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.

CREATING SPACE

Do you work in exhibitions? This workshop is for you!

You will leave the CREATING SPACE workshop with knowledge about how to plan, install, and market accessible exhibitions. Presenters from three venues who produce and host exhibitions will talk about the teams they assemble, where the issue of accessibility comes up in the exhibition planning process, and give an example of something AWESOME they have done recently to include more people in their exhibits. In addition Arts Access will present information about must-know knowledge for communicating with people with disabilities, resources to increase your programmatic accessibility, and descriptions of popular accommodations.

Presenters were chosen from venues of all sizes, so at least one presenter will be from an organization with similar resources to your own.

The workshop will be hosted at VAE in Downtown Raleigh, right in the middle of VAE's multi-sensory and accessible exhibition, TACTILE.

Presenting Organizations:

Arts Access
Betsy Ludwig, Executive Director

Visual Art Exchange
Brandon Cordrey, Director of Exhibition + ADA Coordinator

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
Liani Yirka, Accessibility Inclusion Coordinator
Jody Stebben, Head of Exhibitions

North Carolina Museum of Art
Shannon Harris, Exhibit Designer

Museum of Life + Science
Michele Kloda - Exhibit Developer

When                                             Where
Monday, May 9 2016                      Visual Art Exchange
9:30am-12pm                                 309 W Martin Street
coffee + food provided                  Raleigh, NC 27601

Registration
This workshop is funded in part by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, allowing VAE to keep the registration fees nominal. The content of this workshop will be invaluable!
- Just you - $5
- Bring your team - $10
exhibitions and accessibility is most often a team effort, use this registration type to bring as many people from your organization as you need to!

*If the registration fee is a barrier that prevents you from attending please contact Brandon Cordrey – 919.828.7834 ext. 6.

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

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.

PITCH, PLEASE!

VAE is here to support creative people and creative ideas. PITCH, PLEASE! is an ongoing, open call-for-proposals that acts as an avenue for artists to pitch their most creative ideas to VAE! Our team is here to help, filled with knowledge, and has access to resources like space, funding opportunities, and community partners. Please bring us your biggest, boldest, dream-project idea, we would love to make it happen!

Satchel Paige - attracted record crowds wherever he pitched!

Use this simple application to help us understand the exhibition idea, performance, project, event, or whatever creative idea you're excited about and we will get in touch to start the conversation!

ACCESSIBILITY
VAE’s gallery space is fully accessible and we strive to make the submission process accessible as well. We encourage anyone to enter our open call exhibitions. If you need any additional information or accommodations in order to enter this exhibition please email Kyle  or call 919.828.7834 for assistance.

QUESTIONS? Email Kyle!

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.

Community Exhibition Program

Burton Tysinger's exhibition "Color Constructions" at Designbox

ABOUT
VAE's Community Exhibition Program offers VAE members the chance to have solo or group exhibitions in alternative venues around Downtown Raleigh. These exhibits are seen by thousands of people each year! Exhibition benefits vary based on each venue. Artists exhibiting with the Community Exchange Exhibition program are featured on VAE’s website and First Friday email blast which is received by 3000+ people. In addition, venues participating in Downtown Raleigh’s First Friday Art Walk are featured on external websites and calendar listings. Not a member? Join VAE here!

VAE staff is available to provide guidance in choosing the best venue for your work, assisting with installation, creating labels, and processing all sales of your work.

APPLY
This is an open call-for-art with a deadline of June 30th, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. Submissions are reviewed on a quarterly basis. Use online application form to upload images of the work you'd like to exhibit, your artist statement and/or bio, and tell us which venue you're most excited to exhibit in! 

EXHIBITION VENUES
VAE is currently working with five alternative venues. If you would like to tour any of the venues, contact Kyle for more information.

