…Since 1985, Gallery C has been instrumental in North Carolina’s art scene featuring contemporary artists as well as historically important North Carolina art, Haitian art, folk art, animation art and antique prints.

The new gallery will be located at the corner of Blount and Peace streets in the
Historic Russ-Edwards House c. 1901. The property has served as the development and
sales office of Blount Street Commons Redevelopment project which is creating a rebirth of
one of Raleigh’s most prestigious historic streets and neighborhoods. Located just blocks
from the Governor’s Mansion, the Capital, and the museums, the neighborhood vision is
focused around integrating 25 historic homes, dating from the late 1800s, with newer urban
living concepts. The new space will allow owner Charlene Ferrell Newsom to expand the
gallery’s services and to feature outdoor art while providing an aesthetically prominent
anchor to the Blount Street Commons project.

• Raise funds for ongoing April 16 tornado relief;
• Honor the First Responders and volunteers who saved lives, offered comfort, and are helping move people from victims to recovered lives. First responder and emergency vehicles will be on display at the ComeUnityNow Festival; and,
• Celebrate the community spirit of togetherness that makes Wake County a great place to call home, especially in the aftermath of a disaster. Local nonprofit organizations and service organizations are encouraged to contact festival organizers to be included under the "Big Tent" ComeUnityNow is organizing on behalf of local charities.

DESIGNlife News did a great job in telling the story, and there is a good YouTube video showing the project’s assembly as well as a Flickr photo set.

The group is now selling $15 t-shirts to commemorate this fantastic project. If you are interested let me know.

It would be great if Raleigh had more murals. I love the one that graces the back of the Mission Valley Theater. Perhaps something like this imaging all of Raleigh’s mayors would spruce up some blank wall in downtown…

The article detailed how Belk is going for a more modern image by retiring the scripted font and replacing it with a sans serif, all lowercase font. While one of the first new signs was installed last week at Crabtree and I had a chance to discuss it with the installers. The new logo does convey a radically different image for the store, however perhaps more intriguing is the sign technology itself. The second featured photo is a closeup of the “b” and it reveals that the sign’s surface is actually a sea of LED lights. The new Golden Corral on Glenwood features a highlight stripe on the building consisting of yellow LEDs, but their actual sign is still neon. Belk’s is the first such LED sign that I’ve seen in the Raleigh area, and I look forward to seeing it at night.

Another major change that will be difficult to accept is the disappearance of the “Hudson” name from the area stores. Several decades ago Charlotte-based Belk bought several local department stores in the region, but allowed their local flavors to remain. For many years Karl Hudson and his family ran the Triangle area stores and did a fine job. Mr. Hudson died about a decade ago and the rest of the family sold their interest, so the Hudson name has been a non-functional relic; a vestigial reminder of the store that once had fabric, toy, electronic, and furniture departments worth visiting.

The new-look “belk” signs aren’t the only recent addition to the walls of the Crabtree Belk store: 5 banners featuring major works displayed at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The banners are gorgeous, and a significant amount of warmth compared the the building’s beige brick facade. I’m also struck by the selection of the works. They all are classic, but show five extremely different styles of painting, yet as a collection, the colors blend well as a set. This is a real treat for those going to dine at Brio, Fleming’s, or McCormick & Schmick’s.

• for KIDS!
• artSPARK
• musicSPARK
• bazaarSPARK
• filmSPARK
• circusSPARK
• tastySPARK
• cyberSPARK
• ideaSPARK
• fashionSPARK
• poetrySPARK
• graffitiSPARK
• danceSPARK
• designSPARK
• theatreSPARK
• fireSTARTERS

The festival has an iPhone app and has excellent event summary pages that are connected to Google Calendar events. However neither of these quite fit my needs, so I created a master event list for the entire weekend. I’ve found it’s easier to just subscribe to the master event list and run off of it and a companion map of the area included than to hassle with the walled gardens of an app.

