The Writing on the Wall

December 6 - 14
First Friday, December 6, 6-10pm

VAE welcomes you to celebrate the wealth of literary talent in our community during the month of December! We are highlighting the diversity of authors, poets, and spoken word artists in our community. Our main gallery will be exhibiting writing on the walls as it has been transformed into a work space filled with interactive writing opportunities, a reading library, and book drop location for Book Harvest. The space will host a suite of poetry and author readings, book signings, and open mic events over the over the next two weeks.

SCHEDULE

December 6-14 - Book donation drop for Book Harvest
December 6th, 6-10 PM - First Friday Art Walk
December 8th, 7-10 PM - Tongue & Groove Open Mic
December 9th, 6-8 PM - Liberation's Station Presents: Justin Minott for an author reading
December 10th, 6-8 PM - Liberation's Station Presents: Tyrus Hinton for an author reading
December 11th, 6-8 PM - Liberation's Station Presents: Peaches Dean for an author reading
December 12th, 10-11 AM - Liberation's Station Presents: storytime with award-winning author Kelly Starling Lyons
December 13th, 6-8 PM - Liberation's Station Presents: Audrey Muhammad for an author reading
December 14th, 1-3 PM - Liberation's Station Presents: Avivia Brown for an author reading

PARTNERS + AUTHORS

Want to help us create more access to reading material for kids? Great! During The Writing on the Wall VAE is a donation drop location for Book Harvest, a Durham-based nonprofit that has put over a million books in the hands of children who might not otherwise have access to literature. VAE first connected with Book Harvest by funding their Wash & Learn project which places pop-up community libraries inside laundromats across Durham. We encourage you to donate new or gently used children’s books, appropriate for birth to high school-age kids. Books can be dropped off to VAE, Book Harvest in Durham, or purchase books off of their Amazon Wishlist and have them sent directly to their office!

Liberation's Station
The Reserved Seating Residency
Liberation Stations is hosting local authors of color to facilitate book readings and signings. The event is entitled The Reserved Seating Residency because the goal is to make room to create a seat at the table. Each author will read from a selection of their work, will be available to answer questions, sign books, and will make their books available for purchase. Each author will keep 100% of the proceeds from their sale.

Justin Minott

Tyrus Hinton

Peaches Dean

Kelly Starling Lyons

Audrey Muhammad

Avivia Brown

Alison Coleman: The Lemonade Stand Project
The Lemonade Stand Project seeks to activate non-traditional spaces with art and community dialogue. It is a mobile art-making, storytelling, recipe gathering receptacle in the guise of a traditional lemonade stand. The goal is to encourage people to share their stories, favorite family recipes and make some art. The end result of a year’s worth of story, art, and recipe collection will be a potluck and book. For The Writing on the Wall, Allison has strung a clothesline up in the main gallery where you can pin your stories, recipes, or artwork.

Kristi Stout: Love Pamphlets
For the past couple years, Kristi Stout has been collecting religious pamphlets - from people in the NYC subway, from southern gas stations in the middle of nowhere, etc. They initially intrigued her with their intense language and their fairly nondescript design. Recently, she has been creating erasure poems out of my religious pamphlet collection. In case you're not familiar, the following is the Wikipedia definition of an erasure poem: "a form of found poetry...created by erasing words from an existing text in prose or verse and framing the result on the page as a poem." Kristi’s goal is to turn the alarmist and inflammatory writing found in these religious pamphlets ("you will burn in the fiery depths of hell, heathen!") into love poetry. Kristi’s work is on display in the gallery and she will host an interactive erasure poetry table during First Friday on December 6, 6-10 PM.

litSPARK: Exquisite Corpse Machine
The team behind litSPARK invites you to join them in breaking the World Record for longest Exquisite Corpse--a community-written poem. Exquisite Corpse is a collaborative poetry game that traces its roots to the Parisian Surrealist Movement. Traditionally, Exquisite Corpse is played by several people, each of whom writes a word on a sheet of paper, folds the paper to conceal it, and passes it on to the next player for their contribution.

For the past three years, thousands of people have contributed to their community-built poem much in the same way, but via a game console loaded with a Python-based program. Contributors can see only the previous line, then respond to it with a line of their own, and are then prompted to leave their email address if they would like to receive the final poem once the World Record is officially broken.

Tongue & Groove
Tongue & Groove is an open mic hosted and organized by Anna Weaver, Sarah Egan Warren, and Andrew Warren. Every second Sunday at VAE, Raleigh’s local talent gathers to co-create a night of ephemeral art—including poetry, music, storytelling, and the occasional interpretive dance.

T&G encourages artistic collaboration and sing-alongs. And each night the show closes with The Dovetail, a poem collectively written by the performers and audience alike.

