Scholastic Art Awards
Opens in the Barton Art Galleries on January 30
The Reception is Sunday, January 30, from 3-5 p.m.
Barton Hosts The Scholastic Art Awards For
Eastern/Central N.C. Region
(Unrestricted release to area news outlets)
WILSON, N.C. — Barton College will welcome students from across the state to celebrate their creativity at the annual Scholastic Art Awards ceremony scheduled for Sunday, January 29. This marks the 34th year that Barton College has served as host and regional sponsor for the National Scholastic Art Awards for the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region. The featured speaker for the awards ceremony is John W. Coffey, Deputy Director for Art and Curator of American and Modern Art for the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Following an ice cream social for Gold Key awardees and their families in Wilson Gymnasium on the Barton campus at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, there will be an awards presentation for the award recipients beginning at 2 p.m. The ceremony is open to student Gold Key Award recipients, their families, and North Carolina arts teachers and principals. The Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition will be available for public viewing in the Barton Art Galleries beginning Jan. 30.
A native of Raleigh, Coffey joined the staff of the North Carolina Museum of Art in 1988. As Curator of American and Modern Art, he has overseen the development of the NCMA’s collections of American and modern art, as well as the Museum’s smaller collection of Jewish ceremonial art. Coffey has organized numerous temporary exhibitions, including “Making Faces: Self-Portraits by Alex Katz” (1990), “Louis Rémy Mignot: A Southern Painter Abroad” (1996), and “Color, Myth, and Music: Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Synchromism” (2001). (The Mignot and Macdonald-Wright exhibitions were supported by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and traveled to major national venues.) From 1994-1997, Coffey served as the statewide director of the Israel/North Carolina Cultural Exchange. He is the staff liaison to the Friends of the Judaic Art Gallery.
In addition to his work as a curator, Coffey now serves as Deputy Director for Art with primary responsibility for the Curatorial, Conservation, and Registration Departments, and the Art Reference Library. He also serves as an adjunct associate professor of art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Coffey received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and art history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1976) and a Master of Arts degree from the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art (1978). Prior to joining the North Carolina Museum of Art, he served as acting director of the Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass. (1979-80); and curator of collections of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine (1980-88).
Entries from all 50 states are submitted for competition in the nationally renowned Scholastic Art Awards program. The program, created for middle and high school students, is designed to encourage student achievement, to recognize and applaud our fine art teachers and to emphasize the importance of the visual arts in the school curriculum. Barton College is proud to host the Eastern/Central Regional District in North Carolina, representing 62 counties from the piedmont to the coast.
Contributors to the program include the Visual Arts Department of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, the Wilson Chamber of Commerce, Stan Corbett of Corbett Reproductions, Framer’s Alley of Elm City, Blick Art Materials, Jerry’s Artarama, and the Offices of Admissions and Institutional Advancement at Barton College.
Dr. Norval C. Kneten, president of Barton College, and Mark F. Gordon, director of The Eastern/Central North Carolina Region of The Scholastic Art Awards Program, will bring brief remarks during the program. Lisa H. Peszko of the Scholastic Art Awards Regional Teacher Advisory Committee, will present special awards to student recipients.
The Scholastic Art Awards entries for the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region are received at Barton College during the first week of January. This year, there were 2,142 artwork entries and an additional 76 portfolios from 130 schools presented for judging. Students, through their teachers, submitted artwork in a variety of categories, including: architecture, comic art, ceramics & glass, digital art, product design, drawing, fashion, film & animation, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, video games, art portfolio, and photography portfolio. Jurors are charged to select entries that they consider especially worthy of recognition.
The Eastern/Central North Carolina Region has an advisory committee composed of eleven art teachers. This year, the exhibition selection jury was composed of retired teachers, college professors, museum educators, and professional artists.
Two hundred and fourteen artworks were selected as Gold Key Awards for the exhibition as well as nine portfolios. Digital images of these finalist art works will be sent to New York City for judging against other regional winners for the national exhibition held in June at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C. Also sent to New York will be the works of five American Vision Award (Best of Show) nominees, including: Dana Di Gioia, grade 12, Eugene Ashley High School; Ming Wong, grade 12, Southeast Raleigh High School; Allison Tate, grade 12, Timberlyne Day School; Meredith Miller, grade 11, Western Alamance High School; and Victor Foster, grade 12, White Oak High School.
