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September Issue
2009
Artspace in
Raleigh, NC, Offers New Exhibitions
Artspace in Raleigh, NC, will be presenting several new exhibits including: Stands and Blinds, featuring works by Susan Martin, on view from Sept. 4 - 26, 2009, in the Upfront gallery; I'm in Stitches, featuring works by Megan Sullivan, on view from Sept. 4 - 26, 2009, in the Artspace Lobby gallery; It's About to Kill Me, featuring works by Aaron Lee Benson, on view from Sept. 12 through Nov. 6, 2009, in Gallery One; and The Conquerors, featuring works by Mark Bodnar, Mari Inukai, Liz McGrath, Bill McRight, and Bonnie Brenda Scott, on view from Sept. 4 through Oct. 24, 2009, in Gallery Two.
Susan Martin
In Stands and Blinds
Susan Martin continues to explore her interest in abstracting
and adorning various forms of shelter. The structures were influenced
in part by the architecture of deer stands while the objects and
ephemera are informed by decorative adornments of all types. The
personality of a community's landscape can be revealed and hidden
simultaneously, and these images play with that struggle. The
viewer is allowed to decide a lot or only a little about the situation
depicted in Martin's works.
Martin is an artist currently living in Raleigh. A graduate of
the University of Redlands with a degree in Studio Art, she utilizes
painting, printmaking, and drawing to create her works.
Megan Sullivan
Since 2000, Megan Sullivan has been creating photorealistic quilts based on images she finds graphically interesting and humorous. Wanting to expand her portfolio, Sullivan recently began exploring new materials and different fiber-based processes, while continuing to communicate through narrative and humor. Her exhibition, I'm In Stitches, features work completed while Sullivan was the Regional Emerging Artist-in-Residence at Artspace from Jan. - July, 2009.
Sullivan earned her BFA in Sculpture from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 1997, and earned her MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, in 2000. Her work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions, including locally at Lump Gallery, Flanders 311, the Morning Times Gallery, Visual Art Exchange, Glance Gallery and, most recently, the Greenhill Center for NC Arts, Greensboro, NC.
Aaron Lee Benson
In his latest body of work, sculptor Aaron Lee Benson has returned to an exploration of the aesthetic power of pure form. His new works are reminiscent of much of his work from the late 1980s into the early 90s. He is relying on a highly textured, organic sense of form, with origins found in nature. Benson's travels across the United States in the late 70s (in a beat up VW van), and three other visits in the last five years, have re-awakened in him a new devotion to the towering landscape formations found in the deserts and higher elevations of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Benson and his family
are avid hikers and climbers and spend many weeks each summer
camping and packing all around the world. Month-long backpacking
trips to many of the mountainous regions of the world, including
the upper midwest of the US and the Alps of western and central
Europe, have also influenced his new work. Benson's new forms
have combined with his ongoing interest in the human figure to
create new works with rich, striking surface texture.
Benson is a Professor of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Chairman of
the Art Department at Union University in Jackson, TN. He received
his BFA in Ceramics, BS in Art Education, and his MFA in Ceramics/Sculpture
from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. Benson's work
has been exhibited throughout the US, including at the Joan Derryberry
Gallery, Cookeville, TN; Sculpture Invitational, San Antonio,
TX; Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park, Chicago IL; and Sarratt
Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. Benson's work is
part of numerous collections including the Alabama Institute for
the Deaf And Blind, Talladega, AL; Company Zero Graphics, Columbia,
TN; and the Jackson/Madison County Public Art Commission, Jackson,
TN.
In 2008, Benson received the Best in Show award at Sculpture Key West, FL. His latest sculpture commission is Our Peace, Follow the Drinking Gourd, a one-acre earth work at The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson, Nashville TN.
In association with
local artist Paul Friedrich, Artspace presents The Conquerors,
an exhibition showcasing 
Mari Inukai
cutting-edge American artwork. The exhibition features the work of five nationally known artists exhibiting for the first time in Raleigh: Mark Bodnar, Mari Inukai, Liz McGrath, Bill McRight, and Bonnie Brenda Scott. These artists are recognized as dynamic leaders of the Lowbrow painting style from the pages of Juxtopoz and Hi Fructose magazines.
Originating in California in the early 1980's and currently moving towards the East Coast, Lowbrow is a rapidly spreading underground art movement that combines traditional painting of subject matter with modern ingredients of underground comix, hot-rod culture, and punk rock. The Conquerors reflects current trends in the Lowbrow genre from the East and West Coasts.
In conjunction with The Conquerors, Artspace will feature LoPop Shop from 6-10pm on Sept. 4, 2009. Organized with the assistance of artist Casey Porn, LoPop Shop primarily highlights North Carolina's LoPop style. LoPop builds on the themes of Lowbrow art, but often employs more humor than sarcasm, as well as brighter colors and bolder line work. The LoPop Shop is an opportunity to buy original works, shirts, posters, and more from the exhibiting artists as well as from regional LoPop artists including Ahpeele, Paul Friedrich, IndieNC, Garret Scales, Plastic Frame Press, Casey Robertson and more!
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 located in Historic City Market in Raleigh
at the corner of Blount and Davie Streets.
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 Artspace at 919/821-2787 or visit (www.artspacenc.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.