!
PAT CHESHIRE
I love the outdoors and am passionate about preserving history through photographs. I mainly focus on capturing images of weathered yet picturesque barns before they are gone - when they are gone, they are gone. I also enjoy capturing the beauty of nature on my hiking and kayaking adventures as well as trips I occasionally take. To share my photography with others, I founded MoonShineCards as a cottage industry where I personally turn my works into frameable greeting cards and prints customers can send to their loved ones or keep for themselves. All of the photos you see on my cards can also be ordered as prints on this site.