Family Fun Day at the Center
A public art project with Affiliate Artist, Ashley Lathe. Lathe will lead participants in a mural project that will be installed on the fence along North Tryon Street beside the Center. The Center needs over 200 participants – of all ages - to paint and individualize 1 ft square panels that the artist will combine into a larger, cohesive image that is representative of the growth and change of North Tryon Street. The resulting piece will span 24 feet and be installed along the fence surrounding the construction staging area beside the Center. No RSVP necessary, just bring your family, friends and creativity to the Center. During Open Studio Saturday, several of the Center’s fall Artists-in-Residence will lead activities for visitors in their studios. Michael Schall will facilitate a drawing project where he will deconstruct an image, have participants paint or draw from segments of that piece and then re-construct it using all of the individual images. Suwanee Natewong will be offering a beading workshop where participants will make necklaces and earrings; and Kerry Phillips will be working on a photography project where she will stage “family” portraits from a random assortment of individuals. Wherever your interest lies, come out and flex your creativity, visit all of the Center’s artists in their studios, or peruse the current exhibition, True Grit: Frames, Fixations & Flirtations.
After a wonderful summer, the Center is kicking off the fall season with an exciting exhibition, True Grit: Frames, Fixations & Flirtations opening September 12. Curated by Mark Leach, Director, Southeastern Center Contemporary Arts, True Grit brings together an engrossing and thoroughly timely body of work from six artists who use their mastery of both materials and technique to explore provocative conceptual ideas and narrative strategies that push the traditional boundaries of craft. The exhibition features works from Myra Mimlitsch Gray, Beth Lipman, Takashi Hinoda, Ai Kijima, Ted Noten and Arlene Shechet. As a group, the artists included in True Grit are presenting work that visually and intellectually engages viewers. “I really responded to the visceral quality across the board with this work,” says Leach. “These are artists at their peak working with one foot firmly planted in a mastery of process and the other foot leaping into the realm of ideas, bringing back something new and exciting to the field of craft.” They are dancing along the blurring boundary that historically has divided craft and fine art. While the objects created are not strictly utilitarian, they have taken on a new narrative usefulness. With the title True Grit implying work that is unrefined and rough around the edges, it is not surprising to find works of art in this exhibition that operate on many levels with the viewer. The six artists in True Grit work in a wide range of mediums and convey distinctive points of view. True Grit: Frames, Fixations & Flirtations will open September 12 and run through November 1. The opening reception will be held Friday, September 26 from 6-9pm with a Curator/Artist talk at 6:30pm. Arlene Shechet’s fired clay and mixed media sculptures are human forms and containers abstracted and altered into otherworldly vessels. They are presented atop a variety of bases created from wood, steel, bronze and concrete. The abstract forms invite comparisons to ceremonial vessels, statuary and fine craft. “Arlene’s work flirts with viewers,” said curator Mark Leach. “She has a talent for understanding the line between beauty and ugliness. You are drawn close but feel conflicted. It is intelligent work that asks viewers to think about their relationship to these objects.” In a similar vein, jeweler Ted Noten plays with viewer’s expectations with his surprising, wearable and conceptual designs. The work is clever and sometimes funny with occasional overtones of violence. By encasing everyday objects, even cigarette butts, in resin he renders them refined. His meticulously crafted necklaces and handbags evoke the history of adornment and jewelry while raising mice and handguns to the level of the sublime by his choice of materials. Glass artist Beth Lipman’s tableaus toy with ideas of references to the past, underscored by her undeniable talent for blowing historical forms. Her installations play off of memento mori and explore the relationships of the pieces to each other and to the viewer. Ai Kijima’s quilted works of art subvert iconic imagery through her use of popular animated characters and cultural icons. She positions these loaded images in story-scapes that are meticulously stitched and exuberantly colorful. Because the imagery is so familiar and evocative of childhood, the pieces have an innocent quality that draws viewers in; it feels safe. However, on closer inspection, the chaos has a sinister quality. These “safe” images of childhood are used to create a powerful commentary on marketing, globalization and mass media. Takashi Hinoda’s work also draws on imagery associated with childhood with his clay figures and installations that reference anime subculture and cartoons. There are also references to stylized, historical forms. His work is optically unusual and distorting but also has a visual narrative thread. Viewers are being asked to “read” and interpret how the emotional content of the work interacts with cultural expectations. Renowned metalsmith and jeweler, Myra Mimlitsch Gray completed a three-month Arts/Industry Residency in 2007 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, during which she explored sculptural work in cast iron and brass. Her new pieces are obliquely figurative and defy categorization. They incorporate the physicality of craft; indeed, her cast iron sculptures have almost a hand-chiseled feeling to their surfaces. In this scale, however, the work feels monumental, historical and yet contemporary.
