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May Issue 2008

Queen's Art Gallery in Charlotte, NC, Presents Group Exhibition

In honor of National Historic Preservation Month in May, Historic Charlotte, Inc. presents Artevation: A Celebration of History Through Art at the Queen's Art Gallery in Charlotte, NC. The exhibit will be on view from May 9 - 31, 2008.

The show mixes art and historic preservation, showcasing the drawings of Warren Burgess. Nine local artists will also display their works of Charlotte architecture and history at Artevation. Their photography, fabric art, paintings, woodcuts, and illustrations will be featured along with Burgess's architectural drawings. Many of the works will be available for purchase with a percentage of the proceeds going to Historic Charlotte, Inc.

Local art on display includes: whimsical paintings of uptown, by emerging artist Wendy Arundel; the mixed-media folk art depictions of Paw Creek, by award-winning Nellie Ashford; circa 1980's photographs of Plaza Midwood, by Light Factory founder Byron Baldwin; commercial photographs of Charlotte restaurants, by Diane Davis; a painting of the Charlotte skyline viewed through Pinewood-Elmwood Cemetery, by Starr Davis; David French's oil painted doors that document historic changes in Charlotte; pencil and watercolor drawings of historic landmarks in the Biddleville area, by John Howard; fabric quilts of historic Charlotte, by Deborah Langsam; and woodcuts of North Davidson (NoDa) by James Sack.

This year's Artevation honors Warren Burgess, who worked 21 years for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission and then as Town Planner for the town of Davidson, NC, and worked at Neighboring Concepts until his death in 2005. Burgess worked with neighborhoods to draw plans for the future. He was a man of kindness and generosity who had the distinct honor of being respected by both neighborhood activists and developers alike. He was responsible for many of the changes that Charlotte has seen in the past twenty years. His work on the revitalization of the South Boulevard corridor has just recently come to fruition. Burgess could often be seen around town making sketches of historic buildings and streets. Look for the thin man with a hat and cane in many of the artworks in the exhibit - that's Warren Burgess.

Wendy Arundel is a self-taught emerging artist. After years in the graphic design industry, a move to Charlotte in 2003 inspired her to switch gears and paint the beautiful Uptown skyline. She is now a full-time artist still specializing in her perspective of architecture through cityscapes, office buildings, neighborhoods, places of interest and single-family homes. Arundel's works are typically whimsical with a sense of humor showing a slightly skewed viewpoint on reality. Her first gallery opening was Streets of Charlotte at Green Rice Gallery in NoDa where she still shows some of her work.

Nellie Ashford is a self-taught folk artist who uses the stories in her childhood to create hundreds of art collages on board, paper and canvas. She uses acrylic paints of bright colors along with found objects of fabric, sand, wood filings, and other natural materials to create her paintings. "I began to paint because of my third oldest grandson. I paint about people, places and things that don't matter to anyone anymore. Yes, I am a folk artist and the advantage is that I tell people I am allowed to break the rules that the trained artist would not dare do," says Ashford. Her work can be seen in a variety of places including the US, Canada and Swaziland, Africa. In North Carolina, you can find her works in several galleries including Picture Perfect Framing, Studio 7, and Coffey & Thompson Gallery in Charlotte; Unity Place in St. Stephens AME Zion Church in Gastonia, NC; The Foster's Art and Frame Gallery in Huntersville, NC; and Red Piano Gallery Too, St. Helena's Island, SC, and Ly Benson's Art Gallery in Beaufort, SC. Ashford was recently presented with the Afro American Cultural Center's Artist Achievement Award. She resides in a rural area in Charlotte where she paints in her home.

A founding member of the Light Factory Photgraphic Art Center in Charlotte, Byron Baldwin is known to many in the Charlotte community as a former teacher at Myers Park High School. Baldwin's students have won numerous awards and he inspired many of them to continue with photography. His own work has won many awards among which are the South Carolina Humanities Council Grant and an Mecklenberg County Arts and Sciences Project Grant. Educated at Baylor and Ohio Universities, Baldwin's work is included in private and corporate collections, such as Bank of America, First Union, R.J. Reynolds Corporation, North Carolina Museum of Art, Levine Museum of the New South, and the High Museum of Art. He has had solo shows at the Gibbe Museum of Art, Winthrop University, and been in a long list of group shows which include Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, The Light Factory, and Greenville County Museum of Art. Baldwin exhibits his work at Hodges Taylor Gallery in Charlotte.

With degrees in both Sociology and Photography, Diane Davis has studied people and the environments they create for over 30 years. In the late 80s she created this body of work entitled, Tastefully Charlotte, portraying Charlotte's classic meet-n-eat spots (all no less than 25 years in legacy at the time). "All communities possess their own classic gathering places that attract people over food. I took a year to photograph the diners through all seasons to find my vision of glorification for these cultural icons." Davis lived and worked as a commercial photographer in Charlotte for over 25 years and now resides in Durham, NC. Her artwork has been exhibited regionally and personal projects include Tastefully Charlotte postcards, the Names Project AIDS Quilt, and Discovering Russia.

David French, an oil painter on wood and canvas brings to life images that he believes are among the most popular and recognizable places in Charlotte. Most of the locations he paints, such as Anderson's, Athens, and the Coffee Cup, evoke nostalgia and show a part of Charlotte's history some of which is quickly disappearing from our present. French describes his style as modern realism and says he is inspired by the works of Edward Hopper and Van Gogh and by his painting mentor, Starr Davis a one-time Charlotte artist and resident. French exhibits his work at the Green Rice Gallery in NoDa.