Chris Vitiello
Chris Vitiello is a writer, performer, critic, and independent curator based in Durham, NC. You may also have met Chris as the Poetry Fox, where he will write anyone an on-demand poem. The only currency you must provide is one word.

YARD SALE

The Lab Gallery
December 4 - 14, 2019

YARD SALE is commentary on our hoarder, consumeristic culture. Just kidding - it is a way for us to give away all the crap that we have collected over the past 39 years in a fun and artistic way. VAE’s staff has altered some of the materials to make art and then arranged all of it into a robust artistic installation in our front gallery. There are things that artists may want, things other nonprofit organizations may want, and some things that might even interest the general public!

No offer will be refused. No one will be turned away due to a lack of funds. If you need it and can’t afford it…it is yours!

Visit us, meander through a maze built by hoarders, take what you want, and put it to good use!

Press: An exhibit of prints and printmakers

Press: An exhibit of prints and printmakers

December 6 - January 10
Location: United Arts Council
410 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27603
First Friday reception: December 6, 6-8 pm at United Arts Council

For this exhibit, we asked any and all printmakers to show us what they are currently working on.

FEATURED ARTISTS

John Bergmeier - These Things Are Too Wonderful For Me (the pear), These Things Are Too Wonderful For Me (the hand)
Karina Constable - Creativity vs. MS
Andrew Duke - Cockatrice
Michelle Harrell - Rising for Service
Sarah Johnston - Twirl
Virginia Lawrence - Heron with boat
Christine Linder - Blue Rabbits
Emily Malpass - ampersand, CMY ampersand
Laurie Smithwick - Wall Dive, Saint-Malo June 2017
Ely Urbanski - pw.dress.R

Undeveloped Memories - Megan Bostic

Undeveloped Memories

Megan Bostic

October 23 - December 7


In Undeveloped Memories, Megan Bostic marks moments in time altered by the loss of her mother, etching into found glass slides. This piece is a contemplation on the years after a loss, on everything that’s forever altered. 

Some undeveloped memories are fragments, 

This is when you would’ve turned 51. We weren’t sure what to do.  

I kept one flower from your funeral. You didn’t even like flowers. 

Others long for an alternate reality--one in which she’s still here, yet others observations on moments when her absence is heaviest. 
Joel had his first child. We’ll tell him about you. 

Once it’s been five years, I’m not sure he’ll ever be okay. 

He still carries your photo in his wallet. 

ARTIST STATEMENT & BIO

Megan Bostic’s mixed-media fiber work focuses on the intersections of loss, grief and identity. In her early to mid-twenties, Bostic’s work derived its concepts from grief over the death of her mother. Now, her concepts stem from the idea of loss—not only loss of life, but loss of memory, loss of identity, loss of autonomy and how these losses are intertwined.

Increasingly sculptural and installation-based, Bostic’s work is driven by concept, material exploration and textile techniques. Her materials must speak the same language as the concept, which is why she favors found materials. Bostic is attracted to the associations we have with them, the stories they come with and what layers of meaning she can add. Whether stitching on hospital bracelets and bed pads or encasing human hair in resin, her work is evocative and experiential.

The heaviness of certain emotions and experiences are difficult to give words to and seem to elude verbal expression. The process of creating something visual and tangible allows Bostic to sort through the experiences, find meaning in them and offer that meaning to viewers. In her work, she strives to evoke empathy and a shared understanding of loss—we’ve all experienced loss in some way. Bostic puts her work into the community with the intention of increasing the conversation that surrounds those losses.

Megan Bostic was an Artspace Regional Emerging Artist-In-Residence at Artspace from January-July 2017. She holds a Masters of Art + Design from North Carolina State University and Bachelor of Fine Arts in both Studio Art and Art Education from East Carolina University. Megan has worked in the visual arts, arts education, community outreach, and nonprofit worlds for the last ten years. She currently serves as the Programs Manager with Arts Access, Inc, working to make the arts accessible to people with disabilities. Her most recent exhibitions include Constant / Change at GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art, Processing at Artspace NC, and Catching Ourselves at the Cary Art Center.

With the Land - Chris McGuire

With the Land

Chris McGuire
November 1 - 23, 2019
United Arts Council
410 Glenwood Ave
Raleigh, NC 27603

ARTIST STATEMENT
Through my work I reclaim my own image and subvert societal perceptions of the disabled body. I challenge and deconstruct these classifications by queering the established representations of disability. Searching for the ways disabled life inhabits the world.

SERIES STATEMENT
An ongoing body of work throughout the National Parks and landscapes across America. Investigating the tensions between the universal design present within these natural spaces and the design of accessible trails. Engaging with various “points of interest”. Responding to land and realizing how the land responds to me.

