EXCHANGE GALLERY: Interactive Lab

Now through August 25!

KNOCK KNOCK WALL!
Knock Knock!
Whose there?!
BOO!
BOO Who?!
Don't cry, you can add a joke to the knock knock wall too!

VAE is transforming its front gallery space into a knock knock joke zone! Come on by with your best knock knock jokes and add it to the wall of hilarity!

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?

To get to VAE of coarse! Come by VAE and add your own punch line to this classic joke. 

Nora Hartlaub: Hush

June 22 - August 5, 201
First Friday Receptions: July 1 & August 5, 6-10p

ARTIST STATEMENT
My work explores the way in which power and influence affect the body in politics, history, and mass media.  I juxtapose items of cultural significance with abstracted forms in order to reveal the esoteric nature of patriarchal / imperial power as a mechanism for social control disguised as entertainment, nostalgia, or governance.  I employ abstraction as a means to make visually concrete the function of influence itself on the body.  The complex / abstruse power systems imbedded in culture provide the fodder for the forms I create.  I intend to expose, subvert, and play with the idea of power itself.  This installation specifically addresses North Carolina’s relationship to these concepts through legislative language.

North Carolina’s continuing record of passing legislation that limits civil rights within the state has effectively obstructed women’s rights and voter’s rights.  Recently, the passing of HB2 has created laws intended to oppress LGBTQ persons, and also unjustly misrepresents workers within the state.  The state legislature’s inclination is to disguise a bill as having one purpose, when in actuality it effectively has a much broader and damaging scope as reflected in HB 353, passed in 2013.  This bill attached women’s health care issues to a motorcycle safety act at the 11th hour, and is a deceitful and underhanded action at best.  HB 589 limits voter’s rights and impacts the most disadvantaged in the state under the guise of “voter confidence” in fear of “voter fraud”, an almost non-existent problem in the state of North Carolina.  The camouflaging of true intent inherent in these bills reflects the complex nature of a power system rooted in fear of the other.  It also reveals the reduction of people to statistics in order to publically control and legislate our identities.

In this installation, these bills and others take shape as disassembled, disemboweled, and mutilated forms that aim to expose the reduction of humans into biological and physiological terms within the language of legislation.  Color, sound and fog create a distraction / diversion, much in the way systems of repressive power appear as forms of entertainment, or, as in this case, in the language of legislation. 

525,600 MINS

May 28 - September 3, 2016
Artist Talks & Reception: Friday, June 10, 5-8pm
Waterworks Visual Art Center
123 East Liberty Street, Salisbury, NC2814

The purpose of 525,600 MINS is to exhibit works that show how creative people think about time and place. The exhibition includes 47 works by 32 VAE artist members. Works in the exhibit showcase: The passing of time - displaying how people and things age. The measurement of time and/or the tools used to do just that. The changes in times - like how technology has changed the world. How time affects a certain place - like the image of a piece of land before and after urbanization.

The exhibition is on view at the Waterworks Visual Art Center in the heart of Downtown Salisbury's arts district.

Waterworks Visual Arts Center is a non-collecting art museum accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and located in the heart of Downtown Salisbury, North Carolina. Waterworks is an exciting place where ideas, issues, and communities converge to expand traditional ways of thinking and explore the complex and unfolding patterns between artistic and cultural spheres.

Waterworks strives to be a leader and innovator in the exhibition of art and in museum education. Creative and expressive artwork from established and emerging regional and local artists are featured in rotation exhibitions annually. The museum is open free of charge six days a week.

The following artists have work in this exhibition:
Ashley Arakas
Kelli Black
Eliza Campbell Kiser
Caroline Coven
Stephen Fletcher
George Gregory
Brian Imfeld
Christin Kleinstreuer
Leatha Koefler
Sam Lasris
Erin Lawler
Sherri Leeder
Mimi Logothetis
Richard Lund
Randy McNamara
Elizabeth Mead
Jeff Newell
Anna Norman
Chris Ogden
Jena Pendarvis
Ray Pfeiffer
Eric Raddatz
Kathleen Rieder
Leslie Salzillo
Eric Saunders
Donna Schultz
Susan Sharpe
Judith Smith
Richard Stickney
Yuko Taylor
Tanya Sue Todd
Virginia Tyler

Questions? Email Brandon!

