Current Season

Paula Frances Miller: May Your Horses Live Long

Mark Gordon: Ceramics

22nd Annual Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition

Lowell Tolstedt

Barton Senior Art Exhibition 2000

Paula Frances Miller: May Your Horses Live Long

Paula Frances Miller presents her installation May Your Horses Live Long. This display allows art viewers walk through a maze of stuffed fabric dangling from the ceiling and requires the use of a flashlight for one to see their way through.

Mark Gordon: Ceramics

October 24-December 3
Opening Reception October 24, 2-4 p.m.

This will be the second solo exhibition by Mr. Gordon in the Barton Museum. The first show was in 1995, while he was an artist-in-residence at East Carolina University. That exhibition was a stunning success for the museum and for Mr. Gordon. Many of Mr. Gordon’s pieces were acquired for local and regional collections.

This exhibition will include wheelthrown vessels and small-scale clay sculptures as well as documentary photographs of Gordon’s large-scale mixed-media installations in galleries and sculpture parks.

“The works in the exhibition represent Gordon’s range of techniques including both stoneware and raku pieces,” said J. Chris Wilson, director of exhibitions. “There are sculptural forms and vessels, both functional and non-functional.

“The vessels are characterized by spectacular forms with expressive contours,” he said. “The surfaces are painterly and show a synthesis of both the Western and Eastern ceramic traditions. The forms always dominate the surfaces and his pieces are often dramatically scaled to make a strong impact on the viewer. The proportion of the foot to the body and of the body to the neck often create visual excitement in his vessels with the shift of visual proportions for dramatic effect.

“The sculptural forms stand alone and suggest a scale larger than their actual size,” Wilson said. “The documentary photographs of large-scale mixed media installations will confirm for the viewer the importance of scale in the artist’s sculptural work. The exhibition will impact the viewer with a desire to see more of Mr. Gordon’s work.”

Gordon describes his work as “exploring the millennia-old uses of ceramic raw materials through wheelthrown vessel forms and clay sculptures.”

“Wheelthrowing creates an enclosed shape that can use the mechanical movement of a whirling wheel to express a potter’s idea,” Gordon said. “A work of art can make manifest an abstract spatial concept. Equally important to me is that wheelthrowing is an intensely physical discipline.

“I have traveled throughout the Mediterranean and Caribbean observing and documenting pottery and brickmaking. Knowing these traditional clay artisans has contributed to my education. I continue to make ceramic vessels to celebrate and maintain a connection to (pre-)history’s potters.”

A native of Rochester, N.Y., Gordon completed his undergraduate studies with bachelor of arts degrees in both philosophy and physical education at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. Gordon’s graduate studies culminated in a master of fine arts degree from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

22nd Annual Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition

February 6-11

The Scholastic Art Awards have been presented at Barton College, sponsored by the Wilson Daily TImes, for 22nd consecutive years.

Twenty-two years ago, about 600 entries were submitted from 33 schools. This year about 1,600 entries were received from 70 schools. Students, through their teachers, submitted art work in different media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and ceramics. The jury looked for originality, craftsmanship, skill in rendering and presentation.

The district has an advisory committee of art teachers who selected the jury. This year the jury was composed of professional artists, college art professors and gallery owners. Approximately 200 pieces were selected for the exhibition. Gold Key and Silver Key Award medals were given to the young artists whose works were selected for the regional exhibition at Barton College.

Awards were presented in the classifications of “American Visions Award” nominees, Gold Key finalists and Gold Key winners, with additional major awards selected from the top entries. Seventy-one students were designated as Gold Key finalists. These gold key finalists and the five “American Visions Award” nominees will enter their works in national competition in New York City following exhibition at Barton.

Helen Eddington of from Apex High School in Apex, Mohmmed Hossain of Rocky Mount Senior High School, Charlotte Smith of St. Timothy’s-Hale High School in Raleigh, and Allison Burns of West Carteret High School in Morehead City, were named “American Visions Award” nominees as well as Gold Key finalists. The fifth “American Visions Award” nominee was Anna Lugwig, from W.G. Enloe High School in Raleigh, who was also recognized with five Gold Key finalist entries and one Gold Key award.