You can follow all 150+ events by subscribing to gogoraleigh’s SPARKcon calendar at Google Calendar. (Those subscribed to the gogoraleigh Hopscotch calendar are automatically subscribed – just check your calendar for all of the events.) See an event you like? Add it to your own calendar. Unsure about an event? Open up the calendar’s event, and see its link to SPARKcon’s event page, see a map to the venue, or see the overall SPARKcon map (which I highly recommend keeping in your mobile device’s photo gallery. You can even enable an alert for each act if you want.

While people flock to the event and enjoy many of the offerings, the Friday night fashion show is the big event of the weekend. The hour-long show begins at 8pm and features fashion from local designers. Be sure to check out the impressive and always-fresh offerings by Mollybeads at the show!

While SPARKcon has a very good website, to me it is easier to just follow the links to the elements pertinent to mobile devices:

• Complete Event Calendar (gogoraleigh)
• SPARKcon Area map
• Events by day
• Events by location
• Events by SPARK themes
• @sparkconner on Twitter
• ideaSPARK on “The State of Things”
• Bob Geary’s article in The Independent Weekly
• Craig Jarvis’ article in The News & Observer
• The Raleigh Downtowner’s SPARKcon spread (not for mobile)

	Google Calendar	XML	ICAL
SPARKcon Calendar

Let’s go Do It!!

Triangle ArtWorks’ charitable and educational mission is to provide services, support and resources to cultivate a vibrant creative community in the Triangle region of North Carolina. From large corporate campuses in Research Triangle Park, to artist cooperatives in Chatham County, the Triangle region has attracted creative talent from across the nation. In fact, the Triangle’s success in attracting artists and creative people has garnered national praise and attention. Yet, the region has lacked a central resource for artists to come together for support, resources and education, for supporters to have an easier way to connect with and support artists and arts groups, and to promote the importance of this community to our region.

Former Raleigh Arts Commissioner, Beth Yerxa, founded Triangle ArtWorks to “create a sense of cohesion for the Triangle’s creative community and its supporters.” Yerxa explained, “The Triangle is made up of many separate towns and cities, with multiple arts councils, different governments, and different priorities for supporting the arts and the creative community. The idea for the website is to have a regional resource for information, education and discussion about what matters to the creative community of the Triangle. We need a better way to connect this community across disciplines and county lines.”

Triangle ArtWorks website includes opportunities to connect via discussion forums and blogs, as well as a directory of Triangle-area arts organizations and links to services and resources. Triangleartworks.org plans to monitor and report on the economic and political news and activities that affect the creative community on both a regional and national level. Local arts organizations will also have a place to connect and post topics for discussion among regional arts patrons, supporters and volunteers.

Launching the website is the virtual beginning of Triangle Artworks. Yerxa has been meeting with members of the Triangle arts community for the last year to lay the foundation for the organization. She has been able to build the framework for the organization from this direct feedback and from researching similar organizations like New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists Trust in Washington state and Springboard for the Arts in Minnesota. Yerxa states, “ I saw the impact these organizations were having on their arts communities, and their regions as a whole, and believe our strong regional arts community would benefit from a similar organization.”

Michael Lowder, executive director of Artsplosure, Raleigh’s downtown arts festival, added, “I think Triangle ArtWorks could be the kind of resource that turns casual audience members into informed partners in advocating and supporting the arts in the Triangle. "The organization may also help the arts community think regionally in planning and programming, which will be a good thing."

Triangle ArtWorks is sponsoring a series of public launch events throughout the Triangle in the month of August. In Raleigh, a launch party will be hosted by Visual Art Exchange from 6-9pm on Friday, August 6^th, to coincide with the monthly First Friday Artwalk in downtown Raleigh. In Durham, Golden Belt will host a gathering on August 20^th from 6-9pm during that City’s Third Friday Artwalk. The FRANK gallery in Chapel Hill will also be hosting an event in August, but the date has not been set.

The restaurant is still great as ever, but unfortunately Hamid is having health troubles and needs our help. Holly and Mo are not the types of people who want a ton of attention, but if someone’s biggest regret were that too many people loved them, they’d be the richest person in history. Like it or not, y’all , here is the letter the restaurant’s staff sent to fans yesterday, and information about the ways we can all help (in addition to eating at the restaurant, of course).