Mary Ann Anderson / AJ Fletcher Foundation

July - September 2016

ARTIST STATEMENT
My paintings are informed by philosophy and art, especially:
- Chinese and Japanese art – transcending time and space;
- Kandinsky’s conceptual premise that painting and music lead us to a higher level of consciousness - needing no words or story;
- American abstract expressionist art, conceptual art and the music of Stravinsky - recognizing the human experience was profoundly altered at the dawn of the 20th century.

I continue to explore themes and techniques I have used inpaintings, printmaking and ceramic sculptures over the past 25 years of art making.   Several bodies ofwork are shown on this web site which encompasses 2007-2016.  All of these mixed media pieces are made using graphite, acrylic varnish and acrylic paint on synthetic paper (Yupo). The sizes vary dramatically, from one exhibit to the next.  Much of the work is site-specific and was created specifically for installations.

Most of the paintings and collages are non-representational while some are biomorphic (curving organic forms that imply figures). In my paintings, gesture signifies “qi” (the life force) within the Tao (the way of the universe).  The abstract work is reminiscent of Asian calligraphy. The patterns echo Japanese and Chinese woodblock prints.

The designs are organized primarily by movement and by rhythm, which result from the repetition of color and pattern. The texture is created by the acrylic paint puddling and creating a variety of effects on the paper. The space in the picture plane is often ambiguous with no clear foreground and background.  A broad brush stroke or gesture is often a key element in the design, as it is in action painting or Asian calligraphy.

The forms in shades of black, white and gray are made by rubbing a stick of graphite on paper with printing plates underneath (including woodblock, linoleum, polymer and other matrices). The surface is then permanently sealed with acrylic varnish which blurs the graphite slightly, creating a patina-like quality.

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AJ Fletcher Foundation is located at 909 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27605. The Community Exchange Exhibitions help to enliven the offices of start-up nonprofit organizations that work inside the AJ Fletcher's building.

Randy McNamara / Aloft Raleigh

SWARM

June - August 2016
2100 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27607

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Randy McNamara lives in Hampstead North Carolina where he maintains a studio and teaches painting at the Leland Cultural Arts Center. Previously he lived in Los Angeles California, exhibiting at Gallery 825, and various other venues in the region.

He has an M.F.A. from Indiana University in Bloomington, and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Kansas. While at K.U. he discovered and named an isozyme of wild sunflowers and was Outstanding Senior in Ceramics.

His background in biology has influenced his work primarily through the use of biomorphic forms and the notion that everything functions within an interconnected matrix of infinite elements in flux. A puzzle being assembled, disassembled and reassembled for eternity.

His work employs acrylics and paper applied to canvas in a painterly manner with an interest in color, rich surfaces and the conundrum of the center.

Vicki Rees / AJ Fletcher Foundation

Natural Pacing

March - May, 2016
Vicki Rees is a Raleigh artist who specializes in contemporary realism executed in colorful oils. She draws inspiration from her appreciation of the beauty found in the everyday.  Unusual angles, dramatic lighting, and nature's intricacies all capture her attention. Vicki's work has been exhibited throughout North Carolina and is in collections in the South and Midwest. Originally from Indianapolis, she moved to North Carolina after a 20+ year stop in Kentucky. Her home studio located in downtown Raleigh is open by appointment.

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AJ Fletcher Foundation is located at 909 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27605. The Community Exchange Exhibitions help to enliven the offices of start-up nonprofit organizations that work inside the AJ Fletcher's building.

SCOPE 2016: the southern landscape

June 3-24
First Friday Reception: June 3, 6-10pm
Main Gallery

The South is a hub of creativity and Raleigh has adopted a vision to become the Southern Capital for Arts and Culture. To do our part, VAE is showcasing the work of 41 artists, representing 7 of the southern states for the month of June. SCOPE 2016 is a survey of artist interpretations of the southern landscape. Many of the 47 pieces in the exhibition explore the dirt, vegetation, water, and sky that make up the actual physical landscape of the South while other artists use their work to comment on the social, political, economic, or cultural landscape. The pieces of art range from realistic drawing and painting to abstract sculpture and installation works. Stop by during the month of June to see the South through the eyes of our creative community!

