Current Season

2007 Faculty Art Exhibition

The Value of Art

Intimate Strangers

30th Annual Scholastic Art Awards Awards

Past and Present

Barton Senior Art Exhibition 2008: Generation Digital Y

Internation Baccalaureate Art Exhibition

2007 Faculty Art Exhibition

August 25-September 25, 2007
Opening reception, September 6, 5:30-8:00 p.m.

This exhibition includes sculpture, installation art, painting, photography and book art by Barton faculty Mark Gordon, Susan Fecho, Gerard Lange and Chris Wilson.

Mark Gordon has included some of his functional ceramis, but is also showcasing a temporary site-specific installation "Drum." The sculpture, which resembles a WWII beach fortification, is ominous filling most of the Virginia Thompson Graves Gallery. Created from wood reclaimed from the old Smith Warehouse in downtown Wilson, this installation rises from the floor to a height of about 10 feet, where a heavy cable suspends a large industrial steel-mesh drum a mere half inch above the floor. The metal vessel contains 149 pinch-pots made during four years of teaching demonstrations.

Also on view in the Graves Gallery are the paintings of J. Chris Wilson from his series 100 Scenic Views Along the Murphy to Manteo Highway - A Portrait of North Carolina. These paintings, ranging in size from medium to large, depict serene wilderness scenes from across the state. Wilson said the scenes were captured along U.S. 64, recognized as the longest road in North Carolina, that stretches from the westernmost town of Murphy to the easternmost town of Manteo on the coast, not including the Outer Banks.

"While my apparent goal is to create paintings of scenic drama, the essential goal is to create works with variety that communicate mood and place and use abstract design strategies and contemporary surface and paint application techniques," Wilson said.

On exhibit in the Lula E. Rackley Gallery are the works of Gerard Lange and Susan Fecho. Lange's series titled WILSON NC is made up of brightly colored images depicting building facades, which Lange considers to be timeless depictions of the city. On closer inspection, the viewer may notice that the buildings seem to be unusually isolated; some even take on the appearance of models rather than actual structures.

"I intentionally altered the perspective, making the buildings look almost too perfect," Lange said. "I wanted to create a pun on the phrase 'model community' in which someone's ideal perception of a place is matched by the picture before them."

Fecho's work also focuses on the urban environment. This summer, she traveled to Italy where she studied the blending of contemporary and historic art and architecture. Through a daily routine, she would notate cultural designs by means of collection - making rubbings of surfaces, photographing and drawing the places she visited. Her collage-like banners and an artist book titled The Traveled Landscape were the result of these observations.

"I'm looking at changes happening to the landscape and to the people in the landscape," Fecho said. "It is more of a documentary of time, not a negative or positive statement." Her images compare and contrast how technology and the modern world incorporate rather than take over Italian cities.

The Value of Art

October 4-29, 2007
Reception for the artists, Oct. 27, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Instead of limiting the exhibition to graduates of the art department, the call for submissions for this showcase of work went out to all college alumni.

The Barton Art Galleries have looked forward to this opportunity to exhibit works of art by Atlantic Christian and Barton alumni. There is incredible talent among this diverse group of artists, and Barton College is pleased to be able to bring together this collection of works for the 2007 Homecoming Alumni Art Exhibition on campus. These works represent the experience and expertise of alumni artists from coast to coast.

The diversity of the artists' backgrounds is evident in the dynamic differences in styles of included works. Artwork in the exhibition ranges from realist scenic images, abstract expressive compositions, documentary and fine art photography to pottery, sculpture and assemblage. A variety of media also is represented including: oils, watercolor, graphite and charcoal drawings, photography, ceramics and mixed media sculpture.

Intimate Strangers

November 9-December 7
Opening recepton, November 9, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Intimate Strangers is an exhibition of portrait and figurative photographs from the collection of Allen G. Thomas, Jr., an art collector and native of Wilson.

"The title comes from the fact that I'm living with, in some cases, life size strangers all over my walls," says Thomas. Each image in the exhibition offers and intimate look at a real person wearing their life's history on their face. "When you live with portraits of people you don't know you become very familiar with them," continues Thomas. "I don't sit around making up life stories, but the photographs speak to where these people have been."

Images in the exhibition range from what might be considered more traditional portraits to figure studies and conceptual pieces. Many photographs in the exhibition were selected as pairs or groups. The thought behind this decision was to give a peek into the artist's thought processes. Photographs in a series can support one another, reinforcing one's understanding of the individuals depicted. In contrast to the sets of images a few larger photographs were selected for their individual uniqueness and scale. Among the included artists are: Lou Allen, Tseng Kwong Chi, John Dugdale, George Duncan, Taj Forer, Bill Henson, David Hilliard, Bill Jacobson, Sarah Johnson, Mona Kuhn, Carrie Levy, Ryan McGinley, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Erwin Olaf, Jack Pierson, Alec Soth and Zoe Strauss.

