Sculptures by Jeff Price

Welcome to our newest artist Jeff Price.

Just in, fabulous kinetic sculptures that creates a strong, unique, optical illusion as they rotate - it appears that the marbles are either rising or falling. They are 24" tall with a powder coated, baked on paint. Jeff blows the large marbles one at a time, each an original work of art.

The wind twirlers rotate in the wind if outside, if inside they are rotated by hand or with a battery operated spinner (available in the gallery).

Many buy them for the beauty of the large marble as much as for the illusion. A screw eye and a very strong string for hanging are also included, along with instructions.

The year Jeff was born was the year his father built his first glass-blowing studio in their back yard. Both of Jeff's parents blew glass for many years. From an early age he would watch them with wonderment. They were having such great fun that he knew he wanted to blow glass when he "grew up."

Jeff has his own state-of-the art glass blowing studio with an electric furnace ( to provide the cleanest and brightest glass), two glory holes, an iridizing unit, grinding and polishing equipment.

A few Bimini Photos & Commentary

We ate lots of conch that we found ourselves.

We walked around N Bimini.

Stopped in to sample the local brew.

Michael said "I can't take this open beer with me can I?"

The response was "You can enjoy your beer in Bimini." So off we went.

Michael was also intrigued with the Screws & Booze store. In Bimini when you hear "I'm going to the hardware store" you know it's going to be a long time before they get back, booze is in the back of the store, screws and nails in the front.

Don't miss the Home Tour and Creative Hands

The New Bern Historical Society and the New Bern Preservation Foundation spring home and garden tour is coming up on April 17-18, 2009, from 10:00am - 5:00 pm.

A self guided tour of some of New Bern’s finest homes and gardens takes place on both Friday and Saturday. Visit many homes in the historic district, the 1930 Pinnix Drug Store where you can purchase a good old-fashion, homemade bag lunch and homemade baked goods and take a leisurely stroll along the timeworn streets of New Bern’s downtown historic district and explore the finest architecture and flora our town has to offer.

Tickets (each ticket good for entire event)
Advance Purchase: $15
Purchase after April 16: $20
NBHS or NBPF members advance purchase $13
Groups of 12 or more $13
Active duty military: $10

Order tickets at the New Bern Historical Society 252-638-8558 or visit the New Bern Historical Society, 512 Pollock Street, New Bern, NC.

Each year, downtown homeowners open their homes so that ticket holders may explore and appreciate the exquisite gardens and architectural history of houses on tour. Most downtown historic churches are also open on tour days.

Celebrate spring in New Bern!

Also at Carolina Creations we will have a reception open to the public from 5-8 pm on Friday evening where I (Jan Francoeur) will be demonstrating making tiles. Each year I make tiles of the homes that are on the home tour. We're calling this evening "Creative Hands" and there will be demonstrations at Art & Materials, Bank of the Arts and Artworks & Co. This event is free and open to the public.

Slow blogging, just back from Bimini

Just got back from a trip on a boat with our friends Spence and Dale.

We had a great time!!

They are anchored off Bimini for the winter so they picked us up at the ferry dock which is between N & S Bimini and off we went.

For those that don't know there is a string of tiny islands, only a few have people living on them, about 50 miles East of Miami in the Western Bahamas.

The North Island is 600 yards wide and about 7 miles long. The N end of the N Island is getting a huge development that stands pretty much empty at the moment and many wonder how the island will be able to support it. The rest of the N Island is the typical Carribbean Island, relatively poor with not a lot going on.

The S Island is where the airport is, has 2 medium sized resorts that seem to be good stewards of the earth. Bimini Sands has built and maintain a very nice nature trail.

But the best part of the whole thing is the water. It is beautiful. We ate fish, conch, lobster which we caught, every day. Went snorkeling, which was my very favorite part (even with seeing a Nurse Shark) and picking up conch right out of the dingy.

Now we're rested up and ready to get back to work.

Pat Holscher Gold Metal Winner, The American Watercolor Society

Congratulations to our gallery artist Pat Holscher on winning the Gold Metal, the highest award, in The American Watercolor Society 42nd AnnualInternational Exhibition in NYC, for her painting Family Dynamics.

Stop in to see the paintings we currently have by Pat.

