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September Issue 2005
Caldwell Arts Council in Lenior, NC, Offers Davidson College Faculty & Staff Show
The Caldwell Arts Council in Lenior, NC, presents
an exhibit featuring Davidson College faculty and staff members
Sept. 2-28, 2005. This exhibit features works by McArthur
Freeman, II, Herb Jackson, Cort Savage, Brad Thomas, and Russ
Warren.
McArthur Freeman, II, was born in 1974 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He
received his BFA from the University of Florida in 1997 and his
MFA from Cornell University in 2001. He currently teaches in the
department of art at Davidson College. Freeman has exhibited
his paintings in several exhibitions within the United States. He
is best known for his narrative paintings, drawings, and installations
exploring race, double consciousness, and the constructions of
identity.
Speaking of his work, Freeman says, "The selected paintings,
drawings, and studies showcase my recent developing body of work.
Through the use of open-ended narratives, my artwork explores
the intersection of fantasy and myth with the complexities of
race, double-consciousness, and the consumption of distorted images
of self. Imagery inspired by cartoons, children's book illustrations,
and fairy tales are synthesized with historical narratives, popular
culture, and social critique. The images are surreal yet they
investigate many of the myths and absurd truths that exist in
our real world experiences. Lyrical compositions, vivid color,
and bulbous sensual forms, unifying a host of iconic references
in these painted environments, sweeten dark subject matter."
Herb Jackson is currently a professor at Davidson
College, where he received a BA degree in 1967. He also received
degrees from the Philips Universitat, in Marburg, West Germany,
and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (MFA 1970). A
native of Raleigh, NC, Jackson has exhibited in numerous venues,
and has many public and corporate collections across the US, New
Zealand, Moscow, Switzerland, Brazil, England, and Germany. Jackson
is also the recipient of several fellowships, including the NEA/SAF
Fellowship in 1986.
In a statement about his work, Jackson says, "My work is
about exploring the inner world of the subconscious. Shapes
and forms emerge through a process of building layers, which are
scraped off even as they are being applied. I never know
what the end will be, but I search for a set of relationships
that will be ever-changing. This body of work represents
a return to the medium of oil paint through the use of oil bars. The
colors are intense and the repeated application over time created
a sensuous surface."
Cort Savage completed degrees in sculpture at Indiana University
(BA 1987) and Syracuse University (MFA 1991). He has been
teaching sculpture and drawing for the last 12 years at Davidson
College, where he is currently Associate Professor of Art. Savage's
mixed media kinetic installations have been exhibited throughout
the northeast and southeast United States. His current series
of works, Inevitable Form, encase objects in gigantic rubber
band balls, referencing concerns from the philosophical to the
everyday world.
Brad Thomas is an artist currently living and working in Charlotte, NC. He is the recipient of both a North Carolina Arts Council Visual Artist Fellowship and New Works Grant. He was voted "Best Artist" of 2002 by the critics of Creative Loafing for his innovative exhibition of collage-based paintings at Center of the Earth Gallery. He is also the director and curator of the Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College.
Russ Warren, a native of Washington, DC, is
currently Professor of Art at Davidson College, where he has taught
since 1978. He holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque (1973), and a MFA from the University of Texas at
San Antonio (1977). In 1986, he was featured in the publication
Who's Who in American Art. Warren has exhibited in
numerous solo and group exhibitions from Texas to New York, and
Germany.
Warren's works also can be found in many catalogs, such as the
41st Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Printing
from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and also Graphic
Figures Figurative Graphics: 7 American Artists in Cologne
from the Amerika Haus in Cologne, Germany. Throughout his
career, he has received rave reviews by numerous publications,
such as the New York Times, Arts Journal, and Art
in America. Viewers will see Warren's introspective,
and psychological portraits using oil, and charcoal on small panels.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery
listings, call the Arts Council at 828-754-2486, or at (www.caldwellarts.com).
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