December 2013

Some Exhibits That Are Still On View

Our policy at Carolina Arts is to present a press release about an exhibit only once and then go on, but many major exhibits are on view for months. This is our effort to remind you of some of them.

The Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, is presenting Figures and Forms: The Glass Sculpture of Rick Beck, on view through Dec. 8, 2013. Similar to a magician, artist Rick Beck makes us look closely at what we thought we saw, only to see something different than expected, and become surprised, delighted and amazed. In his first one-person exhibition at the CMA, Beck shows figures and forms sure to capture the imaginations of visitors of all ages. Beck creates his glass sculptures using clay forms to create a silicone mold for recycled glass, which is fired to 1650 degrees Fahrenheit. As the molten glass takes the shape of the mold, it can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months to cool to room temperature. For further information call the Museum at 803/799-2810 or visit (www.columbiamuseum.org).

The College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, is presenting Tales of the Conjure Woman, featuring a major traveling exhibition of new works by Washington, DC, artist Renée Stout, on view in the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, from Oct. 18 through Dec. 14, 2013. Stout is best known for her exploration of vestigial retentions of African cultural traditions as manifested in contemporary America. For many years, the artist has used the alter ego Fatima Mayfield, a fictitious herbalist/fortuneteller, as a vehicle to role-play and confront issues such as romantic relationships, social ills, or financial woes in a way that is open, creative, and humorous. The exhibition focuses on the artist’s assumed role through an array of works in various media. For further information call the Institute at 843/953-4422 or visit (www.halsey.cofc.edu).

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is presenting Complex Conversations: Willie Cole Sculptures and Wall Works, on view in the The Bob & Lissa Shelley McDowell Gallery, of the Weatherspoon Art Museum, in Greensboro, NC, through Dec. 15, 2013. The exhibition covers more than thirty years of the artist’s work, from three-dimensional sculpture to drawing and printmaking. The exhibition establishes thematic consistencies and intense interactions of his art and its focus on key consumer objects like hairdryers, high heel shoes, and, above all, the steam iron. In Cole’s deft hands and multileveled sensibility, his art connects the personal and the spiritual, everyday consumer objects and multi-layered metaphor, and African-American and US history and reality within a global perspective. For further information call the Museum at 336/334-5770 or visit (http://weatherspoon.uncg.edu/).

The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC, is presenting Passionate Collectors, on view through Dec. 29, 2013. Four years ago, the Museum received one of the largest and most significant gifts in its then-12-year history: the 53-piece collection of husband and wife Barbara Burgess and John Dinkelspiel. The collection included works in a wide range of styles, subjects and media all focused on Southern art. Represented in the collection are 21 pieces from South Carolinian Jonathan Green, along with works by noted African-American artists William H. Clarke, James Denmark, Cassandra Gillens and others. For further information call the Museum at 843/238-2510 or visit (www.MyrtleBeachArtMuseum.org).

Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, is presenting Susan Webb Tregay: Contemporary Art for Adult Children, on view in the Community Gallery, located in the East Wing of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, through Jan. 11, 2014. A native of nearby Hendersonville, NC, Susan Webb Tregay’s fun and free spirit in her works reflect her main goal - to have fun with her art. Focusing on painting experiences, she has captured what it is like to be an adult child. For further information call the Center at 828/262-3017 or visit (www.tcva.org).

The Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte, NC, is presenting Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs, 1851-1939, presenting outstanding examples of glass, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, precious metalwork, and textiles displayed at the world’s fairs between London’s Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London in 1851 and New York’s World’s Fair in 1939, on view through January 19, 2014. For further information call the Museum at 704/337-2000 or visit (www.mintmuseum.org).

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) in Raleigh, NC, is bringing together the largest and most diverse group of Porsche automobiles ever on display in a US art museum. Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed features more than 20 automobiles that together trace the evolution of the singular Porsche design aesthetic from its inception in the 1930s through the present day, on view through Jan. 20, 2014. The exhibition was organized by guest curator Ken Gross, a renowned automotive journalist and the former director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The NCMA’s Barbara Wiedemann is managing curator. For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or visit (www.ncartmuseum.org). For further info about the exhibit visit (www.ncartmuseum.org/porsche).

The Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, NC, is presenting Rebels with a Cause, featuring works by American Women, on view through Jan. 26, 2014. The exhibition presents selected paintings, drawings and sculptures from the Huntsville Museum of Art’s recently acquired Sellars Collection of Art by American Women. This landmark holding celebrates the achievements of over 250 talented female artists active from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries. The 53 works included in Rebels With a Cause embody the early influence that French Impressionism and its precursor, the Barbizon Style, had on American art. For further information call the Museum at 828/253-3227 or visit (www.ashevilleart.org).

The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem, NC, is presenting Graphic Design: Now in Production, on view through Feb. 23, 2014. If money makes the world go ‘round - design makes it stop. Take notice. Feel. Think. React. And buy. Today, design is all around us. We’re immersed in it. It permeates our daily lives, influences our behavior and is defining the human experience as a strikingly visual one. Once the exclusive domain of skilled professionals, new tools, channels and software have emerged in the last decade to create opportunities for anyone to design, distribute and put their ideas on display. For further information call the Center at 336/725-1904 or visit (www.secca.org).

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