The Juror
Daniel Fuller, curator, Atlanta Contemporary

The Brancato Award
The Brancato Award is given each year to an artist whose work has a unique take on landscapes. The Brancato Award is the First Place award for VAE's annual SCOPE exhibition. Kathy Brancato was a valued member of the VAE community who painted innovative landscapes. Kathy was also very supportive of her fellow artists and this award will allow her creative spirit to encourage other artists. The 2016 Winner is Stacey Holloway for Archetype.
 

View fullsize

Stacey Holloway Archetype

The following artists/works will be exhibited in SCOPE 2016:
marie arondeau, untitled 01
Marnie Blum, Dock 2.0
Michael Carlebach, East of Asheville, NC
Michael Carlebach, West of Homestead, Florida
Katelyn Chapman, Fall of the Cotton Shed
Renee Cloud, Mama, It Won't Come Off (mapping my pain)
Janet Coleman, Toil
Janet Coleman, Flight
Allyson Comstock, Pollen Drift #11
Kristen Crouch, Josh's Graduation (distort #2)
Kristen Crouch, too young to be important
Michael Darough, 16
Carly Drew, Redneck Madonna
Kiki Farish, Wisdom and Sanctuary
Gina Franco, Poolside
John Gallagher, The Deep End
George Gregory, Skyrockets at night
Ellen Hathaway, Free Falling
Stacey Holloway, Archetype
Stacey Holloway, Change of Heart
Kelley Hunter, Carolina Whimsy
Donna Cooper Hurt, Fallen Tree
Donna Cooper Hurt, Moss Ring #2
Judy Jones, Urban (over the years)
Leatha Koefler, Grateful birds
Lauren Lake, Swath 2
Elizabeth Laul Healey, America #2016
Stephanie Leathers, solid
Michael Ligett, Where are all the Fishermen?
George Lorio, No More
Gregory Martin, Immersion
Tricia McKellar, 30 beats of my heart
Desiree Moore, High Water
kelly murray, Fair Tree
kelly murray, Longleaf Pine
Chris Ogden, Merging Cycles
Constance Pappalardo, If you must go to Pamlico
Ray Pfeiffer, Church of The First Born
Kenneth Proseus, Crash
Daphne Rodgers, Untitled
Jessica Singerman, Light Igniting Fields, Trailing Clouds
Sydney Steen, Geyser Study #2 (Hologram)
Sterling Stevens, Homestead
Mary Storms, McCrory's Quandary
Virginia Tyler, Celestial Landscape: Cassiopeia II
Robert Werbicki, Melting snow

View all of the works exhibited in SCOPE 2016!

SCOPE 2016 is sponsored by the AWESOME

Exchange Gallery: June Featured Artists

June Featured Artists

June 3rd- 24th, 2016
Opening Reception: June 3rd, 6-10pm

Sarah Blackmon Lips

I spend a lot of time thinking about boundaries and identities. My own, others', how they might shift and change in an instant or over a lifetime. In these carved paintings, colorful shapes become regions, lines become motes separating or channels connecting, and whole compositions seek to loosely chart what overlaps, conflicts, or separates. I add interests, responsibilities, and roles with gouache, and subtract the same with chisels.

Diala Estela

“Marry Me,” a collection of 6 dresses total divided into 2 sub collection categories, Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. The bottles were collected from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Airman and Family Readiness Center (FRC). AFRC is an outreach facilities providing many types of services and programs that assists those affiliated with the military. The bottles were cut and shrunk by heat, tinted by permanent marker and riveted in a shingling type technique. The plastic shingles were shaped in three different ways: manually, riveting and heating.

These plastic dresses are a representation of military spouses. Majority of spouses are women. Immediately I had the vision of floating see through dresses as the theme, a theme I was able to encompass the depth of a spouse’s journey. A seasonal dress collection is capturing the lighter aspects of a military spouse, a life style of ceremonies, functions, and events. The transparency of the material and the rivets is to create an appearance of both delicacy and strength. The transparency of the dresses symbolizes the vulnerability of the “spouses,” questioning self-identity, purpose and self-worth. The rivets are the menders, identifying and reminding the important key role of a military spouse. The plastic shingles are the bottles collected from AFRC that once belonged to a spouse, a child, a member, a family, a therapist, social worker etc. who’s stories are both beautiful and dark, happy and sad. The overlapping of the shingles is a representation of a support system, each one supporting one another. The floating appearance represents self-sustainability and resiliency. The dresses are to give the viewers the curiosity to want more from the dresses. Perhaps an identity they can place within the dress, behind the dress or on themselves.

