For immediate release

Contact: John Craven Bloedorn or Kathryn DeMarco, 286-4837

300 dpi press photographs shown below are also attached email and can also be downloaded from www.cravenallengallery.com/press    

Durham — Beverly McIver: Small Works, opens with a reception with the artist on February 25th, from 5 to 7 pm. The artist will also give a painting demonstration and gallery talk on March 24 from 5 to 7 pm. 

While viewers can see a major retrospective of McIver currently at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Small Works offers a portrait of the artist working in a more intimate scale, mixed media  on paper and monoprints, as well as her signature oils on canvas. The exhibition showcases some very personal pieces;  text, sewing—a craft she learned from her mother—and collage feature in many of the paintings.   Although smaller in size, the artworks in Small Works  have the beauty and power of self-revelation so evident in her largest paintings.  Also on view will be a recent portrait of the artist by her mentor, Philip Pearlstein. A documentary about McIver, Raising Renee, will be featured in February on HBO.   Beverly McIver was recently named  ”Top Ten in Painting” in Art in America.

Portrait of Beverly McIver by Philip Pearlstein

The show continues through April 7.   Craven Allen Gallery is located at 1106 ½ Broad Street in Durham.  Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.  For more information, please call the gallery at 286-4837 or visit www.CravenAllenGallery.com.

 BEVERLY MCIVER – ARTIST STATEMENT need artist statement about these pieces

ABOUT BEVERLY MCIVER

Beverly McIver was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1962. She is the youngest of three girls born to Ethel McIver. Her oldest sister Renee is mentally disabled. Renee is 48 but has the mindset of a second grader. Beverly is Renee’s legal guardian and they currently reside in Durham, North Carolina.

Beverly is widely acknowledged as a significant presence in contemporary American art in general and has charted a new direction as an African American woman artist.  She is committed to producing art that consistently examines racial, gender, social and occupational identity. Her sister Renee is a frequent subject of the artist as well as other family members.

Her work is in the collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Weatherspoon Art Museumin Greensboro, N.C., the Baltimore Museum of Art, the NCCU Museum of Art , the Asheville Museum of Art, The Crocker Art Museum and the Nelson Fine Arts Museum on the campus ofArizona State University.

She is currently the Suntrust Endowed Chair Professor of Art at North Carolina Central University. Prior to this appointment, McIver taught at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. for twelve years, Duke University, North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University. She has also held residencies at many of the nation’s leading artist communities, including YADDO, the Headland Center for the Arts, Djerassi, and Penland School of Crafts. She has served on the board at Penland School of Arts and Crafts and currently serves on the board of directors at YADDO in Saratoga Springs, NY.

McIver’s work has been reviewed in Art News, Art in America The New York Times and a host of local newspapers.  She has received numerous grants and awards including the Anonymous Was A Woman Foundation grant, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radcliffe Fellowship from Harvard University, a Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation award, a distinguished Alumni Award from Pennsylvania State University, a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and Creative Capital grant.

Raising Renee, a documentary film by Academy Award-nominated and award-winning filmmakers Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan will have its television premiere on HBO in February, 2012.  The feature-length documentary follows the artist for six years,  documenting  the consequences of her promise to take care of her mentally disabled sister Renee after their mother dies.

McIver’s solo  exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art , Reflections: Portraits by Beverly McIver, continues through  June 24, 2012.

McIver earned a bachelor’s degree in art from North Carolina Central University, a master of fine arts degree in painting from Pennsylvania State University and an honorary doctorate from North Carolina Central University.

For Immediate Release
Contact: John Bloedorn or Kathryn DeMarco, 286-4837

Callanish I
Isle of Lewis, Scotland
Moonlight exposure of several hours
24×30 inch plexi-mounted metallic C-print
2010

Though an epochal snowstorm tried to keep us away from the Western Isles, we eventually got through to our goal—the Standing Stones of Callanish. Dated variously from 2900 to 2600 BCE, they predate the central stone ring of Stonehenge by several hundred years and were likely the stones referenced by the Greek explorer Pytheas in his 4th century BCE account of his visit to the present-day British Isles.

In contrast to these stones, Nancy and I had encountered sinister stones in our past. We’d traveled through a remote desert region of Portugal years before and come upon three monumental boulders leaning against each other to form a claustrophobic crevice. Nearby was a suspiciously human-sized horizontal stone. It was difficult not to let our minds wander to the thought of ugly sacrifices. Since these sorts of ruins pre-date any historical record, it’s especially tempting to assess a site based on how it “feels.” And this spot in Portugal “felt” bad. We left quickly.

The Standing Stones of Callanish, on the other hand, felt very happy to us. While they are, in fact, in an orderly pattern when viewed from the air, on the ground they feel friendly and informal. This perception stems partly from the fact that the individual stones are very different from each other in size and shape, and also from the fact that on the perimeter especially, they seem quite random in their placement. This all results in a peaceful feeling of co-existence between the stones themselves and between them and you as their guest. It doesn’t mean that what they’re doing there isn’t serious, but they welcome you. In fact, as I was stumbling around the site with my gear in the near-pitch darkness before the moon had risen, I bumped into one of the stones. I uttered the first words that came to me. “Oh, excuse me,” I said.

