The City of Raleigh Arts Commission kicks off its 2012 exhibition series for the Miriam Preston Block Art Gallery and the Block2 Street Video Series on Feb. 2. Free and open to the public, the exhibition series features paintings, mixed media works, glasswork, photographs, handmade books, drawings and videos.
The Block Art Gallery is located on the first and second floors of the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex, 222 W. Hargett St. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. The Block2 Street Video Series, curated by Neill Prewitt, is located in the window of the City’s Urban Design Center at 133 Fayetteville St., with airings daily from dusk until 3 a.m.
Opening receptions are held on the first Thursday of each exhibit from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Block Art Gallery.
The following is the schedule for the exhibition series;
- “Wild Life,” Feb. 2-March 26
Artists engage viewers through interactive elements, humor, anthropomorphic animals and the science of the natural world.Block Gallery: Paintings by Keith Norval, mixed media works by Ian Sands, glass work by Teddy Devereux.
Block2: “Sermon to the Birds” by Jeff Whetstone.
- “Imprint,” April 12-May 21
Artists explore the intrinsic bond between time, place and the indelible mark of the past upon the present.
Block Gallery: Paintings by Susan Brabeau, photographs by Ron Flory, with Janine LeBlanc curating handmade books for the second-floor display cases.
Block2: “Music for Teacups” by David Colagiovanni and Melissa Haviland.
- “Presence,” June 7-July 16
Artists respond to interactions and boundaries between subject, artist and viewer created through the use of scale, physical space, color and focus.Block Gallery: Photographs by Lydia Anne McCarthy, paintings by Mia Yoon.
Block2: “Systemic” by Kia Mercedes Carscallen.
- “4 x 24,” Aug. 2-Sept. 17
Four photographers, all age 24, embrace figurative digital photography as the new standard.Block Gallery: Photography by Nathan Wellman, Adam Hajnos, Julian Thomas and Gerri Fernandez, guest curated by Georges Le Chevallier.
Block2: “Between” by Seoun Som.
- “Curio,” Oct. 4-Nov. 13
Artists consider the fantastical through abstracted narrative, inventive characters, interior emotions and archetypal imagery.
Block Gallery: Mixed media paintings by Chance Murray, paintings and drawings by Christina Preher, paintings by Ellie Reinhold, glass work by Lucartha Kohler.
Block2: “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” by Marc Russo.
(NOTE: Chance Murray’s artwork is made possible by an Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Grant from the Durham Arts Council with support from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.
- “National Arts Program,” Dec. 6-Jan. 13, 2013
Block Gallery will display artwork by City of Raleigh and Wake County employees and their families.Block Gallery: The 10th annual National Arts Program exhibition.
Block2: “Umbraphile” by Travis Donovan.