Jewelry

By Ali Wieboldt

"Aspen in Moonlight"

Textile art by Ann Reardon

AMY MATZKE The Roanoke Times

From left: Martha Olson, Judy Schwab, Ali Wieboldt and Ann Reardon discuss a costume Reardon has been making for a children's performance. The women are part of an artist lunch group called JAM Squared. Martha Dillard and Jennifer Lovejoy are also in the group but not pictured.

"Appalachian Spring"

By Martha Dillard

"Beading the Bag" Copper on fabric by Judy Schwab

"Along the Way"

Stone carving by Jennifer Lovejoy

"The Cascades"

Paper media by Martha Olson

EGGLESTON -- Lunch, laughter and art.

Each month, a group of six women, all post-50, get together for a lunch date to talk about their mutual passion, art.

The group, called JAM Squared, is made up of Judy Schwab, Jennifer Lovejoy, Ann Reardon, Ali Wieboldt, Martha Dillard and Martha Olson, who are all artists in different media.

Schwab is a mixed-media artist who uses fabric combined with other materials to create textile pieces. Lovejoy is a stone carver and architect. Dillard is painter specializing in landscapes and abstracts. Olson makes paper mosaics. Wieboldt is a jeweler who uses acrylic paint and graphite to draw on jewelry. And Reardon creates hand-sewn wall hangings and costumes with fabric.

The name of the group is derived from the fact that "J," "A" or "M" are the first initials of the three pairs of women in the group. The lunches started about five years ago. The women got together periodically to chat and had such a good time they decided to do it monthly, Lovejoy said.

They talk about their artwork, share ideas, discuss and trade books, and plan group art shows, the next of which is set for Oct. 19.

In the beginning, the women went out to lunch -- and still do every once in awhile. Now they mostly meet in each other's homes for potluck-style meals.

After their September lunch at Reardon's house, all the women went upstairs to her studio to see the new wall hanging she had been working on and a costume she was making for a children's play.

They bring pieces to share to some lunches, but that's not the primary activity, Lovejoy said.

"We throw ideas out if someone needs them, but that's not the focus of the group," Wieboldt said.

The focus is simply on art now that the women are at a point in their lives where their children are grown and they aren't climbing the career ladder, Lovejoy wrote in a description of the group.

"When we get together we talk about art and it somehow inspires us to do more," Schwab said.

"We're not necessarily inspired by the actual image on the work, but the quality and idea," Wieboldt added.

They trade ideas and try to incorporate ideas from one another's works into their own -- Reardon recently tried Olson's form of paper art, which incorporates distressing glossy magazine pages with a solvent and painting over them.

The group also goes on the road to see other artwork and get ideas for shows, including trips to the American Craft Council Show in Baltimore and galleries in Winston-Salem and Asheville, N.C.

"We try to see the different potential for our shows, otherwise we get busy and don't work on our art as much as we should," Lovejoy said.