Arts in Communities, Arts in Schools
Fall is already here, school is back in session, and the Center is ramping up for a full season of innovative arts education and community outreach. McColl Center for Visual Art’s educational programming reaches a wide variety of populations in the Charlotte area and beyond, including both public and private school students from elementary through high school, arts educators and seniors, utilizing the rich resources that our Artists-in-Residence and exhibitions provide. The growing reach of the Center’s epicART education programs is easy to see with a jump in programs from 152 to 348 and an increase in people served through those programs from 4,351 to 12,407. But entering the 3rd year of epicART programming, the story lies beyond the numbers in an expanding geographic reach and a fresh and evolutionary approach to keeping arts education current, relevant and engaging. The Center received many important grants that will be used to deliver art into both public and private schools and propel students into art. Through strong educational programming epicART is making a tangible difference to artists and educators, to the spirit of McColl Center for Visual Art and in the lives of people who may not otherwise experience art. Again this year, epicART will provide stellar programming with a broad reach. The Center received an ArtsTeach Curriculum Connections grant allowing an artist to work with three Charlotte-Mecklenburg High Schools (CMS). Math and Science at Garinger, Renaissance at Olympic, and Butler High School students will create video and kinetic artwork based on the Center’s winter exhibition, Per(mutations): Interactive Work by Brian Knep. Using science and visual art as a catalyst, each school will construct three to four pieces that parallels work in the exhibition. Students will integrate mechanics, technology and visual art in the construction of their work. The Center also received an ArtsTeach Education in the Arts grant for two artists to work with three additional CMS schools. Two artists will work with Ardrey Kell High School, Myers Park High School and Jay M. Robinson Middle School students in grades 8 – 12 in creating three-dimensional forms and journals made from handmade paper for Ardrey Kell and Jay M. Robinson and creating a three-dimensional sculpture from recycled objects and incorporating photography for Myers Park High School. Using craft and photography as a catalyst, the completed projects will reflect the student’s individual creativity, while focusing on a theme of “What does it mean to be GREEN.” McColl Center for Visual Art will act as fiscal agent and administrator of an Arts & Science Council Latino Initiative Grant. Annabel Manning, a Center alum will extend her work with the Latino population in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and build on the success of last year’s Latino Initiative Grant. The project, Tejido Digital (Digital Tapestry) will be a series of 8 – 10 digital tapestries integrating prints and video along with an audio component capturing oral histories. Participants, ranging in ages from 30 – 50 years old, will begin the project by discussing how life in Charlotte has influenced their cultural and family values without compromising their heritage. The Center received its second North Carolina Arts Council Artist Residency Grant which allows an artist to work with Mallard Creek High School in CMS and Monroe High School in Union County. This fall, the Center presents True Grit: Frames, Fixations and Flirtations. True Grit represents five craft artists who use divergent approaches to material and technique to explore provocative conceptual ideas and narrative strategies. In conjunction with this exhibition, Dr. Sharif Bey will bring his workshop, Collaboration in Clay: Conceptual Wearable Sculpture into two high schools. Through six-day workshops students will explore a broad usage of form, color, pattern, and repetition in the creation of conceptual, wearable sculpture. Students will use earthenware clays and mixed-media to create sculptural objects that reconcile notions of ritual, function, and adornment. In a quest to discern individual and collective identities, students will create a site-specific sculpture using various ceramic construction methods and objects and symbols which grapple with cultural, historical, political, and personal meaning. In addition to the grants the Center received, various public and private schools received grants to work with our artists. Leadership and