Shibui Paintings - Georges Le Chevallier

Shibui Paintings

Georges Le Chevallier
November 1-23

ARTIST BIO

The youngest son of a French father and a Puerto Rican mother, Georges Le Chevallier was born in Paris, France, and grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He studied painting at the prestigious “Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando” in Madrid, received a BFA degree from California State University at Long Beach and a MFA degree from Hunter College in New York City.

Georges Le Chevallier had his first major solo exhibition 25 years ago, and since then his mixed-media paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally in distinguished galleries and museums such as: The Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia, Green Hill in Greensboro, Central Gallery in Budapest, El Museo del Barrio in New York City, El Museo de las Americas in San Juan, Yamanashi Museum in Japan, and Centro Cultural de Lavapies in Madrid. Not only he is a prolific painter, but he has also created multiple public art installations throughout the USA, Mexico, Hungary, Tanzania, France, Guatemala, and Chile. 

Le Chevallier also has over 15 years of bi-lingual teaching experience as a University Professor.

WIP IT

WIP IT

WORKS IN PROGRESS NIGHT
EXTENDED TO - November 20, 2019 6-8pm

We are hosting an art school style group critique night! Bring some wine and/or beer, sit down among friends, and talk about each other's work. Please bring one work of any medium (painting, video, documentary, spoken word, written word, film, photography, printmaking, collage, music, kitchen sinks, etc). That night we will do a random drawing to determine crit order and set time limits make sure folks get fair representation. (Don’t really want feedback on your work? That’s cool too! Anyone is welcome to come and participate in the conversations, work or no.)

Fill out the form below so we know you're coming!

BIG at Dock 1053

BIG

October 1, 2019-January 1, 2020
Location: Dock 1053
1053 E Whitaker Mill Rd
Raleigh, NC 27604

For our latest call for art for our community partner Dock 1053 we asked artists to submit the biggest work they had.

FEATURED ARTISTS

Mary Ann Anderson - Chaos
Ashley Armstrong - Night Blues
Naomi Balint - Magical Floating World
Bethany Bash - "Sink or Swim", They Said
Sasha Baskin - Jenny's Departure
Alexandra Bravar - 105 Feelings
Allison Coleman - Planate Perspective
Emilie Hoke - Surface 12
Susan LaMantia - It's All Relative
Paolo Pedini - Hey What
Rachel Penton - Unrest
Rafael Roman - Marilyn
KENO VIGIL - Ring of Fire - Part II

You thought you are the center of the universe - Jan-Ru Wan

You thought you are the center of the universe

Jan-Ru Wan
August 21 - October 5

ARTIST STATEMENT

Motherhood brought out a different perspective in my life on how we understand love. After the 2016 election, I found even newer meanings about this perspective. The current work was initiated and inspired by my own thoughts through raising my daughter. In a child’s development, I found that it is important to let the child understand the idea of “self” to develop one’s individual identity, but at the same time, it is also important to teach the child about the idea of sharing, and that we are all connected with one another in this universe.

In this world we live in, the idea of white privilege is implicitly embedded in everyday life, either we aware of it or not. Even in Taiwan where I grew up, we had only beautiful white dolls to symbolize the ultimate beauty, and white foreigners were more popular and respected in our little society. We did not know what racism was nor white superiority. This culture was such that everyone thought things were just the way they were; until one day, the perception was broken, we all woke up and we were taught that everyone was created equal, and we all collectively contribute to this beautiful world.

Letter to my daughter in the future: Dear daughter, growing up with you every minute has been the sweetest moments in my life, and we bathe you with all our love. But one day you might learn that someone would dislike you because the color of your skin, or the way you talk, or your gender, or even the name I gave you. That is ok because you are still loved. I hope that, despite these unpleasant experiences in the future, you will still have compassion in your heart, know that the universe is dependent on all living beings. Even though, you are not at the center of the universe anymore, the universe is a much more beautiful and peaceful place when we all lived in balance.

ARTIST BIO

For more than two decades, Jan-Ru Wan has been reusing found objects, especially those discarded from industrial factories, in her sculpture and installation work, re-inventing and elevating their original purpose. Her unique way of incorporating wildly diverse materials with layers of repetition and creating a space of awe is the signature of her installation works.

Throughout Wan’s career, she has participated in 28 solo exhibitions and 44 group exhibitions, including the 1st International Biennial of Casablanca at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art in Taiwan; the Yango-Biennial in Kinshasa, Congo, and her solo exhibition at the Mint Museum in Charlotte NC. Her work has been featured in Surface Design Magazine and Sculpture Magazine, as well as, The National Art Education Association Anthology: Globalization, Art, and Education, which devoted an entire chapter on her work. In 2006, The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee honored Wan with the GOLD award, recognizing her as the Graduate of the Last Decade. Wan was the recipient of North Carolina’s 2008 Visual Art Fellowship. She has been awarded artist residencies in Taiwan, Thailand, Morocco, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States.