North Carolina artists

Raleigh Artists To Open “Studio 600” on Glenwood South

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Jason Craighead © f8 Photo Studios

November 2, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) — Artists Jason Craighead and David Green will open Studio 600, their new working studios, to the public during Raleigh’s First Friday Art Walk, November 6, starting at 7 p.m. Studio 600 is located at 600 Glenwood South, Raleigh, NC,  between the 606 Lounge and Abbey Carpets.

 

After working out of a spare bedroom-turned-studio in his downtown Raleigh apartment for several years, Craighead was seriously looking for separate space when two things came together: His friend, mixed-media artist David Green, also needed a studio, and the warehouse space behind Abbey Carpets at 600 Glenwood South became available.

 

“Studio 600 – which is simply named for the address – will make us more accessible to the public,” said Craighead. “It also gives us a place to create work without having to live in it. And it gives us a great place to collaborate on some work. I want to do other things, besides painting.”

 

At approximately 1000 square feet, the new studios offer plenty of storage space to accommodate the artists’ completed works. Craighead’s paintings tend to be large, so getting them out of his downtown apartment was a major plus, he said.

 

Craighead and Green have up-fitted the warehouse-turned-studios themselves, with a little help from friends — framing out, dry-walling and painting the interior, and installing lighting. When Studio 600 opens to the public on November 6, the interior will feature a small entrance gallery/foyer, additional display walls beyond and to the right of that area, dedicated working space for each artist, and ample storage units.

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"Studio Floor Drawing," mixed media on paper, by Jason Craighead

 

About the entrance area, Craighead noted that he and Green do not intend to use it just to display their own work. They will invite other artists to use the space for shows and art installations.

 

“If you’re going to participate in the community, why just hang your own work? Participate in the community,” he said. “Let somebody else have some fun.”

 

He noted, however, that “shows” are only for a day and a half. Studio 600 will be open to the public each First Friday and the following Saturday. After that, all but the front area is strictly for creating art work and open otherwise only by appointment.

 

“This is not a gallery,” he stressed. “It’s a working studio.”

 

For more information on Studio 600, contact Jason Craighead at Jason@jasoncraighead.com; or call 919-946-4219.

 

About Jason Craighead:

 

Jason Craighead has been named Best Artist in Raleigh Metro Magazine’s annual MetroBravo reader’s poll for five consecutive years. His paintings have been featured in numerous gallery exhibits and belong to many public and private art collections. An active member of the North Carolina arts community, he is now working with the Raleigh Arts Commission on its plans for future public art. He also frequently donates his paintings to charitable causes, including Works of Heart, the Triangle area’s annual premiere art auction to benefit The Alliance of AIDS Services – Carolina. For more information visit www.jasoncraighead.com.

Jason Craighead To Open Major Exhibit at Somerhill

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August 15, 2009 (DURHAM, NC) — Somerhill Gallery in Durham, North Carolina, will open a major exhibition of recent works by Raleigh, NC, artist Jason Craighead, with sculptural pieces by Donald Gialanella. The artist’s reception will be held on Sunday, August 30th, from 2-5 p.m. The show runs through October 2.

Jason Craighead is best known for his predominantly large-scale painting that combine acrylic, oil pastel, and graphite in multiple layers of color, lines, and drips.

Before the artist’s exhibit last winter at the Fayetteville Museum of Art in Fayetteville, NC., he described the direction in which his work was going at that time as “the ultimate transitional moment for me. I’m detaching from ‘things,’ finding space and creating rhythm, and letting my work become the pure thing that it is. With less fear comes more freedom.”

Craighead’s work has continued to evolve since then, and now he notes, “Those earlier pieces were a little friendlier. The ‘less fear” concept is allowing me to leave things behind – fear, ego, pride – and really begin to make work. I feel like there is a flight mechanism in these pieces [for the Somerhill show], like the sense of jumping off a cliff: there’s that moment of horror and serenity all at the same time. This work is about progress and purpose, not perfection. I’m even allowing myself the freedom to stop early – to show something that raw.” untitled doors sm

According to Somerhill director Joseph Rowand, “Jason has discovered a source within himself that he knows how to acknowledge. And he is willing to do the work to get to the passage.”