SPECIAL EVENT “LIGHT CACHE LIVE”:
CRAVEN ALLEN GALLERY FEATURES
MJ SHARP PHOTOGRAPHY DEMONSTRATION
AND TALK ON JANUARY 17TH

Durham–”Light Cache Live”,  a special event at Craven Allen Gallery on Tuesday, January 17th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., will feature the photographer MJ Sharp in a gallery talk and photography demonstration in conjunction with her exhibition, Light Cache.  The artist will create one of her signature long-exposure film images during the talk, and will involve interested audience members in the composition.  Sharp will also illuminate the process of using large-format, mid-century bellows cameras, and give insight into what it is like to capture a four hour exposure in the middle of a winter’s night on the moors of Scotland–or in a Durham backyard.  Wine and cheese will be served; the presentation will begin at 6:00.

The “Light Cache” exhibition continues at the gallery through January 28th.  Craven Allen Gallery is located at 1106 ½ Broad Street in Durham. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday throughFriday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.  For more information, please call the gallery at 286-4837 or visit www.CravenAllenGallery.com

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Contact:   John Bloedorn or Kathryn DeMarco, 286-4837
For biographies of each artist in the Homegrown/Under 35 show, click here

“HOMEGROWN/ UNDER 35”  SHOWCASES YOUNG DURHAM ARTISTS

AT CRAVEN ALLEN GALLERY OCTOBER 22 – NOVEMBER 26

Durham — HOMEGROWN/UNDER 35, opens at Craven Allen Gallery on Saturday, October 22, with a reception with the artists  from 5 to 7  p.m. The show continues through November 26.

Curated by arts advocate Helen Griffin, “Homegrown/Under 35″ features 16 young artists who share a common background: discovering their passion for the arts in the Durham Public Schools. All have gone on to undergraduate or graduate studies; all are pursuing careers in the field. An arts educator for over two decades, Griffin is the 2011-12 recipient of the Artist-in-Residence Award from the Durham Art Guild.

Artists featured in the show include Chris Alton, Harlan Campbell, Diana Ciompi, Mark Coffman, Jermario Couch, Bryan Crabtree, Jeff Israel, Whitney McDonell, Joe McDonough, Hannah Reed, Damian Stamer, Jacob Streilein, Robert Talley, Lizzie Tucker, Tyson Watson and Leigh Werrell.

ABOUT HELEN GRIFFIN

Last spring, as I was preparing to retire, after twenty-five years teaching art in Durham Public Schools, while packing up boxes of personal and teaching materials that represented years of my life, I began to reflect on the incredibly talented students with whom I had the privilege of working. I was in touch with many of them, and realized that, in this digital age, I might be able to reconnect with some of those talented students with whom I’d lost touch. I knew that many of these young artists, who had their training ground in the Durham Public Schools, were producing interesting artwork, despite the challenges of a hostile economic environment. These “Homegrown” artists were committed and talented young people nurtured by the Bull City, fired in the Durham kiln. They had continued to pursue their passion. Especially in this time of budget cutting in the public schools, with courses like art and music on the chopping block, I felt they had an important story to tell.

I began looking around our city for a suitable place to mount an exhibit, and when Paul Hrusovsky and John Bloedorn from Craven Allen heard about my idea, they graciously stepped up and offered to host it. They had helped support our arts program at Riverside High School for many years,donating framing for over 250 pieces of student artwork on display there, and were eager to help tell the rest of the story: the vision, the Durham connection, the organic, homegrown story. Hours of meetings, hundreds of conversations, countless emails, and texts later, we planned and implemented this show. As the exhibit demonstrates, Durham is a place where visions come to life.

Featured are 16 of my former students ages 19 to under 35 who attended Riverside High School between 1992 and 2010. They include emerging and established artists. The work ranges from the Bull City, a painting I commissioned in 2010 for Riverside High School, conceived and brought to life by Chris Alton and Jacob Streilein their senior year, to creations by Damian Stamer whose work is now represented by galleries in far flung cultural capitals like New York City and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Educated in Durham Public Schools and several at the North Carolina School of the Arts for their junior and senior years, these artists now include both undergraduate and graduate students. They include those holding down multiple jobs to make ends meet, some juggling work and families while continuing to produce artwork. All have significant back stories of Durham, from Durham.

So here they are. Our very own Bull City Homegrown and under 35 artists.I am deeply grateful to my former students who, in the process of finding their own voices, have taught me so much over the course of twenty-five years. This exhibit is for and about you. Most of all remember: “Progress, not perfection” and “When your horse dies, get off.”

My deepest appreciation and thanks go to many people whose support, encouragement, and assistance made this project possible including Estelle Clark, Ronnie Lilly, Aaron Mandel, Martha Scotford, Katrin Thompson, Nancy Tuttle May and Tim Werrell. Thanks also to everyone at Craven Allen: Paul Hrusovksy, Linwood Hart, Kathryn DeMarco, Mark Mooney, John Bloedorn and Keith Wenger.

Craven Allen Gallery is located at 1106 ½ Broad Street in Durham.  Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday throughFriday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.  For more information, please call the gallery at 286-4837 or visit www.CravenAllenGallery.com.