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February Issue 2004
Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC, Offers Three New Exhibitions
Celebrate a "passion for art" with family and friends at the opening of three new exhibitions at the Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC, on Feb. 13. The new work features architectonic ceramic sculpture by Mark Bridgwood, landscapes and still life paintings in the classical tradition by Robert Crum, and intriguing fire-marked paintings by Angela Oliveira. The Bridgwood and Oliveira exhibits run through Apr. 17, 2004, the Crum exhibit through Apr. 24, 2004.
Ceramic sculptor Mark Bridgwood, native of Stoke-on-Trent, England, and currently residing in Winston-Salem, NC, creates Frozen Moments, intriguing and profound geometric forms integrated with an enigmatic visual text. In particular, he uses the cube form as a reference point and springboard to both formal sculptural interpretation and metaphorical plays on repetition and familiar visual language as "a fundamental aspect of life" that greatly affects life's meaning and value. He contends, "I am pursuing a monumental vision .... In this work I am trying to raise awareness of the presence of repetition in our daily lives, posing the question: when does it go from a positive to a negative?" Bridgwood received a BFA from Bath College of Higher Education in Bath, England, with a major in ceramics and a minor in photography. While he was a student there, he studied under several of the UK' s most notable ceramic artists, including Magdalena Odundo, Walter Keller, Henry Pim, and Mo Jupp. In 1991, he and his wife moved to the United States. Bridgwood has participated in several group exhibitions along the East Coast, including shows in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, NC, New York City, and Pittsburgh, PA.
Robert Crum's Harmonious Illuminations have grown from a childhood of painting and drawing. He received his BA from Bradley University in Peoria, IL, in 1977, and has studied privately under several notable artists, including Tony Griffin and Benjamin F. Long IV. Crum often travels to Italy and France to paint, draw, and study. The artist paints with oils in the style commonly known as classical realism and includes still life, portraits, and landscapes. Yet, as the artist explains "my paintings aren't just an attempt to paint things. I paint ideas, feelings, and atmospheres. Inscribed on one of the walls of the Minneapolis Museum of Art is a quote by Tung Ch'i-ch' ang which reads that 'A painter must learn from the ancient masters, then from nature, and finally from his own mind.' This is the process I follow repeatedly as a painter."
Crum moved from Iowa to Charlotte, NC, in 1989, and to downtown Salisbury, NC, in 2002. Since his move to North Carolina, he has participated in numerous special projects, including assisting Benjamin F. Long IV with four of his fresco paintings, as well as painting commissioned portraits for two plays performed by Piedmont Players Theater, Inc., in Salisbury. Crum has also taught and lectured for various art organizations throughout North Carolina. He has displayed his work in several solo exhibitions and has participated in a plethora of two-person and group exhibitions as well. His work has been included in several publications, such as The Dispatch of Lexington, NC, Creative Loafing and The Charlotte Observer of Charlotte, NC, and the Salisbury Post.
Crum has received numerous awards and honors since moving to North Carolina, including a Regional Emerging Artist Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council and the Arts & Science Council-Charlotte/Mecklenburg, Inc., in 1993, and many honorariums to exhibit from various art organizations. Crum's work may be found in numerous public, private and corporate collections.
In her exhibit Touched By Fire, Brazilian artist Angela Oliveira states that "art has been branded into" her, "in very much the same way that I brand art into my work." She has experimented a great deal with the effects of fire on her artwork, which has recently been a combination of wood and plastic, often using a gas torch or other burning instrument. Art critic John Mendelsohn explains, "The result is a mysterious alchemy, where imperfection and destruction become vehicles for a kind of raw beauty... Oliveira creates surfaces divided into block-like sectors which obliquely recall walls, rooms, and corridors which have been marked by a personal history... Oliveira creates a meditation on the persistence of and the vulnerability of a structure which seems both physical and psychic... With an aura of strength and melancholy, Oliveira's work suggests a kind of existential wisdom in the face of the implacable impermanence of all things."
Oliveira attended the Fine Arts School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX, from 1976 to 1978. She also studied with Brazilian artist Isaura Pena from 1987 to 1988. Additionally, the artist received a law degree at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil. She has displayed her work in many solo and group exhibitions in New Mexico and throughout Brazil and has been commissioned to create work for two different organizations. Oliveira's work may be found in corporate, public, and private collections in Brazil, Croatia, and New York. Angela Oliveira is represented by Katharine T. Carter and Associates of St. Leo, Florida, and New York City.
For more information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the center at 704/636-1882 or on the web at (www.waterworks.org).
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