AJ FLETCHER FOUNDATION
907 & 909 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27605
Exhibitions at AJ Fletcher Foundation enliven the common areas of start-up non-profit organizations that work inside the AJ Fletcher building. This venue allows artists to present their work to professionals who are excited about and supportive of local artists! Artists are curated by the AJF staff and while the exhibitions are not open to the public and offer no reception, exhibiting artists are financially compensated $150 per month.
Capacity: 15-20 pieces of small (<16"x20") to large (>24" x 36") works
Exhibition Duration: 3 months

ALOFT RALEIGH
2100 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27607
Aloft Raleigh offers exhibitions that are seen by thousands of people each month: guests of the hotel, visitors to the ground-floor businesses, attendees of conferences or meetings, and people headed to the hotel's restaurant and bar. The hotel's branding is contemporary, colorful, and visually stimulating and it is in their mission to support local artists who make work with that same look and feel. Artists are curated by the Aloft Raleigh staff and while the venues does not offer a public reception artists are financially compensated $125 per month.
Capacity: 15-20 pieces of medium (> 16"x20") to large (> 24"x36") works
Exhibition Duration: 3 months

ALOFT RDU
10020 Sellona Street, Raleigh, NC, 27617 
Aloft RDU offers exhibitions that are seen by thousands of people each month: guests of the hotel, visitors to the ground-floor businesses, attendees of conferences or meetings, and people headed to the hotel's restaurant and bar. The hotel's branding is contemporary, colorful, and visually stimulating and it is in their mission to support local artists who make work with that same look and feel. Artists are curated by the Aloft Raleigh staff and while the venues does not offer a public reception artists are financially compensated $125 per month.
Capacity: 8 pieces of medium (> 16"x20") to large (> 24"x36") works
Exhibition Duration: 3 months

HAGERSMITH DESIGN
300 S Dawson Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
Located in Raleigh’s Warehouse District, right around the corner from VAE's main gallery space, HagerSmith architecture firm offers artist great exhibition space, with gallery lighting, and an opening reception as part of Raleigh's First Friday Gallery Walk.  The layout is conducive to many styles and sizes of artwork. This is an excellent space for both new and established artists to display their work.
Capacity: 15-20 pieces of medium (> 16"x20") to large (> 24"x36") works
Exhibition Duration: 2 months

UNITED ARTS COUNCIL
410 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 170, Raleigh, NC 27603
Exhibitions at United Arts are mounted in the The MJH Gallery. This space is located in the historic Pine State Creamery building in the Glenwood South district of Downtown Raleigh. This exhibition space features great natural light, views from the storefront windows, and an opening reception as part of Raleigh's First Friday Gallery Walk. This venue features exhibits of 2D and 3D work each month.
Capacity: Two-dimensional exhibits: 15-20 pieces of medium (> 16"x20") to large (> 24"x36") works
                 Three-dimensional exhibits: 5-15 pieces (depending on scale)
Exhibition Duration: One month

ELIGIBILITY
The Community Exchange Exhibit program is open to VAE members. Exhibit space for two-dimensional and three-dimensional work is available. VAE reserves the right to exclude work due to extraordinary circumstances. Click here to view VAE’s exhibition policies.

ACCESSIBILITY
VAE staff strives to make the Community Exhibition Program accessible to all of our members. The community venues are not without their physical barriers, but accommodations are available. We also strive to make the submission process accessible as well. If you need any additional information or accommodations in order to apply please email or call Brandon: brandon@visualartexchange.org / 919.256.6856

SALES
All sales are handled by VAE which retain a commission of 30%. If a work is not for sale please indicate with NFS value in appropriate space during registration or on the consignment sheet. Click here to join VAE!

LIABILITY
All artwork will be handled with the utmost care and respect. VAE is not liable for artwork during transportation to or from the gallery but does carry a blanket inland marine policy that covers most fine art works and craft items up to $5,000 in all Community Exhibition venues. VAE reserves the right to refuse coverage to artwork with inherent vices, high values or that is deemed unstable. By entering into this show, the artist agrees to abide by all rules and regulations as set by VAE's exhibition guidelines.

QUESTIONS?
Email Kyle!
 

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.

CALL-FOR-ART: TACTILE

DEADLINE EXTENDED: 11:59pm on Monday, April 11, 2016

WANT WE WANT
We want to exhibit work that can be experienced through more than just sight alone. This exhibition will invite visitors to go beyond looking at artwork and encourage them to use their senses of touch, smell, hearing, and event taste to experience each piece (with staff supervision and protective ware). Artists are encouraged to submit pieces that have interesting tactile features that visitors could touch, that have an element that entices the nose, that are auditory, or even have a component that visitors could taste. We are basically asking creative people to get creative! Each entry submitted must have at least one component that is can be experienced with your eyes closed.

