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CALL FOR ART : BLACK FOLKTALES + STORYTELLING

December 06, 2021 in CCF, > Past Calls

In support of VAE’s inaugural Collaborative Curatorial Fellowship, we are seeking mixed media submissions to be included in an exhibition focused on African American folktales and family storytelling. Ranging from the well known story of Anansi the Spider, to the more personal tale from an uncle, we aim to highlight what are often oral histories in a visual format.

We are seeking submissions by artists using any medium; including but not limited too: photography, painting, drawing, fibers, etc.

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Tags: 2022
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CALL FOR ART : SELF-PORTRAITURE

October 27, 2021 in > Future Exhibits, > Past Calls

VAE Raleigh is looking for submissions to be included in an exhibition of self-portraiture to be on view at Dock 1053 from mid December 2021 - April 2022. (Exact dates to be determined).

We are seeking self-portrait submissions by artists using any medium; including but not limited to: photography, painting, drawing, fibers, etc. Unfortunately we cannot accommodate video pieces at this venue.

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Tags: 2021
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KITSCH, CAMP

October 25, 2021 in > Past Exhibits

As a part of the Click! 2021 Photography Festival, VAE presents: KITSCH, CAMP [and all of the other words now one actually knows the definitions for].

KITSCH, CAMP is a group exhibition that evinces world building through camp performance, kitsch styling, and the photographic process. Each artist brings their own self-rendered photographic portals to our reality, allowing viewers to gaze into fantastical worlds of the artists’ own creation that defy the corporeal expectations of the “real.” 

In her seminal essay, Notes on Camp, Susan Sontag describes camp as, “...a sensibility that revels in artifice, stylization, theatricalization, irony, playfulness, and exaggeration rather than content...” Using Sontag’s analysis of camp, the exhibition encourages viewers to think beyond the frame, literally and metaphorically, to see the unseen in their lives and toy with the veiled to create dynamic space where irreverent play is centered as a means of self-exploratory departure from the mundane and banal procedures of the everyday.

LOCATION

120 S Wilmington St

Raleigh NC 27602

DATES

October - November 28, 2021

ARTISTS

Benjy Russell - Tennessee

Murrie Rosenfeld - New York

Yi Hsuan Lai - New York


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Benjy Russell


Murrie Rosenfeld


Yi Hsuan Lai

Tags: 2021
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NC SCULPTURE

October 14, 2021 in > Community Exhibits, > Past Exhibits

Group Exhibition of North Carolina Sculpture

AUGUST 13 - DECEMBER 12, 2021

DOCK 1053

1053 E. WHITAKER MILL RD. RALEIGH NC, 27604

ARTISTS

Conner Calhoun, Greensboro

Conner Calhoun is currently a MFA Candidate at UNCG in Studio Art. They received their BFA in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of Visual Arts (NY) in 2015. They are a queer artist and curator based in North Carolina. Their most recent curatorial project is SLUG (Chapel Hill, NC), a project space by and for queer people of the South. They worked as a Projects Coordinator at LUMP gallery (Raleigh NC) from 2017-2020. Their studio practice uses the tools of paintings, drawing and sculpture in order to create images and visual narratives that explore the fantastical qualities of queer space, existence and resistance. In 2016 they were the artist in residence at Leipzig International Artist Residency (DEU). In 2019 They were the artist in residence at Obracadobra (Oax, MX). Their most recent solo exhibition was Whispers From Wizard Mountain, LUMP gallery (Raleigh NC) in 2018. Their work was recently featured in CAVE HOMO, a celebration to queer spirit distilled into print form. They are dedicated to the creative forces of the queer south and beyond.

kiki nicole, Charlotte

kiki nicole is a poet and artist who works to archive Very Black Feelings. They are the co-founder of the new media/film archival project and screening series, the first and the last, specializing in uplifting work by Black trans/queer artists often overlooked in art spaces. They are currently a poetry editor at Muzzle Magazine and the recipient of a publishingfellowship with Graywolf Press. kiki is 1⁄5 of the NCbased art collective, SaltWater Sojourn—a guest project with Toshi Reagon. They live in Charlotte, NC.