Rowand describes the nearly 20 pieces in the show – on canvas, paper and doors – as “making us look up into our imagination. We are affected by mind-tripping on the tangible results of a man hard at his work as well as his pleasure. The culmination of his vision allows us, and coaches us, to loose ourselves in that vision, therefore enhancing it, in our mind’s eye, implanting the reflection for future referral. It is the pure pleasure of viewing a good painting. How much fun it is to create and indulge in one’s visual life.”

Somerhill Gallery is located in the Venable Center in Durham at 303 South Roxboro Street. For directions visit the website at  www.somerhill.com.

For more information on Jason Craighead and to see more of his work, visit www.jasoncraighead.com.

About Jason Craighead:

Jason Craighead is represented by Somerhill Gallery in Durham (www.somerhill.com), Broadhurst Gallery in Pinehurst (www.broadhurstgallery.com), Anne Irwin Fine Art in Atlanta, GA, (www.anneirwinfineart.com), and Bucks Gallery of Fine Art in Newtown, PA (www.bucksgalleryoffineart.com). He has been named Best Artist in Raleigh Metro Magazine’s annual MetroBravo reader’s poll for five consecutive years. His work has been featured in numerous gallery exhibits and belongs in many public and private art collections. An active member of the North Carolina arts community, he is now working with the Raleigh Arts Commission on its plans for future public art. He also frequently donates his work to charitable causes, including Works of Heart, the Triangle area’s annual premiere art auction to benefit The Alliance of AIDS Services – Carolina. Recent donations to Works of Heart and the Raleigh Visual Arts Exchange’s fundraising auction broke both organizations’ records for largest winning bids. His studio is located in downtown Raleigh. For more information visit www.jasoncraighead.com.

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“Open Sky Art” Exhibit at Caribou Coffee

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Artist Scott Myers at work on an "en plein air" painting for Open Sky Art.
Artist Scott Myers at work on an "en plein air" painting for Open Sky Art.

June 11, 2009 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) – Joseph Rowand, director and curator at Somerhill Gallery in Durham, was stunned to learn that the artists who participated in Kimberly Alvis’ “Open Sky Art” event on Sunday, June 7, began and completed their paintings in just a few hours that day. Rowand arrived at Caribou Coffee on 110 West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill late that afternoon to select the top three ribbon-winners among the 8 completed works.

“I thought they started three days ago,” he said as he studied the paintings now displayed on the walls of the downtown coffee shop.

Artists in the gardens
Artists in the gardens

Open Sky Art was an “en plein air” (French for “in the open air”) painting session hosted by Chapel Hill artist Kimberly Alvis in her lush gardens just outside the downtown district. Participating artists chose whatever element or view they wanted to paint on Alvis property, which includes a pond and small wooden bridge, pool, gazebo, extensive gardens in bloom and ornamental trees.

The artists brought their own supplies and painted outdoors from 8 a.m. to around 2 p.m. before delivering the completed works – most of which were also framed – to Caribou Coffee’s West Franklin Street location, where they became part of the Open Sky Art Exhibit to celebrate “en plein air” painting.

Painting "en plein air"
Painting "en plein air"

An advocate and veteran of open-air painting, Kimberly Alvis contributed three of her own oil paintings for the show, although as host and a member of the Somerhill Gallery stable of artists, her works were not included in the judging for the three winners.

For First Place, Rowand selected an 8×10 piece of the pond and bridge, rendered in pastels, by Linda Wood of Wood Design & Art Studio in Raleigh. The painting is titled “June Garden” and Wood will receive the only cash prize.

Second Place went to Scott Meyers of Chapel Hill, a member of the Orange County Artists Guild, for his 14×17 oil painting of an old Adirondack chair sitting by the bank of the pond.

