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August Issue 2008
Artspace in Raleigh, NC, Offers New
Round of Exhibitions
Artspace in Raleigh, NC, is presenting the
following exhibitions including: Shrine of the Bottle Tree
Flowers, featuring works by Valarie Jean Bailey, on view in
the Upfront Gallery from Aug. 1 - 30, 2008; Sustainable Lineage,
featuring works by Emily Howard, on view in the Artspace Lobby
Gallery from Aug. 1 - 30, 2008; Artspace Summer Arts Program
Youth Exhibition, on view in Gallery 2 from Aug. 19 - 23,
2008; Bricoleur, featuring works by Louis St. Lewis, on
view in Gallery 2 from Aug. 30 through Oct. 5, 2008; and Vortex,
featuring works by Summer Artist-in-Residence, Eileen Doktorski,
on view in Gallery 1 from Aug. 1 through Sept. 8, 2008.
Valarie Jean Bailey's Shrine of the Bottle Tree Flowers
is an installation meant to be, for the viewer, a sacred place
for devotion, reflection, and redemption. In the past a "bottle
tree" (a dead tree in one's yard with empty bottles placed
neck down onto the branches) was thought to keep the "haunts"
out of one's house. The bottles would capture and imprison evil
before it could do damage. Inspired by this folklore, Bailey has
created her own version of the bottle tree. This bottle tree,
however, does not seek to stop evil haunts, but rather seeks to
release love, strength, and positivity into the space.
Using her familiar medium of textiles, Bailey
created her bottle tree installation to call upon the assistance
of women whom she has known in her family and in her life, and
women she has discovered in books and other places. These women
have made contributions in the past that somehow connect with
Bailey's life. The bottles serve as vessels that contain the positive
energy and wisdom of these women who left a legacy of love and
power. They stand upright to release the energy into the universe.
Bailey creates textile works that interpret the natural beauty
around her. She finds much inspiration from the flowers and trees
that are abundant in Clayton, NC, where she has lived since 1999.
She serves on the Board of Directors of Artspace, Inc., and previously
served two terms on the Board of Directors for the Johnston County
Arts Council. Bailey has been a teaching artist through the Johnston
County Arts Council's Artists-in-the-Schools program and the Artspace
Outreach Program. Last summer Bailey was the artist-in-residence
at Theatre Art Galleries, High Point, NC, coordinating a week-long
project for Together Art Grows, an outreach project between TAG
and the Macedonian Community.
Emily Howard
For inspiration when creating her works of
art, Emily Howard often looks to people and objects close to her,
specifically her own family. Most recently she has been exploring
food in her work by looking at old recipes and culinary memories
from her relatives. Howard's approach to fiber art is to incorporate
a variety of media, including layering different fabrics that
have been aged by composting, rusting, and natural dyeing methods.
To create the series of work presented in Sustainable Lineage,
Howard has fused the fabrics with different kinds of molds that
she has made (out of wax, ceramic, and plaster), to reproduce
food-related items.
Howard is an artist and educator who lives in Raleigh, and focuses
on mixed-media fiber art. While exploring the vast possibilities
of textiles, she enjoys educating students and adults about all
of the opportunities in this field. She graduated from Meredith
College in 2001 and is currently pursuing her MFA in Textiles
at East Carolina University. Howard has exhibited her work in
galleries throughout North Carolina and the US, most recently
at Pullen Arts Center, in Raleigh. Over the years, Howard has
taught at Artspace through Outreach Programs, the Process &
Product Fifth Grade Field Trip Program, and through the Summer
Arts Program.
For one week Artspace's Gallery 2 will be brimming with vibrant paintings, drawings, and hand-built clay works created by more than 300 youths from the 2008 Artspace Summer Arts Program with the Artspace Summer Arts Program Youth Exhibition, on view from Aug. 19 - 23, 2008. This program provides intensive-yet-fun, project-oriented classes for youths (rising 3rd-10th grades).
Bricoleur: Someone who invents his or her own strategies for using existing materials in a creative, resourceful, and original way.
Louis St Lewis
Bricoleur is
a comprehensive exhibition of assemblages and paintings by Chapel
Hill, NC-based artist, Louis St. Lewis. When St. Lewis first began
creating the assemblage works he viewed them as a way of entertaining
himself art for his personal enjoyment - but did not necessarily
plan for them to be exhibited along with his paintings. The experimental
works provided a certain freedom for St. Lewis and eventually
he began to realize the significance of these pieces within his
work overall. The resulting award-winning mixed media works have
received enthusiastic critical praise.
Photographed by Warhol, sketched by Robert Indiana, and praised
by Judy Chicago, few other artists in the south generate as much
controversy, conversation, critical dispute, and enthusiasm as
NC resident Louis St. Lewis. The artists' work has been
exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the US, as
well as Canada, Mexico, England, France, and Italy. His works
are located in several prominent museum collections, including
the Ogden Museum, The New Orleans Museum of Art, The Morris Museum
of Art, and the Masur Museum of Art.
A full color catalogue with essay by Judith Farquhar, the Max
Palevsky professor of Anthropology and Social Sciences of the
University of Chicago will be available for purchase.
Eileen Doktorski
Artspace's 2008 Summer Artist-In-Residence
Eileen Doktorski spent the month of July in Artspace's Gallery
1 creating new work for her exhibition, Vortex. This installation
is an expansion on Doktorski's recent work Deluge, which
was exhibited at the Rio Gallery of the Utah Arts Council in December.
The mixed media installation was inspired by the aftermath of
Katrina and other natural disasters, as well as by other emotionally
traumatic events more personal to Doktorski. While Deluge
referenced more of a personal isolated human struggle, her new
installation at Artspace focuses on the relationship between a
parent and a child and addresses issues of material consumption
and disconnection with nature.
The installation is comprised of cast figures and found objects.
Through this installation Doktorski aims to explore the struggle
suffered from displacement and abrupt life changes. The two female
figures a woman and child brace themselves against
a metaphorical storm. The figures appear to be caught in a flooded
stream strewn with household belongings and torn tree limbs. For
Doktorski, their struggle and the installation as a whole, evokes
the human will to survive traumatic events.
Artspace, a thriving visual art center located
in downtown Raleigh, brings the creative process to life through
inspiring and engaging education and community outreach programming,
a dynamic environment of over 30 professional artists studios,
and nationally acclaimed exhibitions. Approximately 95 artists
hold professional memberships in the Artspace Artists Association.
Thirty-five of these artists have studios located at Artspace.
Artspace is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, the
United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, the Raleigh Arts
Commission, individuals, corporations, and private foundations.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the center at 919/821-2787 or visit (www.artspacenc.org).
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