There also were 348 Silver Key Awards and 362 Honorable Mention Awards chosen from the individual entries submitted. A list of award recipients and images of their artwork is available on the Barton Art Galleries’ web site at http://www.barton.edu/galleries/scholastics.htm.
From the Gold Key artworks, the jury also selected works for additional regional awards to be presented at the ceremony including the Barton College Award to: Katie Williamson, grade 12, Eugene Ashley High School; “The Wilson Times” Award to Samantha Lewis, grade 11, Riverside High School; the North Carolina Art Education Association Award to Rachel Dutcher, grade 8, Zebulon G.T. Magnet Middle School; the Governor’s Student Achievement Award to Meredith Miller, grade 11, Western Alamance High School; the Emerging Vision Award to Victoria Newberry, grade 8, Arendell Parrott Academy; Jurors’ Choice Portfolio to Sarah Parker, grade 12, Currituck County High School; and the Edward C. Brown Award, which honors the long-time director of the Barton Scholastics Program, to Joshua O’Taylor, grade 11, William G. Enloe High School.
Blick Art Materials donated a $200 merchandise voucher for classroom materials, given to Judy Johnson of Arendell Parott Academy, teacher of the Emerging Vision Award recipient. Jerry’s Artarama in Raleigh donated a $200 gift certificate awarded to Sarah Parker, recipient of the Jurors’ Choice Portfolio Award.
The exhibition will run from Jan. 30 - Feb. 23 in the Barton Art Galleries located in Case Art Building. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. and by special appointment. For additional information, please contact Mark Gordon, at 252-399-6474 or the Barton Art Galleries at 252-399-6477.
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"Body of Work" by D.W. Mellor
Opens in the Barton Art Galleries on November 13
The Reception is Sunday, Nov. 13, from 4 – 6 p.m.
Barton Art Galleries will host the work of acclaimed photographer D.W. Mellor in an exhibition titled "Body of Work." Mellor's exhibition will be on display from November 13 to December 12. The opening reception for the exhibit is Sunday, Nov. 13, from 4 – 6 p.m. This event is open to the public free of charge, and the community is invited to attend.
A magazine and fine-art photographer from Philadelphia (Bryn Mawr suburb), Pa., Mellor will present a lecture on his work immediately following the opening reception. The lecture is open only to members of the Barton Friends of Visual Arts. For membership, please call 252-399-6357, or join the Friends of Visual Arts at the event.
Mellor's skillfully executed black and white photographs on exhibit will include still lifes, portraits, assemblages, nudes, and abstracts that are intriguing allegorical sequences. Boston born master photographer Paul Caponigro describes Mellor's still lifes as "feasts" – "radiating a somber air of mystery." "His dexterity with symbols and intellectual concepts lets him tell a mysterious story in a compelling way," explained Michael More, of Camera Arts in his 2004 "Writing with Light" article.
Through meticulously and classically arranged "in situ" images, contrasting with their simplistic grey or white backdrops, Mellor provides luscious tonalities that pay homage to Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings as they capture fleeting moments. "The sheer power of scrutiny—the act of intensely looking—is a manner of possession," shared Mellor. "These images are possessions of possessions." A former commercial photographer, professor, photography collector, and gallery director before moving to fine art photography, Mellor, now a world traveler, arranges gathered objects discovered within a particular foreign country to produce still-life travel photographs. He adds, "Working away for a month at a time in foreign apartments, cities such as Prague, London, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, Florence, I conjured up these still lives from a borrowed or purchased table, different backgrounds, and found objects. Although the imagery is not evocative of any individual city, each city has its own character and charm, influencing the work. Still life images are mysterious and magical — mysterious in the subtlety of composition, the complexity of perspective, and the magic in the illusionary verisimilitude of the images."