Dear friends,

On behalf of Hamid and Holly, we, Vanessa, Kenneth, Jim, Chris, Stan, Cecilia, and Maria, the staff at Mo’s Diner, want to extend our great appreciation for your patronage over the last thirteen years. We are writing this letter to inform you of some very sad news. Hamid has been diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer. It has spread to his spine, and most other bones in his body. He has not worked at the restaurant in some time, and he has been going to medical appointments daily to deal with his situation. Holly has been cooking, managing the restaurant, and accompanying Hamid to all of his appointments. In addition, Holly has been working a second job which provides health insurance. To make matters more difficult, the health insurance for Hamid’s illness has capped, and all of the medical bills are now being paid out of pocket.

We are launching a series of benefits for Hamid to assist in paying his mounting medical bills. We humbly ask that you join us in this endeavor through donations, attendance at the events, and any other means of assistance which you deem appropriate. With the help of Capital Bank, we have set up an account, Friends For Hamid, to manage any funds received for this cause.  If you can not attend an event and want to donate, you can send a contribution to Mo’s Diner c/o Friends for Hamid. 

We have set up several sites to inform you about the upcoming events:

• Facebook Friends For Hamid
• www.friendsforhamid.blogspot.com
• www.friendsforhamid.com

If you wish to send a comment to Hamid, inquire about the events, donate, or offer your thoughts about other things we can do for this cause, please send us an e-mail.

FriendsForHamid@aol.com

With some convincing, Holly allowed us to use this e-mail database to send you this message. We felt that sending it through the database of the patrons of Mo’s, it would reach the most people familiar with Mo’s and Hamid and Holly. Again, thank you for dining at Mo’s for all of these years. We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming events.

With our kindest regards and appreciation,

Vanessa Smith
Kenneth Strothers
Jim Knott
Chris Adams
Stan Krepps
Cecilia Flores
Maria Lopez

Below, are the events we have planned to date. Other events will be announced later.

• Thursday, July 22 @ 9:00 pm
  Table for a Friend featuring DJ Robert Mooney
  $10.00 donation at the door
  Five Star Restaurant
  511 W. Hargett St.
  Come join us for appetizers, great music and maybe a little dancing.
  
• Sunday August 1 @ 6:30 pm
  Wine Dinner
  $100.00 donation
  Poole’s Diner
  426 S. McDowell St.
  creative, simple offerings carefully executed by Ashley Christensen
  
• Sunday August 15th
  Mo’s Better Benefit
  Pour House Music Hall
  224 S Blount St
  Rock Show by Raleigh’s Local Musicians
  
• Sunday August 29th
  Guest Chefs Benefit Dinner
  $150.00
  Mo’s Diner
  306 E. Hargett St.
  Ashley Christensen, William D’Auvray, Bret Jennings, Matt Kelly & Walter Royal
  
• Sunday September 26th
  Art & Music Reception
  Flander’s Art Gallery
  Art, Hor d’oeuvres & Live Acoustical Music
  302 S. West St
  
• Oct (to be announced)
  Silent Auction
  18 Seaboard, Suite 100
  Appetizer buffet, silent auction & live music

Coincidentally, today’s Vanity Fair has a feature where they asked 52 “experts” to name the five most important works of architecture since 1980. They named 132 different structures, including the following museums:

• Guggenheim Art Museum Bilbao (Frank Gehry)
• Nelson Atkins Museum (Steven Holl)
• Fuglsang Art Museum (Tony Fretton)
• Museum of Roman Art, Merida (Rafael Moneo)
• Menil Collection (Renzo Piano)
• MAXXI Museum (Zaha Hadid)
• Neue Staatsgalerie (James Stirling)
• Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art (Arata Isozaki)
• Brazillian Sculpture Museum (Paulo Mendes da Rocha)
• Kolumba Museum (Peter Zumthor)
• DeYoung Museum (Herzog & de Meuron)
• Goetz Collection (Herzog & de Meuron)
• Brazilian Scuplture Museum (Paulo Mendes da Rocha)
• Peabody-Essex Museum addition (Moshe Safdie)
• Acropolis Museum (Bernart Tschumi)
• Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum (Oscar Niemeyer)
• Boyd Art Center (Glenn Murcutt)

While the list isn’t exclusively iconic structures, it is a list dominated with such. Making 28 of the 52 critics’ lists, the clear overall winner was Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. It is an iconic, daring, world-class masterpiece that has made Bilbao an internationally-known name. Why didn’t we get a building like this?

