PAINT THE CITY PYNK

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED. SORRY Y'ALL.
TICKETS WILL BE REFUNDED SHORTLY.

Date: July 22, 2018 (NOPE)
Time: 6pm-10pm
Location: VAE Raleigh

Is it Christmas in July? No. But Janelle Monae is coming to town on Monday, July 23. We are celebrating in advance with a dance party featuring curated sounds from The Conjure!

DJs Gemynii and 9ineteenBeats will be spinning from 6p-10p. Some of our favorite local artists will sharing their wearable art. We want to see your flyest, funkiest and freest fashions. Join us, dont judge us, as we paint the city pynk!

Cost: $5
Ages 18+

Shelby Scattergood

Shelby Scattergood 

Transfer Co. 
500 E Davie St, Raleigh, NC 27601

As a part of THE EVERYDAY project, Shelby Scattergood will be showcasing her work in her first solo exhibition. 

BIO

Shelby Scattergood is a photo-realistic portrait artist specializing in works that capture the complicated evolution of mental and physical illness. She received a BFA in Drawing and Printmaking from the University of North Carolina of Greensboro in 2016. Shelby is an emerging artist who has exhibited throughout the Eastern US in galleries such as the African American Atelier, the Jones Carter Gallery, The Rob, and the CVA in Greensboro. In 2017 Shelby was named the Grand Prize Winner of the NC Artists Exhibition.

Shelby currently works and resides in Richmond, VA.

ARTIST STATEMENT

At sixteen I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis and Fibromyalgia. At nineteen it was Depression. Twenty-one it was Binge Eating Disorder (B.E.D). Twenty-three it was IBS and PCOS. As my body and self have since become a collection of struggles and over-comings, so too has my artwork. Using photo-realistic subjects often concealed in, consuming, or wearing metaphoric objects these portraits draw from my experiences with physical and mental illness and visualize them for others to witness. It is through my portraiture that I seek to understand mental and physical disorder, personal struggle, physical pain, and isolation. It’s with the conclusions I make through my work that I visualize the trials of my conditions and extend knowledge to the viewer, allowing them a window into the realities of these struggles.

Theresa Devine

Theresa Devine

United Arts Council
410 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27603
Monday - Friday 10 - 4

August 3 - September 29 

As a part of THE EVERYDAY project, Theresa Devine will be showcasing her game works for the months of August and September. 

BIO

Theresa Devine, MFA, is an Assistant Professor in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. She is an artist and a scholar whose interdisciplinary research draws on the subjects of games, play, psychology, aesthetics, ethics and social transformation. Theresa received her BFA in Painting and Printmaking at Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi in 1991 and her MFA in Painting at the University of Houston in 1994. In her studio artwork, she explores games, toys, and play. 

Her work as lead of the Studio 4 Gaming Innovation research lab focuses on researching games to redefine and explore what they can be and how they can be used in concert with art to initiate transformation in our society. 

In both her artwork and scholarship, She is interested in discovering how art and play can be understood in order to be activated for social change. She believes that through a greater understanding of art and play, a road to creating a more just, tolerant, and inclusive world can
be exposed and that this path can be opened up for others to make discoveries
of their own. 

STATEMENT

Ce n'est pas un jouet: This is not a toy.

Why do we forget to play when we grow up? Why do we hurt each other? Everywhere I look I see distrust, miscommunication, and misunderstanding. This is followed with greed, selfishness, and pain. How can play help us to understand each other? 

Can play transform us and our world? Play is how we learn and gain trust from each other, so can it liberate us from the cycle of hurting each other? 

Through toys and games, I explore the intersection between adversity and play. Play is a serious venture and as the title says, it is not a toy. I invoke Magritte with this title because his work showed us that possibilities are only limited by our imagination. I believe that through play we release ourselves from adversity and open the door to new possibilities. 
 

Effy Francis

Effy Francis 

United Arts Council
410 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27603
Monday - Friday 10 - 4

August 3  - 31

As a part of THE EVERYDAY project, Effy Francis will be showcasing their unique body of work for the month of August. 

ARTIST BIO

Effy Alece Francis was born in Marietta, GA in 1992. Publishing under the trade name E. Alece, they work primarily in digital media. Under their mother's influence, Effy was self-taught from age 10. Believing the human body to be the ultimate art form, Effy imbues their pieces with surreal eroticism and symbolism. Coming out as non-binary transgender in 2017, Effy's artwork speaks to their experience and intersecting identities as a queer, disabled individual. Currently based in Columbia, SC, Effy has shown their work at: VAE Raleigh, Ultralight 2 2018 and 701 CCA Open Studios 2013.

