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Evensong - Franklin County, North Carolina

WILSON, N.C. — Barton Art Galleries will host the work of acclaimed painter J. Chris Wilson in an exhibition titled "From Murphy to Manteo-An Artist's Scenic Journey." Although a native of Georgia, Wilson has resided in North Carolina since the early 1970s and brings to the audience a serene visage of natural wonder found in the state.

"From Murphy to Manteo-An Artist's Scenic Journey" will be on display from November 8 to December 9. The opening reception is Sunday, Nov. 8, from 2 - 4 p.m. This event is open to the public free of charge, and the community is invited to attend. J. Chris Wilson will present a lecture on his work immediately following the opening reception. The lecture is open only to members of the Barton Friends of Visual Arts. For membership please call 252-399-6357, or join the Friends of Visual Arts at the event.  The exhibition will run until December 9.

In his paintings, Wilson presents an intimate detailed view of the splendor of the North Carolina landscape. Such an endeavor has often been the subject of photographs and etchings, but never before has there been as diverse a look at the natural environment undertaken in oil. The breadth of images in the series reflects an intense devotion to the state and the ideology of being from North Carolina. "I suppose, in retrospect, this entire journey began when I started to see myself as no longer a South Georgian and began feeling that I was now a tried-and-true North Carolinian," said Wilson.

The paintings in this series did not materialize overnight, but have been developing for over a decade. Wilson's intention is to produce 100 scenic views of North Carolina stretching across the state following US-64, literally from Murphy to Manteo. "My objective," said Wilson, "was to seek what I considered to be the most visually impressive and interesting natural scenery whether that scenery was created totally by natural forces or by the hand of man."

Wilson's paintings began to take shape after returning from Japan, where he taught at a sister institution to Barton College. Having been previously exposed to Japanese wood block printing, Wilson found inspiration in the work of Ando Hiroshige, who produced serial prints focusing on scenic views along important rivers in the country. Returning to America, Wilson felt driven to produce his own series of works eliciting his home environment.

Rivers have had a long-standing history for serving as transportation routes. Wilson contemplated this notion and considered painting scenic views along the Tar River, which runs past his Edgecombe County home. Deciding there was not enough visual variety along the Tar, however, Wilson looked to a different artery of transport for his inspiration: US Highway 64.

The exhibit displays both studies for the monumental series as well as completed paintings. The latter of these are tremendous in scale, completely covering some of the galley walls. These large canvasses draw the viewer in filling their visual field creating the sense that one is actually there, standing in nature.

"Wilson has captured the essence of land," said Gerard Lange, director of exhibitions at the Barton Art Galleries. "From rolling hills, to rushing water, to pensive mist-filled fields, one can become lost in the scenes as a Romantic poet might in their own introspections."

In the paintings, Wilson has highlighted the grandeur of the land and also captured the emotion of bearing witness to the land. The result is a quite personal yet telling portrayal of North Carolina. It is Wilson's hope that the viewers of his works will walk away with a heightened awareness of their state. "Perhaps these works may contribute to a new sense of appreciation for the essential good of the North Carolina landscape," he said.

Gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the exception of holidays.  For additional information, please contact Gerard Lange, director of exhibitions, at 252-399-6475 or email: glange@barton.edu.

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Questions?  Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.

Wire-wrapped vase by Mark Gordon

WILSON, N.C. — The 2009-2010 exhibition season for the Barton Art Galleries begins with Mark Gordon: Recent Works.  The ceramics exhibition will open on Monday, Aug. 24, and will run until Friday, Sept. 18. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Sunday, Aug. 30 from 2-4 p.m. This event is open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.

A professor of ceramics at Barton College, Gordon fills the Virginia Thompson Graves Gallery with many of his iconic vessels. Forms in the exhibit, placed on individual pedestals and lining the walls, create a monolithic display evoking a quiet reverence as if in a place of worship.

"Clay is a universal medium; potters' vessels have formed an essential part of material culture, shared Gordon. "Often, in the vessels, Greek or Chinese forms seem to be echoed in my clay shapes." Works presented range from more traditional smooth-surfaced vessels to composite, coagulate encrusted versions. In these latter pieces, the surfaces retain a comfortable tension somewhere between chaos and structure. Their forms resemble things one might find in nature, but on the molecular level.

