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May Issue 2009
The Bain Project
on View in Raleigh, NC
The Bain Project will open the doors of Raleigh, NC's historic E. B. Bain Waterworks to the public in May. Visitors are invited to explore the building and the site specific installations and performance art created by The Bain Project's artists. The building and the accompanying temporary art will be open to the public on two consecutive weekends: May 9-10 and May 16-17, 2009, from 1-5pm.
Tucked away just south of downtown Raleigh, the E. B. Bain Waterworks possesses what has been called "one of the finest interior spaces in Raleigh." The facilities were phased out and closed in the late eighties.
Over the last nine months twelve local artists have explored the site and history of this architectural gem. The artists' experiences are embodied in works of art throughout the building's interior.
Many artists respond to the palpable entropy of a grand work of architecture - the embodiment of human energy and achievement. Artists reuse not only the detritus but also the encroachments of nature. They reinterpret the vestiges of the water filtration process, mechanisms, and materials. Other artists have confronted the pure physicality of the space's forms, shapes, and colors. Still others explore the past life of the building and the lives that energized the space, whether past employees or vagrants.
Artists participating in The Bain Project include Marty Baird, Luke Buchanan, Jen Coon, Tim Kiernan, Stacey L. Kirby, Christian Karkow, Lee Moore, Lia Newman, David Nicolay, Sarah Powers, and Dana Raymond. The project was organized by Daniel Kelly and Tracy Spencer.
Marty Baird is a visual artist/painter whose work has been supported by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and grants from NC Arts Council, United Arts, and the City of Raleigh Arts Commission. She has been an Artist-In-Residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, CA, and the Vermont Studio Center. Numerous solo shows at Raleigh Contemporary Gallery share the spotlight with solo exhibitions at PaÁo Imperial Center for Contemporary Art in Rio de Janeiro and the Devin Borden/Hiram Butler Gallery in Houston, TX.
Baird's paintings and works on paper have been in group exhibitions at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, at SECCA, at Kunstforum Munchen in Munich, and at LongView Gallery. Her work is in private collections on three continents and in public and corporate collections in the US. Baird received her BA in Fine Arts at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, and her MFA in Painting from Catholic University in Washington, DC.
Luke Buchanan is a painter whose work focuses on the manmade world. Blending photographs, found objects and paint on the canvas he documents a single moment in an ever-changing environment. In choosing mundane and familiar spaces the attention is shifted from the monumental to everyday experience. Since graduating from the NCSU College of Design in 2002 Buchanan has had numerous single and group exhibits of his work.
Jen Coon studied painting
and drawing, mostly figurative work, in the 80's and graduated
with a BFA from the State University of New York at Purchase.
From painting her studio practice moved easily to printmaking.
Printmaking engages her with the complementary disciplines of
skill honing, anticipation, and reacting to surprise. Improvisation
has its roots in these traditions.
She has made art in Raleigh since moving here in 1987.
Tim Kiernan graduated from the NCSU College of Design in 2002
with a degree in Art and Design and Film Studies. He works in
photography, video, film and new media. He has received a grant
from Duke Universities Center for Documentary Studies and is a
freelance video producer.
Stacey L. Kirby is an installation and performance artist living in Raleigh. She currently draws inspiration from her experiences as a conservation technician with collections at the NC Museum of Art and NC Museum of History as well as backstage dressing for cast members in performances in the Broadway Series South. Kirby has been awarded artist residencies at the Headlands Center for the Arts (2007, Sausalito, CA), the Atlantic Center for the Arts (2005, New Smyrna Beach, FL), and Artspace as a Regional Emerging Artist (2002, Raleigh, NC). She is also a recipient of grants from the NC Arts Council (2006-07) and the United Arts Council of Wake County (2007-08, 2004-05).
Lee Moore is an artist and educator who is an active member in the North Carolina art community. She has served as artist in residence through Contemporary Art Museum for Moore Square Museum Magnate School for 5 years. She has facilitated workshops connecting youth to their environment through photography, sound and painting in venues such as Prairie Ridge Education Center, First Environments Early Learning Center, and Exploris Middle School. Moore is a founding member of BLAM! Studios ,co-founder of Rebus Works Gallery and President of the Friends of the NC State Gregg Museum Board in Raleigh.
Lia Newman earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in General Studio with concentrations in sculpture and photography from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. She maintains her own studio at Litmus Studio & Gallery in Raleigh, and has exhibited her work in South Carolina, West Virginia, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. Since 2002, Newman has served as the Director of Programs and Exhibitions at Artspace in Raleigh. At Artspace Newman is responsible for organizing more than thirty exhibitions per year as well as maintaining and initiating educational programs for both youths and adults. Newman has served as a juror or panelist for several arts organizations and colleges in the southeast.
Sarah Powers is an artist based in Raleigh whose mixed media work focuses on industrial and rural landscapes and landscape details. Her work has been featured in galleries across the US including Rhode Island's risd l works, The Sarah Doyle Gallery at Brown University and The Collectors Gallery, Long View Gallery, Vision Gallery and Artspace. Powers is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and is the executive director of the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh.
Dana Raymond is the recipient of awards, grants and honors too numerous to list here. His work has been exhibited across the US and abroad, most recently in Okinawa, Japan. He is a sculptor working in many types of media, often collaborating on projects that utilize new and innovative processes and technologies. Raymond has been a professor at the NCSU College of Design since 1984.
For further information
check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call Sarah Powers
at 919/986-9352, Daniel Kelly at 919/360-0420, or visit (www.bainproject.com).
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