Pat has has studied at Meredith College, East Carolina University and trained under many nationally recognized artists. She has been juried into shows throughout the U.S. and North Carolina.

She is active in the Watercolor Society of North Carolina, serving as President, board member, and newsletter editor.

She has been accepted into the National Watercolor Society (Signature Status), the Midwest Watercolor Society's National Exhibition, the Watercolor Art Society of Houston, and the American Kennel Club National Juried Competition.

Her work can be found in many corporate collections including Glaxo-Smith Kline, Wachovia, Nations Bank, and Allied Marine of Florida.

Very cute nightlights and clocks!

We have been working on expanding our baby section. A couple days ago I showed here the new "onesies" that we found and today these cute clocks and nightlights just came.

These pieces are created by artists Bruce Allison
and Jill Mayberg from their original paintings.


Jill Mayberg -
One of my oldest childhood memories are the thin, handmade, paper dolls from newspaper that my brother made for me.

I don't really remember what they look like now and maybe it's better that I don't because they probably wouldn't live up to my minds version of them but I think that this series of girl, doll paintings were born from this lovely gift to me as a child.

I paint because it gives me an opportunity to express myself and derive spiritual meaning.Very often I have no idea where an image comes from and am amazed at what I am capable of coming up with.Many times I start out with the intention of painting a particular image, color, or theme and am thwarted by unknown forces. Albeit frustrating at times, I embrace this element of the unknown.If the painting doesn't want to be red who am I to insist? "

Their work has been featured on HGTV, Womens World, Accessories Magazine as well as many other publications.

Very cute!

ArtWalk Friday March 13, 2009 Downtown New Bern, NC

Please join us at Carolina Creations and other downtown shops for our first ArtWalk of the year! At our gallery we feature artwork depicting New Bern by gallery artists Jan Francoeur, Mike Rooney, Brenda Behr, Janet Dixon, T Rader and others. We'll have Watercolors, Oils and clay.

The show opens on Friday March 13 from 5-8 pm and runs through April 30.

We will also have a book signing during ArtWalk for Karen Dodds new book call called "Shifting Sands" which takes place near Southport, NC. Stop in and meet the author.

ArtWalk is always a lot of fun! There will be new work at Carolina Creations, the Arts Council, Art and Materials, New Bern Art Gallery and others. It's a fun evening to stroll our streets, eat dinner downtown, stop in at Carolina Creations for refreshments and to see all your friends.

The work in our show include T Rader’s oils, such as his miniature, “New Bern Skyline 2009;” Brenda Behr’s calligraphic watercolors and oils; Janet Dixon’s watercolors; and Janet Francoeur’s acrylics, watercolors, and tiles.

Each artist takes a slightly different view of New Bern. Rader is known for his views from across the river, which, at fi rst glance, appear to be very detailed—however, as you approach the painting, you see that it is an impression of the scene.

Behr floods her art with color, then with a fine brush in a calligraphic style paints in the details, giving the painting a very loose and lively interpretation.

Dixon uses strong color in paintings that depict the Christ Church fence and the Trent River waterfront.

Francoeur’s eathernware clay tiles feature the homes that will be on the Historic Home and Garden Tour in April.

For more information, call Carolina Creations at 252-633-4369 or email info@carolinacreations.

Green and Organic

We are pleased that we're finding more "green" and natural gifts for the gallery. A few of the new pieces are our new organic "onesies" for our baby section.

Made by hand in the USA.

These are VERY cute and come in 2 sizes.

Our favorite is Peace Baby and a close 2nd is Beach Baby. For more information go to our website.

Then we found these great enviro sax that roll up very small and you can carry one in your purse.

No more forgetting your reuseable bag when you go to the grocery.

$8.50 - Save a tree!

Bamboo has helped humankind since time began for shelter, weapons, food, and medicine. Something about bamboo fulfills a basic human need of getting back to nature and a more simple life. There are 12,000 documented species & varieties.

Bamboo is actually a grass that grows to a harvestable height between 3 - 5 years. Some species grow up to 2 feet per day. After harvesting, bamboo does not require replanting, it has an extensive root system that continually sends up new shoots, naturally replenishing itself, making it one of the most renewable resources known. No old growth forests are touched, no trees are cut.