Mia Kaplan, Penland

Mia Kaplan is an artist who works primarily in jewelry and metalsmithing. She received a BA in Studio Art at Earlham College in 2018. Mia worked as an intern Liberty Arts Sculpture Studio & Foundry in Durham, NC in 2016. She was also an intern at Brooklyn Metal Works through the New York Arts Program in 2017. Mia currently is in the Core Fellowship at the Penland School of Craft and works and lives in Penland, NC as a part of the Core program. She has most recently shown work through Secret Identity Projects with their show Amend and in A Curious Year at the Penland Gallery in NC.

Sarah Howes Whitney, Raleigh

Sarah Howes Whitney was raised in New York, went to school at Ohio State University for Fine Arts, moved to the West Coast where she lived in San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles, before moving to Raleigh NC, where she is currently an Artist, Museum educator and High School Art Teacher.

Tags: 2021, Community Exhibition Program
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Lakeshia Ried @ Shaw University

October 14, 2021 in > Community Exhibits, > Past Exhibits

Lakeshia Reid at Shaw University Library

August - December 2021

LOCATION

Shaw University James E Cheek Learning Resources Center

118 E South St, Raleigh, NC 27601

Saturday 12–5PM

Sunday 12–8PM

HOURS

Monday - Thursday 8AM–10PM

Friday 8AM–5PM

ABOUT LAKESHIA T. REID
Lakeshia T. Reid is a self-taught artist who lives and works in North Carolina. She received a B.S. in Graphic Design in 2011 and worked as a Graphic and Web Designer until she began painting portraits in 2017. Her background as a designer helps her create works that nod to the fantastical while offering interpretations of #BlackGirlMagic – a phrase/movement that celebrates positive messages and images of black women. She is currently a full-time artist and owner of 311 Gallery in Raleigh, NC.

One’s own World (The Hermit)
One’s own World (The Hermit)
From the Earth and the Elements (The Star)
From the Earth and the Elements (The Star)
Everything that Exists (The Magician)
Everything that Exists (The Magician)
As you Are (L) and She Would be Light (R)
As you Are (L) and She Would be Light (R)
More Things in Heaven and Earth
More Things in Heaven and Earth
Memory is a Blessing
Memory is a Blessing
Because You Are
Because You Are
Unlike a Flower in a Dry Spell
Unlike a Flower in a Dry Spell
One but Many
One but Many
One’s own World (The Hermit) From the Earth and the Elements (The Star) Everything that Exists (The Magician) As you Are (L) and She Would be Light (R) More Things in Heaven and Earth Memory is a Blessing Because You Are Unlike a Flower in a Dry Spell One but Many
Tags: 2021, Community Exhibition Program
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We Wondered If We Could Reach Its End , Jane Cheek, 2021

August 26, 2021 in > Past Exhibits

Growing up in the South as a bisexual woman, I didn’t always accept my orientation with pride. Once I did, I found creating rainbows was a way to embrace myself and celebrate the queer community. I hope that being surrounded by this Pride Flag inspired installation feels as joyful for you as it does for me.

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Tags: 2021, Jane Cheek

COSO 2021 BIENNIAL CALL FOR ART

June 29, 2021

VAE is looking for submissions of 2D, 3D, video, and installation art for the COSO* 2021 Biennial. COSO’s goal is to explore what artists and makers in the regional South are currently thinking, discussing, and making work about. VAE firmly believes that art and exhibitions have the power to create social change, and COSO is an extension of our core values, vision, and mission to produce, fund, and exhibit socially-engaged art through community collaboration. The words “contemporary” or “south” do not refer to any particular aesthetic or subject matter.

*Contemporary South

To be considered, artists must be currently working in one of the following 11 states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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Tags: Contemporary South, 2021

APPROACHING MAXIMUM: THE CLIMATE CRISIS NOW

June 28, 2021 in > Community Exhibits, > Past Exhibits, > Past Projects + Events

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO EXPLORE THE EXHIBITION WEBPAGE

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Tags: 2021
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Midtown Banner Art Contest

January 12, 2021 in > Past Calls

The MRA and Capital Bank are sponsoring the First Annual Midtown Banner Art Contest. The MRA currently places banners in 26 locations of Midtown along St. Albans Road, Wake Forest Road and Six Forks Road. Our current design is a simple graphic with the words Midtown Raleigh diagonally across a multi-colored background. Upon the completion of the Banner Art Contest, the winning design will be printed on banners and hung in place of the current banners. The contest winner will be awarded a cash prize of $1000. (This same type of banner art contest was done about 10 years ago along Blount Street by the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.) Online information can be found here.