STATEMENT

My work speaks to deep emotions coupled with soft imagery. Loneliness, love, death, and heartbreak are a few of the themes I paint; using flowers, intricate shapes, muted palettes, and beauty in the human form.

M Y C O M E T A M O R P H I C

M Y C O   M E T A M O R P H I C

Nicole Asselin
Exhibit design in collaboration with Cecilia Mouat
June 6 - July 28

Biodesign is an emerging movement that addresses designs’ connection with the natural world. Essential within the biodesign lexicon are mycelium composite materials. Mycelium is the vegetative, filamentous part of a mushroom, usually found underground. When grown within a nutrient rich substrate, the mycelium and the substrate bind together forming a stable, easily regenerated material. This growing process can be tailored to express a wide range of properties and affordances applicable for design applications. Mycelium composites are currently in use commercially as viable replacements for plastics and packing material as well as insulation, foam and leather.

This emerging design medium utilizes a transdisciplinary lens that expands the essential and timely conversation of designs’ relationship with nature and sustainability. It moves beyond the antiquated approach of simple resource conservation, developing a paradigmatic shift- inviting new ways of making that promote life-giving cycles and challenge dominate modes of production and consumption. These composite materials work with biological events as essential design components – not designing like nature, designing with natural processes. In conversation with the current concerns surrounding environmental issues, contemporary discourse in design is asking how to generate new materials and new cycles of use. Mycelium-based materials actively bring nature, science and design together to reimagining ways of producing and valuing materials.

Globe by Leroi DeRubertis

GLOBE

Leroi DeRubertis
June 20 - August 11

Artist talk: Aug. 11 @ noon

ARTIST STATEMENT

Leroi DeRubertis draws small pieces with wire. She assembles them en masse, speaking to both individual and collective humanity.

Danny Laffey • HagerSmith

Danny Laffey • HagerSmith

300 S Dawson St, Raleigh, NC 2760
Hours m-f 9-5

July-August 2018

Danny Laffey is an abstract artist living and working in Raleigh, NC.  Danny's work is inspired by the emotive power of color. Danny strives to achieve an image that is both vibrant, calming and captivating.  Color and contrast are at the core of Danny's paintings as he works to portray the image as he sees it in the moment. His work has been displayed in Scranton, PA, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Raleigh in solo exhibits, group exhibits and private collections. 

The paintings themselves can be perceived in a multitude of ways.  The use of a horizon line, creating a distinct break in the painting, signifies the need for me to express my vision of the world around me.  Using an element of movement and depth in one portion of the painting, while contrasting it both with color, but also in application on the other half.  It is in this break that I strive to convey my view of an ever-changing, fast-paced and complicated world with the simple and serene in all of our lives.  These two opposing viewpoints of the world around us are represented by varying colors and depths which are indicative of feeling and mood characteristic of each painting.  I view my work as way to understand both emotion and reaction to all of the countless aspects of life.  My goal is to create paintings that both bring the viewer in and create a sense of calm.  The works are void of any figurative references. Color is the sole mode of communication, giving the viewer a more introspective and serene experience.  

Jane Cheek • Aloft RDU

Jane Cheek • Aloft RDU

10020 Sellona St, Raleigh, NC 27617
 

July-September 2018

"Hi! I am mixed media artist who loves working with bright colors and metallics. I enjoy exploring both form and feeling through modern abstract expressionism with occasional nods to pop art and fauvism. Once upon a time, I graduated from North Carolina State University with a BA in Visual Arts Applications. I taught art at a K-8 charter school in Durham for five years before deciding to stay home with my kids. I now spend my days unschooling our three sons and working in my home studio."

Constance Pappalardo • Aloft Raleigh

Constance Pappalardo • Aloft Raleigh

2100 Hillsborough St, Raleigh, NC 2760

July-Oct. 10, 2018

A native of Lima, Peru, Constance Pappalardo studied painting at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts, in New York City.

She is a member of Artspace and the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh, and the Durham Art Guild.

She is best known for her richly pigmented water color on canvas paintings as well as her more minimalistic black and white paintings. 