As an Art Therapist and Artist my goal was to challenge the areas of psychology and design. I found something intriguing in these bottles. In a meeting at AFRC, I saw the beauty in it all. I realized the bottles carried a story from the lips who drank them. This had inspired me to move forward with the ideas of building a sculpture out of plastic bottles. It became more than an idea. I challenged myself with the material by making trash into fine art and turning design into complicated layers of psychology and discovery.

John Orrand

Mandala Manifesto

You could say that I am obsessed with patterns. My mind gravitates toward geometric configurations and repeating shapes. They de-focus my visual understanding and transport my thoughts. Looking into the concentric shapes of a mandala, or other kaleidoscopic art forms, generates a trance-like state which allows me to tune in to my true self.

In turn, the work I make functions as a catalyst for the viewer's own meditative experience. The Mandala Manifesto series invites the viewer's eye to lose focus long enough to look back on itself and tap into something beyond the arrangement in front of them. 

These works consist of hand rendered designs using drafting tools, acrylic paint, and patience on canvas. By hanging each mandala on its corner, the orientation provides more dynamic and encourages the eye to read the patterns as expanding outward. I finish each with a handmade frame stained with a paint color from the pallet. A background in art and design, a proclivity for ritual, and a fascination with cosmic patterns and metaphysical concepts have influenced the art I create and how I make it. 

For me, art is a meditative practice, and one that is constantly bringing me closer to understanding who I am. 

Where will my work take you?

Lakeshia Reid 

I am a Durham-based artist whose surface design-influenced work is distinguished by multiple layers of texture, color and pattern. I draw inspiration from my surroundings, particularly the people and the ways they express their identity.  
I combine craft, design, printmaking, and painting techniques in the hopes of creating work that focuses less on the outward appearance of things and more on their inner significance.  Each piece is an exploration where emotion transcends the substrate and the viewer is asked to rethink what they see. 

Tim Saguinsin

I watch my boys hone their motor skills using scissors to cut paper shapes. Then they glue and tape it down to create their own masterpieces--pure love of creation. Using paper, glue and tape, I have returned to that love. I chop and bond animation, design, illustration, painting and sculpture to create work that pulls from my heritage, experience and pop culture.

Piecing together moments in time that overlap to evoke thoughts, feelings, and nostalgia, my vision pops off the wall with a visual language full of animated hues, crafty textures and quirky graphics.  Color and textures extrude dimension, volume and dynamic imagery.

TACTILE

A multi-sensory and accessible exhibition in VAE's Main Gallery
May 6-26
First Friday Reception: May 6, 6-10pm
Main Gallery

For the month of May VAE will exhibit 22 pieces of work that can be experienced with more than just sight alone. These multi-sensory pieces were created by 17 artists from 7 states across the US. This exhibition invites visitors to go beyond looking at artwork and encourages them to use their senses of touch, smell, hearing, and even taste to experience each piece.

While this exhibition will, of course, give existing art patrons a new way to enjoy and appreciate art, one of the main goals of TACTILE is to further VAE's focus on including people with disabilities in the arts community. VAE is providing large-format print materials, Braille transcribed materials, Audio Described and ASL interpreted tours, field trip opportunities for school-age kids, and additional staff assistance for visitors during the exhibit. Contact Brandon (919.828.7824 ext 6) if you would like to request any specific accommodations.

COME TAKE A TOUR ON SATURDAY, MAY 21!
11am - Open Exhibition Tour
1pm - Audio Described Tour
3pm - ASL Interpreted Tour
RSVP for a tour: email brandon@visualartexchange.org or call 919.828.7834 est 6

Can’t make those time? Still want to experience a tour of the exhibit?? That’s AWESOME! Want to request an accommodation for that tour? We are happy to accommodate! Contact Brandon: brandon@visualartexchange.org or 919.828.7834 ext6 to start a conversation!

In addition VAE is hosting two workshops in conjunction with TACTILE:
Double Duty - a creative writing workshop utilizing all of your senses!
CREATING SPACE - a workshop around accessible and multi-sensory exhibitions!

