Current Season

African Art & Artifacts

Richard Green: Aim

27th Annual Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition

Lifelong Learners

Barton Senior Art Exhibition 2005

African Art & Artifacts

September 9-October 14

Showcasing objects from the collections of the Albany Museum of Art and the Barton Museum Permanent Collection, the exhibition contains items from a number of cultures representing some of the diverse peoples of Africa.

While some of the objects are decorative, others were originally used as ritual objects.

The objects on loan for the exhibition from the Albany Museum of Art in Albany, Ga., include textiles, chairs and fertility figures from Ghana and ritual and dance masks, and heddle pulleys from the Ivory Coast.

The African objects in the Albany Museum of Art’s collection were gifts to the museum from Stella E. Davis, whose husband was a U.S. ambassador in Africa in the 20th century. Other objects on loan from the Albany Museum were gifts to the museum from the collections of Michael Davis and Dr. Michael L. Schlossberg.

On view from Barton Museum’s Permanent Collection will be objects including ritual and dance masks, ritual fertility objects and figurines from various African cultures. The objects in the Barton collection were gifts to the museum from alumnus Robert E. Windham, Class of 1940.

Additional gifts to the collection came later from his sons, Robert E. Windham, Class of 1984 and R. Craig Windham, Class of 1986, in memory of their father.

“The objects from the Barton Museum’s Permanent Collection are from more diverse cultures than the ones from the Albany Museum of Art,” said J. Chris Wilson, director of the Barton Museum. “Together, the objects present a broad representation of the cultures of West Africa in the early 20th century.

“The Barton Museum objects display evidence of the transition from the indigenous African cultures to objects that show evidence of contact with Europeans by the use of materials and influences previously unused in their African culture.”

Richard Green: Aim

October 24-December 7
Opening Reception December 7, 2-4 p.m.

Meet Richard Green, artist and executive director of the Arts Council of Wilson, often bases his work on installation, which is a work of art that is designed for a specific space with the unique context of the work never to be repeated.

Green has designed a new work for the Virginia Thompson Graves Gallery in the Barton Museum that is based on the icon of the bull’s-eye that is composed of various found objects. The bull’s-eye is 20 feet in diameter and engages the viewer in seeing the space in a totally new way.

In the Lula E. Rackley Gallery of the museum, Green has installed another new work – a 40-foot long series of soft sculptures of hands that will engage the viewer with the unique personality of the repetitive components. Other works, including interactive, will be part of the exhibition.

“Green’s work invites the viewer to complete the creative act by bringing their individual responses,” said J. Chris Wilson, director of the Barton Museum.

“The work is provocative, visually rich is color and texture, and introduces commonplace found objects to the often rarefied art community in a way intended to remind us that art should be accessible to all people.

Green’s educational background is broadly based with a bachelor of arts degree in communications and English, a bachelor of education degree in secondary education and adult education, and a master of arts degree in theater arts, as well as post-graduate studies in the visual arts.

Green has many installations to his credit including those at the Biddle Gallery in Wynadotte, Mich., in 2000; the Fernwood Botanic Gardens, Niles, Mich., in 1994; and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. He has been represented in group exhibitions for more than two decades including the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies; and in a group tour of fiber arts in New Zealand.

Green was awarded the Louise McKinney Award in 1990 and has served as artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Fernwood Botanic Gardens.

27th Annual Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition

January 23-February 10
Opening Reception February 6

This exhibition marks the 27th consecutive year by Barton College, supported by The Wilson Daily Times, has hosted and sponsored the Scholastic Art Awards.

The Eastern North Carolina district, comprised of 46 counties, is the largest of the four North Carolina districts.

One hundred and two pieces 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 for judging against other regional winners for the national exhibition held in June at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Paul Rouphail and Mike Thompson from Cardinal Gibbons High School, Sima Krtalic and Senmiao Zahn from the Durham School of the Arts, and Robert Bannerman from Whiteville High School were named American Visions Award nominees. Rouphail also received two gold key finalist designations and a silver key. Thompson, Krtalic and Zahn each received a gold key finalist designation and Bannerman received a gold key designation and a silver key.