Pappalardo is the recipient of numerous art awards. For example, she was selected as the feature artist for Cary’s “Spring Daze” festival, won “Best in Show” at the North Ridge Country Club in Raleigh, and received the “Purchase Prize” from Cary Visual Art.  Her works are included in corporate and private collections in the United States, Europe, and her native Peru.

Ms. Pappalardo is involved in many charity art auctions, donating art to such events as the “For the Love Art” auction, the North Carolina Museum of Arts “Art of the Auction,” and the Boys and Girls Club of Wake County among others.

Of her work, she writes… 

For as long as I can remember, art has always been a source of healing for me.  Being very sensitive to color, it was the colorist painters I was most drawn to and now, a painter myself, I use color as my primary language. 

Times being as they are, with our country in a spiritual/philosophical civil war of sorts, healing is of the essence. Language has been twisted and abused, imagery has been manipulated to shock rather than illuminate. 

As a painter, I seek to heal with breath-like color. My work reaches and touches and asks the viewer to take a breath, to sync with the vibration of color, the calm and warmth only the right pigment can offer. In my work, there may be suggestions of a landscape, but the real subject of my paintings is always color and through color I can leave a positive and healing footprint in our society, one that may unite rather than divide.

soft goods

soft goods

July 6 - 28, 2018

VAE is a hub for a diverse network of artists, a venue for artists to advance their careers, and a voice to influence positive change for the creative community. As a part of our hub, VAE hosts a number of artist groups with varying disciplines for artists to meet, discuss, and create art. VAE wants to showcase the diversity and multitude of works and creativity that our artist groups help to produce. 

VAE wants to showcase a range of textile works highlighting the diversity of process, materials, and presentation within this wide medium and industry. Honoring North Carolina’s rich history with textiles an focusing on works build on and expand its foundation. The intended impact of the exhibition is to expand our audience’s idea of what textiles can be. 

ACCEPTED ARTIST & WORK

Nicole Asselin - old work, new work  
Tamara Bagnell - system 1, system 2
Rose Bell - Landscape VI, Landscape III
Megan Bostic - Tuesdays with Grandma
Rachel Davis - Leaf Gall Study, Pollen Grains
HALE EKINCI - UNTITLED BROTHERS
Kimberly English 6 Miles and 60 Hours, Creel
George Gregory - The three faces of George, When I think about you ...
Lily Martina Lee - The Shroud of Bittercreek Betty, The Shroud of Devil's Gate Jane Doe
Bridget Leslie - MD, Bypass
Erin Miller - Packing Peanuts, Wool Packing Peanuts
O. Gustavo Plascencia - City of Islands
Saba Taj -  Barzakh
Ann Tilley - Bored (the TV's always on)
Ely Urbanski - guilted
Angie Zielinski - Hold Tight, Eyes Closed

Judith Bank I AJ Fletcher

Judith Bank

AJ Fletcher
May - November

Pet the Zoo

Pet the Zoo
June 1 - 23, 2018

Pet the Zoo is VAE’s new petting zoo opening in June of 2018. The zoo is a place to be indoors with family and friends. A sanctuary for the animals created by artists to exist to be petted, fed, and cared for by the general public as they stay still in their hay-filled domain.

VAE asked artists to create animals for the viewing public to interact with. Some works are based on real animals, others come straight from the jungle-minds of the artists! This fun, quirky exhibit is part of VAE's efforts to encourage artists to step outside their comfort zones, try new media, and take chances!

DETAILS

• Pet the Zoo is an open non-juried exhibit
• Viewers can (respectfully) interact with the work 

QUESTIONS? Email Kyle!

Chris Young I REX Heart & Vascular

Chris Young

REX Heart & Vascular
May 2018 - January 2019

ARTIST STATEMENT

Windswept mountain ridges. Quiet forest trails. Cliffs overlooking an expansive sea. Big skies
and dramatic vistas. I’m drawn to nature.

Inspiration comes from local venues, as well as, far-flung destinations like Iceland and
Tasmania. While hiking, I fill sketchbooks with pen and watercolor drawings, translating those
images into larger oil paintings in my studio. I think of myself as a plein air artist who also paints
indoors.

My recent landscapes range from impressions to abstraction. They are created with oil and cold
wax - applied, layered, scraped, and marked - creating textured and complex expressions of
nature.