The Barton exhibition also showcases Mellor's photographic assemblages and abstracts. Writer Cate McQuaid of The Boston Globe shared, "Mellor delights in how different surfaces reflect or soak up light: crystal, pewter, glass. Photography literally means the writing of light, and Mellor practices this with his materials and his techniques." Mellor portrays his fabricated assemblages as "collages, combining old master etchings, found objects, wood or metal backgrounds that are photographed with an 8×10 camera for extreme resolution. They are visual deceptions, revealing themselves in time."
Masterfully mesmerizing textures and sensual forms are depicted in Mellor's 14 nudes that range from abstracted to tension filled compositions. For Mellor, the nudes provide a means for "exploring the most sensual but difficult of subject matter: mysterious shapes, dark inferences and white forms. These edgy and ambiguous imagery reference pornography and its conventions, are not about power or sex but a design and decoration." In his artist statement, Mellor shares that the photographic abstracts are produced with "hand-shaped form core photographed with a 4×5 camera against a canvas background, one light source and a rope. Several hundred different negatives were realized. In the darkroom, selecting different combinations of two or three negatives produce unique prints from the sandwiched negatives."
Mellor is also exhibiting a selection of 10 from his "The Garvey Series" that portrays South Philadelphia resident Tom Garvey. This collaboration between Mellor and Garvey, spanning 30 years, reveals the subject's character with the same carefully preserved dynamic as Mellor's "in situ" images. In describing his "Garvey" work, Mellor wrote, "Once a year for 30 years, I photographed this enigmatic man. On the day of photography, Tom would be prepared with his own choice of personally made clothing or prop. All of the images were taken within his property or immediate neighborhood. In those 30 years, Garvey showed me strength, vulnerability, feistiness, goofiness, humor, strangeness, and nobility. His character emerges vividly, a strong willed, independent bohemian."
Mellor has had numerous solo exhibitions, and his photographs are in the permanent collections of major museums including the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museo National de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His first book, "In Situ," was published in 2004.
"Reception and Artist Talk by Jack Saylor"
to Showcase Art Works of 46 Alumni at Barton
The Exhibition will be on view through Friday, Nov. 4
The Reception is Saturday, Oct. 22, 5 - 7 p.m.
WILSON, N.C. — An artists' reception for alumni and friends of Barton College will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Barton Art Galleries on Saturday, Oct. 22, to showcase an exhibition of art works by 46 Atlantic Christian and Barton College alumni from across the United States. Planned in conjunction with other Homecoming festivities on campus this weekend, the event will also feature guest artist Jack Saylor, class of 1983, who is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. that evening. There is no charge for the event, and the community is invited to attend.
The exhibition, featuring alumni from the Art Department and the College, is comprised of artworks in various media, including: painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, and ceramics; and will be on view through Friday, Nov. 4.
Participating artists include: Ruchika Attri, Mary Ann Barwick, Greg Beaver, Kathi Blackmon, Dan Blackmon, Ben Bridgers, Kathy Mercer Brinn, Sallie Brown, Alyssa Damroth, Joshua S. Davis, Clara Daughtridge, Pat Daughtridge, Julia Finch, Kristin L. Flowers, Terry A. Franks, Susan S. Harris, Pamela Hickson, Sarah Hooper, Amanda Lange, Eric H. Little, Stephanie Massey, Robert D. Matthews, John Miller, Dwight Mitchell, Julie Synder Mixon, Pat Montgomery, L.W. Pelletier III, Susan Pelletier, David Pineiro, Ivan Price, Dallas Pridgen, Heather Richards, M. Allison Roach, Jack Saylor, Anna-Olivia Sisk, Brian LaVar Shackelford, Amy Carmichael Smith, Isaac Talley, Keith Tew, Jason Thomas, Roy Tyner, Jr., Brad Tucker, Deborah Young, Kristan Wall, Andrew Wilkins, and Catherine Wilson.
