Current Season

Hanna Jubran: Alchemy, Metaphor & Form

Burk Uzzle: Photographs

Bayard Wootten

Images & Artifacts from the Raines & Cox Studio

31st Annual Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition

Arthur Ganson: Gestural Mechanics

Barton Senior Art Exhibition 2009: Oculus

Internation Baccalaureate Art Exhibition

Hanna Jubran: Alchemy, Metaphor & Form

August 25-October 10, 2008
Opening reception Sunday, September 7, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Jubran's work addresses the concepts of time, movement, balance and space. Each sculpture occupies and creates its own reality influenced by its immediate surroundings. The work does not rely on one media to evoke the intended response, but takes advantage of compatible materials such as wood, granite, steel, iron and bronze.

"The nature of my goals for art is to reflect my own aesthetic views, concepts and sincerity of expression," said Hanna Jubran, a native of the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel. "My journey began when I left my hometown of Jish in 1967. My vision, goal and dream is to become an active voice out of this relatively invisible place. Therefore, there is no choice but to continue my intended journey and to give to my community in the East and West a feeling of accomplishment and pride. I am emotionally motivated to be creative and a contributor to humanity. For me, sculpture and research is an opportunity I cannot ignore."

A world-renowned artist, Jubran received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is currently a sculpture professor and sculpture area coordinator at East Carolina University.

Burk Uzzle: Photographs

October 26-December 10, 2008
Opening reception Sunday, October 26, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Burk Uzzle portrays a unique blend of American sensibility, themes and values through his photography. His images are sometimes quirky, sometimes humorous, and always respectful of the people or places he has observed. Many images in the exhibition are large-scale color photographs of places found on country roads and other venues off the beaten path. Uzzle's wonderful sense of color rests on a fine line between the visual balance of his composition and the delicate, sometimes bizarre social order of the places he depicts.

Placed under contract at the age of 23, Uzzle was the youngest photographer hired by Life magazine. He later ventured into a 15-year membership in Magnum Photos, the international photographers cooperative, where he served for two years as its president before leaving in 1983. Uzzle is represented exclusively by the Laurence Miller Gallery in New York, and his work is included in many museum and private collections worldwide.

Images of 20th Century North Carolina:
Photographs by Bayard Wootten from the North Carolina
Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

October 26-December 10, 2008
Opening reception Sunday, October 26, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Pictorialist photographer Bayard Wootten's work includes images of beautiful gardens and splendid landscapes, but her greatest accomplishment was the recording of both black and white Americans of the working class.

While Wootten's photographs recall a forgotten time and culture, they retain a freshness and vitality for viewers today. The Bayard Wootten Collection is on loan from the North Carolina Collection Research Library, Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Born in New Bern, Wootten first pursued drawing and painting as a cottage industry and is credited with the original Pepsi-Cola logo. Around 1904, the possibility of photographic orders replacing labor-intensive artwork steered her to cameras. Wootten identified with the pictorialist style, despite its decline in popularity after 1910. Stylistically, her photographs recall the Farm Securities Administration images from the Great Depression and often resemble the work of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange.

Managing to overcome obstacles typical for her gender, Wootten eventually attained national recognition. Her first studio was in a small building beside the family home in New Bern, but over the course of her career, Wootten worked in several other locations in North Carolina and also briefly operated a studio in New York City.

Images of 20th Century North Carolina:
Images and Artifacts from the Raines & Cox Studio of Wilson

This project was supported by a grant from the Arts Council of Wilson through the North Carolina Arts Council Grassroots Arts Program with funding from the state of North Carolina, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

October 26-December 10, 2008
Opening reception Sunday, October 26, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

In 1947 Charles Raines, a Wilson native and Atlantic Christian College graduate opened his own photography studio with another Wilsonian, Guy Cox.

Throughout their career, the two men photographed nearly every facet of Wilson life from weddings, to schools, to street corners, to the tobacco industry. They also captured images of famous visitors to Wilson such as Lady Bird Johnson, President Jimmy Carter and Andy Griffith. A Wilson Daily Times article from 1993 says the studio shot more than 39,000 studio portraits. Raines died in 2001, but at age 86 Guy Cox is still enjoying his work. He is keeping up with the digital age of photography through weekly classes at Wilson Community College.

The exhibition pays homage to the photography of Raines & Cox and to the historical record they captured on film and have housed for years in their studio on Nash Street. On view in the Rackley Gallery will be a selection of photographs from the 1950s as well as studio portraits from the 1960s and '70s. Also included in the exhibition will be numerous artifacts collected over the 60-year career in photography: studio equipment, cameras and negatives. The exhibition also will include a partial reproduction of their darkroom.

31st Annual Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition

January 25-February 14, 2009
Awards Ceremony and Opening reception Sunday, January 25, 2:00-6:00 p.m.

Since 1979, Barton College has hosted the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for the largest regional district in the state, currently with 62 counties from Winston-Salem to the Coast. The College is fortunate to be associated with The Wilson Daily Times, which provides financial support for the Scholastic Art Awards program.

Exhibit director Mark Gordon of Barton College said he's seen a pleasing trend in the last few years. "Not only have the number of Wilson-area entries grown exponentially, but the improved quality of local student artwork submitted has given our homegrown artists a far greater share of both Gold Key and Silver Key awards at the regional exhibition," Gordon said.

Wilson County recipients this year included Anna Batts from Hunt High School, who won four Gold Key awards. Teacher is Amanda Lange.