ARTIST BIO

Chris Young is an Iowa native and a 21 year Cary, NC resident. While also active in the
business world and as a community volunteer, she has been a professional artist for 4 years.
Chris has exhibited in Cary and Raleigh and her paintings are in private collections coast to
coast.

IMBY

In My Backyard

November 2 - 24, 2018
VAE Raleigh

What if you got to design your own perfect city totally from scratch? What would it look like?

In My Backyard (IMBY) is a month-long collaborative experiment where we come together and try to do just that, right here in VAE’s main gallery. VAE will create a blank topographic slate for the public to build on and offer prompts for things to include (like roads, power, food, culture, accessibility, etc.).

Participants will be able to come in a build, renovate, tear down, relocate buildings, green spaces, or whole parts of the city to help determine what an open source city building looks like. VAE is providing the supplies and space for the community at large to come an determine what the community should look like all we need is public’s help.

VAE is also planning days for groups to come in and work on the city. Groups can build on their own, work as a team, respond to a randomly drawn disaster or they can work through a building project game. The game pits roles and power structures against one another to see whose project comes out on top?

IMBY is part interactive art installation, part game, and part community conversation. People of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to come help build paradise. 

If you are interested in bringing a group for a build day email Kyle or Monet.

Project Partners

Sponsors

Jamie Dawson

The Walls We Build

The Walls We Build

June 1 - July 27, 2018
United Arts Council

The Walls We Build is the inaugural theme for the artist UNITED to ask and explore “how people treat each other.” Walls, both physical and metaphorical, exist throughout the world. They have an application of separating people and places. As such, the question “how people treat each other” bares the deeper consideration of why humans desire to split and divide themselves. Highly political and personal in its foundation, UNITED states “Our strength as citizens and as artists arises from our ability to question and debate issues, contradictions and ironies that confront us.”

ARTISTS

Mark Abercrombie - bRaIn, woman on the mountain
David Barkhau - Open Your Heart
Jill Ciccone Pike - Waiting
Kyndall Cortes - They Don't Know
L Heartwalter - Odd Maude
Randy McNamara - Doomed to repeat
Richard Perry - A la Cerca (At the Fence)
Nicholas Portanova - The Wall, Where do we go from here?
Liz Roetzel - Crowd Size Matters
Barbara Thomas - Abstracted Interior
 

Courtney Potter I HagerSmith

Courtney Potter

HagerSmith

May - June

ARTIST BIO

Courtney Potter has worked as a professional painter, photographer, filmmaker, and artist for the last decade. As a child she explored multiple art forms—performing in the St. Louis children’s touring choir, writing and illustrating short stories, and playing piano at Carnegie Hall in high school.

Courtney graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2009 with a degree in Photojournalism. Her photography projects have taken her across the world and earned her multiple awards including College Photographer of the year, WPJA, WPPI, and the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. Her paintings have been featured in art shows along the East Coast, and she’s currently preparing for three 2018 solo exhibitions in the North Carolina Triangle (Raleigh – Durham – Chapel Hill) where she lives.

Authenticity and love fuel Courtney’s work and life purpose. Just like you, she values excellence and soul: she’s not a fan of trends, tropes, or mediocrity. Your artwork won’t look like everyone else’s, because you aren’t like everyone else. You live your life boldly from a foundation of love, and you want paintings and photographs that match your truth.

Courtney helps individuals (who love themselves), couples (who love each other), and creative business owners (who love their work) tap into their own authenticity and creativity. She does this through her exquisite abstract paintings that transform your living space, honest wedding photos that celebrate your quirks and your deep love for your community, stunning boudoir photos that remind you how you feel in your sexiest moments, or soulful branding visuals that let your inspiration behind your brand really shine through.

When not painting or making photographs, you’ll probably find Courtney rockclimbing, chasing her dream to live on a houseboat with her boo, or exploring the Pacific Northwest. Her deepest joy is found in exploring (whether it’s new ideas, the world, or her own creativity) and connecting (with her community, her family, and her friends).

Also, the pelvis is her power symbol.