"I didn’t want a Gehry or a Calatrava," said museum director Lawrence J. Wheeler. "It needed to be not an overstated building, but an art experience; one that’s personal and inviting, not intimidating."

To be fair, the NCMA addition is probably too new to make these critics’ radars. If the Menil Collection made some lists, the NCMA addition is bound to make future lists. However, make no mistake, like Calatrava’s art museum in Milwaukee (which I visited Monday), Gehry’s Guggenheim is an art experience that is personal and inviting, and not intimidating. I do want to enter them.

Wear comfortable shoes. There is a lot of walking, and some surfaces are not solid and stable. Be particularly careful when the long, winding paved path from the parking lots inexplicably becomes a gravel path. Many older patrons had difficulty in this section.

Take a camera. You can now take photos in the galleries. Don’t use your flash, though. Lighting is excellent in the galleries, so your photos will likely have better results using no flash anyway.

Preview the Grand Opening Program (.pdf). It has a complete schedule of events and highlights some key areas that should not be missed.

You will need a free, Timed Ticket to enter the new West Building this weekend. Tickets are completely sold out for the weekend with the exception of Saturday at 9pm.

Download the mp3 audio tour (121Mb) and Sound Track (21Mb) tour at home before you go. That’s right, you no longer have to rent those crappy audio players the museum offers. You can download the dialogue in advance and listen with your own mp3 player. Additionally the selected exhibits with audio commentary are accessible via cell phone. The call is a local call using normal minutes on your plan. Also be sure to charge your phone before entering.

Plan for Wifi. The facility has free wifi. Be sure to check in with Foursquare or and add #ncmaOPEN to your tweets.

Going during lunch? Plan on eating there. There is a food garden this weekend located between the West and East buildings, behind the giant tent. Vendors include Big Oak Catering, Chubby’s Tacos, Hereghty Heavenly Delicious, Neomonde, Only Burger, and more. They all take credit cards. Iris, the Museum’s new restaurant, is not open during the Grand Opening Festival.

Ladies and Gentlemen….your new N.C. Museum of Art!Excuse me. That isn’t right. How about this?

Oh! My bad. How about this?

Pardon me! There has apparently been some sort of malfunction. I now present YOUR new North Carolina Museum of Art:

Yes. That’s actually it. After 3 years of construction, the museum’s new West Building is finally open. The 127,000 square foot building is the new home for the museum’s permanent collection. Designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners, the $72.2million, one-story building features 362 skylights as well as 50% exterior walls of glass to provide 65,000 square feet of daylit galleries. The building’s heating and cooling systems perform at 45% over ASHRAE standards, and its roof water runs to a 90,000 gallon cistern to irrigate gardens and replenish pools.

There are five courtyards accessible from the galleries, and all are paved with loose grey gravel (so be cautious of unsure footing). The courtyards feature several black fountains in which lilies have been planted. While the design near the building is cold, stark, and industrial, the pattern fades as the properties approach the surrounding grass-covered landscapes.

The hallmark of the West building is the Rodin Court and Gardens, made possible by numerous generous contributions, none greater than those of Iris Cantor. The interior portion of this exhibit finds itself in large node connecting several galleries. Oddly the numerous displays of small Rodin pieces on waist-high platforms are reminiscent of a retail setting.

Elsewhere in the West building galleries holding American, Judaic, European, Classical, African, and Modern portions of the master collection can be found. Highlights include a new “spool of thought” on the Mona Lisa, three Monet holdings, the Standing Hanukkah Lamp, and the chilling “Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian” (Michael Richards, pictured). Be absolutely sure that you read the placard for this piece.

