Leslie Bailey / Aloft RDU

Leslie Bailey 

Aloft RDU
November - January

ARTIST STATEMENT

The act of making a mark on the art surface is the beginning of my creative process. The mark-making could be with graphite, a painted line, a piece of painted paper, or any number of mark-making tools. The act of creating with a particular chosen media leads to an intuitive, creative exploration of those materials. The artistic decision-making in the subsequent layers explores process and product, sometimes by design and sometimes by surprise. Discovering these creative explorations and surprises is why I feel it necessary to create my art.

My art is abstract with an emphasis on expressionism, sometimes focusing on lines and shapes, sometimes including an abstract human form, and sometimes a mixed-media collage with the theme: a political/social/feminist statement.

I want the viewer to experience the painting as a journey through the mark-making, splatters, drips, and/or color changes. I want them to experience the textural changes, the surface treatments, and the small moments within the painting. I want the viewer to question the political/social/feminist female body collages and to influence their thinking and perception.

As a former elementary art educator, I saw many children get lost in the act of creating, simply enjoying moving paint on their paper, and creating marks. This is my reason for creating, to attempt to capture the childlike joy in color, shape, line, pattern, and forms.

Comedy Night: #BlackOnBlackV2 edition!

On Saturday November 4, 8-9:30pm, VAE will host six hilarious comedians of color in conjunction with the current exhibition, Black On Black V2, curated by Mike Williams and Linda Dallas. 

The goal is to showcase talented comedy performers while creating deeper experiences of our exhibitions, encouraging new community connections, and giving you a chance to laugh your head off for 90 minutes. Who doesn't need a good laugh nowadays?!

For this show, comedy guru and host Adam Cohen is bringing in a crew to tickle your funny bones.

Doors open at 7 - so you can have time to check out Black On Black V2.
Show starts at 8!
Cost: $10
Ages 18+
Space is limited

Mike Mello, headliner
Virginia-born and North Carolina-raised, Mike Mello is one of the most respected comedians in the region. He has toured with Tracey Morgan and Russell Peters; has opened for Dave Chapelle, D.L. Hughley, Nikki Glaser and Gary Gulman, among many others; and appears regularly at the Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival. Not only has his standup raised the standard of comedy in Raleigh for almost 15 years, he's also mentored many of the area's most talented young comedians.

Matt White
Matt's comedy ambitions were hatched at East Carolina University, where he created the Seriously Clowning comedy company, which established the now-thriving Greenville, NC comedy scene. His "if you build it, the comedy will come" mentality and strong work ethic has propelled his career, which has included winning the Carolina's Funniest Comic contest in 2013 and Port City's (Wilmington) Top Comic in 2012. He has opened for Tig Notaro, Alonzo Bodden, Tim Meadows, Rory Scovel and Sean Patton, among others.

JD Etheridge
Based in Greensboro, JD has quickly established himself on the North Carolina comedy scene. He has been a finalist multiple times in the NC's Funniest Person Contest and the Ultimate Comedy Challenge, and has opened for Tom Segura and Rodney Perry, among others. He's also the co-host of The Open Micers podcast, and is a big fan of grilled cheese sandwiches and video games.

Dejahzh Hedrick
Dejahzh lives in Winston-Salem, but was born in the mountains of Tibet sometime around the 8th century A.D. as an immaculate conception. He was recently a finalist in the NC's Funniest Person contest.

Micah Hanner
Micah hails from Winston-Salem, and performs regularly around North Carolina. He co-hosts The Open Micers podcast, and has been a finalist in the NC's Funniest Person Contest and the Ultimate Comedy Challenge.

Brandy Brown
Brandy is a multi-talented performer who was born in Dayton, Ohio and raised in Raleigh. In addition to standup comedy, she's also an accomplished actress, producer and writer, appearing on both sides of the camera for several independent films and sketch series. 

>> FUTURE COMEDY NIGHTS
While you've got your babysitter on the phone, have her pencil in these dates too!

Comedy Night: Feminine Spectrum edition!
Saturday, April 14, 8-9:30pm

Deck the Gallery Call for Art

Deck the Gallery 

December 1 - 30
Artwork Drop off November 22 - 25

VAE will showcase creative holiday ornaments as part of the holiday shop!  Artists are encouraged to bring up to 10 hanging ornaments representing any of the winter holidays. These ornaments will be displayed along the front entrance wall, and will make VAE more festive leading up to the holidays!