Ms. Batts, a Hunt High School freshman, is among 10 students from the Eastern/Central North Carolina Art Region who's work was awarded a prestigious National Gold Medal. Several years ago, Anna's mother challenged her daughter to photograph her grandparents, L.H. and Helen Boykin, during their struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Her photograph titled "50 Years" captured a happy moment, a few months before the couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Anna's grandfather died in March.

Students from Sallie B. Howard School included Gerardo Arias, one Silver Key award; Yazmin Giles, one Silver Key award; Crystal Martinez, two Gold Key awards and two Silver Key awards; Magaly Martinez, one Gold Key award; Wendy Rivera, two Silver Key awards; Jade Sanders, one Silver Key award; and Ajahni White, one Gold Key award. Teacher is Peter Varisano.

Award recipients from Springfield Middle School included Benjamin James Hawley, one Gold Key award, and Emily Carole Howard, one Silver Key award. Teacher is Charlotte Rouse.

Completing the Wilson list are Emily Darr, one Gold Key award, and Mallory Short, one Silver Key award, both from the Wilson Visual Arts Academy. Teacher is Peter Varisano.

Natasha Kerwin of Charles B. Aycock High School was also a Gold Key winner, earning a silver medal at the nationals.

This year, approximately 1,800 entries were presented for judging with 251 pieces selected as Gold Key winners.

The Scholastic Art Awards, Inc. conducts a visual art awards program for middle and high school students in the United States. Entries from all 50 states are submitted for competition in this nationally renowned program.

National gold medal winners are honored at a gala reception at New York City's Carnegie Hall. The winning work will is exhibited in Manhatten at the World Monuments Fund Gallery.

Arthur Ganson: Gestural Mechanics

February 22-March 20, 2009
Opening reception, Sunday, February 22, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Arthur Ganson has been building art machines since 1978. His works are not static non-moving forms, but are functional sculptural investigations of mechanized design. A former artist-in-residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ganson maintains an ongoing exhibition of kinetic sculpture at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The sculptures begin as meditations on particular concepts of motion. "They are the result of a meandering way of thinking, dreaming and inventing," Ganson says, "and come about because I like to work with my hands." The concepts he works with serve as a catalyst and point of departure for investigations on the mechanics of movement.

The work he produces cannot be adequately described in words or photographs. Direct observation is the only way one might understand the quiet, introspective, meditative quality of the machines. Each contraption is a careful juxtaposition of grace and chaos and through the act of viewing, one discovers a passageway to the sublime.

Speaking of his work, Ganson proclaims that each machine carries with it an aspect of his spirit. "I happen to make machines because I am equally interested in solving mechanical design problems, thinking about the aesthetic implications of objects in space, considering movement from the point of view of a choreographer, and challenging myself to give voice and form to the thoughts and feelings which define me."

Barton Senior Art Exhibition 2009: Oculus

April 4-May 8, 2009
Opening reception Saturday, April 4, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Oculus, presents works by Barton College seniors Sarah Stoia St. Martin and Cameron Basil Gooch.

St. Martin, scheduled to graduate in May with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design, has combined her love of photography with her creativity in graphic design to develop several unique pieces for the senior show. Influenced by a period of residency in Japan, St. Martin has incorporated Eastern aspects throughout her works in the exhibit, including an Asian-inspired dressing screen that depicts a self-portrait as well as friends' portraits. Another intriguing piece is a miniature book of poetry she has created to showcase various forms of typography.

A letterform design project that included research in merchandising and products is also in her display. "The letterforms have been hand painted on china as a successful proto-type for china that one might see in a store like Pier 1 or The Pottery Barn," shared J. Chris Wilson, professor of art and senior advisor. "The design is intended to appeal to a young audience and plays with the number '8? as a major design motif on the dinning china, making a pun of 'ate' as an implied design motif."

Cameron Basil Gooch, the son of Deborah and Basil Gooch of Elon, is also scheduled to graduate in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design and Photography. His works feature designs for recreational equipment including skateboards, snowboards, snow skis, a skim board and clothing. His inspiration, fueled by travels to New York City and other metropolitan areas, provides a strong urban theme for his art.

"Cameron's work has greatly matured, and his urban theme with a young target audience is focused and successful from both a design perspective and an understanding of the need in today's economy to seek a market niche," said Wilson. "The work is exciting and dynamic and should successfully hit its intended mark." Photographs and design letter projects by Gooch are also included in the exhibition.

Following graduation, Gooch anticipates a career in commercial design and looks forward to developing his own signature product line.

Fifth Annual Hunt High School International Baccalaureate
and Senior Students' Art Exhibition

Tuesday, May 26, 2009, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

This sculpture, in the style of artist Louis Nevelson, is a collaborative work completed by all students in the exhibition.

This is the second time Barton College has hosted the exhibition. Students participating this year include: Deanna Conoscenti, Sally Evans, Trista Payton, Kelsey Stearns, Amber Stoll, Baylee Werline and Thorne Wiggs.

Amanda Lange, art teacher at Hunt, shared that she is honored to have taught this particular group of students throughout their high school experience.

"They are, above all, accepting of one another," Lange said. "It is seldom that one finds such diversity in a small setting, and yet such a cohesive group within this variety."

Artwork displayed in the exhibition is an extension of this diversity. The exhibit illustrates the students' variety of talent as well as individual voices.