The renovated East Building houses the box office, special events, offices, research library, auditorium, and three renovated and expanded exhibition spaces.

There are two schools of thought on the building’s daylit design. One is that a museum design should not distract the patrons and simply provide a framework for appreciating the works in an unbiased environment. By letting as much natural light in and providing a neutral interior, the colors of the works appear as they were intended, and allow a clear interpretation. In order to provide such a light system, a one-story design is used in a setting where land is abundant.

The other school of thought is that the house of great works should also be a great work unto itself, inspiring patrons as future artists no matter the current exhibition.

I tend to be in the second camp. While I personally am more inspired by kinetic arts, the one static art that moves me is architecture. How about the new Taubman Museum of Art (photo) in little bitty Roanoke, VA? Pretty inspiring, eh? I saw some works by some Picasso guy in the New York Guggenheim (photo) and was completely moved by the building, but can’t tell you much about the art on the walls. OK, that’s an exaggeration. However, it should help to explain how disappointed I am with this building. Clearly the building’s strength is its interior but, to me, it looks like a Crate & Barrel store (yes, Apple ripped them off). It is the coldest building complex I’ve ever encountered, and that includes N.C. State Biochemistry classrooms and several prison facilities in which I worked.

The bleak exterior unfortunately appears to have been stricken with the overwhelming bashfulness that besets this city’s architecture. As we drive our visitors around Raleigh, we will have to omit this $75M investment as it can only be appreciated with a significant investment of time and energy.

While the West building certainly earns the spotlight as the primary facility in the grounds, there is an extreme visual disconnection with the 1970’s era East Building. By no means should the museum have felt that they were locked into the existing visual theme (colors, materials, proportions, etc.). However, the West building should have carried some new reinterpretation of the East building, no matter how minor, in order to tie the complex together visually. The architect missed a fine opportunity to make this a stronger complex than it is.

That said, the overwhelming response from dozens of patrons I encountered was that the facility is a success. The West Building is a result of an incredible amount of work by a talented crew. It is a quality building that affords patrons a quality experience on par with the country’s best art museums. For the entire State of North Carolina, it is a fantastic book with an unfortunate cover that should not be missed by its people and their visitors.

[Show as slideshow]

Paul Friedrich

Onion Head Monster Poster Exhibition
Thru October 4, 2009

Colony Movie Theater, Six Forks and Millbrook

9 new posters featuring the cartoons of Bus Champion, All-Time Monster Champion and most recently Bug Champion, Paul Friedrich

The Conquerors

Thru October 24, 2009

Artspace
In association with local artist Paul Friedrich, Artspace presents The Conquerors, an exhibition showcasing cutting-edge American artwork. The Conquerors features the work of five nationally known artists exhibiting for the first time in Raleigh: Mark Bodnar, Mari Inukai, Liz McGrath, Bill McRight, and Bonnie Brenda Scott. These artists are recognized as dynamic leaders of the Lowbrow painting style from the pages of Juxtopoz and Hi Fructose magazines. 
Originating in California in the early 1980′s and currently moving towards the East Coast, Lowbrow is a rapidly spreading underground art movement that combines traditional painting subject matter with modern ingredients of underground comics, hot-rod culture, and punk rock. The Conquerors reflects current trends in the Lowbrow genre from the East and West Coasts. 
Images at http://www.artspacenc.org/gallery_two.html

2 BIT SHO

Thru October 4, 2009
2 Bit Sho features work by artists from and inspired by the the Triangle’s game industry. Designbox, along with Spark Plug Games, artists Adam Capps, Chris Norris and Paul Friedrich have recruited local gaming artists for a 2 Bit Sho. The exhibit features video game inspired works and pieces by artists currently working in the Triangle’s video game industry. Never before exhibited in Raleigh, author/collector Dave Ellis will be displaying 5 vintage game consoles from his collection. DJ Scoplecopter has composed exclusive "chip tunes" inspired by video games for the show’s music.

curated by Adam Capps, Chris Norris and Paul Friedrich [db]

How much would you pay for a calendar that only features the good stuff? But wait, there’s more! How about a calendar that updates itself when impressive events get scheduled? Fifty dollars? A hundred dollars? Uh-uh! Oh, There’s more, a lot more! How much would you pay for a calendar that not only contains the right events, but can easily integrate into your very own calendar system? Two hundred dollars? Think again!