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Lauren Collins
Lauren Collins
Lauren Collins
Lauren Collins
Lauren Collins
Lauren Collins
Mary Ann Anderson
Mary Ann Anderson
Mary Ann Anderson
Mary Ann Anderson
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Jessica Dupuis
Jessica Dupuis
Jessica Dupuis
Jessica Dupuis
Jessica Dupuis
Jessica Dupuis
IMG_7048.jpg IMG_7051.jpg Lauren Collins Lauren Collins Lauren Collins Mary Ann Anderson Mary Ann Anderson IMG_7075.jpg IMG_7092.jpg Jessica Dupuis Jessica Dupuis Jessica Dupuis

Lauren Collins, Mary Ann Anderson, Jessica Dupuis at Dock 1053

January 05, 2021 in > Community Exhibits, > Past Exhibits

October 2, 2020 - February 26, 2021
Location:
DOCK 1053
1053 E Whitaker Mill Road
Raleigh, NC 27604

Lauren Collins

Artist Statement

a vision

a meditation

an urge 

a gut feeling

I now believe that these are direct communications through worlds — veils are broken in order for this conversation of speaking and listening and channeling. 

Sometimes in the form of words, sometimes shapes, sometimes just a texture or feeling. 

Created from light + love — dissolving fears and uplifting dreams. 

Sometimes it is only a whisper, so faint that everything else must completely disappear from sight and sound in order for it to live with me in solitude for a moment. 

And only just for that moment. 

And then it is gone. 

Other times it is so loud and blinding that it is all i know to be real — like i have to know; i have to feel it and communicate it to the world, or else it will fill me from the inside out, all the way, expanding from my bones to the thin veil of my skin. 

They live in the shadows and begin to shuffle into the light in order to speak their language to the world; 

and i am only their translator.

Mary Ann Anderson

Artist Statement

My paintings are informed by philosophy and art, especially:

         - Chinese and Japanese art – transcending time and space

         - Kandinsky’s conceptual premise that painting can help us to a greater consciousness

         - American abstract expressionist art and conceptual art 

These mixed media pieces are made using graphite, acrylic varnish and acrylic paint on synthetic paper (Yupo).

Artist Biography

Mary Ann Anderson has presented solo exhibitions at Visual Art Exchange and Artspace in Raleigh, at Duke University, the Durham Art Guild and GoldenBelt in Durham; at the Ackland Museum Store and Chapel Hill Library in Chapel Hill; and The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, NC. Her art studies have included classes at Ox-Bow, a program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Penland School of Craft in North Carolina.

Jessica Dupuis

Artist Statement

Invisible and visible boxes surround us every day, from standards of society and institutions to houses, studios, and offices. Within these structures, individual perceptions and senses vary, just as our memories and attachment to objects differ from one person to another. For me, the physical form of sculpture functions as a journal; architectural spaces that are open for the viewer to explore.

My work evolves from a process in which I use a combination of clay slip and discarded materials such as newspaper, cardboard, and furniture and transform them into art objects.

Artist Biography

Jessica Dupuis was born in Buffalo, New York and grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She received her MFA from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and her BFA with a concentration in ceramics and print media from Alfred University. Dupuis exhibits her work regionally and nationally. She has been a resident artist at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and Women's Studio Workshop as well as a recipient of the International Sculpture Center's Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award and an Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Grant from the Durham Arts Council. She is an Assistant Professor of Art in Ceramics at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Tags: 2020, Community Exhibition Program
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ALTARES DEL DÍA DE MUERTOS at Centro

November 05, 2020 in > Past Exhibits

ALTARES DEL DíA DE MUERTOS is a collaborative installation between VAE Raleigh and Centro. In honor of Día de Muertos 3 artists responded to traditional ideas of the altar, a central icon of the holiday which is celebrated from November 1-2. Alma Leiva, Cynthia Velasquez, and Kevin Quiles Bonilla’s altars honor Latinx lives past, present, and future.

This window installation is a part of VAE’s ongoing project centering the Latinx community, De Aqui y De Alla.

