Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Pat Woodruff (left) and Gretchen St. Lawrence, members of the Floyd Artists Association paint at their Under the Sun Gallery.

Artwork by Emily Williamson, currently on display at Art Under the Sun.

Meet the Floyd Artists Association

Tina Liza Jones

• Time in Floyd: 20 years
• Medium: Black-and-white drawings on paper
• Artist statement: "My drawings are mostly of musical instruments, jam sessions, and the crazy characters that populate our world of fiddlers' conventions … and the beautiful Blue Ridge."

Karen Limke

• Time in Floyd: 8 years
• Medium: Pastel and watercolor
• Artist statement: "I learn about and understand things and the relationship between things best by drawing them. I believe empathy is truest when we try to capture the likeness of someone or something in a drawing, painting or sculpture."

Gretchen St. Lawrence

• Time in Floyd: 1 ½ years
• Medium: Pastel and watercolor
• Artist satement: "I am really in my comfort zone now, being able to pursue a passion to capture the life quality of landscapes, pets and people that are part of my wonderful life."

Karen Sewell

• Time in Floyd: Lifelong resident
• Medium: Watercolor
• Artist statement: "I feel that the past intermingles with the present and influences our future. My inspiration comes from observing the small vignettes of everyday life."

Marsha Slopey Paulekas

• Time in Floyd: 20 years Medium: Pastel and oil Artist statement: "I see life as art and art as life. They flow back and forth between each other like a whirling pool of light and color. No matter where I have been during my life, I have always been my art and my art has always been me."

Patricia Woodruff

• Time in Floyd: 3 years
• Medium: Primarily watercolor
• Artist statement: “For me, creating art is like being in love. When I am separated too long from being able to do art, there is a feeling of restlessness and longing.”

Want to go?

• What: Art Under the Sun
• Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
• Drawing sessions: 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
• Where: 302 South Locust St., Floyd
• Contact: 745-PENS (7367)
• Artunderthesun.org.

Forget everything you think you know about what happens when women come together to achieve a shared goal: the cattiness, the bossiness, the competition.

For a group of women in Floyd, working together is as easy as lazing Under the Sun.

This weekend, the new Floyd Artists Association will host the grand opening of its gallery, Art Under the Sun. Although the gallery has been open since June 1, the celebration will mark its official debut onto the local art scene, and the fruition of months of collaboration between six very different women.

"We have a great group, full of talented and hard-working artists who are actually still friends!" said association member Karen Limke.

The association's founding artists -- all members of the Floyd Figures Art Group -- began plans for the gallery back in September when they learned of Winter Sun owner Anga Miller's plans to renovate the building's basement.

Intrigued by the space, the artists put their heads together and decided to rent one of the rooms. Miller said she'd originally planned to use the space for small retail shops, but changed her mind after the artists approached her about the gallery.

"When the artists came in and were so excited, I just thought 'Oh, we should go in this direction and have it be art and crafts,' " Miller explained. In addition to Art Under the Sun, the lower level (called Under the Sun) currently houses two other galleries and a candle and soap shop. A Mexican restaurant is set to open in August, and Miller plans to rent the final space to another artisan soon.

Once Miller approved their application, the Floyd Artists Association was born. The group spent April preparing the space and moved in in May.

"We don't have business people here. We are artist-friendly, and we want to promote all the artists in Floyd," said co-founder Marsha Slopey Paulekas, whose Studio One is next door to Art Under the Sun.

"We are for artists, by artists," agreed fellow founder Tina Liza Jones.

As such, the members of the group hope to coordinate events with Floyd businesses such as Over the Moon Gallery -- perhaps to acknowledge the complementary nature of the galleries' names -- and some of their work is now on display at Oddfellas Cantina. The association has also designed for the new Hotel Floyd a room with an art class theme, complete with paper and supplies. The hotel is set to open in September and each of the hotel's 14 rooms will be decorated by a different Floyd business.

While the artists' styles are clearly different, they all reflect an appreciation of Floyd's culture. Each artist incorporates local touches in her work, such as Jones' ink-on-paper drawings of bluegrass musicians and instruments, or Karen Sewell's watercolor depictions of Floyd's country landscapes.

Art Under the Sun will feature both the work of the founders and that of other artists in the community. Co-founder Patricia Woodruff said the group wants to help emerging artists learn and grow by providing guidance with writing artist statements and exhibiting work, which can be costly at some galleries. Nonmembers of the Floyd Artists Association can exhibit their work at Art Under the Sun for a 30-percent commission.

Anyone can come to the gallery to draw or sketch for a $5 fee. On weekends, the artists will host figure drawing and still-life sessions, open to artists of all levels for $10.

Once the whirlwind of the first month of operation has passed, the Floyd Artists Association will host art and music events at the gallery on the first Fridays of each month. The hope is that these monthly events will make Art Under the Sun a youthful, accessible space.

"We're trying to keep it a down-to-earth, family-friendly gallery," said Paulekas.

The organization has room for six more full members (for a total of 12), along with partial memberships and scholarships for other artists.

"A lot of people who are retiring want to get back into [art]," said co-founder Gretchen St. Lawrence. "We want to create an opportunity for them to do that."

Woodruff added that "keeping the art in the middle of town and accessible" is one of the Floyd Artists Association's main goals. Making the art affordable and the gallery open to all will help nurture the town's trademark collaborative spirit.

"We try to promote other people and ourselves at the same time," Paulekas said. "We want to create a symbiotic relationship."

What’s new Under the Sun

If you're heading to the Art Under the Sun gallery, take time to mosey around the rest of the new space.

Over at the Craft Cottage, candle-maker Tammy Sulpizi and her mother, soap-maker Alice Moyer, offer hand-made, environmentally friendly products.

"We could hardly wait to get in here," said Sulpizi, who's been making candles for about six years, of her first store venture. "It's a comfortable little spot."

She makes two types of candles: one made from a soy blend and another made from palm wax, a harder substance.

Moyer's soaps also are made with all-natural ingredients, and the only animal products she uses are goat’s milk and beeswax.

Next door to the candle shop, printmaker Kate Anderson has opened her own gallery.

"I wanted a hometown presence," she said of moving her work from her home studio to the retail space. Anderson, another member of the Floyd Figures Art Group, first got into printmaking about 15 years ago, after trying out hand prints and "falling in love with it."

In her new studio, she’s experimenting with greener print technology, such as using water-based ink and solar etching.

— Tamara Gaskin

Correction: Floyd artist Karen Sewell's primary media are oil and pastel. A story about the Floyd Artists Association in Tuesday's Extra section listed the incorrect primary medium.