Jean McLaughlin working on a small print in the studio.
Happy Valley, NC – The Happy Valley Filling Station is pleased to announce a show of new work by Jean McLaughlin and Tom Spleth running now through March 29, 2026.
Jean McLaughlin was Director of Penland School of Craft for twenty years, and Director of Visual Arts with the NC Arts Council for sixteen years prior to Penland. She studied art at the CA College of the Arts, UNC -Chapel Hill and Penland School of Craft, and she has a Masters in Liberal Studies from NC State University. Her time also includes volunteering; she currently serves on boards of the Community Foundation of Western NC and Wildacres Retreat, and has served on boards of the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, American Craft Council, UNC School of the Arts, NC Arts Council and United States Artists.
At the NC Arts Council, Jean was able to develop fellowships and artists’ grants as well as to establish new works grants and a public art program. At Penland, she led the organization through a period of growth and preservation to establish an endowment, build scholarships, address facility and infrastructure needs, and increase annual giving. New studio facilities were constructed for iron, wood, letterpress, printmaking, books, drawing and painting, photography and papermaking. Existing studios for textiles, metal and clay were updated. New housing facilities were built and existing ones renovated. The Penland Gallery and Visitors Center was renovated and a new exhibition space added. The School became a district on the National Register of Historic Places, ensuring long-term commitment to preserving Penland’s historic fabric.
Retired now after 45 years in nonprofit management, Jean has returned to her own art-making practice. “After a career helping other artists make their work, I am now immersed in the making process myself. My work reflects and interprets the environment surrounding me – which extends from the landscape to family history. My years of working at the NC Arts Council and Penland School of Craft introduced me to thousands of artists and their approaches to the creative process – a joy that is now mine.” Visit Jean’s work at www.jeanmclaughlin.studio.
Petunia – Digital Drawing by Tom Spleth.
Tom Spleth was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1946. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute and then the State University of New York, College of Ceramics at Alfred University for his Masters degree. Upon graduation in 1971, he set up a studio practice which he continues to this day. Returning to teach at Alfred in 1978, he left he academic life in 1984, yet continued working with students through workshops at Penland School, Haystack, Anderson Ranch, Arrowmont and various universities.
Tom has used residencies throughout his career to advance his work – most notably the Arts/Industry Program at the JM Kohler Arts Center in Kohler, WI and the Golden Foundation in New Berlin, NY. Important exhibitions include a one-person show of paintings at Art, Light + Design Gallery in Chapel Hill in 2016 and a retrospective exhibition at the Gregg Museum in 2007. A collaboration in ceramics with Israeli painter Moshe Gershuni resulted in a 1998 traveling exhibition in the Southeast. In 2022 Tom had a one-person exhibition at the Cary Arts Center in Cary, NC and in 2023 a two-person exhibition at the USC Sea Island Center Gallery in Beaufort, SC.
“I work in a variety of media, in these cases watercolor and digital drawings. For the digital drawings, I use an Ipad and drawing apps to create work from travels, family reflections, the flowers in my surroundings and my imagination. The images are printed onto aluminum to give them a physical form and a reflective surface that feels in keeping with the contemporary digital environment. After completing these digital works, I have returned to the directness of analog methods, working with watercolor, paper and brushes.”
Tom Spleth and Jean McLaughlin live and work in Little Switzerland, NC. A public reception for the artists and their work will be held at the Happy Valley Filling Station on Wednesday, January 28th at 5pm. The Filling Station is located at 1275 Highway 268 in Happy Valley, six miles north of Lenoir, NC. The Station is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 11am to 9pm. www.happyvalleyfillingstation.com.