About the speaker:
Upon graduation, Saylor traveled to Spain and Italy where he began his pursuits as an artist while also working as a product designer for Sarreid, Ltd., a U.S. based home furnishings importer. Over the next 10 years, this experience allowed Saylor to develop his painting skills while studying the century's old art of Western Europe, particularly the Italian Renaissance. This rich artistic environment, when combined with Saylor's intense concentration on and appreciation for objects created by master artisans, proved a perfect breeding ground for the development of his work as a still life painter. In 1995, he and his wife, Ann, moved to the coast of North Carolina.
"I wish to make by way of the craft of painting, not the act of painting," shares Saylor. "I often approach my subject matter not square-on, but indirectly from an angle of sorts and thus present it in the same manner. I believe that suggesting a subject can be infinitely more powerful than depicting it entirely, and it is through this approach that a viewer can be enticed into creating the unseen parts by way of their own experiences. And, at that point, the dimensions of the work become limitless."
The Barton Art Galleries, including the Virginia Thompson Graves Gallery and the Lula E. Rackley Gallery, are located in the Case Art Building, at the corner of Gold Street and Whitehead Avenue on the campus of Barton College. The Barton Art Galleries are open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
For additional information, please contact Bonnie LoSchiavo in the Barton Art Galleries at 252-399-6477 or email: blloschiavo@barton.edu.
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"Il Libro"
The Art of the Book Exhibition
Auguest 22 - September 24
Opening reception, August 22, 2 - 4 p.m.
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton Art Galleries is pleased to announce the opening of the "Il Libro: The Art of the Book" exhibition on Monday, Aug. 22, with a public reception on Sunday, Aug. 28, from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. in Case Art Building on the Barton College campus in Wilson. The exhibition will run through September 24. This event is open to the public free of charge, and the community is invited to attend.
The exhibition, organized by Barton professors Susan Fecho and Gerard Lange, include the work of nationally and internationally recognized artists and book presses: Cara Barer, Gwen Diehn, Andy Farkas (Fablewood), Susan Fecho, April Flanders, Gabrielle Fox, Gérard Lange, Marvel Maring (Crying Dime Press), Donald Martin, Scott McCarney, Steven Miller (Red Hydra Press), Sarah Nicholls, Lisa Beth Robinson (Somnambulist Tango Press), Katherine McCanless Ruffin (Shinola Press), Lauren Scanlon, Shawn Sheehy, Robbin Ami Siverberg (Dobbin Books) Dolph Smith, Kathy Steinsberger, Melissa Walker, Jessica C. White (Heroes & Criminals Press) and Dorothy A. Yule (Left Coast Press).
Artworks featured in this exhibition represent contemporary bookmaking trends. The editioned books and one-of-a-kind artists' books showcase include traditional sewn structures, altered books, sculptural books, broadsides and innovative approaches created in various media including letterpress, handmade paper, printmaking, photography, collage, fiber and ceramics.
As part of the "Il Libro: Art of the Book Exhibition," Barton College's senior Evan Fulks of Wilson will be displaying his artists' books in the North Exhibition Corridor of Case Art Building.
Also on the Barton Art Galleries' schedule is Lisa Beth Robinson, proprietor of Somnambulist Tango Press and East Carolina University instructor, who will be the featured lecturer discussing "Marginalia, Mischief, and the Ornamented Book" on Sunday, Sept. 18, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sponsored by the Barton College Friends of Visual Arts, this event is also open to the public free of charge, and the community is invited to attend.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Barton Art Galleries will host "Book Arts Extravaganza Workshops" on Saturday, Sept. 10. Join other participants for a day of hands-on bookmaking and artistic journaling techniques. Instructors include: Lisa Beth Robinson, Melissa Walker, Gérard Lange, and Susan Fecho.
For more information about these upcoming events or to make reservations for the workshop, please contact Bonnie LoSchiavo in the Barton Art Galleries at 252-399-6477, email: blloschiavo@barton.edu, or visit: http://www.barton.edu/galleries/education.
About the artists and their work
Among the exhibited art are three large
scaled photographs showcasing the work of Cara Barer of Houston, Texas,
including "Manhattan." These photographs document the evolution of her
sculpturally re-purposed books. "I have
changed a common object into sculpture in a state of flux," said Barer. "The
way we choose to research and find information is also in an evolution. I hope
to raise questions about these changes, the ephemeral and fragile nature in
which we now obtain knowledge, and the future of books."
