Picture This: Greater Raleigh Wall Murals, Part I

Art comes in all shapes and sizes. And downtown Raleigh features some of the coolest–on a grand scale. I’m talking about murals and other visual “urban art” that adorn the sides of area buildings and other landmarks. Over the years, these striking works transformed the landscape and provided eye-catching attention to what may have otherwise been just ordinary spaces. Some have been removed, while others stood the test of time. How many of these have you spotted?

The Cree Shimmer Wall: A reflective LED tree mural displayed on the side of the Raleigh Convention Center. The wall depicts an image of an oak tree and has become a symbol for Raleigh, the City of Oaks. The piece is made up of 79,464 light and dark aluminum squares that change shape and disappear as the squares flap in the wind. When the Barenaked Ladies played the Red Hat Amphitheater, they did a rap about the nearby Shimmer Wall.

Education Wall: Vernon Pratt’s 1992 piece, part of the Artworks for State Buildings (Education Building, Government Mall, off Wilmington and Lane Sts. in downtown Raleigh).

Artspace: Once the city’s livery and later the Sanders Ford dealership, this 30,000-square-foot garage has been converted into artist studios where established and emerging craftsmen inspire and engage visitors in the visual arts process. It’s also the hub of First Fridays.

Butterfly Mural: This little building on Blount St. just sits in the middle of downtown amongst its larger counterparts. The design has faded over the years, but it’s still an interesting talking point.

Lincoln Theatre: The west-facing wall of Cabarrus St.’s Lincoln Theatre features a mural of Honest Abe behind the wheel of a Lincoln.

Johnson St. Mural: This piece was created on Raleigh’s Johnson St., across from the now defunct Hi 5 pizza place and sports bar.

City Market: This mural on the edge of the City Market (Davie and Person Sts.) seems to be an ode to the agriculture of N.C. Check out the faces drawn into the fruits and vegetables.

“The Fantastic Sky Race”: The Raleigh Appearance Commission and the City of Raleigh approved a project in which students at the North Carolina State University College of Design created panel art for the parking garage at the corner of Davie and McDowell.

Triangle Transit: The Dillon Supply Company building at the west end of Martin St. has been selected as the replacement for the current Amtrak station. The building features a 200-foot transportation-themed mural (including Trolley Pub) spanning the east and south facing walls of the property. A sign on the front car of the train reads, “Together we will place tracks to a future beyond anyone’s imagination.”

Watch for Picture This: Greater Raleigh Wall Murals, Part II coming soon…

Written by Free Spirit, Kristy (who can be a Creative Genius, Fashionista or Lifelong Learner, depending upon the day of the week). Follow her online.

 

First Friday Rocks Downtown Raleigh, Again

Last Friday marked the First Friday of the month, which means that once more people flocked in droves to downtown Raleigh for a lively night of art, culture, food and drink. First Friday is easy to remember without your online scheduler since it not surprisingly occurs on the first Friday night of every month and never disappoints as a reliable evening of cultural and social bliss. It functions as a self-guided tour through downtown Raleigh’s cultural hotspots and art spaces. Almost every gallery and studio art space has something special planned. Most galleries premier an exhibition opening and host a reception to which the entire public is welcome to enjoy art and libations. Galleries are open late, on average until 9 or 10pm.

There is always something novel to be experienced at First Friday. Local artists always have new artwork on display and there is always a fresh, new month of events to celebrate. We are now in the midst of full-on holiday season and Fayetteville Street is adorned by thousands of tiny fairy lights. There is an ice skating rink in City Plaza to enjoy, and it’s easy to get lost in the night while wandering through the dreamy streets of twinkles, tall buildings, bustling eateries and lively art galleries full of jolly patrons.

Last weekend at December’s First Friday, true to form, Artspace’s historic hallways in City Market were packed with art-lovers of all ages. A bizarre and wonderful exhibition of mushroom art by Shannon Newby drew visitors to the lobby. Artspace’s current Community Artist-in-Residence, Tisha Weddington, was also a huge hit. Her paintings display a surreal and sensual world of human and animal oddities, and are on display through December.

In an underground gallery known as The Fish Market, below Fayetteville Street, the NC State Department of Art + Design held its annual senior exit show. The Fish Market gallery space is owned by the university and functions as a student gallery, exhibiting student work every First Friday.  This month the basement lair is filled with examples of creative textile design, handcrafted metalwork jewelry, animation, storybook illustration, photography and more.

Though I only caught glimpse of it through a window on Hargett Street, I was swooning for Nicole Kennedy’s series of paintings: The Carolina Ballet on Canvas. The series features delicate Degas-esque paintings in pastels that are so pretty it’s impossible not to linger. A few of the paintings were inspired by the Ballet’s current show The Nutcracker. The series is being shown at Caffé Luna, the restaurant owned by Nicole’s husband, Parker Kennedy. Nicole’s work can also be seen at her gallery, Nicole’s Studio, on North Person Street.

