Strolling

Photo by Anthony Bellemare, courtesy of Verve Magazine

The River Arts District Studio Stroll weekend is upon us! While there are a host of new artists and studios to check out, be sure to pay a visit to Cleaster Cotton at the Pink Dog Creatives building on Depot Street, where she'll be showing her "contemporary primitive" mixed media work.

Though she relatively new to the area, Cotton's been involved in some mighty community work -- like teaching art to economically-disadvantaged kids. She makes her work using found materials saying, "The materials present themselves. they tell me how they want to be treated."

Read more about Cotton in this article written for Verve Magazine: 100 Percent Cotton

I'm also looking forward to seeing Margaret Couch Cogswell's newest project, Tiny Mailbox, a collection of mail art displayed in a mobile gallery at The Cottonmill Studios on Riverside Drive. Cogswell, a mixed media/book artist, put out a call for mail art several months ago in an effort to revive the waning custom of snail mail. I'm anticipating the results, of which, it appears, there were many. Read more about the project on Cogswell's blog.

See you at the stroll!

Asheville Rites Project: A public art + performance piece

Photo of Molly Rose Freeman by Matt Rose, courtesy of Verve Magazine

For the next two weeks Molly Rose Freeman will be painting five 10' x10' panels for the Asheville Rites Project, a collaborative performance piece that comes together on May 21. The panels are installed in amphitheatre format in the RiverLink sculpture and performance plaza, an outdoor venue located at 117 Riverside Drive, across from the Cotton Mill Studios and 12 Bones Restaurant.

A dance choreographed by Garth Gimball is set to take place at dusk on May 21st (raindate is May 28th) at the plaza with Freeman's panels serving as the backdrop. Live music will be performed by Michael Libramento. The event is free and open to the public. In the meantime, you can swing by and check out the mural as it progresses.

This project is made possible with the help of Kickstarter donations, RiverLink, Arts2People, Asheville Mural Project, The River Arts District Artist Community, and Asheville Ballet

Read more about Molly Rose Freeman: Wall Flower: Verve Magazine May 2011

Local businesses & the art scene

Encaustics by Georgia Smith are currently on display at the Early Girl Eatery on Wall Street

Paintings by Dustin Spagnola hang at Arcade Asheville

I've said it before and I'll say it again: some of the more interesting art in Asheville can be found in the restaurants, bookstores, record shops, clothing boutiques and hair salons of this town. It makes sense since business owners don't need to rely on art sales to keep their business afloat.

It's true such places can't get too overly extreme with the work they show since they often need to maintain a level of family-friendliness or appetite stimulation. Nevertheless, the contribution these venues make to Asheville's art scene is vital.
Maybe an "alt art venue" map could be drawn up to distribute to tourists this summer!
Here's a list of local businesses, in no particular order, that consistently display interesting art.

Harvest Records http://www.harvest-records.com/

Downtown Books and News http://www.myspace.com/downtownbooksandnews

PUSH Skate Shop http://www.pushtoyproject.com/
Clingman Cafe http://www.clingmancafe.com/

Bobo Bar and Gallery http://www.bobogallery.com/
Short Street Cakes http://www.shortstreetcakes.com/
Early Girl Eatery http://earlygirleatery.com/
The Over Easy http://www.yelp.com/biz/over-easy-cafe-asheville
Eclipse Salon http://eclipseasheville.com/

Wink Salon http://www.ilovewink.com/
Ananda Hair Studio http://www.anandahair.com/

Blitzkrieg Games http://www.blitzkrieggames.com/
Hip Replacements Clothing Boutique http://hipreplacementsclothing.blogspot.com/
Izzy's Coffee Den http://izzyscoffeeden.com/
True Blue Art http://trueblueartsupply.com/

Arcade Asheville http://www.arcadeasheville.com/
Rosetta's Kitchen http://rosettaskitchen.com/

Tod's Tasties http://todstasties.com/

It's hard to remember everyone! Let me know who I'm leaving out.

Closing reception at FLOOD this Saturday

Due to bad weather, Claire Barratt’s multimedia art installation, Dance is the new visual art at The Flood Gallery went a little under the radar when it opened three weeks ago. If you still haven’t seen it, don’t worry: Barratt will be hosting a special closing reception this Saturday, Jan. 29, from noon to 4 p.m.

