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November Issue
2009
Green Hill Center
for North Carolina Art in Greensboro, NC, Offers Annual Fundraising
Exhibit
The Green Hill Center
for North Carolina Art in Greensboro, NC, will present its 30th
Winter Show, on view from Dec. 6 through Jan. 15, 2010.
This annual exhibit features works by 150 artists from all over
the state. Artists have paid special attention to the pricing
to foster Greenhill's program of encouraging young and first-time
collectors, with some works beginning at $50.
Featuring 500-plus works for purchase from more than 150 artists
from Penland to Pamlico, it is easily the largest and finest juried
exhibition and sale of North Carolina art and crafts in the state.
Paintings, sculpture, photography, jewelry, woodwork, fabric and
fiber works, ceramics, are presented in an articulated installation
in which hundreds of artworks in multiple mediums may be viewed
in a harmonious ensemble.
This year, in keeping with its mission of reaching out to art lovers of all ages and all budgets, the gallery has requested artists to pay special attention to the pricing of their art and crafts in an effort to support and foster Green Hill's First Works program. Under this program, the gallery is focusing on young and/or first-time collectors. Curator Edie Carpenter assures that the selection of works in the Winter Show are priced to fit any budget, from $50 - $10,000 with plenty of pieces under $500. The First Works program will connect would-be collectors to emerging artists during Saturday shows and gatherings. It will also include informal one-on-one sessions aimed at helping art lovers take the first steps toward starting their own art collection.
"We want everyone to become a collector, no matter what their budget or what the economy is doing," Carpenter says. "I've bought a lot of things that I later regretted buying, but not one of them has been a work of art. If you have less money, as many of us do right now, why not invest it in something unique and handmade, something that's one of a kind, and something that will increase in value."
In fact, you can make a good argument for buying art during, and just after, a recession, Carpenter says. Artists are more likely to "value-price" their work and some critics say that the best art is created during hard times. "The great artists of abstract expressionism, such as Jackson Pollock and Arshile Gorky, were young during the great depression," Jonathan Jones, a British art critic, told the Guardian newspaper earlier this year, "and that had a great influence in giving their work emotional depth." Jones went on to say that British artists thrived creatively during the recession of the late 1980s and early '90s. "You could argue that their best work came during that period of recession," he said.
Carpenter is not sure she's in complete agreement, but she is certain that, as in previous shows, Green Hill art buyers and collectors, whether veteran or newbies, will take home some art created by rising stars. "Artists who have exhibited in past shows include Maud Gatewood, Bert Carpenter, Richard Fennell, Andrew Martin and Beverly McIver, iconic names in the art world. I dare say that some of their work sold here for less than a couple hundred dollars," she says. "But that's not the real point. The joy and excitement that it has generated over the years is, as the tired old adage goes, simply priceless."
For further information
check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at
336/333-7460 or visit (www.greenhillcenter.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2009 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© 2009 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.