Ornaments should not exceed 5″.  Ornaments should include hanging hardware and price tags. 

ENTRY FORM
Please use the online entry form to submit artwork details and pay your entry fee. The online entry form streamlines the process for both artists and VAE staff, is the best way to ensure your artwork's label information is correct and allows you to upload an image of your piece so that VAE can do more to promote your work!

ENTRY FEE
$5 per member (not per artwork)
Click here to join VAE!

SCHEDULE
Bring your work to VAE...............November 22 - 25, 2017
Exhibition Run………………….….…....December 1-30
First Friday Receptions…..…….….December 1, 6-10pm
Artwork pick-up…………...........……January 3 - 6, 2018

To use the online form to submit information about and images of your work, please review these instructions for naming your files:

• 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.

ELIGIBILITY
Deck the Gallery are open to VAE members (Not a member? You should be! Check out the benefits of joining the VAE family here!). 

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 or become a VAE member, please email Brandon or call 919.256.6856 for assistance.

SHIPPING WORK
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 Brandon so the piece may be returned. Do not use styrofoam packing peanuts. Shipments of artwork will be accepted October 26-29, 2016.

Ship To:
VAE Raleigh
attn: Brandon
309 W Martin Street
Raleigh, NC 27601

SALES
VAE will retain a commission of 30% for VAE members. If a work is not for sale please indicate with NFS value in appropriate space during registration or on the consignment sheet.

LIABILITY
All entries 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. 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 exhibition guidelines.

QUESTIONS? Email Kyle!

Black on Black V2 Project Seed Grant

Black on Black V2 Project Seed Grant 

Submission Deadline - 11:59 pm on November 17, 2017

As a part of Black on Black V2, VAE is giving away two $250 grants to artists of color who are looking for resources to begin new projects, further their current practice, and continue their creativity. Our goal is to make this application as simple as possible and put money in creative people's pockets as soon as possible!

ELIGIBILITY
The application is open to any artist of color. Entry to the Black on Black V2 Project Seed Grant is not contingent on being a current BOBV2 artist. 

APPLICANTS MUST SUPPLY
> documents of three recent works
> a short bio
> project statement that outlines what funds will be used for

ACCESSIBILITY
VAE wants to make this opportunity as accessible as possible. If you have any trouble with the online form, please email Kyle or call 919.828.7834.

PROJECT SEED GRANT AWARDEES

Monét Marshall

BIO

Monét Noelle Marshall is a Durham, North Carolina-based rtist, director, producer. She serves as the Founding Artistic Director of MOJOAA Performing Arts Company, producing new works by and new opportunities for Black playwrights. Marshall explores the ways that bodies, particularly those of Black women, are used, manipulated, curated and crafted to make political statements, both with and without their consent. She does this in public spaces through public art programs like Black Joy PopUp, which brings the Black community together to express joy on purpose and in more private spaces like dance parties and her kitchen.

PROJECT STATEMENT 

In January 2018, I [Monét Marshall] will produce my first performance art exhibition titled Buy My Soul and Call it Art. It will be an immersive exploration of the worth of Black art and Black people in the mainstream arts industrial complex. The exhibition will include a group of 25 artists. 

Renee Cloud

BIO

Renee Cloud is a Charlotte native and received her BFA in Studio Art from Appalachian State University in 2015. Using a combination of text art and mixed media, she creates work that focuses on the personal narrative, the black experience, and the power of the written word. The text she incorporates into her pieces provides only a fraction of the narrative, leaving the viewer to create the rest. Cloud resides in Charlotte, North Carolina and is currently serving as the Director and Curator of the Bb Gallery.

PROJECT STATEMENT

I [Renee Cloud]  would use the grant money to create a body of work titled blackonblack that studies the black perspective on social issues using predominantly black mediums. I’m interested in expressing my personal narrative and the narrative of other members of my community in a fashion that recognizes the similarities in experiences, both positive and negative. The idea behind this series is to ‘reclaim’ the narrative that has been perpetrated by the media and politicians that the black community is a violent and failing social structure. I completely reject that notion and have been so upset by the negative stereotypes, it has inspired me to make work in response.  

These project seed grants are made possible in part by donations from Blue Cross Blue Sheild of North Carolina

Anthony Garcia-Copian

Anthony Garcia-Copain

HagerSmith
September-October

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

Everything in art is a memory.