Barratt shines not only as a performance artist, but also in her ability to push boundaries. Something that is in danger of being overly sentimental — such as her fairytale video “Chloe” — maintains interest with its odd camera angles, rough edits and offbeat costuming. Though it’s not clear how the videos conceptually relate to each other, or to the paper surrounding them, it all works as an exercise in serendipity. In a moment when two videos randomly sync up with a crunching sound and a gestural movement, one gets the feeling that everything is exactly how it ought to be.

More info: Final week of dance is the new visual art; MountainXpress

Fringe Fest!

It's that time of the year again.

In my experience, Fringe Festivals are always hit-or-miss events.
I've left venues sometimes wondering why they don't just call them Cringe Festivals. But ultimately the cringe factor is what makes this kind of thing so fun. It's like watching the Oscars and secretly hoping for something unexpected to happen -- like a stumble on the red carpet, an awkward acceptance speech, or a win for a movie that actually deserves it.

Buying a ticket to these events is akin to playing Russian Roulette -- especially if you're new to town and have no idea who anyone is. The key here is to maintain an open mind! Even if it's bad, it's worth it.

Just glancing over the scheduled acts I can honestly say that this year's lineup looks more polished than previous years. Here are some of my predictions of what to expect:

•Bebe Theatre events in the past have run the gamut from comedic, to bawdy, to arty to dull to refreshingly cheese-ball. I love going to Bebe fringe events because I can always expect the unexpected.
•Black Mountain College Museum performances look like they will be high quality and appropriately experimental. You'll get your money's worth but maybe not a fun story to tell your friends later.

•Expect more circus and burlesque acts in the River District's Wedge Building--an intriguing lineup of dance, music, theaterical and interactive performances.

• TONIGHT at the Asheville Art Museum is Pecha Kucha, an entertaining slide presentation to provoke dialogue. $5

Check www.ashevillefringe.org for the full schedule and info on artists.

While fringe theatre refers to theater that is not mainstream, Fringe Festivals are notable for the unjuried nature of the performances. In general, production expenses are kept low and casts are kept small. The original Fringe Festival took place in Adelaide Scotland in the early 1970's as a reaction to mainstream theatre events. Since then Fringe Festivals have grown in popularity and are produced in cities all over the globe, from Melbourne to Minnesota.

Dance is the New Visual Art

DANCE IS THE NEW VISUAL ART
A video installation by Claire Elizabeth Barratt

OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, January 8th

7pm – 10pm
FLOOD GALLERY
Phil Mechanic Building on Roberts Street
RiverArts District – Asheville NC

An installation of multiple videos on the subject of dance and movement.

Videos are all created by Cilla Vee Life Arts director Claire Elizabeth Barratt in collaboration with numerous artists from a variety of disciplines.

Collaborators include:
Kimathi Moore – Asheville NC – composer
Charles Elmer – Asheville NC – videographer
Michael Folliet – Asheville NC – videographer
Dr T – Boston MA – VJ video artist
Walter Wright – Lowell MA – sound artist
Randy F Simon – NYC / Jamaica – videographer
Tatsuya Nakatani – Easton PA / Japan – sound artist
Natasha Royka – Ottawa ON – dance videographer

The installation incorporates sculptural forms created of paper, fabric & wire that serve not only as screens for the videos, but also as devices to shape the space. Sound installation by acousmatic composer Dr. Rick Nance is produced by materials used for the installation.

Claire Elizabeth Barratt is a trained dancer, but she prefers to call herself a “motion sculptor.“ It’s a term she came up with while working as a figure model in New York City art schools for five years starting in 2002. Shifting from one pose to the other, she discovered that the contemplative movement was similar to dance. “Organically, it just started happening in my performances,” she says.
Read more: Motion Pictures; Verve Magazine Jan. 2011.

Molly Courcelle

Made Glorious

Molly Courcelle's painterly abstracts really speak to me, and I've been admiring her work for several months now.

Her paintings are on display at Atelier 24 in downtown Asheville and her website indicates a show at Clingman Cafe in the River Arts District in 2011.

Memory Abides

My work is as much about the process of painting as it is about the final image. Each painting is its own unique experience. ~M. Courcelle

Journey

See more at mollycourcelle.com

Ceramic Sculptures by JoAnna Fireman

"The sculptures I create focus on many aspects of our wild instinctual psyche as articulated through animal and human forms. Stripped down to their bare bones, these creatures exhibit a primitive life force, both fierce and vulnerable."

