April 2014

NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, Features Works by Mike Brake

NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, is presenting The Critical Hand, featuring drawings by Mike Brake, on view in the Mims Gallery, through June 1, 2014. A reception will be held on Apr. 25, from 7-9pm.

John Michael Brake, Mike Brake, is a Rocky Mount, NC, native. Although he has lived and visited many places in the world, he returned both to care for and raise his family at home. We are fortunate to have Brake exhibit his drawings at Wesleyan’s Mims Gallery.

An exceptionally skillful and imaginative draughtsman, Brake describes his mission as an artist, “My works exists as an agent of my conscience. My art and I find it impossible to ignore the eternal, infernal and universal state of paranoia compounded by the profit-at-any-risk attitude of the armaments industry. I try to make use of humor and irony to exorcise the demon of violence found in our society and the world in general. In my work the addition of a dose of informed sarcasm helps me to maintain my ‘artistic cool’ in order to harmonize emotion and technical skill to produce art separate from propaganda.”

With his BS in Art Education from East Carolina University and his Masters from Hunter College, Brake has had a fascinating career path from the Peace Corps overseas, to the Jewish Museum in NYC, to teaching 3rd grade and art at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School in Rocky Mount.
With an impressive and extensive exhibition record, including exhibiting three times at Wesleyan’s Mims and Civic galleries, Brake has been exhibiting his drawings and sculpture since 1971. Amongst many exhibitions some notable ones include the following: 2011 East Carolina University Alumni, Gray Gallery, Greenville, NC; a 1986 Solo Exhibition, Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC; the 1984 10 on 8 Group Exhibit, Ten Windows on Eighth Avenue at 53rd Street, NYC; his solo exhibit titled 2D and 3D at Hunter College, NYC; 1982 at both the Kwok Gallery, NYC, and City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ; a 1977 solo exhibit at the Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC; and two groups in 1971 at both the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, and the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the gallery at 252/985-5268 or visit (www.ncwc.edu/Arts/Mims/).

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