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

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

AGC

Cathy Foreman / Aloft Raleigh

Cathy Foreman

Aloft Raleigh
October - December

ARTIST BIO

Cathy is not, nor does she proclaim to be, a music connoisseur but what she will say is she appreciates a good groove and if it offers up a funky bass-line, then all the better. It is that very groove that guides her along in the process by which she creates her Art. 

At the base of each piece of Art is her photography. The majority of Cathy’s work stems from photographs she has captured at live music events. And on occasion she has been so moved and inspired that she captures a screenshot from her television and proceeds to turn that into a piece of Art.

In 2011, Reflections by Cathy Foreman was created and she hasn’t looked back. Currently a resident of Raleigh, NC, by way of Tillery, NC, Cathy has carved out her own space in which she comfortably sits – but it didn’t happen overnight. In what she says seems like a long and arduous road, she started simply by shooting small get-togethers with her girlfriends and high school classmates. After that, she started going on “shoot-abouts” and capturing the people and things in her surroundings. In 2012, a connection to a local non-profit focused her talents as she slowly integrated texture into her work. She was cautious as she was unsure how it would be accepted, but in 2014, she realized she has always beat to a different drum, and firmly planted her feet in what she now calls “Photography to Art”.

Through music, Cathy has found that the animation of Artists, affords her a unique opportunity to interpret their performance and energy, it has helped to mold her creative style. Once she narrowed the area of which she wanted to concentrate, she delved further into the manipulation of the photograph thus creating these photographic works of art.

Today, Cathy primarily photographs live music events, but she continues to hone her craft by staying true to her grassroots and doing shoot-abouts in whichever city or town she happens to be. Her heart lies with creating Art and it is those artistic pieces you will often see.

Sleight of Hand

SLEIGHT of HAND
a collaboration

Addison Brown | Brooke Caudle | Heidi Kirkpatrick | Tobia Makover | Lori Vrba

Exhibition: October 6-26, 2017
Opening Reception: October 6, 6-10pm

Project Statement

An exhibition of photo-based object works where each piece requires a physical action from the viewer to be fully experienced.  This art is made to be touched.  The exhibition features the one-of-a-kind assemblage and installation pieces by Addison Brown, Brooke Caudle, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Tobia Makover, and Lori Vrba. 

Ignite Speed Date for NC Arts Council's Artist Fellowship!

MONDAY, OCTOBER 23rd @ VAE RALEIGH

IGNITE SPEED DATES are thematized 30-minute one-on-ones with area smartypants so you can get your most pressing questions answered. 

This special Speed Date edition is designed to give you feedback on your North Carolina Arts Council's Artist Fellowship applications. 

This fellowship gives ambitious, committed artists $10,000 to further their creative careers. It is one of the biggest awards available to artists in this state, and VAE wants to help you put together your best possible application!

Choreographers and visual, craft, and film/video artists are welcomed to apply. Application Deadline: November 1, 2017.

This round of Speed Dates gives you the chance to take the most-finalized rough draft from 90% to 100%! 
Grab yourself a date before it's too late! 

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HOW IT WORKS

We'll host 2 grant administrators from the North Carolina Arts Council and two past fellowship recipients as your dates! 

Register today to reserve your spots with your two favorite gurus. Email us pdfs of the following application materials by October 19 so your dates have time to look them over beforehand:

• Resume
• Artist statement
• Fellowship narratives

The more polished materials you send, the more useful the feedback you'll get! If you wish to have the gurus advise your on your choice of images, you will need to bring a laptop/tablet/phone on which to show them during your date. Please do not email us your application images. 

Once you have completed this form you will be automatically rerouted to an outside scheduling site to choose your gurus (two max) and meeting time slots.

NOTE: This event will be held from 2-6 pm on Monday, October 23. That time frame is just when the gurus are available to meet. You are not expected to be at the event the whole four hours it's happening. You get to pick who you meet with and when (depending on availability- register today for best selection). Pick and choose up to TWO experts(s) to suit your needs and schedule!

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REGISTRATION

STEP ONE: Complete the registration form through Wufoo [CLICK HERE]. You will be asked for your contact information and a short survey of questions to help the gurus understand your needs. This event is FREE for current VAE members and $10 for non-members.

Questions/prompts Include:
 - What is your artistic media & discipline? 
 - What are the five words that BEST describe your creative work?
 - What kind of advice or feedback are your especially hoping for?
* This Speed Date will require submitting your fellowship application. If you have it ready to go, you can upload pdfs of your resume, artist statement, and fellowship narratives when you register. If you need more time to work, you can email these files to Laken by October 19 and she will pass them on to your dates to review prior to your meeting.