Nayely Irais Perez from Broughton High School received a gold key finalist designation and was honored with the Governor’s Award. The Governor’s Award is a new award initiated in 2003 by Mary Easley on behalf of the Governor of North Carolina. The Governor’s Award recipients from all four districts of The Scholastic Art Awards program in North Carolina will be invited to attend a reception in their honor at the Governor’s Mansion in May, and their artwork will be on exhibit in the Governor’s Mansion and in the Capitol Building for one month.

Spencer Register from Whiteville High School received The Wilson Daily Times Award and the N.C. Art Education Association Award in addition to two gold key finalist designations and a gold key. William Olson from South Central High School was recognized as a gold key finalist and received the Edward C. Brown Award named in honor of the long-time director of the Barton Scholastics Program. Sarah Flowers from Riverside High School and Joshua Smith from Roanoke Rapids High School were co-winners of the Barton College Award. Flowers also received three gold key finalist designations and Smith received one gold key finalist designation.

One hundred and eighty-eight pieces were selected for the exhibition. There were 133 Gold Key and 55 Silver Key medals given to the young artists whose works were selected for the regional exhibition at Barton College.

Lifelong Learners

February 20-March 11
Opening Reception, February 20, 2-4 p.m.

The Lifelong Learners Exhibition Features works of art by current and past non-traditional, non-degree seeking students who have taken studio art classes in the College’s Department of Art from 1974-2004.

The list of individuals who have taken or are taking studio art classes includes such community art leaders as Lisa Anderson, Sarah Bowers, Josephine Brown, Paula Holcomb, Promila Sen, the late Virginia Graves, Pete Rickard and Sammie E Skinner.

Also included among the list of local artists are Carole Baker, Tom Braswell, Clara Daughtridge, Mabel Hesmer, Elizabeth Kirkland, Fran Tyson, Rosario Wilkins, Elaine Marshall, Beth Anne Stork, Bill Tyson and from Rocky Mount, Lynne Arnold, Nancy Zipf and Anne Kinnaird. The artists represented are a random sampling of the many area artists who have taken studio art classes at Barton College.

Lifelong learners may enroll in studio art classes in the Department of Art at Barton as space is available. Most studio art classes are multi-level, and the lowest level assumes no prior knowledge or experience. Some of the students represented in the exhibition have taken a single studio art class at Barton; some have taken as many as 10 or 12 studio art classes.

The students have audited the classes and are working alongside degree-seeking students taking the class for full credit. Many of the lifelong learners have used the classes at Barton College as an avenue to enter the professional arena as practicing artists.

Barton Senior Art Exhibition 2005

April 2-May 4
Opening Reception April 2, 8-10 p.m.

Barton’s Senior Exhibition 2005 focuses on art education, drawing, graphic design, painting, printmaking and photography with a culmination of creativity by M. Donovan Sinclair from Virginia Beach, Va., Casey Rowland from Kittrell, Beth Yoke from Wilson, Daniel Richardson from Oxford, Nicole C.J. Rizzi from Monroeville, Dwight Mitchell from Rocky Mount, and Cambron Brewer from Wilson.

“The Senior Exhibition of the 2005 art graduates of Barton College is an exciting diversity of individual vision and acquired artistic academic skills,” said J. Chris Wilson, senior advisor and director of the Barton Museum.

“The divergence of approach as demonstrated in the paintings of M. Donovan Sinclair and Dwight Mitchell and the photographs of Daniel Richardson and Casey Rowland or the graphic designs of Nicole C.J. Rizzi and Cambron Brewer dramatically illustrates an academic program focused on developing individual artistic expression rather than a cookie cutter approach to teaching art.

“In addition, Beth Yoke’s breadth and depth in her work and her approach to subject matter with contemporary issues clearly demonstrates her readiness to teach our young people the artistic skills they need. This is an exciting exhibition with many unexpected surprises. Barton Museum is proud to introduce these emerging artists.”