The Artists
Phil Ashe, Sequential Destination
Phil Ashe, Fuzzy Logic
Peg Bachenheimer, Washing Ashore
Whitney Bandel, In Your Hands
Jeannette Brossart, Undulating
Renee Cloud, Artifacts
Pamela Crockett, Memory Melt
Kate Dameron, Breathe, 2..3..4
Kate Dameron, Germinate
Susan Finer, Roundabout
Em Jensen, Three Hours (Third Hour)
Larry Lean, Wolf Trap
Larry Lean, In Advance of a Bald Headed Tire
Eddie Lohmeyer, Joust Assemblage #612 (In Black)
Carey Netherton, Manganese Violet
Jenna Richards, Large Openwork
Daphne Rodgers, Disintegration II
Kelly Sheppard Murray, Mile After Mile
Devyn Vasquez, Let's just be honest
Devyn Vasquez, Acrylic Meditations
Kathrine Worel, In It That Is More Than Itself (objet petit "ah")
Kathrine Worel, This Much

View all of the work exhibited in TACTILE!

The Juror
Tom Pursey, Co-founder of Flying Objects, a London-based creative agency that won an IK Prize in 2015 for their multi-sensory exhibition Tate Sensorium at Tate Britain.

about Tom
Prior to founding Flying Objects, Tom worked for Google in Europe, and lead Chrome and Brand marketing for Google in Asia. He holds a degree in English Literature from the University of Oxford. He's interested in interactive projects, the role of digital in the arts, and what happens when things come together in unlikely ways.

about Tate Sensorium
Can taste, touch, smell and sound change the way we ‘see’ art?

Tate Sensorium is an immersive display featuring paintings from the Tate collection. You can experience sounds, smells, tastes and physical forms inspired by the artworks, and record and review your physiological responses through sophisticated measurement devices.

The experience encourages a new approach to interpreting artworks, using technology to stimulate the senses, triggering both memory and imagination. On leaving, you will be invited to explore the rest of the gallery using the theme of the senses as a guide.

Tate Sensorium is the winning project of IK Prize 2015, awarded annually for an idea that uses innovative technology to enable the public to discover, explore and enjoy British art from the Tate collection in new ways.

The Guardian's writer Nicola Davis was highly impressed!

Accessibility
While VAE’s gallery space is fully accessible and we strive to make the exhibition submission process accessible to artists as well. We encourage anyone to enter our open call exhibitions. If you need any additional information or accommodations in order to enter a call-for-art please email or call (919.828.7834 ext 6) Brandon for assistance.

Visual Art Exchange strives to be accessible to all visitors! If you have an accommodation you would like to request for an upcoming program or exhibition, have a suggestion about our accessibility, or if you have an accessibility question please contact us at (919) 828-7834 ext 6 or by emailing Brandon.

• VAE is a single story facility and all galleries and facilities are accessible.
• All printed documents can be made available in Braille or large print.
• We are happy to provide audio tours and/or ASL interpretation for our exhibition and/or special events. A two-week advance request is requested, if possible.

VAE would like to invite members of the disability community to work with our staff and board to increase our accessibility and inclusion of artists and patrons with disabilities. If you have suggestions, criticisms or would like to be involved in increasing VAE’s accessibility email Brandon or call (919) 828-7834 ext 6.

If you would like to become a member of VAE but the membership fee is a financial barrier please contact Brandon (919.828.7834 ext 6) today to start a conversation!

VAE is part of a Learning Community of eleven arts organizations that collaborate to advocate for and improve access to the arts for people with disabilities. This collective is funded in part by the City of Raleigh Arts Commission and the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County.

This exhibition is funded in part by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation

Questions? Email Brandon!

PROJECT POSTCARD

A blank postcard, a stamp and a few USPS restrictions were the only guidelines given for VAE’s inaugural Project Postcard.  In today’s culture we so rarely mail things.  This project encouraged students to think about the ways in which we communicate our creative ideas.

This project encouraged students to be CREATIVE, while working within RESTRICTION, and includes an element of CHANCE.

CREATIVE – There is no set subject matter.  Students used any materials (other than buttons or string, sorry USPS rules).

RESTRICTION – The United States Post Office had a few restrictions that students had to stay within to insure that their postcard made it through the mail.  Finished works could be no thicker than 1/4″ and could not weigh more than a can of soda.

CHANCE – The US Post Office was a collaborator on each piece of artwork! Some elements of the artwork may not have held up as well to the mailing process as others. Some cards may be postmarked differently or in a different location than others. All of this adds additional interest to each piece!