This call-for-art is open to all multi-sensory media. For example:

• Paintings/mixed media 2D work: example - a  painting with tactile texture that visitors can touch OR a painting of a particular subject i.e. bees, complimented by an audio recording of bees.
• Sculpture/pottery/3D work: example - a ceramic piece with a texture that visitors can touch OR a ceramic piece, exhibited with an additional clay sample of the texture on the finished piece, that visitors are allowed to handle.
• Video & flat 2D work with interactive features: example - a photograph that of a child eating a lollipop, and a box of lollipops, for gallery visitors to taste, exhibited alongside one another.
• Something else we didn't think of! Have an out-of-the-box idea? Run it by us! We love to try new things!
• Works with other sensory components (smell, sound,taste) will also be considered!

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 will invite people with low vision or who are blind to experience the work during gallery hours or during specialized tours with Audio Description and/or American Sign Language.

Entries must fit through VAE’s 104″ x 71″ door to be exhibited. No media restrictions. Juried with JPEGs. Two entries per artist. Entries must be received by 11:59pm on Monday, April 11, 2016.

Tom Pursey

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 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!

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.

SCHEDULE
Deadline for entries: 11:59pm on Monday, April 11, 2016
Jury Results Posted: April 15, 2016
Delivery of Accepted Work: Friday, April 29, 11am - 6pm & Saturday, April 30, 11am-4pm
Exhibition Run: May 6-26, 2016
Opening Reception: May 6, 6-10pm
Pick-Up of Unsold Work: Friday, May 27, 11am-6pm & Saturday, May 28, 11am-4pm

AWARDS
$100 - First Place
$75 - Second Place
$50 - Third Place

ENTRY FEES
Members: $10 per artwork/$20 for two pieces*
Non-members: $15 per artwork/$30 for two pieces*
*All entry fees are non-refundable.

ENTRY INFORMATION

• All files should be named like so: 01_LASTNAME_TITLE.jpg, 02_LASTNAME_TITLE.jpg.
• Still images should be sent as jpegs should be at least 1000px at their widest dimension, not to exceed 2MB per image. 2D artists may submit one JPEG per entry. 3D artists may submit two JPEGS (one full shot and one detail) per entry. Follow the filename format for works as indicated above.
• Video samples should be edited to no longer than 2 minute excerpts. It is strongly preferred that video & audio artists submit their work online through clips or url addresses to online sharing formats like hulu, vimeo, youtube, or dropbox. Videos submitted as uploaded files should be submitted as Quicktime files whose width is no larger than 720px and file size is no larger than 10MB (as that is the largest file eligible for upload on our entry software). Please only submit video art or video documentation of an art piece that requires video to be fully experienced. Do not send video walk-throughs of static exhibitions or video slideshows. While web-hosted submissions are strongly preferred, video and audio samples can be submitted on CD if necessary. Please contact Brandon Cordrey to make arrangements for CD delivery prior to deadline. Follow the filename format for works as indicated above.
• Audio: Audio should be submitted as separate MP3 files. Each track should be no longer than 2 minutes. Follow the filename format for works as indicated above.
• Web-based: Web-based work should be submitted as a URL listed in the work sample list. Please only submit web-based projects. A portfolio website that features audio/video art and still images will not be considered.

PHYSICAL ENTRIES
If you are sending in your entry form by regular mail, please send your CD, entry form, & entry fee to:

Visual Art Exchange
Attn: Brandon Cordrey
309 W. Martin Street
Raleigh, NC 27601

ELIGIBILITY
TACTILE is open to any living artist. A maximum of 2 works of any medium, per artist may be submitted. Two and three dimensional entries will be accepted. Work must be original and completed in the last 2 years. No copies, mechanical reproductions, molds or kit work will be accepted. Visual Art Exchange reserves the right to exclude work due to size or special requirements. Entries must be hand delivered to the gallery or mailed in a returnable container. Artwork submitted on behalf of an artist requires written and signed authorization from the artist. Click here to view VAE’s exhibition policies.