Introducing the gogoraleigh Gogo Do-it Calendar System. With just a few steps, planning nirvana is at your fingertips, complements of gogoraleigh. Oh, did I mention that it is free?

OK, enough Ronco sales pitch. The big feature is finally here! Hopefully your life in the Triangle just became a nonstop stream of fun. Powered by Google Calendar, the Gogo Do-it Calendar System allows users a multitude of ways to integrate the best events in the Triangle into their own calendar systems. Here are just a few ways:

Basic

While viewing any page at gogoraleigh, click the Gogo Do-it tab in the right sidebar and a list of upcoming events will expand. Each of the items links to more information such as event time, location, ticket information, and more.

Simple

To see more than just a list of events, go to the Gogo Do-it calendar site at Google Calendar. A link to this will live in both the gogoraleigh Calendar page (tab at the top of this page) and in the expanded Gogo Do-it sidebar section. Google Calendar’s standard views are powerful: Week, Month, and Agenda (list). Navigate to a different week or month by using the arrows or the calendar layout in the top left corner. Click on an event, and you’ll see expanded information such as time, location, and a URL linking to more information.

Full Google Calendar Integration

Google Calendar is the easiest calendar system for viewing in the business. Much like World Book’s old human anatomy overlays, Google displays each selected calendar as an overlaid transparency. This allows one to subscribe to and easily toggle calendars they infrequently need as well as their core calendars. To get the best experience, get a Google account and add the gogoraleigh Gogo Do-it Calendar to your own Google Calendar. The best way to do this is to go to the Gogo Do-it Calendar page at Google (click Gogo Do-it in the sidebar and click “View Complete Calendar”). Next and click the “+Calendar” icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. The “gogoraleigh” will then appear in your “Other Calendars” list where you can customize its color.

Google Calendar users can add specific events to their personal calendars easily. While viewing the Google Calendar, click on an event, then click on “Copy To My Calendar”. This will add the event to your personal Google Calendar whether or not you’ve added the Gogo Do-it Calendar to your Other Calendars list.

A bonus feature will appear soon. As new events are announced on gogoraleigh, a button will appear so one can easily add the event to their personal Google Calendar. For example, here is a button for adding Thursday night’s Coldpay/Elbow concert to a personal Google Calendar

iPhone Integration: There are many ways to integrate the gogoraleigh calendar into the iPhone. The simplest is for users who prefer the web version of Google Calendar. Once the Gogo Do-it calendar is in your “Other Calendars” list on Google Calendar, you can use it on the iPhone. Simply navigate in Safari to calendar.google.com. At the bottom of the page, click “Settings”, and make sure “gogoraleigh” is checked. On the iPhone Google Calendar offers Day and Month views. Unfortunately it does not offer link recognition in an event’s Description section. Copy and Paste is necessary to to see more. Thankfully, though, the map function for each event links to the iPhone’s Google Map native app.

iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, Outlook, iCal

Another way to integrate the gogoraleigh Gogo Do-it Calendar into your iPhone’s calendar is to subscribe to the calendar via Outlook or iCal. After syncing your portable device, the latest Gogo Do-it events will appear. The iPhone will show gogoraleigh as a subcalendar, which can be displayed on its own or included in the “All Calendars” view.

• Subscribe via iCal
• Subscribe via XML

No doubt, this is a big, big undertaking for gogoraleigh. Peruse the calendar and you’ll see that there are many, many events entered. Getting to the calendar is easy from this website, however it can be even easier if you set it as a bookmark in your browser.

The possibilities with the system and I hope you enjoy having it as a resource to finding fun in the Triangle.

This is a tough one. The Barrel Monster was hilarious. I don’t like Carnevale’s creativity. I love it. We need more of this kind of thing in Raleigh. Although the owner of the barrels, Hamlin Construction, was amused and wished to not press charges, completely allowing Carnevale off would have set a dangerous precedent.