Gordon's inspiration is often derived from an eclectic mix of nature and plant growth, animal skeletons, machinery, scrap yards and through travel. He sees his artwork as a melding of idea and action, of inspiration and impulse. "I approach claywork as the creation, pulling form out of inchoate matter, as an ongoing experiment in seeking new direction through variation," Gordon said. "The physicality of clay, along with its remarkable ability to freeze action and respond to physical impact or retain any fleeting impression, immediately and permanently captured my interest."

From 1980 to 1983, Gordon taught at Altos de Chavón in La Romana, Dominican Republic, creating a vocational workshop for local youth. He later traveled throughout the Mediterranean observing and documenting traditional pottery and brickmaking.  "Knowing these traditional clay artisans has contributed to my education," Gordon added. "I continue to make ceramic vessels to celebrate and maintain a connection to traditional potters worldwide."

In contrast to the vessels, Gordon's installations in the Lula E. Rackley Gallery refer to architecture and industrialization. For Gordon, these works represent fragments, combined geometries, and biomorphic musings. "Geometry, being a form of math, has always served as a universal language for sculpture," shared Gerard Lange, director of exhibitions at Barton. "Gordon's use of these pure forms has placed the work in a global context, where many interpretations can be drawn by evaluating the sculptures from different cultural points of view. Influence of his time spent abroad is clearly evident in Gordon's complex manipulation and integration of these otherwise simple forms."

Gordon has presented over 100 lectures and workshops in 19 states and seven foreign countries. He has been recognized with numerous awards and grants and has held numerous art residencies across the nation as well as in Caracas, Venezuela; Cairo, Egypt; Madrid, Spain; Jerusalem, Israel; and La Romana, Dominican Republic.  In 1991, Gordon was a Fulbright Lecturer at the Facultad de Artes, Universidad Nacional in Obera, Argentina.

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Questions?  Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations at Barton College, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.

WILSON, N.C. - The Barton College/Wilson Symphony Orchestra will present its Spring Concert on Sunday May 3, at 3 p.m., in Howard Chapel on the Barton College campus.  The orchestra, under the direction of Mark N. Peterson, will feature Barton College professor Phillip J. Valera performing George Frederic Handel's sprightly Concerto in F Major for Organ and Orchestra, Op.4 No.5.

Valera is the assistant professor of audio recording technology in the Department of Communication and Performing Arts at Barton College and the music director of St. Timothy's Church in Wilson.  Prior to moving to Wilson, he worked as an instructor of recording technology at the University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff.  He also held the positions of organist at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Lakeland, Fla., and music director for St. David's Episcopal Church in Lakeland.

Valera has performed numerous organ recitals in Florida, Arkansas, and in his native Massachusetts.  In 2006, he performed a concert at St. Timothy's Church entirely comprised of his own arrangements and compositions for electronic music and organ.

He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in organ performance from Boston University where he studied organ under Jack Fisher and Max Miller.  In 1998, Valera was an award-winning graduate from the Audio Recording Technology program at Full Sail Real World Education in Winter Park, Fla., from which he embarked on a second career that combines his love of music and music technology.

Handel was best known in his lifetime as a composer of operas and oratorios.  In order to fill the time between the scenes and acts of these dramatic productions, he would frequently perform movements from his wonderful concertos for organ and orchestra.  Handel was one of the first composers to use the organ in this manner, and these works were often adaptations of concertos and sonatas he wrote for other instruments.  The concerto to be presented at the spring concert will be familiar to many as an often-performed flute sonata.  Because of their lively, tuneful nature, these pieces became quite popular, and served to draw English organ music away from the solemn style of previous generations.  Because of Handel's influence, English composers began writing voluntaries and other organ works that were much livelier, often longer, and increasingly secularized.

The orchestra will also be performing Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March" No. 4 and Mozart's brilliant Symphony No. 40 in G minor.

Sir Edward Elgar wrote a series of six "Pomp and Circumstance" marches. The first four, composed between 1901 and 1907, helped to firmly establish his reputation as the preeminent English composer of his generation. Marches No.5 and No.6 were created much later with No.6 being assembled from sketches after the composer's death. The title is taken from Shakespeare's "Othello," Act III, Scene iii, which reads, "Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, The Royal banner, and all quality, Pride, Pomp, and Circumstance of glorious war!"

