Craighead in Raleigh News

by Erica Gilbert

People are excited about our forthcoming exhibit. The Raleigh Chronicle had this to say about one of our featured artists, Jason Craighead.

By Kim Weiss, Blue Plate PR 27.OCT.08
RALEIGH - 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.
tly represented by Somerhill Gallery in Durham www.sommerhill.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, PAwww.bucksgalleryoffineart.com. For more information on the artist, visit any
Jason Craighead is currenof these websites.

For more information on the Fayetteville Museum of Art, visit www.fayettevillemuseumart.com.

Thanks for the shout-out, Raleigh Chronicle!

MoA to host pretty cool band!

So. You may not have heard, but the Museum of Art has a premiere party about every 2 months for its latest exhibit. In speaking with the people that come through our doors, it seems this premiere party is a well kept secret in our community. Well, this post will serve the purpose of “outing” the secret we never really meant to keep. The party is done right as the Museum not only offers free food and adult beverages but free entertainment as well. (Some things in life really are free!) On November 7th we will feature the dually located Boston/Chapel Hill band Lost in the Trees.

A folk orchestra band headed by composer/songwriter Ari Picker, the band will be showcasing their most recent release, All Alone in an Empty House, which is their anticipated follow up to the critically lauded Time Taunts Me. The party starts at 6pm and lasts until 8pm AT the Fayetteville Museum of Art (since many of you don’t seem to know, we are behind Eutaw Shopping Center off of Bragg Boulevard). Instead of being a good writer and reworking the bio the band’s label provided, I am going to pull the content I find exceedingly interested below:

“While Picker certainly utilizes his professional training from the esteemed Berklee College of Music, All Alone in an Empty House is far from the cold calculation and gridded ‘correctness’ some associate with classical music. Rather, it is intensely personal (almost uncomfortably so) and never allows the rules of classical music to limit the emotional weight delivered in each song. Picker draws heavily from his autobiography, exploring how the relationship between his parents went on to affect his own relationships with loved ones in his life. He is not attempting to take sides or blame for the traumatic influence of his parents. He is simply trying to recreate the byproduct emotions that came from dealing with issues such as bipolar disorder, self-absorption, artistic creativity, mathematical proficiency, and sexual and emotional abuse. Picker uses the unifying familiarity of traditional folk to face these haunting issues with optimism, not dread, and uses his orchestra of strings and horns to objectively correlate the feeling of the song to the listener. Thematically and sonically, All Alone in an Empy House is extremely intimate.”

That sounds pretty cool, right? I also find it exceedingly interesting that the band’s label has chosen to release All Alone in an Empty House in a one package format that features a CD, free MP3 digital download, and a vinyl record. The label feels that by doing so they are meeting the needs of listeners while responding to the changing way people buy music. Both the label and the band feel that “buying hard copy music and interacting with records is a crucial supporting leg to the world of music” while showcasing their stern refusal to bow to the digital movement. I am in complete agreement and always found it difficult at shows/stores to “pick” whether I wanted an album on vinyl or on CD. I often opted for the CD option so that I would have the enjoyment of uploading to my iTunes and listening to the music wherever I went. Labels are acknowledging that people like to listen to music in a multitude of formats and now enabling them to do so without forcing them to sacrifice the “easy-listening” (ha.) of an mp3.

Hurah!

It would seem silly not to come check out this insanely adept band (FOR FREE) while also enjoying high quality works of art deconstructing the line. (artists Jason Craighead, Gerry Lynch, and Seth Hicks will jolt you out of a foggy-brain-cell-day with their passionate drawings that reinterpret the basic line of life.)

In hopes of furthering the intrigue and excitement for this event, forthcoming posts will reveal information on the artists, etc.

-Your loyal Museum Office Administrator, Ms. Erica Gilbert.

It’s Artastic!

The Fayetteville Museum of Art is gearing up for its FREE! Children’s Art Festival that is taking place on Saturday, October 3rd, from 10am to 3pm at Festival Park. People have been frantically running around the building, pulling together last minute items like, you know, helium tanks, banners, zip ties, the average every day GIGANTIC CARIBBEAN MASKS, and GINORMOUS CARIBBEAN ART BOARDS.

Needless to say, the event is going to bold and beautiful with a wide variety of majestic colors. We really hope that you and yours are able to come out and enjoy this wonderful event. Many of you may already know the event as it was formerly POND-O-MANIA on the Museum’s property. In keeping with this tradition, we are basing this year’s theme on the culture of the Caribbean. As such, we will have our very own Junkanoo parade of costumes created by YOUR children on site, a beat station, Island Story Time, A Caribbean Reaf Exploration station, a Rock-A-Bye Baby statio, children’s dance performances, and authentic Caribbean music by Maya Quinteao. It is an event NOT to miss. The Caribbean Grill will even be onsite to provide authentic cuisine!

Yay for free ARTASTIC! events that celebrate culture, children, and ART all in one!