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November Issue 2004
Wilkes Art Gallery in North Wilkesboro, NC, Features Works by Will Henry Stevens and Regional Artists
Will
Henry Stevens
For the Grand Opening Celebration of its newly renovated facility at 913 C Street, North Wilkesboro, NC, the Wilkes Art Gallery will present exhibitions of works by Will Henry Stevens and over 50 NC and regional artists. The exhibits open on Nov. 6 and continue through Jan. 15, 2005.
Through cooperation with the Blue Spiral 1 in Asheville, NC, the Wilkes Art Gallery is pleased to feature the work of Will Henry Stevens as part of its Grand Opening Exhibition. John Cram, owner of Blue Spiral 1 says Stevens, a master of 20th century American art, was a brilliant Southern modernist and realist painter.
Cram writes "During his career, Stevens ingratiated the nationalistic spirit of the American Regionalists with the groundbreaking technique of the European avant garde. Traveling effortlessly between representational landscapes and organic abstractions, the prolific Stevens produced a diverse body of work bound by a profound love of nature. In depicting the provincial Southeast, Stevens' work focused on two specific regions. The rural Appalachian mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee provided expansive and contemplative vistas, mysterious forest floors, rocky creeks and quaint villages. Stevens also delighted in exploring the waterways and walking the levies of south Louisiana. He rendered the structures and reflections of boats, bridges and piers often complemented by marsh flora and bayou architecture. His quiet intelligence, keen vision, modernist disposition and technical mastery are seen throughout his body of work."
In addition to featuring the work of Will Henry Stevens, the Wilkes Art Gallery has curated an exhibit featuring over 50 artists. These artists from across the state and region have each created a piece based on the exhibit theme, Art Moves. The Art Moves prospectus says, "Art has the power to transformthe ability to move. Since the beginning of human kind, the visual arts have been used to tell the story of human existence... As the Wilkes Art Gallery realizes its dream of renovating the original North Wilkesboro Post Office building as the new home of the Gallery, art moves. Literally, figuratively and emotionally, the power of the visual arts is moving the Gallery into historic downtown North Wilkesboro."
The Wilkes Art Gallery completed a $1 million capital campaign in Dec. 2003 to renovate and restore the original North Wilkesboro Post Office building. Renovations were completed in late Sept. The Wilkes Art Gallery's new facility encompasses 10,000 square feet and includes gallery space, a gift shop, an education center and administrative space. The new facility offers expanded opportunities for the Wilkes Art Gallery to fulfill its mission as a non-profit educational organization dedicated to providing quality educational experiences in the arts through exhibitions, classes, workshops and field trips for all ages.
For further info check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 336/667-2841, e-mail at
(kara@wilkesartgallery.org) or at (www.wilkesartgallery.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.