The presentation included three additional named awards. Ryan Townsend, from Jesse O. Sanderson at Wakefield High School in Raleigh, received The Wilson Daily Times Award in addition to Gold Key finalist designation and a gold key award.

Paul Wallace, from Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, was awarded Gold Key finalist designation as well as the Edward Brown Award named in honor of the long-time director of the Barton Scholastics Program.

Morris Todd, from Whiteville High School in Whiteville, received the Barton College Award as well as Gold Key finalist designation, a Gold Key award and a Silver Key award.

Barbara Hart, from Rocky Mount Senior High School, received the N.C. Art Education Association Award and gold key finalist designation.

Additional area winners included Sarah Perkins of C.B. Aycock High School who received Silver Key honors.

Lowell Tolstedt

19 February-March 16

Lowell Tolstedt’s art shows subtle detail, graceful lines and clarity of subject matter orchestrated to create extraordinary composition for the eye.

Tolstedt is a professor and dean of the division of fine arts at Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio. His daughter, Stephanie Sullivan, lives in Wilson.

“The Barton Museum is indeed fortunate to have the privilege of exhibiting works by Lowell Tolstedt,” said J. Chris Wilson, director of exhibitions.

“These works demonstrate his extreme refinement of vision, design and use of media. The representational still life subject matter fuses inseparably with the formal elements to create images with a life of their own apart from each of the components.

“His drawings are executed in graphite and colored pencils, but transcend the media to create an image of convincing truth of representation,” Wilson said. “Visitors to the museum will be impressed with the timeless quality of these drawings and the universal appeal of a clear artistic vision.”

A nationally recognized artist, Tolstedt graduated from the State University of South Dakota in 1961 earning a bachelor of fine arts degree. He completed part-time studies at Glassboro State College in Glassboro, N.J., and the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia. Tolstedt was awarded a master of arts degree in painting and drawing from the State University of Iowa in 1967.

Tolstedt has received a number of awards for his work, and he has participated in over 60 exhibitions in 15 states including 16 one-man exhibitions. He has been published in the Washington Post, The New York Times and Art in America as well as “Drawing, A Contemporary Approach” by Claudia Betti and Teel Sale and “100 American and European Drawings” by Nathan Goldstein.

He has received fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council.

Tolstedt’s work is represented in a number of corporate and private collections including the Chicago Art Institute in Chicago, the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, the Minnesota Museum of Fine Arts in St. Paul, Minn., and the Columbus Museum of Fine Arts and Price-Waterhouse in Columbus, Ohio.

Barton Senior Art Exhibition 2000

April 9-May 12
Opening reception, April 9, 2-4 p.m.

Barton Senior Art Exhibition 2000 includes a variety of media including ceramics, graphics, painting, photography and sculpture. A culmination of creativity, the works of these artists promise to intrigue the eye and pique the imagination.

Senior adviser and Exhibition 2000 curator Susan Fecho explains that the senior exhibition is part of Barton's graduation requirements. "Visual art students complete their liberal arts experience with a capstone class that includes a professional exhibition," said Fecho. "Each student spends the semester refining their work and preparing for presentation."

Exhibiting artists include Ruchika Attri, Lusaka, Zambia; Soundra Beamon, Goldsboro; Kelly Bolac, Wilson.; Deanne Cale, Wilson; Michael Cruze, Garner: John J. DeRosa, East Northport, N.Y.; Edwin Fenner, Elm City; Andrea Fisher, Elm City; Natalie Hollands, Syracuse, N.Y.; Brett Karpowicz, Long Island, N.Y.; Beth Lindholm, Wilson; Julia Newman, Beltsville, Md.; M. Allison Roach, Bluefield, W.Va.; Brendan Ronney, Lynchburg, Va.; Len-Sui Wang, Tainan, Taiwan; and Deborah C. Young, Rolesville.