Public Service High School at Garinger (LPS) received an ArtsTeach Education in the Arts Grant for Affiliate Artist, Bev Nagy to work with students at LPS, along with the five other small schools at Garinger in creating distinct, yet unified installation sculptures representative of each school. Founded in 1959, Garinger is one of the oldest remaining schools in Charlotte. The campus was considered state-of-the-art when it first opened, winning many architectural awards and was even featured in a 1962 edition of National Geographic as Charlotte-Mecklenburg School’s showplace high school. The campus was just recently named a historical landmark. LPS is one of six schools on the Garinger campus, five of which were formed under the Small Schools Initiative. This year the final group of seniors will graduate from Garinger High School, leaving behind five small specialized schools. McColl Center for Visual Art and artist Bev Nagy will work with the students in creating distinct installations that communicate the specialty of each school. The final result will be five individual sculptures; with a sixth one created by the graduating seniors from Garinger High School – unifying the piece and all of the individual schools on campus. St. Patrick Catholic School received an Arts & Science Council Private Schools Grant to work with an Affiliate Artist alumnus in creating 3 large mixed media arched wall panels incorporating, and taking inspiration from a gothic window in the school. Working with 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students all will participate in a variety of artistic processes. The panels, as well as the student sketches will be unveiled to the entire school community in May at their annual spring art exhibition. Woodlawn School in Davidson received an Arts & Science Council Private Schools Grant for their 7th, 8th and 9th grade students to work with the Center in conjunction with Per(Mutations): Interactive Work by Brian Knep exhibition. Students will tour the exhibition to better understand the connections the artist makes between science and technology. An artist will continue to work with the students in the classroom by engaging them in combining their scientific data with technology to create their own sculptural and interactive pieces. The students will collect science data and images and demonstrate an understanding of applicable science processes depending on their grade’s curriculum focus. For the second year, the Center will work with ArtStart, a program through ArtsTeach that integrates the arts into the writing curriculum for 3rd and 4th graders throughout CMS. Through this program the Center will pilot a new initiative - VTS (Visual Thinking Strategies) which is an inquiry based teaching method that strengthens critical thinking and communication skills by creating a visual dialogue from a piece of art. Based upon research conducted by Dr. Abagail Housen, this program was piloted in the early 90’s at the MOMA in New York as a way to enhance the museum experience by helping the viewer develop meaning out of what they see in art. Fall Artist-in-Residence Michael Schall will participate in an Art in the Park Program with Reedy Creek Park. This is a pilot program modeled after a National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior Artist Residency program. Through this program, an artist assists in providing perspectives at parks that create meaningful experiences for their visitors. Michael will spend approximately 20 hours on-site at Reedy Creek park initiating dialogues with park visitors and personnel through his art. Fall Artist-in-Residence Izel Vargas will present his work to those incarcerated at the minimum security jail, as well as to the incarcerated youthful offenders. Vargas will also work with students at Hawthorne High School in creating a mural for their school. Hawthorne High School is an alternative high school created to help students who demonstrate difficulties in the traditional school settings. Hawthorne is an alternative school of choice that was founded as a component of the CMS system's drop-out prevention strategy. All of our fall Artists-in-Residence are slated to reach out into the community either through workshops, lectures, demonstrations or community projects. Suwanee Natewong will teach a ceramic platter workshop and work with 5th grade students from University Park on a permanent installation. Kerry Phillips and Robert Bickey will work with area universities and area organizations on sculptural projects.