The Protest Purse

THE PROTEST PURSE

by Kulsum Tasnif
photography by Caroline Cockrell

Exhibition: May 4 - June 16, 2018
Artist Talk: May 5th, 4-6pm
First Friday: May 4th, 6-10pm & June 1st, 6-10pm

Project Statement
For the past months I immersed myself in stories of Muslim women, learning what inspires us to resist and to exist in these times of national chaos, global catastrophes, and day to day struggles. My resistance purses are portraits of contemporary human struggles and triumphs. They are empowering, bold, and collaborative, fueled by our collective passions; they serve as a documentation of an era in which voices are silenced, yet, remaining silent is not an option. This is an ongoing project that seeks to re-contextualize how we view protest, and allows insight into the hearts and minds of a diverse community of women. And I couldn't have thought of a better partner than photographer-friend Caroline Cockrell to join me on this journey called The Protest Purse.

---

THE LAB is sponsored by Allen Tate Realtors

A Letter from VAE Staff + Board of Directors

Dear Creative Community,

In April, the Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh (CAM Raleigh) opened an exhibition of work by artist Margaret Bowland, whose paintings incorporate, among other symbols, women and girls of color painted in white face. Ms. Bowland herself is white, and without proper context the exhibition threatens the misappropriation (or, worse, the marginalization) of Black history and culture, which is troubling for many viewers.

 As a fellow City-funded arts organization, Visual Art Exchange (VAE Raleigh) agrees with CAM Raleigh that art is a powerful tool for communication. VAE Raleigh also believes this communicative power comes with significant civic responsibility. Unfortunately, CAM Raleigh has not adequately answered individual questions and concerns about the exhibition from members of the creative community. Members of that community approached VAE to give institutional voice to their questions and concerns.

VAE Raleigh believes it is essential going forward that the whole of the presenting art community (patrons, artists, and administrators) are clear on, conscious of, and communicative about the line between provocation and exploitation. We respect provocation as an effective tool for raising awareness and sparking conversations to bring about change. However, responsible, socially engaged cultural art institutes start with an intended impact and work backward from there to present art that achieves the desired ends.

To this end, we are devoting the 2018 VAE Summit to furthering these important conversations and, together, arriving at standards and values that reflect our diverse, inclusive community. Join us on July 21, 2018 as we figure out how Triangle creativity can do its best work!

Sincerely,
 VAE Staff + Board of Directors

VAE BEST PRACTICES
VAE will:

• design our exhibits and programming from the outside in, by engaging the community in the planning process.

• align our resources to identify and address problems using creativity.

• make sure that all exhibition opportunities have real value for participating artists, including press, print materials, and financial compensation whenever possible.

• engage with challenging or provocative work by contextualizing it and facilitating open dialogue about it.

• support free creative expression and lift up work that creates the most positive impact for our community.

• communicate transparently with our audience about the intended impact of our work, the engagement process during planning, and how others can be involved in our projects.

• never exhibit or financially support work that co-opts the story of a community without representation from that community acting in a decision making role.

• select guest curators from communities represented in our exhibits. Charge those curators to engage members of the community in the discussion and to create programming that shows a diverse set of views from that community.

• require guest curators to submit all works for review six weeks ahead of the exhibition so that VAE can make sure the works fits these guidelines and that challenging work is well contextualized in our communications about the exhibition.

• design programs, exhibits, events, and funding opportunities that are culturally, physically, and financially accessible.

• use our institutional privilege to give voice and opportunity to people who might otherwise remain unheard.

• earn a reputation as an inclusive space where thoughts, concerns, and ideas will be heard.

• admit when we make mistakes, learn from those mistakes, and work with the community to better understand their diverse perspectives.

THE EVERYDAY

THE EVERYDAY
disabled. universal. audacious. 

THE EVERYDAY is a multi-venue, multi-discipline, cross-disability project with the curatorial goal of highlighting universal experiences, told from the disability perspective, presented in an audacious way. This project will take place in August and September of 2018. The project is led by an international steering committee of people and artists with disabilities and people with careers at the intersection of arts and disability. The steering committee was strategically built to give this project the national reach and perspective needed to produce something original to our region.

The project will be grounded by two visual art exhibitions: The Garden Variety, which will be mounted in VAE’s main gallery and curated by Sam West, head curator at Attenborough Arts Centre, and an exhibition exploring North Carolina through the lens of disability at the National Humanities Center, juried by Ann M. Fox, professor at Davidson College. The project will also include a keynote address, panel discussions, interactive activities, and theatrical, musical, and dance performances. This project will showcase talent from local, national, and international artists.