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor is undeniably one of the most familiar and beloved works in the entire symphonic repertoire.  This popularity is a result of the immediately captivating nature of the melodies that fill every movement, the restrained romanticism of the first movement, and the astounding chromatic harmonies that foreshadow music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  All of these elements coalesce within a concise form, which is perfectly in keeping with the symphonic style of the late 18th century.  Mozart wrote his final three symphonies (No.39, No. 40, and No. 41) during an eight-week period in the summer of 1788, and these works stand among the great pillars of western art.

Following the concert, the audience is cordially invited to meet the musicians at a reception in the Barton Art Galleries hosted by ARAMARK Higher Education. Admission for the orchestra performance will be $10 at the door or by season ticket. All students within the community will be admitted free of charge as well as faculty, staff, and students of Barton College.

For additional information about the concert, please contact Lynn Medlin at 252-399-6309 or email: lmedlin@barton.edu.

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Questions?  Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.

WILSON, N.C. - "Oculus," the 2009 Barton College Senior Art Exhibition,  opens on Saturday evening, April 4, with a reception from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. in the Barton Art Galleries. This event is open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.  The exhibition will run until Friday, May 8.

Art works by seniors Sarah Stoia St. Martin and Cameron Basil Gooch will be on view in the Virginia Thompson Graves Gallery. Gallery talks by the artists will be held during the reception with St. Martin and Gooch, at 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. respectively.

St. Martin is the daughter of Navy Chaplain Commander Peter St. Martin and Judy St. Martin, stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. She plans to graduate in May with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design.

Ceramics by Sarah St. Martin

She has combined her love of photography with her creativity in graphic design to develop several unique pieces for the senior show.  Influenced by a period of residency in Japan, St. Martin has incorporated Eastern aspects throughout her works in the exhibit, including an Asian-inspired dressing screen that depicts a self-portrait as well as friends' portraits.  Another intriguing piece is a miniature book of poetry she has created to showcase various forms of typography.

St. Martin also has created a proto-type application of a letterform design project that included research in merchandising and product display.  "The letterforms have been hand painted on china as a successful proto-type for china that one might see in a store like Pier 1 or The Pottery Barn," shared J. Chris Wilson, professor of art and senior advisor.  "The design is intended to appeal to a young audience and plays with the number '8′ as a major design motif on the dinning china, making a pun of 'ate' as an implied design motif."  In addition, St. Martin has designed banners with related letterform designs that would function as merchandising elements in the commercial arena for the line and could also function as table runners for a comprehensive design statement in the home.

St. Martin eventually hopes to earn a teaching certificate, but looks forward to working in the field of art and design upon graduation.

Cameron Basil Gooch is the son of Deborah and Basil Gooch of Elon.  He also is scheduled to graduate in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design and Photography.  His works in the exhibition will feature designs for recreational equipment including skateboards, snowboards, snow skis, and a skim board that are intended to appeal to a young, grunge-style consumer. Gooch's clothing designs also showcase his comprehensive approach to a product design campaign.  His inspiration, fueled by travels to New York City and other metropolitan areas, provides a strong urban theme for his art.

Designs by Cameron Gooch

"Cameron's work has greatly matured, and his urban theme with a young target audience is focused and successful from both a design perspective and an understanding of the need in today's economy to seek a market niche," said Wilson.  "The work is exciting and dynamic and should successfully hit its intended mark."  Photographs and design letter projects by Gooch are also included in the exhibition.

Following graduation, Gooch anticipates a career in commercial design and looks forward to developing his own signature product line.

For additional information about the exhibition, please contact the Barton Art Galleries at 252-39-6477 or J. Chris Wilson at 252-399-6476.  The Barton Art Galleries are located in Case Art Building on the Barton College campus. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.

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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.

WILSON, N.C. - The Barton College Creative Writing Symposium presents the fourth annual Emerging Writers Series on Monday, March 16, and Tuesday, March 17, in The Sam and Marjorie Ragan Writing Center on campus.  The event is open to the public free of charge, and the community is invited to attend.

