Carlos Vargas

Carlos Vargas

September/October

HagerSmith
300 S Dawson St, Raleigh, NC 27601
10-4

First Friday - October 5th
6-9

ARTIST BIO

Carlos Vargas was born in Miami, Florida and attended UNCC (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), receiving a B.F.A. in Art ,with concentrations in graphic design and digital media, in 2018 . His body of work ranges from graphic design to experimental video to even digital paintings . Carlos recently presented one of his video pieces (To + Fro) at the annual Digital Graffiti festival in Alys Beach, Fl. Carlos' main inspiration comes from stories. Since he was a little kid, Carlos would read fantasy stories and and analyze them. This analysis would become the basis of each and every one of his pieces. When not creating work, Carlos is playing or running tabletop games with his friends. 

ARTIST STATMENT

All artist have their own style when it comes to art. Picasso had cubism. Andrew Warhol had Pop Art. I have Ink blots. This series is an ongoing collection of self-expression. These ink blots are not created but rather form when I reach a state of relaxation. Because of this, no two ink blots are exactly the same much like no two moments in life are ever the same. My goal in this series is to present  the viewer with a glimpse into who I am both as a person and as an artist. 

Susie Silver I HagerSmith

Susie Silver

HagerSmith Designs
January - February

ARTIST STATEMENT

I seek to eliminate all or most realistic imagery from my work. I acquit myself from making work that has been expected of me. I focus on manipulation of media while immersed in the process of creating. Pieces are built with layers of media, constructing the final product over time through multiple working sessions. Basic elements and principles of art such as line, shape, color and movement are key components in my current body of work.  I use minimal tools in the process of creating pieces often using my hands, fingers and breath to guide mediums around the working surface. Spontaneous and unplanned moments occur in every piece, which is exciting and challenging to me.

When I was a teenager, my attitude towards making art shifted dramatically as I let go of the notion that successful art had to be realistic. I was enamored by artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Wassily Kandinsky, Frank Stella and Jackson Pollock. Their work supported the ideas I had; to be focused on color, process, composition, etc. I knew that I could make tightly rendered, realistic work, but never felt comfortable with those creations representing me as an artist. I eventually listened to my instincts and started to strip away imagery, or at the very least abstract it. I allowed myself to focus on process, use of media and the basic components of art. I held onto this foundation through my college body of work, which allowed me to heavily investigate my viewpoint as an artist. I completed most of my work in clay and glass during this time (BFA, Alfred University 2002). As I moved into my professional teaching career, the artist I became started to dwindle. As educators, we strive every day to inspire our students to find their own personal voice in their artwork. As educator-artists, we often struggle with finding that very voice in our own work. I found myself back at the crossroads of feeling like I was supposed to make realistic art, as that was a great deal of what I was required to teach. I started many pieces that have never been finished and at times I was paralyzed by indecision and the pressure to be a realist. I placed a false reality on myself as a realistic artist. As a result, my authenticity and creativity suffered.

Over the past year, I have revisited my artistic influences and have opened up again to the mindset I established over twenty years ago.  I have placed no restriction on myself regarding what a final piece should look like. I get lost in the process of creation and media manipulation.  The subject matter, style and media are now my confident choices, not decisions that I feel were made for me. After years of dormancy, I have finally revealed work that is authentic and genuine.

Brian Imfeld / HagerSmith

Brian Imfeld

HagerSmith
November/December
 

Artist Statement

Can we understand anything absolutely and completely? Even if we study and measure every quality we see, there are important characteristics that are beyond our ability to measure. Measuring and organizing helps everyone to better understand how the world works.  But the full picture is still always slightly, we hope only slightly, beyond full comprehension.    

My work is compositionally inspired by the visual language of graphs, charts, and writing. When I plan and lay out my work, I incorporate grids, consider margins, and arrange symbols to create a space where the placement of something has meaning and is in part defined by our experiences with other visual forms of communications.  Grid lines could divide individuals or highlight their commonalities, and a line graph could represent changes between two points but could also be a horizon line.  As I collect data for each piece, I determine a layer by layer procedure to incorporate each piece of information into the same space.

I choose many of my materials for the textures they allow me to create. My aim is to elicit an impression about the environment of the artwork; similar to the way walking in the sand or stepping on broken glass might also conjure an impression. Incorporating found objects and unconventional art-making materials allows the nature of the materials to represent for me unclear characteristics that cannot be defined or quantified.  Spread over the entire surface, these non-quantifiables are present everywhere.

As a constant observer, I always feel that if I continue to look at a problem I may find a new perspective from which to see it. Through my art-making process, I might determine where I exist within the composition. And maybe you can see yourself somewhere in the grid also.   

Biography

Brian Imfeld was born in 1978 in Beaufort, South Carolina. As the son of military parents he studied and learned in many towns and cities in the eastern United States. In 2001, Brian earned his BFA in Printmaking and BS in Art from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. His work has been included in exhibitions in Ohio and North Carolina. He recently exhibited a piece in the 2017 North Carolina Artist Exhibit at the Duke Energy Center in Raleigh, NC.  Brian currently lives and works as an Art teacher in Raleigh, NC.

Anthony Garcia-Copian

Anthony Garcia-Copain

HagerSmith
September-October

When I paint, I paint abstract memories. Sometimes the memory is foggy and has been replaced by an imaginary sediment, a residue that has made one memory solid and the other fluid.