John Howard is a Principal Planner with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department of the City of Charlotte. He does pencil and watercolor drawings of historic landmarks in Charlotte, particularly the Biddleville area. Howard was born in Alton, IL; a small Mississippi River town with steep hills, brick roads and a wonderful collection of period houses and civic buildings. His grandfather was a brick mason and builder who helped to construct some of the most important structures in town. A graduate of UNC-Charlotte's College of Architecture and a 20-year resident of the Queen City, Howard has witnessed Charlotte's rapidly changing physical and social fabric. Professionally, he is an urban planner for the city of Charlotte who worked with Warren Burgess in the mid 1990's.
    
Of particular interest to him is the historic Biddleville community just north of Center City. With the help of community residents he wrote a plan for the area which highlighted historic landmarks and period structures. Personally, he draws pen and ink and watercolor drawings of architecturally and socially relevant structures. Howard has won awards for his Biddle Memorial Hall and Excelsior Club watercolor pieces. As a planner for the City, Howard's work can also be found in neighborhood plans for Washington Heights, Newell and Dilworth. As Charlotte continues to mature, Howard's hope is that his drawings educate and inspire long time and new residents. While he wants the new Charlotte to continue to flourish, he also wants the original bones preserved.

Deborah Langsam has made a name for herself as co-proprietor of Barking Dog Chocolatiers, based in Charlotte, but she's no sweet-tooth snob. "I'm a great believer in chocolate desperation," she says. If it's July and the only chocolate around is left over from Halloween, her advice is to eat and enjoy. Don't mistake this advice for ignorance or the lack of a discriminating palate. Not only can Langsam create delectable truffles, ganaches, and pastries, but as a former botany professor she can also explain the chemistry behind those tempting tastes. Since 2000, Langsam and her husband, developmental pediatrician Joal Fischer, have been delighting customers with fine candies, while channeling the profits into SupportWorks, a nonprofit venture founded by Fischer to offer help to the public in researching medical information and finding or forming support groups for a wide range of issues or interests, from overeating or overspending to home schooling or sick-building syndrome. Chocolate was not the only reason Langsam left academe in 2002, after twenty-two years in the botany department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The chocolate business was well under way, but fabric art was the passion that tugged her toward retirement. These days, she alternates fabric art and chocolate with volunteer duty as curator of the fungal collection at a local natural-history museum and as a consultant for educational institutions on ways to document teaching effectiveness - a primary interest of hers during her faculty years.
 
James Sack has a series of woodcuts that were used for the 50th anniversary of the YMCA on North Davidson in Charlotte. Many of these are from the North Davidson area. Creativity isn't born on a desktop. It comes from rich and varied life experiences, and Sack is always looking for more. He is principal/creative director of carbonhouse, inc., a leading web design and branding consultancy in Charlotte he co-founded in 2000. carbonhouse serves a broad range of organizations nationally. An artist with gallery shows on his resume, he designed a series of prints documenting historic North Charlotte (a.k.a. NoDa). As designer and creative director for Art Culinaire, an industry magazine distributed in 45 countries, Sack had the opportunity to globe-hop as he collaborated with some of the world's most creative chefs, including Bobby Flay, Nobu and Charlie Trotter. While Sack keeps an eye on design and marketing innovations as an active AIGA Charlotte member (past Vice President), he also enjoys rolling up his sleeves to help community agencies like the Johnston YMCA and the curriculum advisory board at the Art Institute of Charlotte. In his spare time, Sack indulges his passion for printmaking and photography. His photos have recently been published in a number of magazines and advertisements.

Starr Davis is currently renovating a Jugendstil villa in Germany and painting landscape, portraiture and her own expressive creations. As a painter working out of a loft in NoDa between 1992 and 2004, she produced several large scale murals located in over 20 states across the USA in themes primarily for restaurants. Mural workshops were given in Charlotte with the Arts and Science Council. In NoDa she met Warren Burgess with concerns about saving native trees in a historic religious location that were threatened. Starr was involved with the Charlotte Urban Forum with Burgess and shared his concerns for community planning and citizen input. Her current plans involve providing working and living space for artists and art workshops in Coburg, Germany. The painting Warren's favorite view over Charlotte is taken from a photo from the location of two angels from where Burgess said he received his inspiration while planning for Charlotte. Burgess's inspiration will hopefully continue to touch everyone, as he certainly has.

Artevation sponsors include: Title Sponsors DAS Architecture, Inc. and Neighboring Concepts, PLLC; Gold Sponsors Foodman, Hunter, & Karres, PLLC, Gantt Huberman Architects, and The Nichols Company; and Silver Sponsors Absolute Remodeling, Inc., Coral Construction, Dilworth Community Development Association, DPZ Architects and Town Planners, Inc., Friends of Fourth Ward, Kent Lineberger Architecture, Miller Architecture, Peter Tart Architect, and the Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood Association. Historic Charlotte is supported, in part, by an annual grant from the Arts and Sciences Council. Co-chairs for this event are Lenore Jones Deutsch and Jennifer Murphy.

For further information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 704/372-2993, visit (www.thequeensgallery.com), or visit (www.HistoricCharlotte.org).

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