Dr. and Mrs. William M. Batchelor of Wilson have provided a four-year sponsorship for the Emerging Writers Series in the Department of English and Modern Languages that began in spring 2006.  This annual gift brings new writers to campus to speak to students and members of the community and to encourage aspiring writers.

This year's featured writers include Catherine Carter and Dan Albergotti.  "That's My Story" workshop, scheduled from 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Monday, will provide an opportunity for these emerging writers to discuss their lives, inspirations, influences and craft.  An evening reading, featuring the writers' work, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.  On Tuesday, from 9:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. is "Nuts and Bolts," a workshop where the writers will talk about the practical, business, and technical aspects of writing and publishing.

Born on the eastern shore of Maryland in 1967, Carter now lives in Cullowhee with her husband near Western Carolina University, where she teaches in and coordinates the English education program. Her first book, "The Memory of Gills" (LSU, 2006) received the 2007 Roanoke-Chowan Award from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association.  Her work also has appeared or is forthcoming in "Poetry," "North Carolina Literary Review," "Tar River Poetry Review," "Cider Press Review," and "Best American Poetry 2009," among others, and has been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize.  North Carolina Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer said, "The Memory of Gills is altogether an astonishing, seductive, and finally irresistible book of poems.  Carter is a skillful, imaginative, and witty visionary . . . and her poems say what she knows with a zest and inventiveness that no reader will soon forget."

Albergotti is the author of "The Boatloads" (BOA Editions, 2008), selected by Edward Hirsch as the winner of the 2007 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize.  His poems have appeared in "The Cincinnati Review," "Shenandoah," "The Southern Review," "The Virginia Quarterly Review," and other journals.  In 2008, his poem "What They're Doing" was selected for Pushcart Prize "XXXIII: Best of the Small Presses."  A graduate of the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and former poetry editor of "The Greensboro Review," Albergotti currently teaches creative writing and literature courses and edits the online journal "Waccamaw" at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C.  Noted poet and critic Edward Hirsch, in his Foreword, writes, "Dan Albergotti's first book, 'The Boatloads,' is filled with the spirit of mystery.  It begins in wonder and ends in awe.  Albergotti is a poet of deep conviction, a rare quality in our cynical times.  He is a genuine seeker, a man on a spiritual quest, a stubborn questioner, and his poems are infused with the sense that the earth itself is sacred."

This program has been planned in cooperation with the Department of English and Modern Languages and The Sam and Marjorie Ragan Writing Center.  For additional information about this event, please contact Dr. Jim Clark, Elizabeth H. Jordan Endowed Chair for Southern Literature and the director of the Creative Writing Symposium, at 252-399-6450 or email: jclark@barton.edu.

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Questions?  Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.

WILSON, N.C. - The 2009 E.G. Purcell, Jr., Bible Conference and the Thedford G. and Woodrow W. Sprinkle Lectures are scheduled for March 1-3 at Barton College.

Dr. Warren Carter. Professor of New Testament at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, will be the guest lecturer for the Purcell Bible Conference on Sunday, March 1 in Hardy Alumni Hall.  Dr. Kay Lynn Northcutt, Fred B. Craddock Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Phillips Theological Seminary, will be the featured speaker for the Sprinkle Lectures scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, March 2-3, also in Hardy Alumni Hall.

All lecture sessions are open to the public free of charge, and the community is invited to attend. A buffet luncheon and discussion with Dr. Northcutt will follow at Noon on Tuesday.  Those planning to attend the luncheon may pay at the door. The programs are sponsored by the Department of Religion and Philosophy.

The Purcell Bible Conference

The Purcell Bible Conference was established in 1984 with an endowment given by family, colleagues, friends, students and parishioners to honor the life and ministry of Eugene G. Purcell Jr. The purpose of these lectures has been to provide the public with the finest in recent biblical scholarship each year.  From its inception, these lectures have been planned with the laity of the church in mind.

Registration for the Purcell Bible Conference will begin at 3 p.m. in Hardy Alumni Hall.  At 3:30 p.m., Dr. Carter will present the lecture, "Cross Purposes: Jesus' Crucifixion and the Roman Empire." Following the lecture, there will be a brief reception, and he will speak again at the 5 p.m. vesper service.  Dr. Carter's sermon is titled "The Pit."