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Celda 15
Celda 15

Alma Leiva

Celda 10
Celda 10

Alma Leiva

Under the Stratum/Skin (Industrial Piling)
Under the Stratum/Skin (Industrial Piling)

Kevin Quiles Bonilla

En honor a las victimas de COVID
En honor a las victimas de COVID

Cynthia Velasquez

En honor a las maestras
En honor a las maestras

Cynthia Velasquez

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Tags: 2020, Centro, De Aqui Y De Alla, Altares Del Dia de Muertos, Alma Leiva, Cynthia Velasquez, Kevin Quiles Bonilla
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Jade Wilson at Red Hat

August 31, 2020 in > Community Exhibits, > Past Exhibits

We Keep Us Safe - Jade Wilson

Red Hat
100 E Davie St
Raleigh, NC 27601

August 14 - December, 2020

About the artist

Jade Wilson is a Black trans documentary photographer and video artist based in the Raleigh-Durham area. Jade examines the self in relation to others and reveals the identity of an individual and a community. For Jade, their technique is to illuminate the relationship between identity and representation.

About the work

A collection of images, titled We Keep Us Safe, contends with the gap between authentic Black and Brown identity and how it is often misrepresented and appropriated in culture and media. Kids and superheroes, both signs of hope and imagination, provide a way into untangling and understanding this discrepancy.

We Keep Us Safe allows Black and Brown kids to see themselves represented through their own imagination—when the world around them often leaves them out or portrays them negatively. Representation, from media to the tech industry, allows kids and adults to see their future selves as leaders in any space they dream of.

About Open Gallery

The Open Gallery features a rotating series of exhibits for associates, visitors, and the local community. Installations are chosen for their relevance to openness, collaboration, and community—all hallmarks our open source roots.

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Toilet Paper Art Benefit Auction : Call to Doodie

March 16, 2020

Toilet Paper Art Benefit Auction : Call to Doodie

Do you need a creative outlet as you have distanced your social interactions? We’re you able to find toilet paper? VAE is the launching the Toilet Pape Art Benefit Auction. We are asking artists to do their duty and create original art, drawings, sketches….doodie doodles if you will…… on an end off the ol’ bog roll and send them in.

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Tags: 2020
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Christine Garvey

March 04, 2020 in > Cube, > Past Exhibits

Daughters and Saints - Christine Garvey

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Designer Carolina Arias, CEO of Descalza, inspects a woven garment that is placed on a mannequin.

Descalza

January 23, 2020 in > Community Exhibits, > Past Exhibits

United Arts Council
410 Glenwood Avenue
Raleigh, NC 27603

January 22 - February 29 , 2020

Born in El Salvador and raised in North Carolina, Lisbeth Carolina Arias has woven her story as an immigrant of the United States into a clothing brand that is cherished by those who are proud of their heritage.

 As a young girl growing up in rural NC, fashion design served as the first outlet that didn't have a language barrier. It was one she and her mother, a highly-skilled seamstress, could finally cross together. Arias studied Fashion and Textile Design at North Carolina State University, interned in community-focused brands in Guatemala, Brazil, Mexico, and Italy, and worked for several fashion studios, including Vera Wang, in New York City all before starting Descalza.

 Descalza, meaning barefoot in Spanish, empowers communities through handwoven fabrics and reminds us of where we come from and who is still at home.  As a handcrafted, made-to-measure, fashion label, Descalza bridges both communities by collaborating with artisans from Latino America to weave the fabrics and local seamstresses in North Carolina to create the statement pieces. Together, they create unique and colorful statement pieces that make us proud of our immigrant beginnings and to be de aquí y de allá. 

Carolina’s exhibition at the United Arts Council is a part of VAE’s upcoming project, ­DE AQUI Y DE ALLA (of here and there). De Aqui y De Alla is a contemporary art project with the goal of exploring the duality that our Latinx community members feel. This feeling comes from living in the United States but not being white enough to be accepted without discrimination while being seen as to gringo to be fully accepted in the culture they identify with. The project will feature the work of Latinx artists who use their unique identity to combat this lack of acceptance and carve out space for themselves both here, and there.

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Plein Air

Plein Air Call for Art

January 22, 2020 in > Past Calls

Deadline to enter: TBD

Exhibit run: TBD
Location:REX Heart and Vascular
2800 Blue Ridge Rd
Raleigh, NC 27607

This exhibition is being placed on hold along with the rest of VAE’s exhibition schedule due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Updates will be made as soon as we are able to congregate and view are together safely.

Raleigh, NC 27607

Calling all Plein air painters! The world is filled with captivating urban and landscapes, people, and culture. We are calling on you to submit your awesome paintings to be exhibited at REX hospital’s North Carolina Heart & Vascular Center.

