Cara Smelter @ So & So Books
CARA SMELTER at So & So Books
February 1st, 2024 - April 26th, 2024
719 N. Person St, Raleigh NC, 27604
Artist Statement
My name is Cara Smelter and I tell short, non-fiction stories, with my linocuts. I am a trained scholar of African American History and a self-taught printmaker. My text driven linocuts are an intersection of my scholarship and creative pursuits enabling me to blend my love of language and the craft of story-telling, with the art of block printing. I would be remiss if I did not highlight that the titles of each print are of equal importance as the print itself. The titles are either in direct conversation with the linocut or provide critical context, narrative detail, and thick description that bring each piece to life.
My micro-narrative linocuts draw on my lived experience and allow the viewer to peer into my candid thoughts, feelings, struggles, and joys. My linocuts enable me to grapple with complicated emotions and the realities of my life. Some common themes in my work include: living in a disabled body; reflecting on my grief journey; and processing the impact of childhood abuse and neglect. I explore sexuality, love, death, trauma, addiction, compassion, and empathy in my life and often use my stories as vehicles to make social, cultural, and political commentary.
While my prints depict stories specific to my life, they feature characteristics of life and culture that appear across the narratives of others who have experienced similar struggles, joys, thoughts, and feelings. I endeavor to create linocuts that engages the viewer in what feels like an intimate conversation between friends - a conversation that brings levity to tough situations and lets the viewer know, I really fucking get it.
Biography
Cara Smelter is a child of the (long-leaf) pine. Cara's senior pug, WALL-E, is "Raleigh famous" and definitely has more followers than her on Instagram. Cara lives (unfamously) and hand-pulls prints in Raleigh, NC.
a sign from god
Linocut
9 x 12
2023
how are you feeling? really.
Linocut
9 x 12
2023
cara a. smelter lived
Linocut
9 x 12
2023
our love is dynamite
Linocut
9 x 12
2023
i love a good opossum
Linocut
4 x 4
2019
mantra
Linocut
5 x 7
2018
Exhibition Checklist + Pricing
a sign from god : $300
how are you feeling? really. : $300
cara a. smelter lived: $300
our love is dynamite : $300
i love a good opossum : $75
mantra : $150
to inquire about purchasing a piece please email Ant (they/them)!
Nick Osetek @ So & So Books
NICK OSETEK at SO & SO BOOKS
October 19, 2023 - January 3, 2024
So & So Books | 119 N Person Steet, Raleigh NC, 27604
The works on display are a selection of experimental, hand-printed artist proofs and monoprints made while studying advanced printmaking at Appalachian State. Traditionally, printmaking is known for repetition and duplication of a repeatable image, but through alternative techniques, monotype, or monoprinting; a one-off print can be produced that’s unique from a numbered edition. The selection features a variety of these techniques, as well as examples of hybridizing mediums into a single print, such as woodblock and photographic-intaglio or silkscreen and stone lithography. All prints displayed are attempts in pushing the bounds of the printmaking medium and are one of a kind, produced through alternative techniques, hybridization, and/or monoprinting.
Bio
Nick Osetek
Nick Osetek is an illustrator, printmaker, and tattooer currently working in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in 2016 from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina with a concentration in studio art and advanced printmaking. The 2 years following his degree, he taught woodshop foundations to incoming art students at Appalachian State, then completed a 6-month, sustainable printmaking internship at Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence, Massachusetts.
Former helicopter mechanic and engineering technician, Osetek holds an appreciation for technique, process-involved mediums, and displays a meticulous sense of detail in his work. The subject of his visual work draws inspiration from organic and mechanical compositions, contained chaos with moments of serendipity, and the darker elements of the world that exists within and without us.
Sehrish Kahn @ So & So Books
Sehrish Kahn at So & So Books
719 N. Person St
Raleigh NC, 27604
April - June, 2023
Artist Statement
Sehrish Khan is a Pakistani artist based in North Carolina. Her work offers a blend of different colors, techniques, ideas and patterns, which is why she abstains from limiting herself to a single genre. Her work illustrates the amalgamation of enriched cultures and experiences. Her vision has been constantly shifting, which allows her to portray reality in that moment of time.
Sehrish finds herself ever-evolving in the world of art and illustration.
In Your Love
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions 12"x16"
Price: $800
Everything is your sign. When drowned in your love, there is no need to be scared by the waves of the world!
Homesick
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 1.5'x2'
Price: $1200
Lahore was a different world in its own; the busy life, the rich history, the colorful culture, and the unfamiliar faces!!!
Cold Icy Stare
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 3'x3'
Price: $1500
To the women who don't shy away from looking at the difficulties of life eye to eye. These are the women who have the power of changing perspectives; their eyes control the movements of emotions that surround them. These are the women who behold a cold icy stare.
Bare Hands and Gentle Thoughts
Dimensions: 3'x4'
Medium: oil on canvas
Price: $1200
She is a protector, a mother, a wife, but above all, she is a woman who falls in love with her work every day. Her bare hands and calloused fingers pay the price of not giving up. She is a woman of timelessness, never stopping to breathe and working constantly.
Exhibition Checklist + Pricing
In Your Love: $800
Homesick: $1,200
Cold Icy Stare: $1,500
Bare Hands and Gentle Thoughts: $1,200
to inquire about purchasing a piece please email Ant (they/them)!