Prior to joining the Brite Divinity School faculty in 2007, Dr. Carter was Pherigo Professor of New Testament at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo., where he taught from 1990-2007.

A native of New Zealand, Dr. Carter earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Victoria University of Wellington, a Bachelor of Divinity degree and a Master of Theology degree from the Melbourne College of Divinity, and a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary.

He has published 11 books, most recent of which are "John and Empire: Initial Explorations" (T&T Clark/Continuum, 2008) and "John: Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist" (Hendrickson, 2006). Also among his most important contributions to New Testament studies is a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, titled "Matthew and the Margins: A Religious and Socio-Political Reading" (Orbis, 2000).  In addition, he has authored numerous articles that have appeared in various scholarly journals such as "Journal of Biblical Literature," "Journal for the Study of the New Testament," and "Catholic Biblical Quarterly."

An ordained minister, Dr. Carter is a frequent speaker/preacher in churches, adult Sunday school classes, and retreats. He also writes regularly for various church publications and Christian education resources.

The Sprinkle Lectures

The Thedford G. and Woodrow W. Sprinkle Lectures were established in 1981 by Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle in honor of his father, Thedford G. Sprinkle, and his uncle, Woodrow W. Sprinkle.

The Sprinkle Lectures will begin with Lecture I: "Nobody Ever Left Worship Humming The Sermon," on Monday evening at 7:30 p.m. in Hardy Alumni Hall.  "Preaching in a New Key: For God's Sake" will be the topic of Lecture II and will begin at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 3.

Dr. Northcutt earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University, a Master of Music degree in Piano from University of Oklahoma, a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Chicago, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from the Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, Mo.  In addition to these degrees, she also holds a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from the Sojourn Training Center.

An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), she has served in local church ministries, and is a popular speaker at churches and retreats.  Dr. Northcutt has been recognized as one of the "favorite living preachers" among Disciples.

Dr. Northcutt has taught at Phillips Theological Seminary since 1995 where her focus in on courses in preaching and worship. Her writing has earned her three Associated Church Press writing awards. And, her most recent work, "Kindling Desire for God: Preaching as Spiritual Direction," is available from Fortress Press this spring. Also an accomplished pianist, Dr. Northcutt served as Visiting Artist in Residence at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, from 1983-1985.

For additional information about these events, please contact Dr. Rodney Werline, Department of Religion and Philosophy, at 399-6447 or email: rawerline@barton.edu.

2010 Lecture Dates

Mark your calendars now for next year. The 2010 E.G. Purcell Jr., Bible Conference and the Thedford G. and Woodrow W. Sprinkle Lectures are scheduled for March 7-9.  This will mark the 30th anniversary for the Sprinkle Lectures.  The Purcell Conference lecturer will be Dr. Samuel E. Balentine, Professor of Old Testament, at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., and the speaker for the Sprinkle Lectures will be Dr. Stephanie A. Paulsell, Houghton Professor of the Practice of Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School.

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Questions?  Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.

WILSON, N.C. - Barton College is pleased to announce the opening of "Gestural Mechanics" by internationally renowned artist Arthur Ganson. The exhibition, to be held in the Barton Art Galleries, will open with a gallery reception on Sunday, Feb. 22, from 2 - 4 p.m. Works in the exhibition include automated kinetic sculpture and production drawings of the machines. This event open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.

Ganson has been building art machines since 1978. His works are not static non-moving forms, but rather functional sculptural investigations of mechanized design. A former artist-in-residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ganson maintains an ongoing exhibition of kinetic sculpture at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass.

The sculptures begin as meditations on particular concepts of motion. "They are the result of a meandering way of thinking, dreaming and inventing, and come about because I like to work with my hands," said Ganson. The concepts with which he works serve as a catalyst and point of departure for investigations on the mechanics of movement.

The work he produces cannot be adequately described in words or photographs. "Direct observation is the only way one might understand the quiet, introspective, meditative quality of the machines," said Gerard Lange, director of exhibitions at Barton College. "Each contraption is a careful juxtaposition of grace and chaos and, through the act of viewing, one discovers a passageway to the sublime."

With regard to his work, Ganson proclaims that each machine carries with it an aspect of his spirit. "I happen to make machines because I am equally interested in solving mechanical design problems, thinking about the aesthetic implications of objects in space, considering movement from the point of view of a choreographer, and challenging myself to give voice and form to the thoughts and feelings which define me," he shared.