311 West Martin Street Gallery and Studios, a co-op style gallery and studio space, located on the west side of Fayetteville Street in the Warehouse District, was open providing an after-hours opportunity to catch of a glimpse new art. The studio houses 14 tenant artist spaces and also has showing space for non-tenant local artists. Don’t miss 311’s Becky Loye, whose In Search of Lightness series is a personal favorite.

For more information on First Friday events, visit here. And if you haven’t already, get yourself down to Fayetteville Street before the holiday season flies by and make sure not to miss celebrating the New Year at next month’s First Friday set for January 4, 2013!

Launching October with an Artful Weekend

Last weekend marked the first weekend of October and that means one thing — it was First Friday and downtown was going off. The city center was packed with people eating, drinking, and generally making merry while receiving a healthy sampling of art and music. It only made sense to take to the streets and enjoy the crisp atmosphere and fresh creativity that the changing season brings in.

First Friday art-heads could take their pick from the profusion of inspired activity among the galleries in and around the downtown Raleigh area, most of which were open until at least 9 o’clock. Many galleries hosted receptions in celebration of exhibition openings.

Works on display at The Mahler on Fayetteville Street included paintings by local artist Pete Sack, who layers paint over nostalgic imagery such as faces and classic Raleigh buildings to create unique expressions, which he calls “new narratives.” My interest in Sack’s work had been piqued earlier in the week after a trip to Beasley’s for a healthy dose of collards and biscuits, which everyone needs at least once every seven days. Sack has a chalk art masterpiece actually on the wall inside the restaurant, which celebrates one of the establishment’s staple ingredients — honey.

A few new exhibitions were launched on Friday night at Artspace in City Market. I became a little bit obsessed with the funky renderings of artist Casey Porn, whose work will be on view in the Upfront Gallery inside Artspace until October 27^th.  A dog enthusiast with an interest in, among other things, the secret lives of animals, space travel and coffee, Porn finds a unique way to fuse her intrigues into colorful, hip, animal portraits with an edge.

 Lump gallery on Blount Street, held a showing of Leah Bailis’s Ain’t Got No/I Got show, in which the artist employs different strategies to isolate moments from pop culture and film. Sarah Gamble’s riveting paintings were also on view during the rare showing Friday night. The gallery is usually only open on Saturdays and on weekdays by appointment, so First Friday provided a rare opportunity to get lost in Lump.

At Designbox, The Blue Hour, by Alberto Ortego Rodas opened Friday evening featuring paintings that depict scenes from around Raleigh at the twilight hour. Stop by before the show closes on October 26^th and check out the familiar scenes, which may appear a bit more mysterious than you have previously experienced, and shop for crafty treats by local artisans in the Designbox shop.

For a comprehensive list of the Raleigh area’s galleries and locations, check here.

 

Word Up.

“The word and image are one. ” – Hugo Ball, 1915.

 Word Up: The Intersection of Text and Image, a current exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art, features the work of six North Carolina artists who are inspired by the way text and images interact with one another to create meaning.

Mathew Curran, Lincoln Penn Hancock, Nathaniel Lancaster, Shaun Richards, Gabriel Shaffer, and Derek Toomes each work in a uniquely different way to explore the synergy between the two forms of expression. A collection of paintings and drawings from the locals on the subject of text and image finds a dwelling place in the North Carolina Gallery until mid- January.

In an age when almost everything is digital, technology is rampant, and humans are greeted by a constant onslaught of media in their everyday lives, text and image have forged a symbiotic relationship. Most images with which we come into contact are accompanied by words. We have been conditioned to expect it, often finding it difficult to interpret certain images without the aid of words. Word Up explores the relationship between text and image and rocks traditional notions of the role of each.

The exhibition features artists taking a unique approach to creating their work, many with a distinct pop art feel. Much of the text used is commercial or political and is imposed upon or buried beneath images, colors and abstractions. The pieces are thought-provoking as well as visually exciting.

Derek Toomes incorporates sewing patterns and building designs into his work, using them as a background for text that alludes to commercialism and consumerism.  Gabriel Shaffer makes use of discarded materials, to salvage the found words and create art from them.  Within his pieces, literary snippets by William Butler Yeats appear alongside cartoon drawings, blurring the line between classic poetry and pop culture imagery.  Mathew Curran, who is inspired by urban street art such as stencil and graffiti tags, uses images from vintage magazine covers and spray paint to alter mass-produced, recognizable images.

A personal favorite was the work of Lincoln Hancock, whose vibrant assemblages employ advertisements, text from commercial products, magazines, comic strips, old baseball cards, and various stenciled and penciled phrases, layered upon vibrant backgrounds to express the barrage of information we are confronted by everyday. Check out Hancock’s exhibition Everything That Wants to Say Yes  currently displayed in the lobby of Artspace, as well.

Word Up: The Intersection of Text and Image will be on view at NCMA until January 20, 2013.

Written by Creative Genius, Katie.