STEP TWO: Once you've completed step one and registered, we'll give you a link to an outside scheduling service called Sign Up Genius where you will choose the guru(s) and time(s) you want – remember! MAX is TWO gurus + time selection per registrant. Once you've done that and hit submit, you're 100% registered!

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MEET YOUR DATES

Anjanée Bell, Dance and Outreach Director, North Carolina Arts Council
Anjanée is an artist, dancer, choreographer, educator and visionary, who's ready to put you in the running for the Artist Fellowship! She has experience in arts management, the non-profit arts sector in North Carolina, artist-facing expertise, and arts presenting, so she can help you explain and highlight your scope of practice - because she gets it! She specializes in choreography, but has smarts and experience across the board!

Heather Gordon, Durham based Visual Artist, 2014-15 NCAC Fellowship Recipient
Heather maps the poetry of people’s lives using numbers and geometry. Her work has extended to include site-specific installations and performance-based collaborations. Her work has been featured in CAM Raleigh, SECCA, Ackland Art Museum, 21C Durham and Waterworks, and has traveled to San Francisco, Huston, and to ArtPrize7. In addition to receiving the NCAC Fellowship, Gordon won Durham's ArtPrize7 PITCH NIGHT and was the Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Grant recipient.

Stacey Kirby, Durham based Visual Artist,, 2014-15 NCAC Fellowship Recipient
Stacey's 'performative interactions' and collaborative projects combine installation and performance in alternative, private and public spaces. Fueled by the current political climate and issues of citizenship, Kirby invites visitors to become active participants in her work to empower the voice within all of us. Kirby is a recipient of the ArtPrize Eight Juried Grand Prize (2016), the NC Arts Council Artist Fellowship for Visual Artists (2014-15), an ArtPrize Pitch Night Grant (2016) for North Carolina and an Indies Arts Award from the Independent Weekly (Durham, NC) for her participation in the BAIN Project (2009). She is nominee for the Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2017) a finalist for the 1858 Prize by the Gibbes Museum of Art (Charleston, SC) for contemporary southern art. Kirby has also been awarded artist residencies throughout the U.S. 

Jeff Pettus, Senior Program Director, Artists & Communities at the North Carolina Arts Council
Jeff oversees most of the grants programs and services to artists and arts organizations at the NC Arts Council. He's seen his fair share of amazing grant and fellowship applications in his 20+ years at the NCAC. If there's anyone to show you what not to do, he's the one! Plus, this Princeton grad has worked in book publishing and art museum administration, so he has a few tricks up his sleeve! 

BOBV2

Black on Black V2 

October 6 - November 25, 2017 

We’re seeing imagery that reminds us of Los Angeles in 1992, Tulsa in 1921 and Wilmington in 1898, and these incidents seem to show disregard for the lives of people of color. But we bounce back because there is a tremendous strength within our community.

BLACK ON BLACK V2 brings together artwork, performances, and programs that provide comfort, support, and inspiration as we navigate through our day-to-day.

Contribute to the conversation:
#BOBV2
#BlackOnBlackV2

Featured Artists

agape. 
Onicas Gaddis
Stephen Hayes
Precious Lovell
Mballa Mendouga
Anthony Patterson
William Paul Thomas
Sloane Siobhan
 

BLACK ON BLACK V2 Programming

Tuesday, October 10, 7pm
Screening of Ricky Kelly's "Black Beach/White BeCH" at NC State's African American Cultural Center

Friday, October 20, 6-9pm at Empower Dance Studio
Third Friday Dance Series and Exhibition

Saturday, October 21
Bus tour to the International Civil Rights Center + Museum in Greensboro, NC

Wednesday, October 25, 5-7pm at VAE
Intelligently Ratchet live podcast recording

Thursday, October 26, 7pm at VAE
Tri-Film Society Social Event and discussion of films focused on the lives of people of color. 

Saturday, November 4, Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm at VAE
BOBV2 Comedy Night

Monday, November 6, 7pm at Anchorlight
Rhythms of Spoken Word with Nate Key

Wednesday Nov 8 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm at VAE
Black Entrepreneurs Panel Discussion

Thursday, November 9, 7pm at NC State's African American Cultural Center
Screening of "Whose Streets" 

Saturday, November 11, 2pm
Chavis Park Public Art presentation and Workshop with David Wilson

Saturday, November 18, 12-3pm
Hands-on art activity with artist Michelle Petelinz

VAE Collects for #NCforPuertoRico

VAE will be collecting goods to be direct delivered to Puerto Rico's rural areas. 