Third Place went to Tesh Parekh, co-owner of IWP Photography and a member of the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh, for a 12×16 watercolor of the pond and surrounding gardens — one of two pieces Parekh completed that day.

Open Sky Art event, sponsored by Kimberly Alvis
Open Sky Art event, sponsored by Kimberly Alvis

Kimberly Alvis sponsored the Open Sky Art event and exhibit to celebrate “en plein air” painting and go expose artists who enjoy it to a wider audience.

“I’m very grateful to the management of Caribou on Franklin Street for allowing us to display our exhibit there,” she said.

The Open Sky Art Exhibit will remain in Caribou Coffee at 110 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill,  through mid-July and will be part of the town’s Second Friday Art Walk.

About Kimberly Alvis: An accomplished artist, Kimberly Alvis is recognized for her representational work in oil on canvas, linen and panel. She is represented in the Triangle area for Somerhill Gallery in Durham (www.somerhill.com) and the Little Art Gallery & Craft Collection in Raleigh (www.littleartgalleryandcraft.com.) According to Somerhill Gallery’s Joseph Rowand, Alvis’ work offers “a style reminiscent of the 17th century Dutch and Spanish masters. We encounter with Kim’s work an artist who celebrates the past, deploying paint and light to exquisitely delineate her own compositions.”  To see more of her work, visit www.alvisart.com.

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Caribou Coffee On West Franklin To Host “Open Sky Art” Exhibit

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"Girls Fishing," an 'en plein air' painting by Kimberly Alvis
"Girls Fishing," an 'en plein air' painting by Kimberly Alvis

June 2, 2009 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) – The Caribou Coffee Company location at 110 West Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill will host Open Sky Art: An Exhibit, beginning Sunday, June 7 and running throughout the month.

Open Sky Art is a celebration of “en plein air” painting (French for “in the open air”), sponsored by Chapel Hill artist Kimberly Alvis, who wants to expose the art and the artists who enjoy this method of painting to a wider local audience.

“Caribou Coffee seeks out different avenues to connect with community, and here on West Franklin Street we’re always looking for opportunities to support the local artists and musicians,” said store manager Carla Strickland.

“We’re delighted and honored that Carla and Caribou Coffee have agreed to host our exhibit,” Alvis said. “The popularity of that coffee shop and its location right in the middle of everything on Franklin Street will provide excellent exposure for the artists who are lugging their easels, paints, brushes and talent outdoors to create original works of art under the open sky.”

A frequent participant in open-air painting, Kimberly Alvis is hosting an all-day painting session in her own gardens on Sunday, June 7. Over a dozen artists are participating. Paintings completed that day and prepared for hanging will be included in the Open Sky Art Exhibit. Somerhill Gallery’s celebrated director and curator Joe Rowand will then determine First, Second and Third place winners. A cash prize will be awarded to the First Place winner.

“En plein air” painting challenges artists to create works outside of their studios, using what they see and feel around them as inspirations for their work. During the Open Sky Art painting session, artists will use Kimberly Alvis’ lush gardens, backyard pond and parade of ducks as potential subjects.

“I love ‘en plein air’ painting because you never know what you’re going to have to deal with,” Alvis said, remembering a particular session when she had to keep goats from munching on her canvas while she was painting on a goat farm near Graham, NC. “The wind, the quality of the lighting – everything factors in when you’re painting outdoors.”

As the host and sponsor of Open Sky Art, Alvis will not paint during the event or include her work in the judging process, but she will hang a completed painting in the exhibit.

The Open Sky Art Exhibit can be seen in Caribou on Franklin Street during the town’s Second Friday Art Walk (June 12) and throughout the month during regular business hours.

Caribou Coffee Company, Inc., founded in 1990, makes it a practice to give back to the communities where its shops are located. For more information, visit www.cariboucoffee.com.

For more information on Open Sky Art and Kimberly Alvis, visit www.alviswart.com.

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Raleigh Artist Jason Craighead Launches New Website

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Jason Craighead in his studio.
Jason Craighead in his studio.

