Artspace in Raleigh, NC, will welcome its 2012 Summer Artist-in-Residence, three new Regional Emerging Artists-in-Residence, and three Community Artists-in-Residence to the building in the coming months. Artspace’s residency programs provide emerging and established artists with time and space to explore their work in a supportive, thriving, artistic environment. The residency includes a private, rent-free studio with 24-hour access. Each month residents are presented to the Triangle community during Artspace’s opening receptions and gallery walks. A fully supported exhibition of the resident’s work is presented at the conclusion of the residency.
During the month of July, Summer Artist-in-Residence Jonathan Brilliant will use Artspace’s Gallery 1 as his studio while he focuses on creating a large-scale installation comprised of simple objects such as coffee stirrers and plastic coffee lids. Building on his recent exhibition at Flanders Gallery in Raleigh, “To Weave. To Stack. To Stain.” will physically incorporate parts of the previous installation. Additionally, Brilliant will create new coffee ground wall drawings for his Artspace exhibition which will open in conjunction with the Aug. 3, 2012, First Friday Gallery Walk.
Brilliant was born in Charleston, SC. He earned a BA in Studio Art from the College of Charleston, and an MFA in Spatial Arts from San Jose State University. Brilliant has been the recipient of numerous artist residencies including the McColl Center for Visual Art; The Ox-Bow School of Art; The Vermont Studio Center; The Penland School of Crafts; Redux Contemporary Art Center; University of Memphis; University of Oklahoma and the East/West Project in Berlin, Germany. Brilliant was recently honored with the prestigious Pollock Krasner Foundation grant, and was the 2011-2012 South Arts Commission Visual Arts Fellow.
For the July 2012–January 2013 period, Artspace introduces the following Regional Emerging Artists-in-Residence:
Mary Kircher (studio 107) is a fiber artist and textile designer specializing in hand weaving and custom dye techniques. While in-residence, Kircher will interpret the visuals experienced while camping, canoeing, or hiking, into woven objects. She will explore shibori, ikat, double weave, and tapestry. Kircher earned her BA in Communications and Business from St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN, and her Master of Art + Design from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. She was the recipient of the Bronze Award at the 2011 exhibition, “New Beat”, the 8th Annual Shibori Symposium in Hong Kong.
Nancy VanNoppen (studio 215) plans to further her exploration in mixed media stain painting. She uses a unique technical process that involves staining smooth, nonabsorbent surfaces with layers of water-based solutions containing ink, glue, paint, and other media. While the process is time consuming, the product yields a distinctive variety of effects, creating illusions of depth and volume on these translucent surfaces. VanNoppen was raised in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Morganton, NC. At Hollins University in Roanoke, VA, she earned a BA in studio art with a concentration in painting and mixed media drawing.
Scott Welsh (studio 215A) will work on large-scale drawings and paintings exploring the constraints of beauty and gender roles. Welsh notes that it is through his obsession with “androphilia, gender, and identity that I’m able to portray a human body that is without inhibition – a human body confident in who they are.” Welsh was born and raised in Apex, NC. He recently earned his BFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Welsh plans to build his portfolio in preparation towards an MFA.
Artspace also welcomes the following Community Artists-in-Residence into the building:
Emily Howard (studio 208) will be in residence from July 2 through Sept. 15, 2012. Howard is a fiber artist and textile advocate. She often uses the theme of memory in her work, using a variety of media such as fabric, paper, clay, plaster, and found objects to explore this theme. After graduating from Meredith College, Howard was awarded an internship at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. Since completion of her Master’s in Textile Design from East Carolina University, she has been teaching at the Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham in the Graphic Design, Interior Design and Fashion Marketing departments. Howard is currently teaching in the Art Department at her alma mater.
Howard will provide three community-based creativity workshops to the public. If you are interested in bringing your group to Artspace for a corporate creativity project, please visit http://www.artspacenc.org for more information or contact Mary Poole, Executive Director, by e-mail at (mpoole@artspacenc.org).
Work by André Leon Gray
André Leon Gray (studio 217) reflects in his artwork his concern for humanity’s progression by questioning and examining the impact of history and present conditions that influence current social trends, self-identity, Western standards of beauty, consumerism, and race relations in America and abroad. He achieves this practice by presenting potent messages codified through various found objects, materials and imagery. While in-residence, Gray will continue what he refers to as his eye gumbo dialogue, incorporating recycled and reclaimed items and mixed media techniques to create assemblages, drawings, installations, and paintings.
Tisha Weddington (studio 217) paints images of beauty and strangeness, coupled with a surreal sense of the provocative. It is with this sensibility that Weddington strives to impart a sense of wonder to the viewer. Within these placid individuals with contorted, combined and twisted bodies, there is the reality of surprise. A duality of nature, unexpected, is expressed in visions of imagined landscapes of human and animal forms. Weddington’s images, co-mingling man and beast, are meant to be comical, beautiful, and kinetic but concurrently always speak to the darker side of nature.
Gray and Weddington were the first and second recipients, respectively, of the Regional Emerging Artist Residency program, which began in 2000. The artists will work in studio 217, with Gray working at Artspace during July – Sept. and Weddington using the studio from Oct. – Dec. 2012.
Stay tuned for “Looking Back 3″ in early 2013, an exhibition featuring the last nine participants in the Regional Emerging Artists-in-Residence program.
Artspace is a nonprofit visual art center dedicated to providing arts education and community outreach programs, creating an environment of more than 100 professional artists and presenting nationally acclaimed exhibitions. Located in downtown Raleigh in the historic Sanders Ford building, Artspace has been providing the community with the opportunity to interact with working artists and to participate in hands-on arts education since 1986.
For more information about Artspace’s residency programs, or for general information, please call 919/821-2787 or visit (www.artspacenc.org).
