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December Issue 2006
Artspace in Raleigh, NC, Offers Three New Exhibits to End 2006
Artspace in Raleigh, NC, will present three new exhibitions including: Reveal/Conceal, featuring works by Seth Rouser, R. Sawan White, and Michael Wille in Gallery 2, from Dec. 1 - 30, 2006; Fair View: My Garden Abstract, featuring paintings by Marriott Procter Little, in the Artspace Lobby Gallery, on view from Dec. 1 - 30, 2006; and Digital Shibori: Pattern & Stitch, featuring works in fiber by Tricia McKellar, on view in the Upfront Gallery from Dec. 1 - 30, 2006.
Using abstraction as the basis of their work,
all three artists presented in Reveal/Conceal use layering
and the actual painting process as a means for both veiling and
exposing certain truths or ideas. The element of discovery is
important for all of the artists both in the actual art
making and in the viewer's experience of the final work of art.
Perhaps this is just inherent in Rouser, White, and Wille, as
all three serve as educators in some capacity.
For Seth Rouser, artmaking can be paralleled with the process
of divination, as he strives to bring meaning and significance
to what he refers to as an all too often "confusing and uncontrollable
world." To convey the variety and complexity inherent in
the physical and spiritual world, Rouser incorporates expressive
splashes of color, mark-making, and non-objective design juxtaposed
with realistically rendered objects. Despite the complexity of
life, Rouser notes that there is a certain underlying harmony
and uniformity that exists in life. He believes that the relationship
between dissonance and harmony is what keeps life interesting
thus he tries to construct a certain visual order in all of his
work.
Rouser earned a BFA in Painting from Winthrop
University, Rock Hill, SC and an MFA in painting from East Carolina
University, Greenville, NC. He currently resides in Rock Hill,
SC where he is a practicing artist and lecturer at Winthrop University.
His work explores an array of media and approaches to image-making-creating
works in drawing, painting, printmaking and mixed media. Rouser
has exhibited in both group and solo exhibitions in the Southeast.
R. Sawan White creates artwork in an attempt to seek identity,
truth, and balance. Even the very nature of her process - layering
oil paints and waxes, rubbing intaglio line drawings in and out
between the layers, and hiding entire narratives beneath the layers
- is all part of her search. Her paintings serve as small, intimate
thoughts - moments that she steals out of conversations. The final
results reveal what White has discovered to be true - about herself
and her relationships with others. She often uses a misspoken
word or a jumbled metaphor as a starting point for her work. White
notes that, "So much of who we are is determined by what
comes out of us. My paintings take over for me when the convention
of words has failed. They speak much better than I ever have."
White began her formal studies as a Provost
Scholar at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. She
earned her First Degree in Fine Art Printmaking from Loughborough
University, England. She has received numerous awards including
the Yeo Tree Award at the Derby City Open, Derby, England, in
1999. She has held many positions in the arts including master
printer for several British artists, guest artist and lecturer
at several art centers and colleges, and a charter member of art6
Gallery. Currently White works from her Richmond studio, teaches,
and serves as an artist and lecturer for the Virginia Museum of
Fine Arts. She is represented by the Blue Gallery, Kansas City,
MO, and Eric Schindler Gallery, Richmond, VA.
The imagery in Michael Wille's paintings is drawn from interpretations
of his surroundings. He aims to call attention to the mundane
things in his life, re-contextualizing these objects and locations,
thus creating a new existence for them. Commonplace objects take
on an almost iconic status. Whether taking the negative space
of highway overpass structure, a seating area in the grandstands
at a major league baseball stadium, or the terra cotta shingles
of a Roman roof, Wille uses the painting process to transform
the objects or locales, "using paint as a material fact and
as a device to illustrate something outside itself." While
the image remains unrecognizable within the context of abstract
painting, Wille hopes the imagery can also be read as an illustration
in some way. He hopes for "each image to move slowly towards
association, yet have the potential to pull back at next glance."
Wille earned his BFA from Milliken University and his MFA in Painting
from Bowling Green State University. His work has been included
in numerous group and solo exhibitions around the country including
at the Toledo Art Museum, Toledo, OH, Oklahoma City Arts Center,
Oklahoma City, OK, and Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL.
His paintings have been featured in the Midwest Edition of
New American Paintings and his work is part of the corporate
collection of the Four Seasons Hotel, Boston, MA, and the Renaissance
Suites Hotel, Chicago, IL. Wille is currently an Assistant Professor
of Art at Illinois State University, Normal, IL.
Marriott Procter Little
In Fair View: My Garden Abstract, Marriott
Procter Little presents an exhibition of expressionistic acrylic
paintings on the canvas depicting abstracted images of her yard
and garden as seen through her mind's eye. Little aims to evoke
an emotional and pleasurable response connecting the viewed to
her art, heart, and spirit.
Little is a Raleigh native who attended Smith College and graduated
from Duke University with a degree in Art History. She has studied
at NC State University, Meredith College, and with Joe Cox and
Ben Williams as well as many other well-known artists. Her works
are in numerous corporate collections including Bank of America,
Wachovia Bank, Duke Children's Hospital, SAS Institute, BellSouth,
Glaxo-Smith Kline, the State of North Carolina, and the News &
Observer. Little has maintained a studio at Artspace since 1990.
Tricia McKellar
In the exhibit, Digital Shibori: Pattern & Stitch, Tricia McKellar presents a series of fiber works that explore pattern and stitch. McKellar hand-dyes shibori fabric. Her shibori is a modern adaptation of traditional Japanese hand-dye methods. Shibori techniques produce patterned fabric with subtle variations; the patterns are natural and organic, and complex and simple at the same time. McKellar photographs her shibori works, digitally alters the images and prints the digital collages on silk. The works aim to question how the natural and the man-made - the organic and the digital - feed off of each other. Each work is an exploration of another permutation.
McKellar is a self-taught artist. She lives with her husband, daughter, and pets in Fuquay-Varina, NC.
For further information check our NC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the center at 919/821-2787 or visit (www.artspacenc.org).
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