April 30, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) — After years of having his work available for viewing online solely through gallery websites, artist Jason Craighead of Raleigh, N.C., has just launched his own website: www.jasoncraighead.com.

Designed by 8 Dot Graphics, the new site features a continuous slide show of the artist’s recent works on the landing page, along with notices of current and upcoming exhibitions. The muted background suggests the “passionate and emotionally charged evolving exploration of line and space” that Craighead says defines his current work.

From the landing page, visitors can click on “works on paper” and “works on canvas and panel” to see more available paintings. “Press and reviews” takes visitors to a selection of media critiques of Craighead’s past exhibits and to a chronologically list of news items generated by the artist’s publicist, Kim Weiss of blueplate pr, including his work for charities and community arts organizations.

The new website’s “contact” page features the names, addresses and websites of the galleries that represent the artist — including Somerhill Gallery in Durham, Broadhurst Gallery in Pinehurst, Anne Irwin Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bucks Gallery of Fine Art in Newtown, Pennsylvania – and contact information for Craighead’s publicist.

The site also features an “about the artist” page that offers more detailed background into the evolution of a painter who has become a recognized leader in the North Carolina art scene. The page includes listings of group, two-person and solo exhibitions, publications where Craighead’s work has been featured, select public and private collections, and his professional experience serving as a juror for art exhibitions and as a member of the Public Art Committee for the City of Raleigh Arts Commission until 2011.

The new website will also allow the artist to post new works as they are finished.

Jason Craighead’s next major exhibition of his work will be a solo show at Somerhill Gallery in August. More details will be available this summer at www.somerhill.com.

For more information on the artist and to see his most recent work, go to www.jasoncraighead.com.

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Chapel Hill Artist Hosts “En Plein Air” Session In Her Gardens

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Kimberly Alvis in her studio
Kimberly Alvis in her studio

April 24, 2009 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) – Artist Kimberly Alvis loves her gardens, which spread out among the trees and pond around her home just outside downtown Chapel Hill. Well tended, they provide her with constant sources for still life paintings, landscapes, and people in landscape paintings – especially when she can capture one of her sons outdoors among them.

On April 27, Alvis will share her gardens and the subject matter they provide with PAINT NC, a group of emerging and professional artists from Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill who meet together regularly to paint en plein air, or “in the open air.”

Alvis is a regular participant in plein air events, both through PAINT NC and
Outdoor Painters, a group based in Graham, NC.

“I love plein air painting because it’s so challenging,” she said. “You never know what you’ll have to deal with. It could be wind, cold, manipulating the easel so the sun isn’t shining on it, which messes up the values.”

Frank LaLumnia, a founding member of Plein-Air Painters of America, explains the challenge – and attraction — of plein air painting:
“Painting from life is a pursuit unlike any other painting technique,” he writes on the organization’s website (www.p-a-p-a.com). “It challenges artists to concentrate every sensory nerve on the information in front of them. They absorb it all, from sight to sound, from temperature to atmosphere, and then channel those feelings from head to hand, re-creating the vision in paints on paper or canvas.”
The late April session in Alvis’ gardens will offer PAINT NC artists a vast assortment of flowers on which to focus their attention and talents including “Lady Banks” roses, Vibirnum and Foxglove. Ducks also wander through Alvis’ gardens regularly, and their likenesses are bound to wind up on a painter’s canvas.

Artists visiting from out of town are welcome to join the PAINT NC group at this spring event by contacting the organizers via the website: www.paintnc.org.

Kimberly Alvis is an accomplished artist represented in the Triangle by Somerhill Gallery in Durham and the Little Art Gallery & Craft Collection in Raleigh. To see more of the artist’s work, visit www.alvisart.com.

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Jason Craighead Donates Painting To VAE Auction

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Red Crane

January 19. 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Jason Craighead, the artist whose painting broke the record for the highest single bid during the November “Works of Heart” charitable auction for the Carolina AIDS Alliance, has donated another large painting to the Visual Art Exchange for its 25th Art Auction & Gala.

