#9 TALKING WALLS

Artist Owl and Arko don masks to paint.
Their mural is in the entry to the
Mint Museum of Craft + Design

WHERE I WENT AND WHY...
I had wanted to go to the "opening" of Talking Walls at the Center City Campus of UNCC last week, but it was outside in the rain.  Later I found out that 2 of the murals were inside the gallery, so they may have moved it.  But the weather over the weekend was glorious and 17 murals were painted around the city.  I just visited the ones in the center city on my segway.

WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO...
The murals I saw were all over the center city along Tryon, on a wall at Hal Marshall, and in the Mint Museum of Craft and Design and the UNCC-Center City gallery.  There are more in the other corridors of the city and I hope to visit them as I'm out and about on errands. Hopefully they will be around for a while.  Here is a map and addresses:

WHAT I SAW...
Organized by Queens professor Mike Wirth and Kevin Taylor, Talking Walls is an effort to put Charlotte on the Mural/Outdoor art map like Miami and LA.  They brought artists from Mexico City, Miami, Portland, New York, Brooklyn and Charlotte together for a weekend blitz of mural painting.  

The mural on the Hal Marshall building was closest to my house and I was able to watch it grow over 3 days.

One of my favorites is in an alley at 200 S. Tryon near Ruth Chris Steakhouse.  I wonder why the balloon isn't round.

I was a little disappointed that several of the murals were inside, making them a little less accessible to folks and more likely to be painted over as the galleries change.

These were at UNCC - Center City

This was painted by the artists at the top of the blog and is in the Mint.

These were by Spirit Square and on Trade Street

A festival was held Saturday afternoon and artists were invited to paint panels of which one will be selected to be the poster for the re-invention of Charlotte Shout next year.  This was my favorite, though most of the artists were just getting started when I was there.

Here are 2 others that had promise...

As I was taking my final walk to see the murals Monday morning, noticed a few others around town not associated with Talking Walls.  I love the one on the side of Connley's.  It has almost every symbol of Charlotte around.  And the "rug" by the Blue Line near the Convention center really makes you feel like the sidewalk gets "softer."

WHAT I LEARNED...
I truly enjoyed the murals with their variety of styles and subjects.  They truly make the Center City more vibrant.  I can't wait to encounter the ones outside the center city as I travel the city.  A few of the artists were not very friendly to talk to, but I just chalked that up to temperament!  LOL

I remember we used to have a mural on the old First Union (now Wells Fargo) building of a Hornet.  It got to be a joke around town.  As soon as a player was put on the mural they would get traded!  They finally just settled on Hugo the Hornet so that it didn't have to be repainted so often and then the team left for New Orleans!  Cam, I know you're an icon here, but I'd be nervous if I were you!!

IF MON$Y WERE NO OBJECT WOULD I PUT IT IN (OR ON!) MY HOUSE....
ABSOLUTELY... I think it would be great to have a mural on our "parge wall" that links our townhouses on 10th St. OR... we have several empty cement block walls at Park's Peak.  David was just asking me how he should paint them... mmm...

WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE BOUGHT IT...
We have nothing in our collection close to the size of a mural!

Dave had just finished our patio downstairs before we went on an RV trip out to San Diego.  We found this tile piece called 2 Moons Over the City in old San Diego and have it outside on our patio.  It along with 2 sculptures compose our "yard art" as my mom used to say!

#8 COFFEE SHOP ART

This blog is helping me see art all around me...
but this is not what I'm writing about!!

WHERE I WENT AND WHY...

On Wednesday four of us decided to meet at Queen City Grounds for lunch and several games of bridge (cards).  We had a delightful time.  The cards and company were fun, and the coffee, tea, and lunch were yummy.  While we were playing upstairs I noticed two pieces of art for sale.  

WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO...

 Queen City Grounds is open from either 7 am or 8 am and until 9 pm or 10 pm depending on the day (6 on Sunday).  It is at the corner of 10th St. and Church.  Of course we walked (though Diane took the train in from UNCC), but there are parking meters on the street and 2 hr parking in the neighborhood.  The art will be there for 3-4 more weeks.

WHAT I SAW...
While we were playing cards upstairs I noticed 2 pieces of art for sale and with an artist's explanation.  The double portrait I really liked and found intriguing.  The portrait of the young man watched over us during our games, and several of us found him just a little creepy... though he did keep us honest!

The artist, Emily Furr, is working on her MFA at UNC-Greensboro.  She originally painted the portraits in oils on a green acrylic background and then surrounded them with the red.  She finds that helps each create its own mood.  The red made the art stand out from the industrial "decor" of the coffee shop and is what drew me in to notice it.

WHAT I LEARNED AND OBSERVED...
I think displaying art in coffee shops and other public spaces is a great way for new artists to display their work, hopefully sell some.  It lets the coffee shop support local arts and change its decor regularly.  It will be fun to see something different in that space in a few weeks.

The up and down side is the casualness of the setting.  It is fun to encounter art in a casual setting and writing this blog has made me more observant to the art around me.  However the casualness makes it easy to dismiss it as decor. While I find the gallery opening scene a little pretentious, it is great to be able to talk to the artist and dig a little deeper into the meaning of the pieces.  This wasn't possible in the coffee shop.  I would have loved to find out more about the subjects and why she did the one as a double portrait, back to back.

IF MON$Y WERE NO OBJECT, WOULD I PUT IT IN MY HOUSE?....
At $400 the art was what I consider reasonable and accessible, but portraits, especially portraits of folks I don't know, are just not my taste.

WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE BOUGHT IT...

