Krista Lynn Ortega styles the hair of Catalaya Acevado, 3, on the front porch of her home in Johnstown on July 2.

Salon chair gossip

Micropolis Cooperative Art Gallery is scheduled to host a meet-the-artists reception on Friday, July 11, from 4 to 6 p.m.

The show features the woodwork of guest artist Jeff Meuwissen and gallery members Robert Haining and Jonathan Moore.

Meuwissen is a retired forester. He worked for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for 33 years managing private and state lands in the southern Adirondacks.

His love of woodworking came about as a child, having learned it from his father who taught industrial arts. He has developed his interests in the direction of fine furniture, woodturning, woodcarving and wood art, including developing his own variations of the art of intarsia. He has worked in stained glass since 1987 and invented his unique intarsia/stained glass style in 1999.

Meuwissen’s work has been displayed in woodworking and woodcarving shows in New York and North Carolina. He has won numerous awards in the North Carolina Senior Games and other arts competitions in New York and North Carolina. His most recent accomplishments include winning 14 ribbons and a Best of Show in the 2025 Charlotte Woodcarvers Show, which is the largest woodcarvers show in the United States, according to a news release

Meuwissen’s Facebook page, JeffArt Designs, has an extensive photo gallery of his work. He also has a YouTube channel under Jeffrey Meuwissen where he has posted several videos illustrating his work.

He and his wife Janet, a published author, lived in Northville for many years before moving to Leland, North Carolina, in 2017.

As a young boy, Haining had an undying curiosity which led him through formal training as a scientist. He spent most of his career doing research and teaching in the areas of chemistry and biochemistry. The process of discovery, experimentalism, and exploration are central to his identity and show through in his art.

Haining’s love of wood came from his father, who allowed free use of the garage, the tools and all the scrap wood leftover from building an addition to the family home. An appreciation for art came from his mother, who obtained her Masters of Art studying fakes and forgeries among Northwest Coast Native American Indian artifacts. Haining recently retired from teaching and moved to........

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