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August Issue 2007
Artspace in Raleigh, NC, Offers Four Summer Exhibitions
Artspace in Raleigh, NC, will present several exhibitions including: An Idiot Ceramic Show With Other Media, featuring works by Catherine Thornton, on view in the Upfront Gallery, from Aug. 3 - 31, 2007; Angels of Good Fortune, featuring works by Alison Overton, on view in the Lobby Gallery, from Aug. 3 - 31, 2007; Summer Artist-in-Residence Exhibit, featuring works by Ann Marie Kennedy, on view from Aug. 3 through Sept. 8, 2007, in Gallery 1; and Artspace Summer Arts Program Youth Exhibition, on view in Gallery 2, from Aug. 14 - 18, 2007.
Catherine Thornton earned a BFA in Painting
and Sculpture from Longwood College (currently Longwood University),
Farmville, VA, in her mid 30's, but was not able to consistently
pursue her art career for another fifteen years. In those fifteen
years, however, ideas, concepts and techniques were explored,
diligently filed away on several sketchpads, envelopes, dinner
napkins, etc. and assigned to the future. Her professional launch
came about through a summer course at Penland School of Crafts,
and, consequently, being accepted into what Thornton notes to
be a "nurturing and progressive artist community" -
Artspace. Thornton is tenaciously inquisitive with an appetite
for discovery. She states, "I regret the day when I wake
up to find no new thing, no reason to grow." Her work reflects
that attitude.
Thornton has been the recipient of numerous awards and her work
has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including
most recently in Best of the Triangle, Lee Hansley Gallery,
Raleigh, NC; Teapots Object to Subject and Curioser and Curioser,
Craft Alliance Exhibitions, St. Louis, MO, and Forbes Gallery,
NY; Invitational Teapot Show, and the Fine Arts Institute, Kalamazoo,
MI. Thornton's work has also been published in Lark Publication's
500 Cups.
The works on display in Angels of Good Fortune
were originally taken by Alison Overton last Thanksgiving while
on holiday in Savannah, GA. Savannah is a grand old city, with
many public squares containing green parks with fountains, surrounded
by ornate antebellum architecture. On the eastern edge of town
sits Bonaventure Cemetery, with ties dating to the pre-Revolutionary
War era. City-owned since 1907, Bonaventure (meaning "good
fortune" in French), according to Overton, "is literally
packed with amazing statuary." Overton notes that while "Some
viewers may find the cemetery aspect of my subjects a bit morbidI
see these stone carvings as graceful works of art and feel quite
fortunate to have had the opportunity to document, in my own style,
their peaceful beauty."
Overton utilizes the Holga 120S toy camera with plastic lens,
which creates a soft focus effect. The negatives are in-camera
multiple exposures, and the desired negative section is then printed
on Kodak Ektalure G and Bergger Silver Supreme papers in Overton's
home darkroom. The resulting prints are overpainted with Marshall's
Photo Oils, which are transparent oil paints specifically formulated
for painting on photograph paper.
A native of North Carolina and a life-long artist, Overton has
been photographing since 1980. In 1982 she earned a Bachelor of
Environmental Design degree from North Carolina State University's
School of Design. Overton was awarded Regional Artist Project
Grants for 2000-2001 and 2003-2004 from the United Arts Council
of Raleigh and Wake County. Her photographs have been exhibited
in NYC, CO, WV, SC, VA and in over 80 exhibits in NC. Overton
recently had seven pieces accepted into the permanent collection
of the Gregg Museum of Art and Design at NCSU.
Ann Marie Kennedy's Artspace residency began with the July 6 First Friday Gallery Walk during which she invited the Artspace community to visit her new studio (Artspace's Gallery One) to learn about her residency plans. During the month of July, visitors were welcomed to the gallery space to see an installation taking shape. Kennedy created a series of architectural spaces within the gallery utilizing simple construction techniques and accessible materials such as paper, cardboard, fabric, and wood. The structures evolved organically, culminating in one large installation. Kennedy aimed to create a somewhat disorienting experience for visitors, as they attempted to navigate the newly built environment. As in her previous installations, Kennedy hopes that this piece will allow viewers to consider their own relationship to place.
Kennedy is an installation artist and papermaker living in Raleigh, NC. She is a faculty member in the Fine Arts Department at Wake Technical Community College where she teaches Drawing, Design and other Foundations Art classes. In 1998, Kennedy earned an MFA in Intermedia/Video Art and Sculpture from the University of Iowa. She was a resident artist at the Headlands Center for the Arts, CA, in 2001, and at Penland School of Crafts, NC, from 2001- 2004. Kennedy was a 2004-2005 recipient of the Visual Artist Fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council. Recent exhibitions include Film/Video/Visual Arts NCAC Fellowship Recipients, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC; Strands of Fabrication, Fe Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA; Memory's Reconstruction installation, Caldwell County Art Center, Lenoir, NC; and Natural World, Gallery of Art and Design, NC State University, Raleigh, NC. Kennedy's work is in many public and private collections.
For one week Artspace's Gallery 2 will be brimming with vibrant paintings, drawings, photographs, decorative chairs, mixed media assemblage, and handbuilt clay works created by more than 300 youths from the Artspace Summer Arts Program. This program provides intensive-yet-fun, project-oriented classes for youths (rising 3rd-10th grades).
For further information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the center at 919/821-2787 or visit (www.artspacenc.org).
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