The silver anniversary of the VAE’s gala fundraiser, entitled “For the Love of Art,” will take place Saturday, February 7, 2009, from 6 p.m. until midnight in the new Marriot Hotel in downtown Raleigh.

Jason Craighead is one of the Southeast’s most prominent abstract artists. His work has inspired some critics to compare it to that of Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline and Cy Twombly.

The painting Craighead donated to the VAE auction, entitled “Red Crane #8 (40w x 50h, mixed media on canvas), comes from of a period of his work that focused on ideas on construction, deconstruction, revitalization, and the energy of an urban environment.

“I wasn’t trying to depict reality,” he explained. “I was responding to the visual treat that is everyday city life within the structure and chaos that surrounds us. There is beauty to be found in the grit if we choose to be observant.”

A dozen of his most recent works, including an 8 ft. x 12 ft. painting on panel, are currently on exhibit at the Fayetteville Museum of Art in Fayetteville, NC, along with new works by sculptor Seth Hicks and painter Gerry Lynch.

Jason Craighead is represented in the Triangle area by Somerhill Gallery in Durham. He is also represented by Broadhurst Gallery in Pinehurst (www.broadhurstgallery.com), Anne Irwin Fine Art in Atlanta, GA (www.anneirwinfineart.com), and Bucks Gallery of Fine Art in Newtown, PA (www.bucksgalleryoffineart.com). For more information on the artist, visit any of these websites.

Along with the live and silent auctions representing some of the finest artists in the region, the VAE’s gala event will include live music, a buffet dinner and dessert, a special raffle and dancing. For tickets and more information on the event, visit http://www.visualartexchange.org.

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Artist’s Garden Inspires Paintings, Sales

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December 15, 2008 (RALEIGH, NC) – The relationship between artists and their gardens — and how they inspire each other — is well documented in books, galleries and museums. Monet, for one, created countless paintings that were inspired by his legendary gardens at Giverny.

In the countryside near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at least one artist frequently depends on her carefully tended gardens to provide the subject matter for her collection of rich still-life paintings, many of which can be seen in both Somerhill Gallery in Durham and The Little Art Gallery and Craft Collection in Raleigh, where she is represented.

That artist – Kimberly Alvis – recently sold two oil paintings through The Little Art Gallery that depict the forsythias and lilacs of that bloom profusely in her gardens to herald the beginning of the spring season.

“Lilacs” is a 16”x20” oil on panel. “Forsythias,” purchased by Claudia Kadis of Raleigh. The second sale, “Forsythias,” is an 18”x25” oil on panel painting.

As her gardens sit dormant in the winter months, Alvis muses, “I always look forward to spring because of all the fresh flowers I can put in my still lifes. All I have to do is walk though my backyard and I get dozens of ideas.”

Somerhill Gallery (www.somerhill.com) is currently featuring a collection of Alvis’ small stiff-life paintings – featuring foliage drawn from her the artist’s gardens – in its special holiday show. Others remain available at The Little Art Gallery (www.littleartgalleryandcraft.com).

For more information on Kimberly Alvis, and to see more of her work, visit http://www.alvisart.com.
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Chapel Hill Artist Offers “The Gold Ribbon” To Charitable Fundraiser

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December, 2008 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) — To show her support for The Arc of Orange County’s mission, Chapel Hill artist Kimberly Alvis recently donated a unique Christmas tree “ornament” to the Festival of Trees, The Arc’s December fundraising event held at University Mall in Chapel Hill.

Alvis’ ornament is actually an original 5”x7” oil painting that she contributed to hang on the tree sponsored by Chapel Hill Magazine owners Ellen and Bill Shannon. The tree’s theme is “local artist.”

Entitled “The Gold Ribbon,” Alvis’ small painting features red roses in a green teapot with a gold ribbon looped around it.

Many local businesses donated decorated trees for the Festival. The trees are auctioned off to raise money for The Arc of Orange County. The Arc works with and for people who have or are at risk for having developmental disabilities.