In theory we cannot have a society where it is OK for one to steal and mutilate someone else’s property without permission. We see this enforced with music mashups, photography on the web, etc. If we allow Carnevale to avoid any sort of punishment due simply to the merit of the outcome, then what happens when the next artist steals property to create art that is, perhaps, of lesser merit? Where do we draw the line on what materials are OK to take without permission?

Some ask why the cops weren’t out stopping “real criminals”. What, exactly, is a “real” criminal? Someone who steals $500 of materials for their art? $20,000 in the name of art? I have a hard time believing reports of the barrels’ pricetag of $385, however if that is correct, is it OK to steal $385 worth of materials from Jerry’s Artarama? Does Jerry refund artists if their final product is as worthy as the Barrel Monster? Of course they don’t.

Not only is the value of ownership in our society an issue here, but also the value of process. The disappearance of a few barrels caused the construction company to halt the project long enough to replace the missing barrels that ensure public safety. While in this case the disturbance was very small, it is a cost in addition to the disappearance of the property, that has to be considered. Do any of us like being forced to work overtime for free? I don’t.

Additionally, the purpose of the barrels is for public safety. What if the disappearance of barrels was critical enough to cause a driver or bicyclist to have an accident?

As much as I love Carnivale’s work, the means by which he attained his materials is not something that a peaceful society can tolerate. It created an additional burden on the owners and the period of time when barrels were missing created a safety hazard to the community.

Carnivale’s punishment of 50 hours of community service is a bit severe, though. He basically will lose 5 days of work/leisure as his sentence. Thankfully the charges will be dropped once he completes his sentence.

A massive media project will be growing each day as they travel and outsource part of the project to blog viewers in real time. This should be fun to watch over the next couple of weeks.

Well Done Media Photo Trip

Marley will be here July 16^th to give an illustrated talk about his world travels in pursuit of artful butterflies and insects. Mingle with Chris and other guests for an interactive discussion about his work, inspirations and technique. There will be wine, light hors d’oeuvres and a glimpse into this artist’s passion for the living world.

The event will take place on Thursday, July 16^th from 5:30-7:30pm. Space is limited and tickets cost $35 per person. Call 919-447-4065 by July 14^th to reserve your spot.

As part of the event, The Umstead Hotel and Spa is offering a special rate for all Art + Nature Lecture attendees of $129. To make a guestroom reservation, call the hotel (919-447-4050) and mention booking code “BUGS0709”.

Marley’s exhibit will be on display through mid-August, and art tours are available upon request.

Like previous years, this 30th edition of Artsplosure will include the art market, two music stages, Kidsplosure, large-scale art installations, and more. The weekend-long event is free to the public. The Art Market showcases the talent of more than 170 juried visual artists and crafters from across the country. Artwork by fine artists and crafters exhibiting in 11 different categories will be available for purchase, including painting, photography, pottery, jewelry and more.

The Main Stage and North Carolina Stage will be located in Moore Square. In addition to Big Bad VooDoo Daddy, the event will feature musical performances by Kellylee Evans, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Soul of John Black, Trombone Shorty, Tropic Orchestra, Jonathan Scales, and others to be announced at a later date. New this year, performances will run until 10:00PM on Saturday.

Kidsplosure provides activities and entertainment for children. In addition to the many arts and crafts available, the Kidsplosure Stage will provide live family-friendly entertainment.

Each year, the Spring Arts Festival attracts up to 80,000 people over the course of the weekend. The event is presented by Artsplosure, a nonprofit corporation that also produces First Night Raleigh.

• Capital Bank (accepting: Grant Yarber)
• Susan Spurlin Newberry (of Pinecone fame)
• Lucy Daniels
• Lenard D. Moore
• Jeffery H. Richardson
• Dr. Charles “Chuck” Davis

The host of this year’s ceremony was Tift Merritt, who gave a wide-eyed welcome before handing over the bulk of the hosting duties to Arts Commission members Laura  Raynor and Brian Starkey. The evening  was dotted with a hugely diverse complement of live entertainment beginning with the Broadway Series South Student Ensemble’s performance of “One” (from “A Chorus Line”). Alternating with official presentations were performances by Al Batten and the Bluegrass Reunion, Tift Merritt and the Community Music School Honor Vocal Ensemble, Poet (and honoree) Lenard D. Moore, and the African American Dance Ensemble.

