May 2011

CAM Raleigh in Raleigh, NC, Offers First Exhibits Featuring Works by Dan Steinhilber and Naoko Ito

CAM Raleigh in Raleigh, NC, is presenting its inaugural exhibitions including: Dan Steinhilber: Hold On, Loosely, featuring works by Washington, DC-based artist, on view in the Main Gallery, through Aug. 22, 2011, and Naoko Ito: Urban Nature, featuring works by New York City-based artist, on view in the Independent Weekly Gallery, through July 11, 2011.

CAM Raleigh is proud to present a new installation of some of the largest works to date by Dan Steinhilber.

Inspired by the relationship between our building’s past and present function, Steinhilber has created a series of site-specific installations throughout the museum that reflect the human gesture to contain the perishable. An architectural structure of cardboard boxes spans overhead, shipping pallets painted with stretch wrap hang on the wall, and an inflated sculpture of mulched plastic bags can be entered. These, and several other works, demonstrate Steinhilber’s capacity to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

An established mid-career artist, Steinhilber received his MFA from American University in Washington, DC, and his BFA from the Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions including an installation at MassMOCA entitled Breathing Room, which has received much critical acclaim. Past exhibitions include the Hirshhorn Museum of Art and Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC) and Contemporary Art Museum Houston (Houston, TX), among others. Steinhilber is a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptures Grant and a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship.

CAM Raleigh is also proud to present New York-based Japanese artist Naoko Ito in her first solo museum exhibition, the first in the Emerging Artist Series.

Ito works primarily with manufactured materials rather than traditional “art” mediums. By utilizing common items like jars and wire, the works are obtainable by everyone. In her series “Urban Nature”, segmented tree branches are preserved in mason jars, a nod to historical methods of homegrown food preservation as well as a comment on man’s desire to contain nature. The resulting sculpture reveals and obscures the whole, your eyes shifting focus from the branch inside to its glass enclosure. The spare installation of the works enhances their quiet beauty, crystalline forms shining in the concrete gallery.

CAM Raleigh is the only museum in the region with a dedicated gallery for emerging artists and designers. Through exhibiting emerging artists whose work is still in progress and fresh from the studio, CAM Raleigh celebrates the diversity of artistic expression and places the artist at the center of the community. The museum supports early career contemporary artists in an atmosphere where they are encouraged to foster a cross-fertilization of ideas and dynamic interaction with visitors. Visitors from all walks of life will often have a chance to meet and exchange ideas with the artists celebrated in this series. CAM Raleigh’s Independent Weekly Gallery features the Emerging Artist Series.

CAM Raleigh is a non-collecting museum that explores what’s now and presents an always-changing museum experience. CAM Raleigh is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization created through partnership between the community of Raleigh and North Carolina State University’s College of Design. CAM Raleigh is generously supported by its Board of Trustees, North Carolina State University, individual and corporate members, private and corporate foundations, and government agencies.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at 919/513-0946 or visit (http://camraleigh.org/).

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