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December Issue 2003
Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC, Hosts Four New Exhibitions
The Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC, opens its winter season with four new exhibitions. The exhibitions include: The Allusive Form, featuring paintings by New York City artist Sigrid Burton, on view through Feb. 7, 2004; the The Turbulent Gesture, featuring works by Maine artist Joseph Haroutunian, on view through Feb. 7, 2004; 2003 Artists Invitational Exhibition and Sale featuring works by twenty NC artists offering over 175 works, on view through Jan. 10, 2004; and A Decade of Holiday Art, featuring works by regional artists, including on display the Rowan Helping Ministries collection of images in support of the annual fundraising holiday card sale, on view through Jan. 31, 2004.
New York artist Sigrid Burton has exhibited her artwork professionally since 1976. She received her BA from Bennington College in Vermont and is currently an MA candidate for South Asian Studies at Columbia University in New York City. Burton has been especially interested in India and Indian art forms. She first traveled to India in 1991 and 1992, and in 1994-95 she was awarded an Indo-American Senior Research Fellowship, the project which, the artist explains, "was a study of the meaning and use of color in traditional Indian art forms."
Burton asserts, "My current body of work reflects the very profound influence of this experience and my subsequent investigations and study of Indian art theory and forms." Other honors bestowed upon the artist include a Residency Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation for the Bellagio Study Center in Bellagio, Italy, in 1985 and in 1997 the Richard and Linda Rosenthal Foundation Award "for a young artist of distinction who has not yet received due recognition." She has also been commissioned by Merck & Company, Inc. in New Jersey, Georgetown Plaza in New York, and the Glick Organization in New York to create original works for their facilities. Burton has participated in a plethora of onepers on and group exhibitions throughout the United States and has been included in numerous publications, including the magazine Arts & Antiques and Who's Who in America. She contends, "The imagery and color in my work is referential and meant to evoke associations from the viewer. The specific content is intended to be ambiguous, mysterious. I draw, literally and figuratively, from the natural world; my imagery is derived from organic forms, including shells, plants, blossoms, fruits, and anatomical organs, as well as landscape."
Painter Joseph Haroutunian of Maine began his pursuit of art as a junior at Lawrence University in Appelton, WI, where he initially was a philosophy major. His interest in creating his own art was sparked when he viewed a Van Gogh painting in his art history class. Haroutunian says, "I liked his later work-all the swirling movement, freshness, power and detail." These words are djectives which could easily describe his own recent work, with its twists and turns and unexpected juxtapositions of color and geometry.
Although some would associate Haroutunian's work with landscapes, he is somewhat wary of doing so. He asserts, "I don't think of the landscape while painting. I have it digested before starting... What I'm after is the inner form of the landscape and this can only be achieved by working intuitively, without subject matter per se."
Haroutunian has displayed his work in several one-person and group exhibitions primarily along the East Coast. However, his work has been included in group exhibitions in San Francisco, Chicago, Wisconsin, and at the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain and Bogota, Columbia as well. Today, Haroutunian's artwork can be found in the collections of numerous museums and corporations.
Joseph Haroutunian and Sigrid Burton are represented by Katharine T. Carter and Associates of St. Leo, Florida, and New York City.
Twenty regional artists are exhibiting new and exciting work in the 2003 Artists Invitational Exhibition and Sale which will include drawings, paintings, photographs, jewelry, pottery, glass, fiber, and sculptural basketry. Work is priced from $20-$ 1,000 and may be taken at the time of purchase for holiday gift giving. Artists include Michael Alexander, Debbie Barnhardt, Robert Crum, Wayne Freeman, Judson Guerard, Bill Gramley, Clarence Hayes, Eric Kniss, Jon Palmer, Cara Reische, Christina Sagartz, John Sagartz, John Skau, Ron Slack, Brent Smith, Melanie Smith, Charlie Tefft, Cindy Uribe, Charlie Walters, and Wayne Wrights. All sales will benefit the educational programs of the Waterworks and support these fine regional artists.
A Decade of Holiday Art is also on display, featuring works created from 1993-2002 by regional artists for the Rowan Helping Ministries annual card benefit sale. The artists include Clyde Overcash, Betty Sedberry, Carlton Jackson, Lou Murphy, Bob Timberlake, Curtis Waller, Bob Doares, Cara Reische, Mark Brincefield, and Phyllis Steimel
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Waterworks Visual Arts Center is funded by individual memberships, corporations and businesses, foundations, the City of Salisbury, Rowan County, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Center at 704/636-1882 or on the web
at (www.waterworks.org).
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