McColl Center for Visual Art invites all educators to a wine and cheese reception previewing our 2008-09 season on Tuesday, September 23 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Join us as we highlight the Center's upcoming exhibitions and discuss our planned education programs. Guests will also receive information on the Center's upcoming workshop series and how you can earn Continuing Education Units. RSVP by September 19 to Susan Jedrzejewski at 704-332-5535 or sjedrzejewski@mccollcenter.org General information or questions about education at the Center, contact Devlin McNeil, dmcneil@mccollcenter.org The Arts in Schools program enables teachers to learn new methods for employing the curriculum in their classrooms while students explore traditional and experimental techniques. Arts in Schools also provides professional development workshops for secondary and higher education educators: these workshops are approved by the school systems for fulfilling Continuing Education requirements The goal of Curriculum Based Programming is to partner with teachers in helping K-12 students become more motivated and engaged in their own learning in and through the arts by participating in hands-on activities surrounding tours, exhibitions, and artists in the classroom. Each specialized exhibition program consists of a guided tour of the exhibition at the Center, facilitated by local artists and a study guide for the teacher with pre and post tour activities. After the initial tour, an artist goes back in to the classroom to work with students and teachers on a project around the exhibition. The Outreach Program is led by the Center’s Artists-in-Residence and Affiliate Artists and is designed to engage the community in a direct and meaningful way. Many of our artists perform their outreaches within the area school systems. Permanent works of art have been created; international artists speak to classes and clubs; artists are involved in teacher in-service training; and each year an art teacher from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is selected as an Art Teacher-in-Residence.
Welcome Fall 2008 Artists-in-Residence McColl Center for Visual Art is pleased to present a full range of artists and mediums that will engage the broad range of audiences who visit the Center as we welcome the fall 2008 Artists-in-Residence. These six artists will begin their residency term on September 8 and maintain residence at the Center through November 24, 2008. Joining our current 11-Month Affiliate Artists, Ashley Lathe and Bev Nagy are:
At McColl Center for Visual Art we are always aiming to demystify the artistic process and make artists, their methods and their inspirations accessible to the public. Now, in an ArtBUZZ first, we’ve set up a camera in one of our studios to capture the artist at work. This video, a time lapse of summer Affiliate Artist, Tim McMahon, illustrates in 2 minutes the transformation from blank canvas to completed work. And while film doesn’t allow access to Tim’s thoughts and motivations, it is an impressive glimpse into the layers, details and evolution of his oil paintings. Enjoy the making of “Wyoming Landscape” and “Lodge Pole Pines.”
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VOLUME 2, NUMBER 9 Family Fun Day at the Center True Grit: Frames, Fixations & Flirtations Arts in Communities, Arts in Schools Welcome Fall 2008 Artists-in-Residence
CALENDAR OF EVENTS Monday, September 8 Friday, September 12 Saturday, September 13 Family Fun Day Thursday, September 18 Tuesday, September 23 Friday, September 26 Wednesdays, All events at McColl Center for Visual Art, unless otherwise specified
721 North Tryon Street GALLERY HOURS Galleries at McColl Center for Visual Art will be closed for the Labor Day Holiday Friday, August 29 through Monday, September 1.
McColl Center for Visual Art is supported, in part, by a Basic Operating Grant from the Arts & Science Council; as well as the North Carolina Arts Council with funding from the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art; and the generosity of corporate and individual donors. |
Saturday, September 13 is Family Fun Day at McColl Center for Visual Art. In conjunction with Blues, Brews & BBQ and the Arts and Science Council’s Cultural Free for All, the Center will offer something for everyone. In addition to Open Studio Saturday and a variety of artist-led demos and workshops, McColl Center for Visual Art will once again host the BBQ judging during Charlotte’s 6th annual Blues, Brews & BBQ Festival. Scheduled activities include:
In addition to developing creative and impactful programming for students, the Center puts a strong emphasis on offering meaningful and inventive programs for educators. Art educators throughout the Charlotte region have the opportunity to benefit from the tenets of epicART. Through the Center’s Arts in Schools program, grant-funded projects allow artists to work with a variety of schools and students on permanent installations and integrated work with classroom curriculum. The Center also designs Curriculum Based Programming based on the NC Standard Course of Study that provides interactive and experiential learning guided by trained teaching artists. Each year too, the Center identifies at least two exhibitions around which to develop curriculum programming, including guided tours and pre and post exhibition study guides. 