Ganson's work has been featured in "Smithsonian Magazine," "The New York Times Magazine," "Forbes Magazine," "Time Magazine" (European edition), "The Chronicle of Higher Education," "The Boston Globe" and the "Atlantic Monthly Unbound." A short profile was produced by WGBH television in Boston and included in the series "Nova: Science Now."

In addition, Ganson has appeared as a cartoon bear on the children's series "Arthur." And, he also is the inventor of the award-winning children's toy Toobers and Zots and is a partner in the toy company, HandsOnToys, which he co-founded in 1994.

Ganson will lecture on his work on Monday, Feb. 23, at 10:00 a.m. in the Barton Art Galleries. The lecture is also open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.

The Barton Art Galleries are located in Case Art Building on the Barton College campus. 
Gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the exception of holidays. For additional information about this exhibition or Barton Art Galleries, please contact Gerard Lange, director of exhibitions, at 252-399-6475 or email glange@barton.edu.

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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.

"Waiting Room" by John Legg, grade 12, Cardinal Gibbons High School

WILSON, N.C. - As host and regional sponsor for the 31st year, Barton College welcomes The National Scholastic Art Awards for the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region. The featured speaker for the annual awards ceremony will be Dean Johns, Director of Arts Education for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

The Scholastic Art Awards, Inc. conducts a visual art awards program for middle and high school students in the United States. Entries from all 50 states are submitted for competition in this nationally renowned program. The Scholastic Art Awards program is designed to encourage student achievement, to recognize and applaud our fine art teachers and to emphasize the importance of the visual arts in the school curriculum. Barton College is proud to host the Eastern/Central Regional District in North Carolina, representing 62 counties from the piedmont to the coast.

Following an ice cream social for awardees and their families in Wilson Gymnasium on the Barton campus at 1:30 p.m., on Sunday, Jan. 25, there will be an awards presentation for the Gold Key recipients beginning at 2:00 p.m. The ceremony is open to student Gold Key Award recipients, their families, and N.C. arts teachers and principals. The Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition will be available for public viewing in the Barton Museum beginning Jan. 26.

Contributors to the program include the Visual Arts Department of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, the Wilson Chamber of Commerce, Stan Corbett of Corbett Reproductions, Framer's Alley of Elm City, and the Office of Enrollment Management at Barton College.

Dr. Norval C. Kneten, president of Barton College, and Mark F. Gordon, director of The Eastern/Central North Carolina Region of The Scholastic Art Awards Program, will bring brief remarks during the program. Debra Pylypiw, chair of The Eastern/Central North Carolina Region of The Scholastic Art Awards Advisory Committee, will present the awards to the student recipients.

Guest speaker Dean Johns received his Bachelor of Science degree in Visual Arts Education from Florida State University, a Master of Education degree in Visual Arts Education from the University of Central Florida, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Jewelry and Sculpture from Winthrop University.

He has 42 years of experience in public school arts education, with 32 of those years as a middle and high school teacher. Johns has been active in both the North Carolina Art Education Association and the National Art Education Association, serving in various leadership roles. He also has conducted workshops for artists and teacher throughout the United States on a wide variety of topics including: "Literacy and Arts Education," "Design Development," "Understanding the Creative Process," "Tapestry and Loom Weaving," "Jewelry Making," and, most recently, "The Creation of Sculptural Forms Using Cardboard."

"My creative problem solving can be thought of as having three components: inspiration, imagination, and intellectualization," shared Johns. "For me, inspiration is the force that begins the act of creation; imagination is the energy that fuels the work in progress; and intellectualization is the process that propels the work through the various stages to completion. My work derives from a conscious manipulation of the formal qualities of art and design, learning by accident, maintaining control, and seeking refinements for the entire creative process. A good piece of work usually evolves from a balance and control of artistic spontaneity and the technical aspects of creating."

The Scholastic Art Awards entries for the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region are received at Barton College during the first week of January. This year, approximately 1,800 entries were presented for judging. Students, through their teachers, submitted artwork in a variety of categories including painting, drawing, mixes media, printmaking, sculpture, photography, computer graphics, video, film and animation, environments, graphics, products, ceramics, jewelry and metalsmithing, textile and fiber design, art portfolio, and photography portfolio. Jurors are charged to select entries that they deem especially worthy of recognition.

