February 2011

Artspace in Raleigh, NC, Features Works by Jarod Charzewski, Tanya Casteel, and Warren Hicks

Artspace in Raleigh, NC, is presenting two new exhibits including: What Land Will Take, featuring works by Jarod Charzewski, on view in Gallery 1 through Mar. 3, 2012; Awakened From The Deep, featuring works by Tanya Casteel, Artspace Regional Emerging Artist-in-Residence, on view in the Lobby Gallery, from Feb. 3 - 25, 2012; and The Viral Spiral, featuring works by Warren Hicks, on view in the Upfront Gallery from Feb. 3 - 25, 2012. A reception will be held for these exhibits during Raleigh’s First Friday Gallery Walk, on Feb. 3, 2012, from 6-10pm.

Jarod Charzewski’s site-specific installations examine landscapes and people, man-made structures among nature, and the sometimes static, often fluid designs that rise from dual environments. What Land Will Take is constructed from several tons of borrowed garments (from local thrift stores) and reflects nature’s response to man and mankind’s impact on the land. The artist views his installations as a lens through which to see our world.

Charzewski grew up in the inner city of Winnipeg where the attitudes and esthetics of an urban setting took hold. He also spent time on a family farm in rural Manitoba. This combination of surroundings is where he gained appreciation for natural and manufactured landscapes. He fuels his art with visuals of seasons; Prairie landscapes and recreates aesthetics that investigate mankind’s evolving influence. Artistically he uses these sensations to release ethereality in site-specific experiences.

Charzewski holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba (1996) and an MFA from the University of Minnesota (2005). He has received artist grants from several US and Canadian arts organizations including the Manitoba Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts and in 2007 received a Puffin Award for the environmental content of his work. He has taught sculpture in his hometown of Winnipeg, Canada and Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN and he currently holds the position of Assistant Professor at the College of Charleston in Charleston South Carolina.

Tanya Casteel’s exhibition, Awakened From The Deep, presents a collection of wall-hung ceramic “pillows” depicting how youthful imagination mixes with scientific discoveries to awaken narratives from the deep. The works were made while Casteel was Artspace’s Regional Emerging Artist Residency Program from July 2011 through Jan. 2012.

Casteel hand builds her forms in white porcelain. She mixes her own glazes and creates image transfers. The graphic images are a combination of Casteel’s own drawings along with scientific drawings from the 1800s. She transforms these drawings into decals, which she then fires onto the surface of the clay during a third kiln firing, permanently transferring the iron-oxide into the glaze/clay.

Casteel grew up in Kansas and the Midwest until she was nineteen before moving to the coast of Maine. She earned a BFA in photography from Maine College of Art. After college she began working for a local potter in Portland, ME, developing her skills in clay. In 2009 Casteel earned a Masters of Teaching and Learning from the University of Southern Maine, Portland. Upon graduating, she relocated to Raleigh, where she currently resides and works as a full-time ceramicist. In addition to her recent completion of the Artspace Regional Emerging Artist Residency Program, Casteel has taught numerous youth classes for Artspace.

Warren Hicks notes that with his recent exhibition, he “has escaped the bonds of detailed precision.” His new series of paintings on canvas are snapshots of the racing thoughts and emotions churning in his brain. Utilizing loose brushstrokes, these works are a radical departure from his previous work, though his trademark palette of brilliant colors remains fully intact.

Hicks was born and raised in Chickasha, OK, and studied Architectural Design at Oklahoma State University. Prior to graduation, he decided to explore opportunities within the music industry in Miami, Florida. Hicks spent twelve years in the music world before returning to design and architecture. While working at a prestigious architectural firm in Columbia, SC, Hicks began exploring freelance graphic and web design.

Completely self-taught, Hicks began painting in 2002, quickly developing a unique style that he calls Surreal Geometric Abstraction. Hicks’ works have been exhibited in the USA, China, and Macedonia. He currently lives in Chapel Hill, NC, and works in his studio in downtown Durham, NC.

Artspace, a thriving visual art center located in downtown Raleigh, brings the creative process to life through inspiring and engaging education and community outreach programming, a dynamic environment of over 30 professional artists studios, and nationally acclaimed exhibitions. Approximately 95 artists hold professional memberships in the Artspace Artists Association. Thirty-five of these artists have studios located at Artspace.

Artspace is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, the Raleigh Arts Commission, individuals, corporations, and private foundations.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the center at 919/821-2787 or visit (www.artspacenc.org).

[ | February 2012 | Feature Articles | Carolina Arts Unleashed | Gallery Listings | Home | ]