"I approach the clay as I would an unknown animal, with my senses fully open."

"A creature may emerge in a recognizable form speaking of its plight or its magnificence."

"More often the form appears mysterious, inviting me to wonder about its nature, our nature, and our relationship."

See more of JoAnna Fireman's sculptures at joannafireman.com

Or visit Odyssey Clay Center to see the work in person.

Karen Havens at FLOOD

New York artist Karen Havens exhibited work at FLOOD last month and I found her installment of paintings and sculpture to be quite profound. Unfortunately I cannot find any information about the artist and was unable to meet her when she was in town for the opening. I hope she continues her artistic pursuits as several people I've spoken with agree that her show was rather exemplary.
Below is the full review I wrote for the Mountain Xpress -- only a portion of it was printed in the paper:


In spite of the lack of titles present at this month’s FLOOD Gallery exhibit; the intention of the work is obvious. Karen Havens' solo exhibit of sculptural installations and 2D works, entitled USED, beautifully suggests the complicated relationship between the emotional being and the physical body.

The work is decidedly female. This is not to be confused with feminine. While there are some applications of pink here and there, the way Haven interprets the female body goes far beyond traditional depictions of the soft and submissive form we’ve become accustomed to in classical Western Art.

The art contains aggressive applications of paint, layers of evocative imagery, and distressed found objects. It’s as if the body and psyche of this artist has turned itself inside out for the world to inspect at close range. While the work is candid, it is not didactic or moralistic. There are no grandiose political statements to be found here. Nevertheless, the drama and assault of Haven’s work will probably turn some people off; others will identify with the artist’s sincere and unapologetic attitude.

Much of the work evokes a female psyche that struggles to make sense of pornographic imagery, memories and the objectification of the female sex. “I didn’t know you had a sister” is scrawled out on one photocopied piece. In others, photocopied erotic imagery is repeated and layered upon itself just enough that that it becomes an abstraction without obscuring the original image.

In one piece (title unavailable) cardboard boxes have been impressed with repeating circular forms of light blue and white, which at first glance appear as topographical map, satellite mages or even sonograms of embryos. Closer examination reveals that the shapes in all probability were produced with paint-slathered breasts, so one wonders if the act of the painting or it’s final product should be considered more.

All the pieces evoke a haunting and disturbed sensation like the sculpture comprised of a torn mattress cover spotted with bloodstains and cigarette burns. A multitude of plastic flowers lie in upheaval before it as if someone has placed flowers at a tombstone or alter. Bright orange circus peanuts are strewn amongst the flowers. What has happened on the mattress is left to the imagination -- the end result suggests a saddened state of a culture’s objectification around the spectacle of violence.

Another sculpture utilizes mesh pantyhose stuffed with marshmallows draped over roof tiles hammered through and through with tiny nails whose sharp ends jut out on the other side. A garland of cigarette butts along with a plastic bag filled with ashes and cig butts ornament the piece. Remarkably, the shadow cast by the sculpture reveals 3 veiled female forms marching in ceremonial procession.

Hannah Dansie

Be sure to stop by The Clingman Cafe in the River Arts District to see the multimedia work of Hannah Dansie. The show emerges powerfully with it's simple compositions and warmly structured forms. I especially like the way Dansie lets each object speak for itself without fuss or visual clutter.

Rose Candela

miss/salvage/internalize mixed media on paper 2009

One easily gets lost following the maze of obsessively rendered patterns found within each drawing by Asheville artist, Rose Candela. The eye happily settles on a little creature from time to time or teeny messages/codes written by the artist, obscured so that only the most committed viewer will be able to decipher them.

miss/salvage/internalize (pictured above) reveals an aerial view of a place upon which the artist has rendered a gossamer landscape. Appealing to my metaphysical sensibilities, the sentiment here seems to be: There is the material world, and then everything else which is reality.

Rose Candela is exhibiting her celestial drawings at the PUMP Gallery thru September 30 in her solo show "He Used to Profess."
Read more about her art and the use of text in this article written by Carol Motsinger for the Asheville Citizen Times

www.rosecandelastudio.com to see more of Candela's work.

Proud to be living in Asheville

Graffiti found near the railroad tracks of the River Arts District as photographed by Henry Neufeld for the book Asheville's River Arts District by Henry and Rob Neufeld.