The Eastern/Central North Carolina Region has an advisory committee composed of eight art teachers. This year the exhibition selection jury was composed of teachers, gallery directors and professional artists.

Two hundred and fifty-one pieces were selected as Gold Key Awards for the exhibition. Digital images of these finalist art works will be sent to New York City for judging against other regional winners for the national exhibition held in June at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C. Also sent to New York will be the works of five American Vision Award (Best of Show) nominees, including: Holly Fulton, grade 12, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Career Center; Skye Miller, grade 9, West Stokes High School; Eri Miyagi, grade 12, Salem Academy; Jessica Mayes, grade 12, Durham School of the Arts; and Emily Buchanan, grade 12, East Forsyth High School. There also were 311 Silver Key Awards chosen from the works submitted. A list of award recipients is available for viewing on the Barton Art Galleries' web site at http://www.barton.edu/galleries/scholastics.htm.

From the Gold Key artworks, the jury also selected works for additional regional awards to be presented at the ceremony including the Barton College Award to John Legg, grade 12, Cardinal Gibbons High School ("Waiting Room," pictured above); "The Wilson Daily Times" Award to Tyler Beddard, grade 9, West Forsyth High School; the North Carolina Art Education Association Award to Hannah Jennings, grade 12, R. J. Reynolds High School; the Governor's Student Excellence Award to Zach Vestal, grade 12, West Forsyth High School; the Emerging Vision Award to Hannah Sloan, grade 7, Arendell Parrott Academy; and the Edward C. Brown Award, which honors the long-time director of the Barton Scholastics Program, to Grayson Schmidt, grade 12, Durham School of the Arts.

The exhibition will run from Jan. 26 - Feb. 8 in the Barton Art Galleries located in Case Art Building. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. For additional information, please contact Mark Gordon, at 252-399-6474 or the Barton Art Galleries at 252-399-6477.

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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.

WILSON, N.C. — Barton Art Galleries is pleased to announce the opening of two photography exhibitions on Sunday, Oct. 26, from 2 - 4 p.m. Early and recent work by acclaimed photographer Burk Uzzle will be in the Virginia Thompson Graves Gallery and a selection of work from three photographers from Eastern North Carolina featuring images and artifacts dating from the 1920's to 1970's will be on view in the Lula E. Rackley Gallery.

Uzzle portrays a unique blend of American sensibility, themes, and values through his photography. His images are sometimes quirky, sometimes humorous, and always respectful of the people or places he has observed. Many images in the exhibition are large-scale color photographs of places found on country roads and other venues off the beaten path.

"Uzzle's wonderful sense of color rests on a fine line between the visual balance of his composition and the delicate, sometimes bizarre social order of the places he depicts," said Gerard Lange, director of exhibitions at Barton.

Also on view in Uzzle's exhibition, is a selection of black and white prints taken at Woodstock in 1969. Billed as "An Aquarian Exposition," the music festival was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the rural town on Bethel, N.Y. The festival exemplified the 1960's and 70's counterculture, the hippie era, and hosted 32 of the best-known musicians of the time who performed for almost 500,000 attendees.

Placed under contract at the age of 23, Uzzle was the youngest photographer hired by "Life" magazine. He later ventured into a 15-year membership in Magnum Photos, the international photographers co-operative, where he served for two years as its president before leaving in 1983. Uzzle is represented exclusively by the Laurence Miller Gallery in New York, and his work is included in many museum and private collections worldwide.

The concurrent photography exhibition "Images of 20th Century North Carolina" pays homage to photography during the mid 20th century. A portion of the exhibition has been devoted to the photography of Bayard Wootten who chose a pictorial style for her work. Her images include beautiful gardens and splendid landscapes, but her greatest accomplishment was the recording of both black and white Americans of the working class. While Wootten's photographs recall a forgotten time and culture, they retain a freshness and vitality for viewers today. The Bayard Wootten Collection is on loan from the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Born in New Bern, Wootten first pursued drawing and painting as a cottage industry and is credited with the original Pepsi-Cola logo. Around 1904, the possibility of photographic orders replacing labor-intensive artwork steered her to cameras. Wootten identified with the pictorialist style, despite its decline in popularity after 1910. Stylistically, her photographs recall the Farm Securities Administration images from the Great Depression, and often resemble the work of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange.