Earlier this year Mr. Thomas loaned many works form his private collection to the North Carolina Museum of Art for an exhibition called The Big Picture.

Intimate Strangers offers a splendid look into the contemporary photography. The depth and breath of the selected works provides a viewing experience unlike anything Wilson has seen.

30th Annual Scholastic Art Awards Awards

January 21-February 8, 2008
Opening reception and awards ceremony, January 26, 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

For the 30th year, Barton College presented The National Scholastic Art Awards for the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region. Barton College hosts the largest regional district in North Carolina, representing 62 counties from the piedmont to the coast.

Wilson County students receiving Gold Key Awards include Jakeliah Barnes, Dashawna Britt, Everado Chavez and Cecilio Perez under the direction of teacher Peter Varisano at the Sallie B. Howard Charter School; Forest Hills Middle School student Anna Batts under the direction of teacher Gordon Card at Studio One of Wilson; and Katie Baker, who received three Gold Keys, under the direction of teacher Charlotte Rouse at Springfield Middle School.

Two hundred pieces were selected as Gold Key Finalists for the exhibition. These finalists 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. There also were 200 Silver Key Awards chosen from the works submitted.

This year, approximately 1,900 entries were presented for judging. Students, through their teachers, submitted artwork in a variety of categories including painting, drawing, mixes media, printmaking, sculpture, photography, computer graphics, video, film and animation, environments, graphics, products, ceramics, jewelry and metalsmithing, textile and fiber design, art portfolio, and photography portfolio.

Past and Present:
Celebrating Two Centuries of North Carolina Decorative Arts

February 18-March 29, 2008
Opening reception, Sunday, February 24, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Presented in conjunction with the Hobson Pittman Memorial Gallery of Tarboro present this exhibition concentrates on historic North Carolina Furniture and its influences on the contemporary form.

Contemporary craftsmen include Vivian Beer, Brian Bortz, Michael Brown, Stan Corbett of Wilson, Matt Gibson, Robb Helmkamp, Susan Link, Timothy Maddox, Mike Shelley of Wilson, Sylvie Rosenthal, Brent Skidmore, Hart T. Wiggins of Wilson, Julius Whitley of Stantonsburg and Brian Wurst.

The distinguished collection of antiques on loan for the exhibition includes a walnut brandy case or cellaret, found primarily in northeastern North Carolina or Southside Virginia. This example is on a beaded leg frame, circa 1780. The yellow pine bottom has lost the bottle dividers. The hardware is replaced. The exposed dovetail construction square case and straight beaded legs are late 18th century cabinet making details. The case was given to Blount-Bridgers House by the Merkle Pulley family in 1969.

Also from the Blount-Bridgers House is a small Federal period walnut table owned by Ethel Pike Bass, the wife of Dr. Spencer B. Bass, Sr. Mrs. Bass was a passionate collector of Southern antiques, the majority of which she discovered locally in the 1920s and 1930s. This table, circa 1790, exhibits features of the light and delicate furniture forms popular in the new republic after the American Revolution. All of walnut construction, this original has a one board top of figured walnut secured with wrought nails. The table is faithfully copied on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of "The Grove" by Whitley's Treasures in Wood of Stantonsburg. It is a fitting tribute to the quality cabinet making and taste in Tarboro and Edgecombe County.

Additional pieces on view during the exhibition include the following: a painted blanket chest from Bertie County, circa 1720; a mule ear chair from Edgecombe County is circa 1840; a Windsor arm chair from Halifax County, circa 1820; two Nash County Murray Town chairs; a lamp-black and oil painted Warren County arm chair, circa 1790; a Warren County stretcher desk of yellow pine, circa 1780 and many more.

Barton Senior Art Exhibition 2008: Generation Digital Y

April 5-May 9, 2008
Opening reception, Saturday, April 5, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Generation Digital Y is an exhibition of graphic design and photography by the 2008 graduating Barton art students.

Work by Marcos E. Alices Kinch of Fayetteville, NC will be on view in the Virginia Thompson Graves Gallery. Included in his presentation are designs, point-of-purchase billboard, posters, publication, t-shirt designs and paintings.

Much of his work focuses on a marketing campaign named Turn off the Radio. The idea behind the campaign is to make people aware of other choices of music. "I've created a certain style throughout the large three panel billboard of paint splatters and brush strokes that were designed on the computer, yet produced by hand."

On exhibit in the Lula E. Rackley Gallery are the works of John J. Miller, from Holliston Ma. Miller will complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art with a double concentration in Graphic Design and Photography. Focusing mainly on landscape and portrait photography, Miller also included in his presentation commercial design work. "I feel my camera work is very strong and the style leans more to the gallery atmosphere," Miller said. "As a designer and photographer, I seek to capture the essences, mood and emotion of life with innovative and eye catching designs."

International Baccalaureate Art Exhibition

Opening reception, April 22, 7:00-9:00 p.m.