The evening was about the award winners, though, and and rightly highlighted each one’s contributions with a short introduction by an esteemed colleague, a top-notch profile video package not dissimilar from those seen on American Idol, and a short acceptance speech by the recipient. For example, the presentation for Broughton High School’s band director, Jeff Richardson (“JR”), began with a presentation by Elizabeth Grimes-Droessler who is in charge of the arts in the school system. The package, hosted by Ira David Wood, III showed JR in action, teaching the marching band at school, and even included plenty of snippets revealing his unique nature. “By nurture I don’t mean ‘nurture’,” Grimes-Droessler quipped. The real meat here, though, was impressions by school faculty and band alumni. JR, just like the others, has passionately made an indelible mark on the arts in Raleigh. Each presentation quickly opened a window into the interesting, sometimes creepy, but always endearing, characters that we are lucky to have here.

The night’s strangest moment came with Merritt’s performance with the children’s choir. I didn’t recognize the song, but it was an outstanding piano ballad along the lines of Sarah MacLachlan’s “Angel” (except it was in 4|4). While the song was stunning and the nervous choir was adequate, the ballad’s moment was doused by Merritt’s incessant foot stomping; not tapping, stomping!

The highlight of the night had to be the presentation for Chuck Davis and his Dance Ensemble. Davis needs no microphone and radiated his inclusive love throughout the audience when speaking. However the banter between him and the perky, adorable Raynor was something of which Hollywood producers dream. Hilarious and honest!

Davis and Merritt closed the ceremony with the evening’s keynote. While the accomplishments of many in the room are well known, we all need to share that energy and inspire tomorrow’s recipients. “The children are always watching. Lead the way and they will follow.”

A reception followed where the Broughton Jazz Band offered their take on some big band classics. That was the point where the evening truly jelled. Artists interacting with each other; a true community.

Read more about the evening by downloading the official program (.PDF)

Several local art galleries will present an assortment of their pieces at the festival.  Participating galleries and visual art organizations include Adam Cave Fine Art, ArtSource Fine Art and Framing, Artspace, The Collectors Gallery, Flanders Art Gallery, Gallery C, Lee Hansley Gallery, Long View Gallery, M. Street Gallery, Nicole’s Studio and Art Gallery, Points of View Photography Gallery, Rebus Works, and Visual Art Exchange.

In addition, a juried arts and crafts market will feature only North Carolina artists.  Approximately 25 fine artists and crafters will be on hand to sell their work at the event, which is free to the public.

Art Raleigh will also feature two large-scale installations.  Hillsborough artist Jim Adams will create a temporary sculpture, “Hope Rises”, a tall tower made primarily of bamboo and other renewable materials.  Atop the tower will sit a pod, which will be lit at night to create an ambient glow. “Hope Rises” will speak of newness, hope, and a gathering of people that make up our diverse community.  Artist Mathew Curran of Raleigh will create the second installation, “Esse Quam Videri“.  The large vibrant mural, including colorful, fun, positive graffiti, will include elements of Raleigh and its skyline.  Both installations will be interactive, inviting event visitors to participate in the creation of the final work.

Art Raleigh will culminate the Arts Alive on Lichtin Plaza series.  Each festival was designed to showcase the richness and diversity of contemporary art and enliven the outdoor Lichtin Plaza at Raleigh’s beautiful Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts.  The Capital Holiday Arts Celebration, the first festival in the series, was held November 24, 2007 and highlighted some of the Triangle’s premier holiday arts performances.  Puppet Fusion, a celebration of the art of puppetry, took place March 6-7, 2008.  Art on the Edge, a contemporary arts festival featuring international and local performers, was held August 21-23, 2008.  Artsplosure serves as the producer and organizer of Arts Alive on Lichtin Plaza.

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