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Documenting Activism

January 17, 2020 in > Community Exhibits, > Past Exhibits

National Humanities Center
7 TW Alexander Dr,
Research Triangle, NC 27709

January 15 - March 28 , 2020

Protests and social activism have shaped the United States since before its birth. The right to assemble and the right to freedom of speech are protected by law specifically because of their ability to check authority. Art, in its broadest sense, has always played a vital role in the push for social change. One of the most important roles art has played is to document acts of protest and activism so that those moments live on and become part of our collective history.

About the Venue: The National Humanities Center is a nonprofit institute for the study of all areas of humanities. This fall, NHC will welcome its incoming class of learning fellows from 30 states and four countries.

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Juror: Caitlin Penna
Caitlin Penna is the University Photographer at Western Carolina University, a freelance Photojournalist, and a freelance Photographer based in Sylva, North Carolina. Her ultimate passion is telling other's stories through photography and writing. Caitlin tends to be drawn to conflict, social justice, religion, and your everyday folk.

With this being said, Caitlin hopes to inspire her viewers in the brightest and darkest moments that unfold in front of her lens.



FEATURED ARTISTS

Philip Cherry IV
Ben Hamburger
Martha Leonard
Corneille Little
Cailin Penna
Jody Servon

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Nicole Drake @ Frontier

January 14, 2020 in > Community Exhibits, > Past Exhibits

Frontier
800 Park Offices Dr
Research Triangle, NC 27709

December - March

ARTIST STATEMENT

Nicole is using this body of art to explore their own expression in abstract paintings Nicole Drake is a Raleigh based artist. Originally from coastal Georgia, Nicole studied and received their BFA in Studio Art in the North Georgia Mountains. From there, they chose to move to Raleigh with their horde of pets for new art opportunities. This body of art is Nicole’s first exploration into abstract paintings. Nicole uses negative space to encourage movement and intrigue for viewers. Contrasting values and colors create depth and engagement. Every abstract painting is named after an influential woman in Nicole’s life. Without these encouraging people, Nicole’s experience and growth in Raleigh would not be what it has been or will continue to be. This exhibition honors them.

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Bob Rankin @ Rex Heart and Vascular

January 14, 2020 in > Community Exhibits

Rex Heart and Vascular
2800 Blue Ridge Rd
Raleigh, NC 27607

September - March

ARTIST BIO

Bob Rankin is a life long resident of Raleigh and an eighth generation North Carolinian. He graduated from the E.C.U school of Art and has studied extensively throughout Europe. His adventurous travels have taken him to over 40 countries. These experiences have greatly influenced his artwork. Bob's passion for teaching led him to a 30 year career in Wake county public schools. He was Sanderson High Schools teacher of the year, as well as, North Carolina Art Education Association's Secondary Art Educator of the year. Bob has exhibited nationally and internationally and is in over 30 corporate collections.

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Duane Abbott - Novozymes

January 14, 2020 in > Community Exhibits, > Past Exhibits

Novozymes

September - February

ARTISTS STATEMENT


Duane Abbott delights in iteration and combination, color, meaning, and joy. He is obsessive in his pursuit of theme and variation and compulsive in his desire to create images and objects that inspire happiness and optimism. He has steadfastly pursued his point of view and expertise while always creating art that is immediately accessible and compelling. He hopes that his love and fascination with the world and living are evident and contagious. Any meaning comes from the moments he has spent creating art and the life he has lived to that point. He is human. And each day, if he forgets to remember his reason for wonder (that he is alive and able reflect on that fact) when he wakes, he remembers while he is taking photographs or working to enhance them. All he wants is for a few other human beings to see this. While enjoying traditional photography, Duane also works to create photos that are more like paintings. He combines images to accentuate meaning, provide two-dimensional texture, and most of all, deliver joy. His goal is to continually improve his skill and expand his subject matter. To this end, even while traveling in pursuit of recreation, he has always pursued his art. Wherever he is in the world, he strives to document the place (city, town, or field) and its denizens (people, animals, insects) to provide the elevation that that place and its inhabitants deserve. He wasn’t born to be a traveler or a photographer, but he continues to live up to those monikers in the best ways that he can.

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info@vaeraleigh.org

VAE is dedicated to being a welcoming space for everyone, including people with disabilities. All accessibility accommodation requests will be honored to the best of VAE's abilities. Contact us to request accommodations to make your visit successful: info@vaeraleigh.org