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 emailBrandon 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.

SHIPPING ARTWORK
Ship artwork using a sturdy, reusable packing materials clearly labeled with your name and telephone number. Do not include return postage in case the artwork sells during the run of the exhibition. Following the exhibition each artist who shipped their work should generate a FedEx label and email it to our Exhibitions Manager so the piece may be returned. Do not use styrofoam packing peanuts. Shipments of artwork will be accepted April 25-30, 2016.

SHIP TO:
Visual Art Exchange
c/o Brandon Cordrey
309 W Martin Street
Raleigh, NC 27601

SALES
Visual Art Exchange will retain a commission of 30% for VAE members, 50% for non-members on all work sold during the exhibit. If a work is not for sale please indicate with NFS value in appropriate space during registration or on the consignment sheet. Click here to join VAE!

LIABILITY
All entries will be handled with the utmost care and respect. Gallery visitors will be supervised at all times while in the gallery and guided through how to touch the artwork! VAE is not liable for artwork during transportation to or from the gallery but does carry a blanket inland marine policy that covers most fine art works and craft items up to $5,000. VAE reserves the right to refuse coverage to artwork with inherent vices, high values or that is deemed unstable, but will engage artists in open conversations/negotiations as needed. By entering into this show, the artist agrees to abide by all rules and regulations as set by exhibition guidelines.

Questions? Email Brandon!

CALL-FOR-ART: Project Postcard

ABOUT PROJECT POSTCARD
VAE is encouraging middle and high school students to participate in Project Postcard, a brand new expansion of the Young Artist Exhibition! While our previous Young Artist Exhibitions have been great successes, Project Postcard helps VAE include more students and is more closely aligned with our mission to encourage new ideas, new mediums and innovation. In today’s culture we so rarely mail things.  This project will encourage students to think about the ways in which we communicate our creative ideas.

Teachers, students and parents are encouraged to request postcards using the form below. VAE will then send out the package of postcards. Middle and High School students will use the postcards as a base for their creative ideas, staying within the guidelines printed on the back. Using the First Class postage provided, the postcards will be mailed back to VAE and then exhibited in our storefront windows and additional arts venues in Downtown Raleigh.

We want to help students and their families experience the energy of First Friday and downtown Raleigh’s creative scene! It is an inspiring way to see all the people who support the arts and explore the many venues dedicated to exhibiting art in Raleigh. To make sure everyone experiences the big picture of the event, we have designed the project to be exhibited in different venues that are easily walkable, but will direct people to more than one gallery.

Check out some examples of postcard art, previous exhibitions, and possible venues!

This project encourages students to be CREATIVE, while working within RESTRICTION, and includes an element of CHANCE. Intriguing, no?

CREATIVE – There is no set subject matter, students may use any materials (other than buttons or string, sorry USPS rules!), and there is no correct way to make a great product for this project.

RESTRICTION – The United States Post Office has a few restrictions that students will have to stay within to insure that their postcard makes it through the mail. VAE will send First Class postage along with the postcard package, we ask that each student use no more than one stamp to mail their finished piece back to VAE. Finished works can be no thicker than 1/4″ and cannot weigh more than a can of soda.

CHANCE – The US Post Office will be a collaborator on each piece of artwork! Some elements of the artwork may not hold 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 will add additional interest to each piece!

The Secret Postcard Exhibition at The Royal College of Art, London

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Teachers, students, or parents can use the form below to request one of three packages of postcards for any middle or high school student to participate.

Classwork Package – 30 postcards and 10 stamps
This is the perfect package for a teacher looking to have their entire class make art on postcards, select 10 pieces to be exhibited, and mail those pieces to VAE to be exhibited.

Side Project Package – 10 postcards and 10 stamps
A great package for sending postcards homes with students to use in their spare time or small art clubs.

Individual Package – 2 postcards and 1 stamp
Perfect package for any individual student or parent to request for a single student.