The Festival of Trees Preview Party was held December 4 and including entertainment and a silent auction. The display remains in University Mall through December 8.

Kimberly Alvis, an award-winning artist represented in the Triangle by Somerhill Gallery, has contributed her artwork to many worthy causes, including the annual Works of Heart auction in Raleigh that benefits the Carolina AIDS Alliance and a fundraiser for the Triangle Day School in Durham.

“I enjoy opportunities to help people through my art,” Alvis said. “I love painting and people appreciate being helped. It’s a win-win situation.”

For more information on the artist, visit http://www.alvisart.com.

For more information on The Arc of Orange County and the Festival of Trees, visit http://www.arcoforange.org.

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Raleigh Artist To Open First Major Museum Exhibit

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October 27, 2008 (RALEIGH, NC) – Jason Craighead, the Raleigh-based artist whose work has been described by Metro Magazine art critic Louis St. Lewis as “conjuring up ghosts of everyone from Motherwell to Franz Kline to Cy Twombly,” will exhibit over a dozen new paintings during a special exhibit at the Fayetteville Museum of Art (FMA) in Fayetteville, NC, entitled “The Energy of a Line.”

The show will open November 7 and run through January 11, 2009. An opening reception will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Friday the 7th.

This marks the first museum exhibit for the artist, whose work has been shown in many galleries and other shows over his career, including FMA’s satellite “Gallery 208” a year ago.

“I can’t think of another museum I’d rather show in first more than FMA,” Craighead said recently as he credited director Tom Grubb and curator Michelle Horn with “giving me another opportunity as I move forward. This really feels like good, forward motion.”

Craighead’s FMA collection will include six works on paper (22 in. x30 in.), at least three 64 in. x 76 in. works on canvas, and an 8 ft. x 12 ft. painting, among others.

Painter Gerry Lynch and sculptor Seth Hicks will also be included in “The Energy of a Line.” And Jason Craighead couldn’t be more pleased.

“Gerry Lynch has always been a kind of artistic hero of mine,” he said. “I first discovered her work about 10 years ago, and I was completely blown away.”

“I’ve always liked Seth’s work, too,” he noted – so much so that when he co-owned the former Glance Gallery in downtown Raleigh, he frequently paired his paintings with Hick’s sculpture.

Jason Craighead describes his artistic process as “a passionate and emotionally charged, evolving exploration of line and space, from scribble to scrawl. As an artist, or even a thinker, one must never give in to the ‘simple’ or the ‘known’.“

As an artist whose work continues to evolve, he describes his newest direction as “the ultimate transitional moment for me. And I feel these pieces are representative of that transition. I’m beginning to have a more philosophical approach to my work. I’m no longer afraid to do what I’m doing – to let out whatever needs to be let out. I’m detaching from ‘things,’ finding space and creating rhythm, and letting my work become the pure thing that it is. With less fear comes more freedom.”

The FMA exhibit comes at a mid point between Craighead’s spring 2008 exhibit at the Miriam Preston Block Art Gallery in the Municipal Building in downtown Raleigh and a solo exhibit at Somerhill Gallery in Durham, scheduled for September 2009. The City of Raleigh purchased the largest piece in the Raleigh show.

Earlier this month, a 40 in. by 40 in. painting Craighead donated to the “Works of Heart” auction to benefit the Carolina AIDs Alliance drew the largest bid in the annual event’s 18-year history. Works of Heart is the area’s premiere charitable art auction.

Jason Craighead is currently represented by Somerhill Gallery in Durham (www.somerhill.com) , Broadhurst Gallery in Pinehurst (www.broadhurstgallery.com), Anne Irwin Fine Art in Atlanta, GA (www.anneirwinfineart.com), and Bucks Gallery of Fine Art in Newtown, PA (www.bucksgalleryoffineart.com). For more information on the artist, visit any of these websites.

For more information on the Fayetteville Museum of Art, visit http://www.fayettevillemuseumart.org.