Postcards are displayed May 6-7, 2016 in the windows of

VAE Raleigh

311 Gallery

307 W Martin Street

PROJECT POSTCARD is supported by

Eunjung Park: Prism of Choice

April 20 - June 4, 2016
First Friday Receptions: May 6 & June 3, 6-10pm

Many people set up displays in their homes for visitors and passersby to see—figurines, photographs, and other knickknacks arranged on shelves and tables. Such displays seem governed by each arranger’s own individual sense of ‘rightness,’ her sense that things look best when arrayed in a specific way.  In studying these, I have come to regard shelves and tables as symbols for the spaces in which people draw out that sense of ‘rightness’ through the selection and display of objects.

My recent work explores the relationship between supportive structures—like shelves and tables, but also clothing racks and the rhyme schemes of poems—and the items they display.  I am interested in the moments when this relationship becomes complex or ambiguous, when a supportive structure itself is displayed or displayed items play a more structural role.  I am also interested in the ways that structures built of different materials—especially everyday materials—enable diverse forms of display and arrangement that correspond to equally diverse aesthetic sensibilities.   I wish to understand the symbolic potential held by these different forms of arrangement, and how they might be meaningfully employed.

Photography Group / United Arts

BURN & DODGE

June 2016
First Friday Reception - June 3, 6-8pm
410 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 170, Raleigh NC 27603

The Photographers’ Forum is a supportive network for photographers to explore ideas, share techniques and offer each other feedback and support. The forum meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 7pm at VAE. This group is coordinated by Ray Pfeiffer, please contact Ray to get involved! Ray Pfeiffer - rpstudioart@gmail.com

Featured Photographers
Mike Aliff
John Horwitz
Scott McRae
Richard A Usanis
Rob Randall
Teresa Stephens
Eric Saunders
Stephen J. Fletcher
Ray Pfeiffe

Marcia Streithorst & Lauri Arntsen / HagerSmith PA

Wax & Wares

June - July 2016
First Friday Receptions: June 3 & July 1, 6-9pm
300 S. Dawson Street, Raleigh, NC 27601

Artist Statement
My passion is inspiring the viewer’s imagination.  My love of photography and printmaking combined with a new fascination for the tactile experience of encaustics gives my latest artworks a dreamlike quality. Evoking visions of landscapes and abstract worlds that appear almost real, like dreams just beginning to take shape. With encaustic the surface can be smooth or heavily textured, but that surreal glow will always draw you in. It’s what made me fall in love with beeswax painting!

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.

Linda Kimball / United Arts Council

May 2016
First Friday Reception - May 6, 6-8pm
410 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 170, Raleigh NC 27603

Artist Statement
I was born in Wisconsin, raised in Illinois, spent many years in Southern California and have been living in North Carolina since 1986. I come from a family of artists, my father and great uncle, both dreamers and art lovers. I lose myself when I paint, and I draw inspiration from thoughts of my mother. My mother was present physically but mentally absent. The lack of a mother in my childhood has had an enormous influence on my life. I use painting as the most sincere form of self-expression.

I make my art from a variety of mixed media sometimes using encaustic. I love mixed media because I can add or subtract fabric, photography, wax or even magic marker at will. The liquid wax has a mind of its own. A variety of textures and bold colors are available and joyful in my art making. Lately, I have been working on abstract acrylic paintings that include photos I have taken – NY Graffiti shots from my many trips visiting my two sons who live there.

All of my works contain a presence of “Elaine” whether underneath the layers of paint or on top in the form of a silhouette.

I have attended Penland School of Crafts to study encaustic painting and various other art schools & classes over many years. In addition to being an artist, I am currently a touring docent at the North Carolina Museum of Art and run a small business with my husband in downtown Raleigh.

I am a member of the VAE and you can see more of my art at 311 S. Martin Street Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina, just look for me inside at the Local Color Gallery. You can also visit my website at www.LindaKimball.com.

Sara Trepanier / Duke Health Raleigh Hospital

April - June 2016
3400 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh, NC 27609

Biography
Sara Boland Trepanier is a native of Charleston, WV. Sara was exposed to painting by her artist-mother during her early years. After serving in the Navy, she moved to Raleigh twelve years ago and has been working at Duke Raleigh Hospital for the past five years. After practicing medicine for 20 years, Sara took a workshop with John Poon here at Raleigh. As an artist, she is now enjoying color development while working on landscapes. Sara finds great fulfillment as she balances her day to day work as a staff physician with her artistry, which reflects her love of the sea and wilderness.