A Rather Odd Myopic Woman Riding
Piggyback on One of Helen's Many Cats

This is as close to a portrait as we have in our art collection.  A lithograph by Theodore Geisel (Dr Seuss), we purchased it in Sedona, Arizona.  I had wanted to add a nude to our collection, and as I often write rhymed stories for my granddaughters, I sometimes see myself as a frustrated (and not nearly as talented!) Dr. Seuss.  This piece fit me perfectly!  During a writing class I even wrote a poem in Seussian rhyme with MY story of how the piece came to be.

If you are going blind trying to read this and are curious,
ask next time you're at my house!

#7 SAYING IT LOUD! ... in Asheville

WHERE I WENT AND WHY...
What do you do when the paper says the best thing "to do and see in Charlotte" is actually in Asheville?  ROAD TRIP!!  Actually we were planning to be at our mountain house, Park's Peak, near Asheville with friends over the weekend, so when planning a trip into the city for art, breweries, and supper, I made sure that 22 London was in the mix.

WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO...
22 London is a warehouse space near Biltmore Village and the Arts District in Asheville.  (If you're going google it, 22 London is the address and name of the space.)  The exhibition is there through October 28.  There is parking near the building and on the street.  The exhibit is open by appointment.  Contact Randy Shull at 828 216 1337 or randy.shull@gmail.com.  If you are going to Asheville this month to see the leaves or just for the breweries, it is worth the effort.

WHAT I SAW...

Hedy Fischer and Randy Shull talk to the crowd before the exhibition opens

 Say it Loud is an exhibition of part of the private collection of Hedy Fischer and Randy Shull.  As we were standing around waiting for the doors to open, we had already picked them out of the crowd as being some of the most smartly dressed folks there.  (And believe me when I tell you the art crowd in Asheville dresses very eclectically!! I wish I had taken more pictures of the crowd.  My favorite was some millennials who were dressed in matching pink paisley.  She in a bouncy dress, and he in a matching print suit!  And round or unique, funky reading glasses were almost a requirement!) 

Wanting to fit in, I brought my funky glasses
inspired by my trip to Paris!

The collection is named for James Brown's song written in 1968, a tumultuous time in our racial history.  Quoting the catalog:  the works "illustrate the struggles and achievement of African Americans and challenges dominant historical perspectives with powerful work that is visceral and squarely focused on narratives of ethnic identity, institutional racism, gender, and beauty."   Ms. Fischer and Mr. Shull hope to "participate in the global discourse that seeks to rewrite many overlooked histories and to provide an avenue for the conversation and understanding that otherwise would be swept into the mainstream."  I would agree that is is an impressive exhibition and the works speak to both the historical and current racial experiences of the artists.  

When I asked if I could take pictures, the curators did not want pictures of the works posted so I only took one picture of me with one of the artists present.  Clarissa Sligh's Blessing of Men includes 9 photos of men of color in proud poses that go beyond race and social status.  Directly in front of them is a curtain of 2000 gold and black origami peace cranes.  I was very glad that I got to talk to Ms. Sligh about her work.  I saw the crane curtain and photos as two separate works and when she explained that they are meant to be viewed as one, it gave a completely new dimension to the work.

Deb with Clarissa Sligh

Some of the other art I found interesting included:

• A large canvas of 2 cartoon figures, one an African American man in "tidy whities" being offered an apple by a KKK clansman depicted as large triangles and rectangles with provocative words written on them.
• A wall hung sculpture of a young girl in a child's chair bent over with her wild black hair "brushed" forward tangled with bottles.  I wasn't sure of the significance or symbolism of the bottles. Entitled Rise Sally Rise, it shows the girls between childhood and adulthood, between two worlds.
• My friend Mary Lou's favorite was a whitewashed sculpture of a child with symbols embellished depicting the African American experience such as a cotton boll at his core and rubies of "blood" on his fingers.  It was entitled Cotton Demon.
• Another was of a Black Sambo dancing on a bed of hot coals depicting the dance African Americans do every day.
• The exhibition also included a video of an African American man crawling the whole length of Broadway from the harbor and 911 site to Times Square.  He had a skateboard on his back and sometimes flipped over and rode it.
• I did not understand the piece Under the Sheets which was a sheet embellished with globs of paint and found objects.  I got the intimacy of the sheet, but I did not understand or appreciate all of the symbolism.
• One of my favorites was a door embellished with 20 or more heads of Obama with the word CHANGE underneath each.  It did not seem to change from the top to the bottom, or in-perceptively so.  I think that was the point!

WHAT DID I LEARN...

I've thought about this before:  Dave and I are NOT art collectors.  Though we have a small collection of art, we still buy art for our houses to be displayed and "fit" in specific places.  Collectors buy art for arts' sake (and investment) and are able to exhibit their art in thematic exhibitions.

My friend Diane summed up the experience at the opening of 22 London and Say it Loud this way:  "It was a bunch of white people collecting and looking at African American art thinking they understood it, but only scratching the surface of the African American experience in America in 2018."  All three of us had noticed that with only a few exceptions, it was a very white crowd.

White wine for the white crowd
(a tradition at art openings?)

IF MON$Y WERE NO OBJECT, WOULD I PUT IT IN MY HOUSE?

Probably not. Most of the pieces needed too much explanation  to understand and appreciate them.

WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE BOUGHT IT...

Nothing in our "collection" even remotely correlates with this exhibition, but since I am writing this from the mountains, I am including a piece we bought for Park's Peak.  This weekend the weather finally began to feel like Fall and there was just a hint of colored leaves around.  We bought this piece at a Folk Art Festival in Hickory.  I really like how the fused glass artist constructed stands for the trees to make them sculptural.  Each seasonal tree is about 9" tall.