Bamboo is 16% harder than maple wood, 1/3 lighter in weight than oak, yet in some instances as strong as steel. Bamboo is sustainable, cost effective, and ecologically responsible alternative to the widespread clearcutting of our old growth forests.

Unlike most other hardwoods, it absorbs very little moisture and consequently does not shrink or swell as much making it a superior choice of material for kitchen items.

We think the design of these salad hands is just super.

We will be adding bamboo salad bowls as well, we'll let you know when they come!

For more information or To purchase.

- Jan Carolina Creations Downtown New Bern

Welcome to our newest painter Douglas Hoover

We are pleased to now be representing North Carolina artist Douglas Hoover.

Douglas Hoover is a self-taught artist based in central North Carolina whose work has been shown and collected throughout the southeastern United States.

He attributes his talent and exposure to artistic creativity to the support and encouragement of his family, friends and teachers. During his formative years in Jr High and Senior High School, he entered his artworks in many juried exhibitions such as the Scholastic Art Awards and received many Gold Key awards and Certificates of Merit. He was awarded the opportunity to exhibit in the fourth annual Congressional Arts Competition in Washington, DC, representing the 6th District of North Carolina with the Honorable Howard Coble.

Having studied Creative Design and Graphic Arts in college, Douglas pursued a successful career as an illustrator and art director for the advertising industry. Not losing sight of his artistic passion, he continues to study painting and embraces new techniques and challenges that he believes will help further his skill as an artist.

"My passion is observing and capturing momentary impressions of life around me. These moments are what makes up the perception of my existence. Infusing these concepts with elements of impressionistic style, good composition and brilliant color, allows me to capture the feeling of the moment. I want to paint what I see, but more than that, I want feeling and truth to become the subject of my paintings."

Stop in to see his work or go to our website for details or to purchase.

Lady Barbara is a gallery wrapped canvas that measures 10 x 10".

Hope to see you soon!

Jan Francoeur

Just back from Pinehurst and Fayetteville

I just returned from a couple days visiting my nieces in Fayetteville. We had a great time catching up. We also did a little shopping and looking around.

There were two surprises!

I always love going to Pinehurst, their downtown is small and easy to walk around and see all the shops in a short time. I was thankful that my favorite clothing store the faded rose was still there but very disappointed that there are many, many empty shops. In fact there was only about 1/3 of the shops that there normally are. Don't know what's up with that.

Southern Pines, on the other hand, looked great and the storefronts were full. There were some cute shops. The only bad thing is that we were there on Monday and lots of shops were closed. (which is why we are open 7 days a week, we hate to disappoint anyone.)

But the biggest surprise was downtown Fayetteville. When we moved to New Bern downtown Fayetteville was a wasteland. I think they called it FayetteNam. I remember driving downtown there and seeing the ladies standing on the street corners and hanging out of dilapadated buildings looking for a little business.

What a surprise I had. Now don't get me wrong there are still many empty buildings but there is difenately a revival going on! New condos are just being finished, 2nd floor condos are being built. There are some cute shops. There are many empty buildings like I said but they are cleaned out just waiting for someone to move it. Reminds me in a way of what New Bern looked like when we opened on Middle Street in 1989.

It will be interesting to watch how things develop, both in Pinehurst and Fayetteville.

Update from the North Carolina History and Education Center construction site

This is an update from Tryon Palace

"Progress continues at a steady pace for the North Carolina History and Education Center. While the crane continues to hammer down the remaining 50 foundation pilings, some other exciting things are happening.

Foundation walls on the north side of the project are being erected, and on the south side facing the water a 35,000 gallon cistern is being built. Rain from the roofs will be collected in the cistern and reused for irrigating landscape throughout the site.

We are committed to our efforts to go "green". Our project will be one of the few certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) museums in North Carolina. Stay tuned for future updates!


This cistern will be a key element as we go "green"!


Foundation walls go up for the North Carolina History and Education Center."

We are thrilled that this project is moving along. Other large projects under contruction as we speak are the garden of the First Baptist Church at the corner of Pollock & Middle Street, Broad Street median strip, the Trent River Bridge, the renovation of the Elks Building and the renovation of the Vault on Pollock. - Jan Francoeur