Artist Statement
Growing up with a surgeon for a father and my mother who is an artist, I always appreciated the complimentary nature of art and medicine. I loved Frank Netter and find his anatomy books as works of art. I feel studying medicine helps one to appreciate symmetry and beauty in the human figure and causes me to look for balance. It has also been shown that providing art classes to medical students helps build empathy. I find that medicine and art continue to inspire me and appeal to both the creative and logical sides of my brain. I also feel inspired by adventure. My paintings are expressions of the beauty of nature found in landscapes. I love the sea, and my time in the Navy made me appreciate the unpredictability and excitement of the ocean. Sailing brings me closer to that sense of freedom and fun. I am grateful for the National parks I have been able to visit along with my opportunities to travel. I feel my paintings are where art and science meet. I feel there is a balance that one strives for between your logical, science, sequential side of the brain and the intuitive, adventure, and creative artistry side of the brain. I love the feeling of constantly being challenged and inspired. I hope you do too.

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In keeping with Duke Raleigh Hospital’s mission to promote art as part of healing, community exhibits in this space predominantly feature stimulating and colorful artworks. Enter the hospital through the main entrance and travel down main corridor to see VAE Community Exhibition. 

Exchange Gallery: May Featured Artists

May 2016 Featured Artists

May 6th-26th, 2016
Opening Reception: May 6th, 6-10pm

William Breazeale

I am a representational landscape painter. I have lived and worked in the Raleigh/Durham area for over forty years, and have witnessed a remarkable transformation of the rural landscape into a complex urban environment.  This rapid rate of change in our surroundings offers subject matter for my work: the sometimes jarring juxtaposition of the old with the new; the perception of the transitory replacing the permanent; and the contrast between the basic and the complicated.
The result is that my work often incorporates a panorama illustrating the scale, complexity, and vast expanse of our urbanizing surroundings -- one that contrasts with the partial and incremental view we encounter in our everyday lives.   At times I use exaggerated perspectives (from close to the ground or an aerial view) to emphasize the abstract relationships of urban forms and open spaces.  In other cases, the constituent parts of mundane objects/scenes can be reorganized to create a new version of commonly experienced places, such as parking deck or airport baggage claim area.
Since I have spent most of my adult life here I have developed associations with locations in the region that have meaning to me. As such my work tends to be of specific, recognizable sites.
I am currently working on a series of Downtown Durham cityscapes that explore the relationship between the past and the present. The downtown historic district, containing wonderful examples of art nouveau and classical revival styles, provides rich subject matter, especially for rendering of architectural details. The redevelopment south of the railroad tracks provides a contrast - in both scale and form - to the original Central Business District.

Jim Hallenbeck

My art has largely been of landscapes, cityscapes, and, at times, the people captured in these scenes. My approach in painting is to represent each subject realistically, while at the same time to accentuate its bright colors. I find my approach to painting to be one of deep introspection complete with a wide range of emotions - inner peace, happiness, honesty, and truth. In turn, I hope to communicate something to the viewer, to trigger an emotion, to spark a memory that resonates on a very unique personal level.

Ann Howe

Growing up in rural Virginia I spent much of my free time outdoors and learned to know and love the natural world and to develop some sense of the mystery that resides there; this has stayed with me throughout my life and informs my work. Art has the power to make us see even the most familiar things in a new light; in the works shown here I aimed for scenes as they appear in memory or the imagination, leaving the viewer free to find his or her own meaning or emotional response.

In all of my work I try to respond to the different possibilities offered by the several media that I use. The fluidity of the hot wax used in this work gives it more freedom and spontaneity than my work in other media and this, in turn, makes me see things in a new light.

Mary Storms

I express my artistic vision through abstract mixed-media landscapes. I am intrigued and inspired by the natural environment.  My intent is to provide the viewer with a sense of the symbiotic relationship between the primeval elements - stone, soil, water and sky - and the lifeforms these elements nurture.   

I love experimenting with color, be it bold and vibrant or quiet and subdued.  No matter what palette I use, my mixed media canvases and many of my acrylic-only canvases are usually textured.   For mixed media, I layer torn or cut handmade paper and/or recycled magazine paper with acrylic paint, sculpting paste and an occasional found object.   To add additional depth and texture, portions of some layers are literally scrubbed off with water before the paint, glue or sculpting paste has completely set. Some of these scrubbed portions are left “raw”, while others are repainted and/or papered over.   For my acrylic-only canvases, I apply thick layers of paint with brushes, palette knives and my hands.