Artist and author Gwen Diehn is
exhibiting three multi-media, one-of-a-kind, layered books, "LivingBelowSea Level," "Imrana," and "Ice Fishing in New
Hampshire," with stylistic commonalities. The third book, "Imrana," juxtaposes
boats, of which Diehn described as, "…those most fragile of temporary shelters,
with the enormous watery world in which they move. It is about the trust we
place in fragile systems and constructions as we set out into unknown places
and emotions and experiences." She is the author of several books, including
"Simple Printmaking" (1999), "The Decorated Page" (2002), "The Decorated
Journal" (2005), and "Real Life Journals" (2010), all published by
Sterling/Lark.
Andy Farkas, proprietor of Fablewood, is
exhibiting "Crab," "hmmm…," "Four Stories," and "River." "I have made prints
throughout my artistic career, although a more accurate description of my work
would be story telling," Farkas explained. "It is a medium that goes beyond
ink, paint, words, and music, of which life itself is a tool, and in its best
examples makes active participants of all those involved in the hearing,
seeing, reading, telling, or handling."
Barton College professor Susan Fecho of
Tarboro has two books on view: "A Woman's Work is Never Done," a soft, quilted
book of repurposed clothing (printed and dyed cotton, linen, rayon, and silk),
and "Relative Randomness: 365 Color," an accordion folded book that documents
the usage of color terms used in daily news articles with word-cloud designs
that utilize the researched colors. "Before I
construct a piece, I am constructing its meaning for myself – a story – a
matrix of personal, cultural, and archetypal associations within which my
assembled fragments will find their place, Fecho shared. "The works reveal multiple
layers of material and meaning."
April Flanders of Boone is showcasing
works that include "Toxic Irritation" and "Codex Scolex," two artists' books
produced with screen printing, lithography, and collage. Flanders explained
that her creative research reflects a commitment to social change. "Through
prints, paintings, and installation, I investigate the relationship between
what we consume and our collective future," she added. "Over-consumption is devastating the planet
and the human spirit. The consumer diet
is out of balance with the needs of the environment, but we continue to treat
consumer goods as if they were vitamins needed for nutrition." Flanders
currently teaches full time at Appalachian State University in Boone.
An accomplished artisan in the binding,
conservation, and restoration of fine books, Gabrielle Fox, is author of "The
Essential Guide to Making Handmade Books." On view in the exhibition are her
works: "Water," "Nothing to Wear," "Haiku and other
poems," and "Queen Mab." Fox shared,
"A book opened reveals a world each of us interprets individually. We paint our
own pictures from the descriptions, and we create our own stories with the
visual stimulation of colors and images. It is our very own world to keep, and
only if we choose do we share the view or story we have experienced. Books
provide us with a space, which can be put aside and reentered when we want to
continue the story, remember a person, or express
ourselves. What a wonderful thing to share, and what a delightful way to
express oneself."
Barton College assistant professor
Gérard Lange, reflecting on his inspiration, said,
"Having always been a collector of things – bottle caps, scientific
apparatuses, cameras, fabrics, fibers, dirt, and coffee cups to name a few
– my eyes are constantly scanning the environment for interesting articles
of any sort to add to my cabinet of curiosities. Often articles gleaned from my
endeavors are things, which go with sets of items I have amassed over time. But
occasionally, something comes along that sends my mind to a purpose I could
direct the newly discovered object. This is my primary modus for bookbinding.
The three books in the exhibition, "Evening News," "Hair Reliquary," and
"Burning Chair Prophesy," are all responsive to an object come across in my
travels."