Items needed include: 

Bottled Water
Canned Goods & Dry Food
Baby Food & Formula
Baby & Adult Diapers + Wipes
Hand Sanitizer
Batteries & Flashlights
Feminine Hygiene Products
General Hygiene Products
Pet Food
First Aid Kits
Clothing  

These items can be dropped off in VAE's box in the gallery throughout the month of October. These goods will go to those who aren't able to be serviced FEMA's supplies stuck at the ports. 

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Artist Critique with Thomas Sayre

VAE invites area educators and art professionals to do short individual critiques of your work.

The next critique is with guest critic, Thomas Sayre on Thursday, November 16th, from 7- 8:30pm, at VAE. 

Photo: Jimmy Williams, Walter Magazine's Artist Spotlight

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- The critique session is for 3D, Sculpture, and Ceramic artists. 

- Each artist may bring one piece to be critiqued.

- Each artist will have an equal amount of time to present work and receive feedback.

- The registration is $5, which will go to our guest critic for their time and knowledge.

- Space is limited to 12 participants. 

Thomas Sayre is a Raleigh based sculptor and painter. He designs and builds public art projects and private commissions all over the world.

Raleigh residents are most likely to recognize Sayre's Gyre (pictured above) at the NCMA and the Shimmer Wall located on the Raleigh Convention Center.

In 1995, Sayre received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of fine arts from North Carolina State University. 

Sayre is also a founding principal of the multi-disciplinary design firm Clearscapes, alongside architect Steve Schuster. The team designs numerous civic, educational, museum buildings, and is the force behind Raleigh's Union Station. 

Anthony Garcia-Copian / HagerSmith

Anthony Garcia-Copian

September/October

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

Everything in art is a memory.

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

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

- AGC

Katie Ree / AJ Fletcher

Katie Ree

AJ Fletcher Foundation
August - October

I am a wanderer, explorer, and experience-r of nature. I interpret the landscape around me and try to express the wonder and beauty I feel surrounded by. I currently work in and around the Durham, NC area and love the forests, rivers, streams, and creeks. I often start a painting on location and finish in my studio. My needs are minimal - some watercolors, a nice rock, sun if I’m lucky, paper, and ink.

My work is a deeply spiritual experience for me. I endeavor to capture not only what I see but that which is unseen. There are lines connecting us all and I try to share them. Each painting is both a meditative experience and a means to push myself to notice more. What colors are really in a sky, a field, a river, a mountain? What lines and spaces make up a tree? How do you express the gentle breeze, the whispering of trees, the sound of a peaceful sky? How do you be still and one with yourself and the world around you?

I hope to create images and objects that people want to live with. That speak to them as creating them has spoken to me. Most importantly, I hope to share my love of nature and landscapes. I hope to inspire others to look around more closely. To see the beauty we are surrounded by. My hope is that we can all come back to ourselves, our best selves, in nature. 

soundCARVING: a self-portrait by Dana Raymond w/ Robert Bailis

soundCARVING: a self-portrait

Dana Raymond with Robert Bailis

August 23 - October 7

ARTIST STATEMENT

My artwork includes static and dynamic objects, installations, and performance. Underlying all my creations are systematic structures ranging from graphic to mechanical and musical to conceptual. The rhythmical expressions I achieve are the result of an imaginative merger of the rational and the irrational.

My main objective is to activate space. I fabricate forms, however, they play a supportive role to the empty volumes I energize and shape. My forms are as necessary as the sounds a musician creates in and around silence. My passions are ultimately derived from shaping the emptiness of spatial voids.  
 
A secondary objective is to explore the relationship between part and whole. My intrigue with integral components, independent and interdependent, stems from my desire to conceptually understand a whole solely through its compositional parts.  
 

Hearsay

Hearsay

September 1 - 21

Hearsay is an exhibition to look at the state of current events through the critical lens of art. 