Helen Seebold / United Arts Council

April 2016
First Friday Reception: April 1, 6-8pm
The Creamery Building: 410 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 170, Raleigh NC 27603

Artist Statement
My artistic body of work is greatly inspired by my deep respect of Nature and a love of Ancient Cultures. Reflecting on ancient traditions and cultural practices used throughout history and across geographies, I wish to explore our connection to nature and each other; raising an awareness of the beauty that can be found in both.

Biographical Information
Helen Seebold works in clay, photography and site specific installation. She has exhibited extensively throughout New York, Connecticut and North Carolina and her pieces can be found in private collections around the globe. Recent projects have included community driven art projects for The Durham Storefront Project, Windows on Chapel Hill and Open Art Society’s POP! Downtown Art Series. Her virtual gallery can be viewed at LittleFlowerArt.com and you can follow her on her journey to explore life through art on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram @LittleFlowerArt.

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The MJH Gallery is located in the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County inside The Creamery Building. UAC’s entrance faces Tucker Street. The gallery is open to the public Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and 6-8pm on First Friday.

Anthony Garcia-Copian / United Arts Council

April 2016
First Friday Reception: April 1, 6-8pm
The Creamery Building: 410 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 170, Raleigh NC 27603

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

Biographical Information
Anthony Garcia-Copian is an award winning playwright, artist and photographer. He was born in Cuba, raised in Madrid, Miami and New York and lives in Raleigh, NC. He has a studio by appointment only.

The MJH Gallery is located in the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County inside The Creamery Building. UAC’s entrance faces Tucker Street. The gallery is open to the public Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and 6-8pm on First Friday.

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.

The Other Toy Story

The Other Toy Story
by Joyce Dallal

April 1st-28th, 2016
Opening Reception: April 1st, 6-10pm

Engaging the public through art on the issue of unsustainable consumption, The Other Toy Story is an ongoing project by artist Joyce Dallal that grew out of her personal experience as a parent. Overwhelmed with all the toys that accumulated in her own household—especially the huge amount of plastic that couldn’t be recycled, she decided to see if a solution could be found through art. Featured is Receptacle, a 10-foot-tall trashcan in the shape of a baby doll. The sculpture holds over 1000 pounds of toy trash that would otherwise end up in a landfill. When full, it forms a monumental vision of what we are feeding our children.

A Partnership between the Disappearing Frogs Project and the Other Toy Story

The Other Toy Story is on display at the Visual Art Exchange (VAE) at the invitation of the Disappearing Frogs Project as part of their 2016 activities scheduled for the Triangle area. The two artist-driven projects are partnering this spring to spotlight the impact of human activity on the health of our environment and the survival of all species, big and small. “Disappearing Tree Frog” by Los Angeles artist Cynthia Minet was commissioned specially for this exhibition to spotlight the partnership between the Other Toy Story and the Disappearing Frogs Project as an illustration of the connection between pollution in the environment and the survival of the frogs.

The show at VAE is the culmination of months of preparation and would not have been possible without the support and collaboration of Wake County Solid Waste Management and Waste Industries. These partners have collected used and broken toys to fill the Receptacle, and will be picking them up for recycling when the show is over. They have also assisted three participating schools in the Wake County STEM Collaborative Network: Wake STEM Early College, Aversboro STEM Elementary, and A. B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary with their used toy collection. Many thanks to these community partners for their participation.

The Disappearing Frogs Project, together with their global partner the Amphibian Survival Alliance is raising awareness of global amphibian declines and inspiring people to take personal action to protect these incredible species. Awareness in the community is being raised, hearts of the public are being touched and the children in the Triangle are getting involved.

"Disappearing Tree Frog" by Cynthia Minet

Cynthia Minet

Cynthia Minet works with post-consumer plastics to build illuminated sculptures of animals. Her drawings and pieces have been shown individually and as large-scale installations. The works reveal her interest in ecological and scientific issues, and capture audiences through their visual allure and conceptual bite.

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Collecting the toys with the help of area students and businesses

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Over the course of two days, the baby was assembled and filled with over 1,000 pounds of old toys. Take a look below to see how it happened.