August Issue 2000
Waterworks Center in Salisbury, NC, Features New Exhibits
From Aug. 11 - Sept. 24 in Salisbury, NC, the Waterworks Visual Arts Center exhibition Special Gifts features the work of five gifted artists challenged by developmental disabilities. Harold Crowell, Laura McNellis, Ricky Needham, and Brooks Yeomans of Signature Home, Western Carolina Center, Morganton, NC and Gene Merritt of Rock Hill, SC, all self-taught artists, share a dedication to their art, a compelling inner need to express themselves, and an extraordinary creative talent. Photographs of Merritt by Swiss photographer Mario del Curto will also be on display. The work of all five artists in the Waterworks show has been exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. Waterworks Director Denny Mecham comments, "The work of these artists reminds us once again of the power of the creative spirit to view the commonplace and lift that view to what artist Jean Dubuffet called "a plane of high ceremony."
In related area events, Winthrop University Galleries, Rock Hill, SC is exhibiting the work of Studio XI artists through September 15. Tom Stanley, Director of Winthrop Galleries will give a gallery talk on the work of Gene Merritt Tuesday, Sept. 12, 3:30pm at Waterworks Visual Arts Center. An exhibition of Studio XI artists curated by Hodges Taylor Gallery of Charlotte will also be on exhibit at Carillon in Charlotte through Sept. 13.
Signature, the country's only home for artistically gifted and developmentally challenged adults was opened in 1993 by Western Carolina Center Foundation. Applicants are accepted into the program based on exceptional talent, or the potential to develop talent, and the need for developmental assistance to live successfully in the community. Studio XI, the artists' co-operative studio space and gallery which opened in downtown Morgantown in 1994, is a unique alternative to traditional day placement for the artists living at Signature home.
Harold Crowell, a native of Salisbury, NC, was admitted to Western Carolina Center in 1975 at the age of 22. In 1986, artist Ted Stamatelos was hired to implement an experimental fine arts program at Western Carolina. He recognized Crowell's remarkable talents and provided him with materials, encouragement, and a place to work. The results was and continues to be a remarkable body of boldly composed and strikingly colorful work. It was Crowell who first inspired Signature's vision of a studio cooperative and gallery for Signature home artists.
Laura McNellis came to live and work at Signature Studio XI in 1999. The youngest of four sisters, she began painting at eight years of age, primarily at night, creating sophisticated images of everyday objects. Her family encouraged her efforts, her father bringing home large sheets of newsprint paper and her mother keeping her supplied with sets of tempera paint.
While Ricky Needham had been creating his fantasy paintings and drawings of cars, figures, and surreal landscapes for a number of years, a counselor at Forsyth Industrial Systems recognized both his talent and his need for a more supportive living situation. In 1993, Needham was accepted in the Signature program.
Brooks Yeomans also came to Signature in 1993. His work is highly detailed, his depictions a documentation of events he has recently experienced or places he has visited. With remarkable intricacy, Yeomans creates an intricate visual record and often a bird's-eye view to encompass the entire experience.
South Carolina artist Gene Merritt began to produce the first of thousands of drawings around 1992 at his table in a local Rock Hill diner, Watkins Grill. With a passion for electronics, electronic media, and music already in evidence, what triggered his obsession with drawing is not known. Merritt's very personal style of work references his media exposure, including old movies and television reruns.
In addition, the Young People's Gallery will host an exhibition of work by members of the special populations programs at Waterworks. The exhibit will include artwork created by clients in the Waterworks/Rowan County Parks and Recreation special populations partnership and by young artists from the summer ARC (Association for Retarded Citizens) program. The ARC summer day camp for severe/profound, autistic, and moderately handicapped youth (ages 3-21) was sponsored by F&M Bank, Granite Quarry Civitan Club, and Waterworks,
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