Managing to overcome obstacles typical for her gender, Wootten eventually attained national recognition. Her first studio was in a small building beside the family home in New Bern, but over the course of her career, Wootten worked in several other locations in North Carolina and also briefly operated a studio in New York City.

At one point in her career, Wootten employed a Wilson native by the name of Charles Raines. Born in 1919, Raines attended Randolph Macon Military Academy and Atlantic Christian College. He later opened his own photography studio in 1947 with another Wilsonian, Guy Cox.

Throughout their career, the two men photographed nearly every facet of Wilson life from weddings, to schools, to street corners, to the tobacco industry. They also captured images of famous visitors to Wilson such as Lady Bird Johnson, President Jimmy Carter and Andy Griffith. In a "Wilson Daily Times" article in 1993, the studio was quoted as having shot more than 39,000 studio portraits. Raines passed away in 2001, but at age 86 Guy Cox is still enjoying his work. He is keeping up with the digital age of photography through weekly classes at Wilson Community College.

The exhibition pays homage to the photography of Raines and Cox, and to the historical record they captured on film and have housed for years in their studio on Nash Street. On view in the Rackley Gallery will be a selection of photographs from the 1950's as well as studio portraits from the 1960's and 70's. Also included in the exhibition will be numerous artifacts collected over the 60-year career in photography: studio equipment, cameras, and negatives. The exhibition also will include a partial reproduction of their darkroom.

The "Burk Uzzle: Photographs" and "Images of 20th Century North Carolina" exhibitions will run through Wednesday, Dec.10. A private dinner and lecture for the Barton College Friends of Visual Arts, featuring photographer Burk Uzzle, will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 28 from 6 - 8 p.m. This event is open only to members. For membership information, please call Caroline Hart, assistant vice president for institutional advancement, at 252-399-6533 or email cohart@barton.edu.

Author Jerry Cotten will lecture on photographer Bayard Wootten's work on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. This event is free of charge and open to the public. Keith Barnes, photojournalist for "The Wilson Daily Times," will present a talk on Guy Cox and the Raines & Cox Photography Studio on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 1 p.m. This event is also free of charge and open to the public.

Gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the exception of holidays. For additional information, please contact Gerard Lange, director of exhibitions, at 252-399-6475 or email glange@barton.edu.

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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.

WILSON, N.C. - Barton Art Galleries will welcome sculptor Hanna Jubran to campus on Tuesday, October 7, from 9 a.m. - 10 a.m. for an artist lecture. His sculpture exhibition "Alchemy, Metaphor & Form" is currently on view in the Virginia Thompson Graves and Lula E. Rackley Galleries located in Case Art Building on the Barton College campus. This event is open to the public free of charge, and the community is invited to attend.

As he reflects on his 25-year journey creating sculpture, Jubran will discuss his influences, creative activity, and goals along the way. He will also share with the audience a brief synopsis of symposiums, exhibitions, and commissions of his work during this quarter-century period.

"The nature of my goals for art is to reflect my own aesthetic views, concepts and sincerity of expression," said Jubran, a native of the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel. "My journey began when I left my hometown of Jish in 1967. My vision, goal and dream is to become an active voice out of this relatively invisible place. Therefore, there is no choice but to continue my intended journey and to give to my community in the East and West a feeling of accomplishment and pride. I am emotionally motivated to be creative and a contributor to humanity. For me, sculpture and research is an opportunity I cannot ignore."

A world-renowned artist, Jubran received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is currently a sculpture professor and sculpture area coordinator at East Carolina University.

Jubran's work addresses the concepts of time, movement, balance and space. Each sculpture occupies and creates its own reality influenced by its immediate surroundings. The work does not rely on one media to evoke the intended response, but takes advantage of compatible materials such as wood, granite, steel, iron and bronze.

The "Alchemy, Metaphor & Form" sculpture exhibition runs through October 10. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the exception of holidays. For additional information, please contact Gerard Lange, director of exhibitions, at 252-399-6475 or email glange@barton.edu.

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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.