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Left: “First Snow” was created from used teabags, acrylics and wire. Below: "Concealed Carry II" features used teabags on cheesecloth. Right: "Tea and Sympathy" was created with used teabags, acrylics and wire. Bottom Right: Judith Olson Gregory

For four decades Judith Olson Gregory of Davidson has been turning natural objects and treasures into thought-provoking works of art. But for a while now, this award-winning mixed-media artist has focused on used tea bags, and she has thousands of them from friends and neighbors, awaiting her conversion.

“I like to think that each tea bag comes with its own back story, from a formal tea served with tiny decrusted sandwiches to an intimate conversation over a comforting mug,” says Olson Gregory. “I like the lightness, the transparency and the stains that are

Davidson mixed media artist brings new meaning to “tea time”

BY: » Karel Bond Lucander PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: » Judith Olson Gregory

on them, each with its own history coming from different people and different places.” Origins of her tea-bag art

In the 1990s she began her tea-bag art odyssey with a large handmade paper kimono piece, “Chance and Choice.”

“I lined the kimono with tea bags and strings with labels, some replaced with cut out map pieces,” she says. “The idea was if you take a chance, you might read the tea leaves and if you make a choice, you might use a map. Every second of our lives, we’re making choices; do we base them on chance or are they an actual choice?”

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This is an advertisement. Not all agents are licensed to sell all products. Kent PikeService and product availability varies by state. HMIA001594 HAND CRAFTED WOODLicensed Insurance Agent Her art has been featured in various exhibitions throughout her native New York and nationwide. Regionally, “Taking Tea,” art, toys, games, gifts, home decor customize your order today! This is an advertisement. Not all agents are licensed to sell all products. Service and product availability varies by state. HMIA001594 a 12-foot-square teahouse, was on exhibit at Appalachian State University’s Turchin Center. It references “the somewhat dastardly history of how tea was ‘taken’ from China,” she says. Other tea-oriented works include “Book Club Tea,” incorporating fellow book club members’ used tea bags, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg tribute pieces with jabot collars made from “Choice” tea labels.

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“Thinking is 90 percent of my work,” she says. “It’s also an alchemal response; taking an unwanted, recycled tea bag and transforming it into something that’s sort of magical.”

And when she’s in her studio, contemplating her next creation, you’ll likely find Olson Gregory sipping her favorite PG Tips tea: “Iced, with no sugar and a little lemon.”

Since 2006, when she and her husband moved to Davidson, they have split their time between here and their home in Chautauqua, N.Y. This esteemed professional artist, who has also been an art teacher and a consultant, encourages us each to tap into our creative potential.

“Everybody is creative in some way and we are all more creative than we give ourselves credit for,” she says.

To view Judith Olson Gregory’s art or to commission ?a piece, visit judygregory.com or contact her at judithogregory@gmail.com.

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