Marvel Maring is a practicing book
artist, creating one of a kind artist books and design bindings. She publishes
fine press limited editions under the imprint of "Crying Dime Press." Maring
also serves as the Fine Arts and Humanities Reference Librarian at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha. Her current position as Fine Arts and
Humanities Reference Librarian has impacted her studio activity directly in
recent years. She shared that her role as humanities librarian requires her to
travel to the National University in León to train a group of jointly appointed
Nicaraguan English Department faculty. "Meeting these faculty members and
exploring their literary culture has opened up a magical assortment of folk
tales that are visually evocative and literarily rich and compelling," she
shared. Interested in the tunnel book structure, which originated in the
Renaissance to teach perspective, she was looking for stories that might lend
themselves to this format. The folk tales exhibited, "The Golden Crab," "The
Weeping Woman," "The Bad Cadejo," and "The Good Cadejo," are iconic in the Nicaraguan culture.
Donald Martin of St. Augustine, Fla.,
has on exhibit "Book of Nature: Muir" and "Second Nature Series: Dusky Seaside
Sparrow." The latter is described by the artist as an altered book with a hand
bound book insert, cast paper, and wood. "This piece is meant as a memorial to
the now extinct Dusky Seaside Sparrow," explained Martin. "The inserted book is
an Ethiopian Coptic codex book form that demonstrates the disappearance of the
bird through simple cut out shapes."
Scott McCarney of Rochester, N.Y., is
showcasing two one-of-a-kind altered books. "Knowledge in Depth: West to East"
was originally created for the 2008 "Information Is Not Knowledge Project,"
organized by James Prez with Amanda Thackray and exhibited at the New Jersey
City Canco building. Also on display is "Pre-Columbian Sacred," which was
originally created for the 2010 "Information Revisited: The Encyclopedia Britannica
Project" at the Martin Hicks Gallery, Belskie Museum of Art and Science in New
Jersey.
Steven Miller, professor and coordinator
of the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama, is the founder of Red
Ozier Press (a fine art press devoted to publishing literary first editions in
handmade limited editions). Miller is also the proprietor of Red Hydra Press
and the co-director of Paper and Book Intensive, a nationally recognized annual
series of summer workshops in the book arts. Miller, exhibiting "Lion-froth
Crown," has a passion for making books by hand and letterpress printing, as well as
teaching letterpress printing and hand papermaking. "Words are the motivating
factor in my desire to create a book," he shared.
Sarah Nicholls, program manager at The
Center for Book Arts in New York, N.Y., has on view "Phosphorescent Face
Highlighter" and "The McGinley Paper Company Sample Book of Faults." "My work revolves around the authority of
printed language," she said. "I borrow that tone of authority to explore the
comforts and limitations of community: what kinds of things bind people
together, and why it is difficult to hold that in place. I am fascinated by the
way language can be used to prevent communication as easily as it can be used
to foster it."
Lisa Beth Robinson, exhibiting the book
"Migration," and "Nomad: Orientation" is the
proprietor of Somnambulist Tango Press where she makes artists' books
(letterpress, papermaking, and printmaking). She describes her books as a
visualization of the relationship between language and experience, making
connections between disassociated objects and concerns. With degrees from
the Johnston Center at the University of Redlands and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Robinson also serves as an instructor at East Carolina
University in Greenville.
Katherine McCanless Ruffin, Book Arts
Program Director at Wellesley College, publishes limited editions under her own
imprint of Shinola Press. "Portrait of a Universal One" was originally printed
in response to an invitation from the Center for Book Arts' "Vandercook Book,"
in celebration of the centennial of the Vandercook company.
Ruffin says, "I set for myself the challenge of printing a portrait of my
Vandercook Universal One press with metal and wood type in my studio. The main
body of the press is printed from wood type. Franklin Gothic capital Ms and Ws
make up the gears on the bed of the press. The press in the portrait is on —
the power switch is in the on position, the red light is on, and the rollers
are engaged."
Exhibiting three broadsides, Lauren
Scanlon, born and raised in Memphis, Tenn., currently serves as an assistant
professor of visual art at Penn State Altoona. "My recent work uses bed sheet
designs as an entry point for investigating the pattern, structure, and impact
of a specific line of romance novels that I read when I was very young," shared
Scanlon. "The series was 'Harlequin Presents.' I was about 10 years old when I
read them. Both the books and the bed sheet patterns are strategically designed
repetitions intended to induce a feeling of familiarity. This familiarity — and
associated ease of recognition — can engender a sense of predictability,
stability, and safety. But something that's familiar isn't always safe."
