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February Issue
2010
Artspace in
Raleigh, NC, Features Works by Heather Freeman, Steve Subotnick,
and Alison Overton
Artspace in Raleigh,
NC, will present the exhibits, Intimate Animals, featuring
works by Heather Freeman and Steve Subotnick, on view from Feb.
5 - 27, 2010, in Gallery Two and Secret Hours II, featuring
works by Alison Overton, on view from Feb. 27 through Mar. 27,
2010, in the Upfront Gallery.
Steve Subotnick
Heather Freeman
Both Heather Freeman and Steven Subotnick employ personification in their work, utilizing animals to represent human emotions and traits in various scenarios. The series presented by Freeman combines digital imaging with animation to explore personal demons. Utilizing social networking technologies, Freeman asked people to depict their own personal demons. Responses often reflected self-perceived flaws or anxieties. These personal demons, however, often pointed directly to a notable strength or positive quality of the individual. Freeman's series aims to celebrate self-perceived insecurities as great unbeknownst strengths.
Subotnick's animated films are associative explorations of themes found in history, folklore, and his own unconscious. He treats each film as an intuitive essay on a particular subject. His techniques are varied, but the poetic quality of the visual image is always his primary concern. In the case of Jelly Fishers, a hand-drawn animation (music by Igor Ballereau, Kenneth Kirschner, Aiden Baker, and QQQ), Subotnick has created a psychological fantasy about hunger. A family of anthropomorphic creatures lives in a little house at sea. They have nothing to eat, but a visit from an irritating fly starts a chain of events which leads to a meal for them all. Jellyfish are the currency of this world. They are everything - from clouds to cradles, from fishing nets to food.
Freeman is Assistant Professor of Digital Media at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte where she teaches digital print, animation, video, installation, and drawing. Freeman holds a BA in Fine Art and German Studies from Oberlin College, OH, and a MFA in Studio Art from Rutgers University, NJ.
Freeman's work has been exhibited regionally and nationally and has appeared in international exhibitions in Canada, China, Cuba, Germany, Hungary, New Zealand, Sweden, and Thailand.
Subotnick earned his MFA in Experimental Animation from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, in 1986. His independent films have screened in festivals, galleries, and curated shows around the world, including at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA and the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cleveland, OH. He has worked as an animator, director, illustrator, and author, and has taught animation at numerous institutions, including Rhode Island School of Design, Harvard University, and most recently at Wheaton College in Norton, MA.
Alison
Overton
Secret Hours II showcases Alison Overton's new foray into the digital photography medium. This recently created body of work reveals a great departure in subject matter, style, and size for Overton. Previously she had worked exclusively with analog (wet) processes in photography, creating medium format silver gelatin prints of architectural landscapes and statues, subsequently hand-tinting the prints with oil paints.
The new subject matter of the photographs consists of antique dolls and curious objects juxtaposed with unusual flora and fauna. The dolls and other objects are items that Overton found this past year while clearing out her childhood home in Vance County, NC. Her parents had obsessively collected all manner of things for decades. For Overton, the objects attracted her as she came to realize that they represented both real and imagined childhood memories, for both her and her parents.
A native of North Carolina and life-long artist, Overton has been photographing since 1980. She earned a BA in Environmental Design in 1982 from North Carolina State University's School of Design. Overton was awarded Regional Artists Project Grants for 2002, 2004, and 2008 from the United Arts Council of Raleigh & Wake County. In 2009 she was granted the Sarah Everett Toy Memorial Award, a full scholarship to study photography at Penland. Her work has been widely exhibited throughout the country and is included in numerous collections including the Gregg Museum of Art and Design, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC; Louisburg College, Louisburg, NC; Credit Suisse First Boston Headquarters; Saks Fifth Avenue; SAS Institute; and the City of Raleigh.
For further information
check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call Artspace at
919/821-2787 or visit (www.artspacenc.org).
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