STEERING COMMITTEE
Sarah Corrin -   Arts Grants Director, Office of Raleigh Arts - Raleigh, NC
Sky Cubacub - Artist, Fashion, Designer, Self-advocate  - Chicago, IL
Ruth Gould - Artistic Director of the DaDaFest - Liverpool, UK
Park McArthur -  Artist - New York, NY
Mark Travis Rivera - Dancer, Photographer, Activist, Artistic Director, Marked Dance Project - New York, NY
Betty Siegel - Director of VSA and Accessibility, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - Washington D.C.
Laura Swanson -  artist - New York, NY
Naomi Walker - Executive Director, Southern Documentary Fund - Durham, NC

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
National Humanities Center
United Arts Council
Arts Access
CAM Raleigh
PineCone

CALLS FOR ART

National Humanities Center
August 31 - December 15
Deadline to enter - 11:59 pm on August 4, 2018

VAE’s first collaboration with NHC will be an extension of an upcoming project, THE EVERYDAY.

THE EVERYDAY is a multi-venue, multi-discipline, cross-disability project headed by an international steering committee with the curatorial goal of highlighting universal experiences, told from the disability perspective, presented in an audacious way. The project will be presented throughout August and September 2018 and will showcase talent on local, national, and international levels.

VAE Main Gallery
August 3 - September 29
Deadline to enter - 11:59 pm on July 7, 2018

THE EVERYDAY's central exhibition in VAE's Main Gallery is an exhibition exploring universal themes experiences which we all share: romantic and familial love, employment, citizenship, education, and caregiving, to name a few. People with disabilities have typically been erased or considered disqualified from these experiences, yet they too participate in them.  Following the curatorial theme of the overarching EVERYDAY project, this exhibition will showcase works that tell stories, using universal experiences or ideas, but presented in audacious ways.

All works must be made from the genuine perspective of life with a disability.

SPONSORSHIP
If you'd like to sponsor THE EVERYDAY you can download the sponsorship packet here, or contact Brandon Cordrey at brandon@visualartexchange.org or 919.256.6856 to start the conversation!

Amy M Anderson - The Clique

Amy M Anderson

The Clique

April 25 - June 2

ARTIST STATEMENT

Absurdism describes how we, as humans, desire order, purpose and meaning in life. As a result, we are left unsatisfied by the “silence of the universe” and its unwillingness to unquestionably provide us with such. With no life meaning, there is no point to live. Yet, suicide is also meaningless. This brings us to a position of existence where we are left living our lives with no meaning. The acceptance of this meaningless state of being alive supposedly leaves us existing in total freedom. Through my work, I examine the conflict of the individual’s role and search for the state of freedom in which Absurdism leaves us.  (Absurdism)

In our social positions, phantom communities, social constructs, expectations and indoctrinations put us on the stage to play a perceived intended role.  In the lifelong universal pursuit of meaning and happiness we find ourselves together on a stage in which we must ask ourselves if we can find truth in the role in which we are playing.  By observing and investigating common social scenarios, my artworks induce conversations about social conditions drawing attention to the need for change or at least acknowledgment of the effects of such conditions on and within the individual.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Objecthood plays a vital role in the works I create.  My work measures relationships between ideas and environs.  The role of the individual object is always put into question through the creative juxtaposition of materials in which objects combine to create new functions.  I combine the use of readymade objects with unconventional materials to create an environment that promotes conversation. Recognizable objects create a familiarity concept with the viewer that entices them to further inspect the work.

Through the use of everyday objects and easily recognizable materials, viewers are invited to consider each work, its components and the meaning given to the piece by the intentional combination of these objects and their new functions.  By shedding light on the absurdity of imposed social roles, viewers are prompted to ask themselves whether the role they play in life is merely a façade – an act – or if there is some truth in who they are and the potential of who they can become.

ARTIST BIO

Amy M. Anderson is a visual artist who specializes in conceptual sculpture and installation.  Amy is a graduate of UNC-Wilmington, obtaining her BA in Philosophy and Religion, as well as Studio Art in 2004, and her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies in 2017 (Thesis:  Feeling and Filling Space:  A Finnish Art Experience and Gas Station Discos).  She has her Master of Fine Arts from Western Carolina University (Thesis:  My Titles are Always in Pencil:  Projects in The Absurd), and has worked at international artist residencies in Spain and Finland.  Amy is currently pursuing her PhD in Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies, is an instructor at Randolph Community College and faculty in the Graduate Liberal Studies program at UNC-Wilmington.