Everything in art is a memory.

I have empathic traits, therefore I paint the images of the emotions that I am able to absorb from strangers and from those who surround me.

The only expectation that I have from my art is pleasure.

AGC

Anthony Garcia-Copian / HagerSmith

Anthony Garcia-Copian

September/October

When I paint, I paint abstract memories. Sometimes the memory is foggy and has been replaced by an imaginary sediment, a residue that has made one memory solid and the other fluid.

Everything in art is a memory.

I have empathic traits, therefore I paint the images of the emotions that I am able to absorb from strangers and from those who surround me.

The only expectation that I have from my art is pleasure.

- AGC

Ray Pfeiffer / HangerSmith Design

Ocean Study: Meditation #22

July-August

Songs Without Words: Meditations 

For me, music and photography have always been inextricably linked. Artists use both forms to tell stories, elicit feelings, or otherwise express the inexpressible. This idea was stated quite succinctly by Graham Nash who once observed: "To me there's absolutely no difference between photography and music. After all, I'm just playing with frequencies: light or sound."

The “Meditations” series, represents the ways photographs, like music, can tell stories without the need for words. Each image is a visual representation, or meditation on an idea expressed in much the same way as if improvised by a musician. Expressing thoughts that are often difficult to put into words.

These images are an exploration of musical meditations represented by the never-ending ebb and flow of ocean waves as they caress the beach. Classical composers would often create works intended to put the listener in a state of thoughtful calm or meditation. Music designed for the listener to relax and explore their inner thoughts. For me, listening to the ocean will produce the same effect. I approached this series in the same vein, listening to the sounds and recording my responses as I listened.

About Ray

Ray is a Visual Anthropologist based in Raleigh, NC. Rather than use words, he creates images to illustrate an idea, or create a narrative for the viewer to follow. When not searching for stories to tell, Ray has guest lectured, taught photography, and understanding creativity, for many educational and civic groups. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Panorama Photographers, he is also the moderator for the photographers’ forum at Visual Art Exchange, as well as an event/exhibition coordinator for the annual Click! Photography Festival. He also bakes great cookies.

Lisa Bartell / HagerSmith PA

Finding Faces

April - May 2016
First Friday Receptions: April 1 & May 6, 6-9pm
300 S. Dawson Street, Raleigh, NC 27601

Artist Statement
Looking back on each body of paintings, I now see how creating has healed and transformed my life. After years of working as an illustrator and portrait artist, I began oil painting as an internal expression. Uncovering hidden layers of the self, made it obvious that I needed to visually reflect what I was feeling. My paintings have been consistently influenced by past events which suddenly changed my internal perceptions of reality.

In a way, I’m returning to my childhood habit of staring at wood grain and discovering faces. Each painting begins with a dark hue brushed in various directions creating nebulous forms. Standing back from the canvas begins the search for lines and shapes that will influence the painting. After a lot of focused staring, imaginary yet recognizable imagery appears. Colors and brushstrokes are constantly transforming, while making decisions about what is or isn’t working in the composition. My ego wants to keep every form, but stripping away what doesn’t enhance the painting is part of the experienced and rational aspect of creating.

I often have to tell myself to just stop. The painting is finished.

My current paintings are a more playful expression, as the imagery is whimsical figures and mythical creatures. My goal is to create a colorful menagerie of odd and unusual characters intermingled in a performance of their own reality.

The imagery of my work may change from botanical abstracts to figurative abstracts, but the inspiration remains constant: an interpretation of the ongoing alterations to our internal perceptions of what is real.

Biographical Information
Lisa Bartell was born in Albany, New York and raised in several areas of the country: Oakland, Ca, Syracuse, NY, Memphis, Tn. and Louisville, Kentucky. At the age of seventeen she moved to Mons, Belgium. She has now settled in Durham, NC with her husband Gary and two four legged children, Dexter and Drusilla. Bartell has two happy and healthy adult children, Sophia and Christopher.

Bartell’s mother encouraged creativity throughout her childhood, beginning with the design of Christmas and Valentine cards, walnuts turned into turtle pins and later Saturday drawing and painting classes at local art colleges. She went on to receive a BFA from Kent State University and an MFA from the University of Memphis. She also studied at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art.

After several years as an illustrator and portrait artist, Bartell began oil painting in 2002. Her current paintings are a positive expression of life, depicting whimsical figures and imaginary animals.

Bartell is an award winning artist having received two artist showcase awards from Manhattan Arts International’s “The Healing Power of Art” and honorary mention from the Durham Art Guild and Light, Space and Time Gallery. Bartell has had several solo exhibits and group shows juried by renowned artists Beverly McIver, John Beerman and John Rosenthal. Her work is in several private collections.

Bartell has been featured in Durham’s The Herald Sun and the Herald Sun Metro, the Raleigh News and Observer, The Chapel Hill Independent, Artsee magazine and Art Calendar magazine. Her work was seen on Good Morning America’s segment Bob Woodward Reports, “Unsung Heroes: Families of Wounded Soldiers.”

HagerSmith Design PA is located in Raleigh’s Warehouse District, right around the corner from VAE at 300 S. Dawson Street. The gallery is open to the public Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and on First Friday from 6-9pm on the First Friday.