TIMELINE
Request Postcards……………………March 18 – April 18
Deadline for Postcard Return……….April 30
First Friday Reception………………..May 6, 6-10pm
Exhibition Run………………………….May 6, 6-10pm & May 7, 11am-4pm 

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Project Postcard is designed to align with the North Carolina Essential Standards in Visual Arts competency goals: B.CX.1: understand the global, historical and cultural contexts of the visual arts and B.CX.1: understand the interdisciplinary connections and life applications of the visual arts, in particular A.CX.2.3 Understand the collaborative relationship between the artist and the community. The project’s public viewing component pushes students to use their work to communicate with a broader audience, and experience interdisciplinary art connections during the exhibitions. Further, Project Postcard allows students to see the effect of the location of the work (B.CX.1.5). The project allows for the exhibition of all media and encourage experimentation with new techniques for exhibition, which aligns with B.V.3: create art using a variety of tools. This project aligns with B.CX.2 in that it involved a collaborative processes and needs planning and problem solving skills for success. Further, participation in the exhibition and gallery walk will provide an opportunity for students to use critical analysis to generate responses to a variety of prompts B.CR.1.

QUESTIONS
Call 919.828.7834 ext. 3 or email Chase!

Exchange Gallery: April Featured Artists

April Exchange Gallery Featured Artists
opening reception: April 1st, 6-10pm

Brenda Brokke

I am fascinated with the idea of stacking images in my work.  I layer one image on another just as meaning and understanding is often revealed in layers. I follow the contemporary practice of mixing mediums. Collage and printmaking often enrich the layers. As subject matter, I remain intrigued with figurative pieces that address contemporary issues.  Much of my work is about the role of females in our society and others, especially China.

My work has been described as a mosaic of images. It uses mixed media, memories, and messages. They are meant to provoke thought.

When I am expressing ideas about females, I often use textiles as well as domestic and decorative patterns.

My work is also a conscious reaction to the prevailing trend of the non-aesthetic or anti aesthetic that permeates much of contemporary art. I make no apologies for being decorative in my work.

Eric Ennis

As an art form, hand beading goes back for centuries to the cultures of Asia, Egypt, India, Russia, Native Americans and the Victorian era–to name just a few–when the art of hand beading was most prominent. Eric Ennis, a bead artist in Raleigh, North Carolina, brings this art form back to life again by painting with beads. After a long career as an ornate dress designer, he has established a reputation as a beading artist. Each bead is sewn by hand, one bead at a time, forming unique pieces of art. Only crystal and glass beads, never plastic, are used on the selected fabric.

His work has drawn in customers from around the world as well as attention from Our State Magazine, The Tar Heel Traveler, WRAL Television Station, and a full page article in the News and Observer.

Elizabeth Laul Healey

I paint with bright vibrant colors about topics that are often considered dark, or perhaps even too taboo to talk about. I paint portraits of women surrounded by complex emotions & subject matter such as human rights, women's rights, race, equality, politics & mental illness. I also create work about how the art world & pop culture world affects us all, even those who think they are adverse to their power.  My work is often iconic and easily recognizable by my unique style of outlining my subjects both literally and figuratively.  The best way for me to bring up atopic that is important to me such as race or equality without offending people is for them to decipher my work on their own so they can be the judge of what they think is moral or not.  I want my work to be provocative and I'd rather someone have a viseral reaction to my work and at least remember it, than to confuse it with some other great artist they are indifferent to.

Brian Imfeld

Can we successfully analyze everything in our world? Will we know something completely if we record and measure every quality? Or are there important characteristics that are beyond measurement? To understand how the world works, we try to measure everything. Is it even possible to know what data should be collected when trying to define something that is as abstract as a thought or a feeling or an individual?

Compositionally my work is 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 elements in rows or columns to represent the structure we impose on the world as we try to measure and understand it. I replace the words, numbers, and data of the structure with shapes and patterns to redirect the focus away from the data but toward the way data is presented. The materials I choose and the textures I create, represent those unclear characteristics that cannot be defined or quantified. They spread over the entire surface revealing the presence of these non quantifiables everywhere.

Because in today’s world everything and everyone is subject to this probing examination, it is possible that qualities that connect with you are visible throughout these compositions. Are you an odd shape rising from the surface as texture, or are you the measurements from which other elements can grow? Do you stand on the grid where the data predicts you should be or do you contradict that assumption?