Shawn Sheehy, of Chicago, Ill., shared,
"Artists' books can uniquely communicate complex narrative concepts through
image-based and text-based channels." Exhibiting two pop-up books, "Beyond the
6 Extinction: a Fifth Millennium Bestiary" and "Welcome to my
Neighborhood: A Pop-up Book of Animal Architecture," he further explained,
"Within the book arts, I am most attracted to creating pop-ups — I enjoy
working sculpturally within the book format. I enjoy the engineering challenge
involved in developing intricate dimensional forms that fold flat."
Artist Robbin Ami Siverberg is the
founding director of Dobbin Mill, a hand-papermaking studio, and Dobbin Books,
a collaborative artist book studio, which publishes small editions by
Siverberg, in collaboration with other artists. Her artwork is divided between
solo & collaborative artists' books and large paper installations. She
explained that her work conceptually focuses on word cognition and
interlinearity, with an emphasis on process and paper as activated substrate.
Exhibited books include: "Dustpan," "Nightmare's Resolution," "Affidavit," and
"Proverbial Threads: Series 100."
Now working in his studio in western
Tennessee, Dolph Smith, is a professor emeritus at
Memphis College of Art. In this
exhibition, he has on view, "How to Make a Highbred Paper Airplane," Regarding
his book art, he explained that he is "currently working with creating unique
books as kinetic sculpture. I see the book as a quite animated
three-dimensional object with moving parts. A book has 30 pages; I see 30
moving parts, plus the covers. I have found a niche apart from the traditional
pop-up. I believe the illustrations in a 3-D object should also be 3-D!"
Kathy Steinsberger of Raleigh has been a
book artist and ceramic artist for over 15 years. Steinsberger's two books on
view, "Oh Asia" and "Tao: Book 1 and 2" showcase glazed clay covers, and
handmade and Japanese paper. She has taught book arts classes at Pullen Arts
Center in Raleigh since 2008, and she also currently teaches at the Cary Arts
Center in Cary and the Beaufort Arts Center in Beaufort. Steinsberger
explained, "I define myself as a potter turned maker of books. Like clay is to
ceramics, print, paper, words, and imagery are the concrete aspects of books.
The structure of a book shaped like parts of the human heart and held close
when reading, represents humanity and life... much as clay vessels mirror the
human body."
Melissa Walker of Seagrove described her
altered book work as being influenced by abstract expressionism and incorporates
mixed elements. "I find the intuitive experimentation and discovery involved in
creating abstract art very challenging," she added. "Working with acrylic and
collage allows me to work quickly and keeps my artwork fresh and loose.
Building layers with collage and adding gestural lines, as well as journaling
and stamping, are just some of the techniques.
Jessica C. White studied iron casting as
an undergraduate at East Carolina University and, following a stint in book and
paper conservation, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking and
a Certificate in Book Studies at the University of Iowa. She currently works as
a studio artist, teaches workshops, serves an adjunct professor of papermaking
and book arts at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, and is the co-director of
Ladies of Letterpress. White also is the proprietor of Heroes & Criminals
Press, a small printing and binding venture that specializes in fine press and
artist books, letterpress prints, and a variety of printed ephemera and
chapbooks. "The Lost Land" and "The Bad Sparrow" are on display.
Dorothy A. Yule has on
view three sculptural books; "Memories of Science," "A Book for Ian," and
"Souvenirs of Great Cities." She first started making books while in grade
school and eventually earned a Master of Arts degree in Book Arts from Mills
College. Yule is fascinated by paper engineering and has created many unusual
pop-up and movable books. She often collaborates with her twin sister, Susan
Hunt Yule, on books produced under her imprint, Left Coast Press, two of which
were published as trade books by Chronicle Books in 2005, "Souvenir of New
York" and "Souvenir of San Francisco." Yule teaches book arts at the Academy of
Art University in San Francisco and has taught pop-ups and movable structures
as a visiting instructor at California College of the Arts in Oakland.
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Questions? Contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.