Raed Al-Rawi
Michael Baum,
Kristen Baumlier-Faber
Joseph Bigley
Monique Cleveland
Mila de Sousa
Linda Hames
Jeanne Hearn
Andea Horton Morton
Leatha Koefler
Nicole Lawson
Nat  Lazakis
Larry Lean
Maria Lindseth
Babatola Oguntoyinbo
Nancy Ping-Robbins
Nicholas Portanova
Leah Preiss
Caroline Redding
Jennifer Seaver
S.K. Simmerman
Debra Singer-Harter
Natacha Sochat
Jusmeily  Tejada
Martha  Thorn
Charles Tipton
Robin  Wright  

Kelly Sheppard Murray / UAC

Kelly Sheppard Murray

United Arts Council
August - September

Artist Bio/Statement

Kelly Murray has been working as an artist, educator, and designer for more than 20 years. Since 2000, she has taught studio and art appreciation to adult learners of all ages at Wake Technical Community College. By teaching art majors and students with limited knowledge of the arts, Kelly has observed how people interact with and appreciate visual culture. She has supported hundreds of students in finding their own creativity to employ for personal and professional pursuits.

Kelly’s teaching informs her approach to her fine art and design. By working with audiences of varied aesthetic perspectives, Kelly is prepared to find a way to meet a client’s or community’s needs and purposes. For the last 15 years, Kelly has worked with numerous design and fabrication companies to create sculptures, dioramas, small models and murals for nature, science and history centers.

Environmental issues, land development and the relationship of human activity and nature has been a core interest for Kelly throughout her career and the primary focus of much of her personal fine art production.  Kelly has been exploring encaustic wax painting for the last 10 years.  This passion for molten wax is derived from years casting metal using lost-wax metal casting. Encaustic painting was a natural way to bring her sculptural background and pursuit of painting together because it can easily translate into two or three-dimensional compositions.

Kelly is interested in exploring the ways her experience as an exhibition designer, fabricator, sculptor and painter can be brought together for clients on commercial, public art and fine art projects.

indelible marks: what we’ve been, or might, or never will

indelible marks: what we’ve been, or might, or never will
Eliza Kiser | Emily Malpass

August 4-24, 2017
Opening Reception: August 4, 6-10pm
 

Project Statement:
When we see the word “collaboration,” we think of each other. Throughout changes to our families, identities and approaches to art-making over the last four years, we continue to share ideas and dream of our future as artists and friends. The work you see around you is our attempt at using our art-making to work through the questions and struggles in our lives at this moment, and to explore ideas about the identities and veneers we have worn, shed, cultivated, lost, clung to, or will never experience.

Rick Carlson / UAC

Rick Carlson

United Arts Council
August

Artist Statement

Twelve years ago I started my own graphic design business. In-between design assignments, I paint. Contemporary impressionism best describes my style. Like the early Impressionists, it is my fascination of how light interacts with form and color. The final result is not a representation, but instead my interpretation of the subject. Simplifying the moment and making the most impact. As an artist, I try to embellish on this and create a piece that is unique and appealing to the viewer.

Randy MacNamara / Aloft RDU

Randy MacNamara

Aloft RDU
August - October

Artist Statement

“It is like being lost in a jungle,” Dr. Mirzakhani said, “and trying to use all the knowledge that you can gather to come up with some new tricks — and with some luck you might find a way out.”

MAKING
my mind moves in the cool muck
at the bottom of a dark and tan creek
slipping through
 
mud molds my thoughts into holes
they collapse as I withdraw
pulling up roots to wear as a wig
 
stripped I splash about
in colored light biting the edge
shadows bend my vision  
 
my instincts feel rugged resistance
a stone pried and plucked from suspension
plumes of sediment bloom downstream
 
I chase after a billowing liquid cloud
expanding in pools then riffles
rocks and gone
 

bloomed

bloomed

Sarah Tector @ Art of Style

Sarah Tector has taken over Art of Style's front window in conjunction with VAE's upcoming call Multiples. 

Working with my hands has always been a natural fit and source of fulfillment. While deciding where to go in life and what to study I was fortunate enough to have parents that said to pick a field that would make me happy. Metalsmithing satisfied many parts of my creative brain; designing and making in 3D, using mixed materials, and fantastic tools. And while I have made silverware, bowls, and pendant lights amongst other things, jewelry is the most recognized form of what I can do. Treating it as small-scale sculpture,  my pieces catch the eye when on the body or not. I create clean, geometric, and architecturally influenced pieces in sterling silver, cast bronze, powder coating, and other mixed materials. These are mainly one-of-a-kind, limited edition, and production pieces of jewelry and most recently collaborations, allowing me to push myself out of my creative comfort zone and the opportunity and challenge of artistic evolution.