DJ Joynes

I, DJ, artist and operator of ArtZjewels, design one of a kind wearable art that reflects individual personality. My pieces contain elements of color, style, beauty and adventure which are solidly constructed of mostly buttons.

Allow me to describe one. This piece was designed for a little girl named Lily. Lily loves boots, hats, flowers, cupcakes and ice cream and her necklace bouquet contains all these elements. She is also affectionately called “Lily Bug” by her family so of course there are lady bug buttons. The title of this necklace is “It’s My Party, Cowboy!”. This necklace tells the story of how Lily puts on her cowgirl boots and hat, takes Teddy by the hand and off to the rodeo they go. Then tomorrow Teddy will go on his on adventure with his lady bug friends; maybe even have a cupcake party!

Another piece with a cameo, vintage buttons and splashes of color scattered about, might lead the viewer on a garden stroll with a Victorian lady in a sweeping sun dress. Talk is quiet, laughter soft, as they meander about though the shafts of warm sunshine peeping between the canopies above.

Each design is a statement piece and fun to wear. As an accessory, they make any outfit POP!

the beginning of everything

April 1 - 28, 2016
VAE is excited to showcase drawings in our the beginning of everything exhibition, but we also challenged artists to help expand the idea of drawing. the beginning of everything is, of course, an exhibition that features skillfully rendered drawings, but will also showcases work that makes viewers question their ideas about drawing. This means the exhibition also includes architectural drawing, cartoons, blueprints, printmaking, digital drawing, illustrations, installation works, and a video that all connect to the idea of drawing.

The Juror
Alicia Lange, Director, SPECTRE arts. SPECTRE arts is a contemporary visual and performing arts venue in Downtown Durham, North Carolina. Alicia founded the space in 2011, restoring a historic 1910 church that now houses some of the Triangle’s best exhibitions. SPECTRE is a valued part of Durham’s thriving arts community and exhibits work by local, regional, and national artists.

The Art
Catherine Altice, Dancing, Drawing, Making Pictures
Mary Ann Anderson, Tethered
Tedd Anderson, Rest Ruin
Tedd Anderson, Face Transplant
Marnie Blum, Self Image
Rachel Borgman, After Velazquez: Drawing Tool for St. Thomas Aquinas After Summa Theologica
Sarah Bradley, Fly Through My Window My Sugar Lump
Jeannette Brossart, Rough Sketch
Erin Canady, Build Me Up
Meredith Cantrell, Dreams Like These
xiaoyu che, The Big Bang Theory
Katie Christo, Forest #4
Katie Christo, Forest #5
Renee Cloud, What Have I Been Doing Lately?
Janet Coleman, head strong
Caroline Coven, Cruciform Series_Opened
Caroline Coven, Cruciform Series_Cradle
Maready Evergreen, Spirit Bubble-Purposeful Movement
Maready Evergreen, Spirit Bubble – Fancy Visitors
Elizabeth Flock, Doodle Compendium
Ross Ford, 05/23/15 3:10pm
Colleen Garibaldi, Untitled (how much to reveal/out of my skin)
Beth Grabowski, 306-311 Burns.
Anita Joice, Bird 2
jean LeCluyse, Marty’s Bees
jean LeCluyse, Underdevelopment at Obey Creek
Janet Link, migration, 2
Janet Link, migration, 3
Angela Lombardi Zappala, La Specola
Greg Lookerse, Dried Stones
Greg Lookerse, I Am Teaching a Stone to Talk Relic
Kristin Lozoya, A Mother’s Journal: A Tale of Two Odd Birds
Loren Marple, Nerves
William McSwain, Compound Roof System
Richard Paxson, The Duke
Janelle Piotrowski, Bee Calm
Lisa Pors, Pencil Dress
Alex L. Porter, Together as One
Nancy Raen-Mendez, Profit
Ben Rauscher, Vulture
Chuck Siler, MakeFor366: January
Richard Stickney, A Sounding Device
Lindsey Stimpson, Living Skyline
Laura Sussman-Randall, Protest
Chris Vitiello, bad decision
Chris Vitiello, marry it
Jake Weigel, Void
Aaron Zalonis, 8am

See all of the artwork to be exhibited in the beginning of everything HERE!