Conjunction, a Pop-up exhibit in Sanford, NC

Raleigh artists Jaclyn BowieGabrielle Duggan, and Shannon Newby collaborated to make Conjunction, an exhibit that is tailored to a storefront at 112-114 Steele Street in downtown Sanford. Conjunction is a 2014 Artspace initiative supported by PNC Foundation, with activities in partnership with the Lee County Arts Council and the Carolina Artists Colony.
With themes of North Carolina resources, weaving, community, and communication, the artwork transformed the previously empty windows of 112-114 Steele Street. Using clay, cotton, and newsprint, the artists worked independently and together to create a three part installation. They received help from communities in Sanford and Raleigh, by inviting visitors to help create components at a booth at the April Art Walk in downtown Sanford and First Friday at Artspace. Participants pressed their thumbs into small pieces of clay that Jaclyn Bowie then carefully installed in a grid to simultaneously reflect the order of printed text and celebrate diversity in form and color. Shannon Newby asked participants to speak into a video camera, then wove together their words into a continuous recitation of the alphabet. Gabrielle Duggan wove Raleigh's News and Observer into a ten foot weaving that she then saturated in red clay and suspended in the window. Each create a finished “whole” that is more complex than the sum of its simple parts. They worked together to make the three parts harmoniously coexist in the space.

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The Sanford Herald wrote up an article here and here.

And here are a few snapshots of the exhibit.

 

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on my nightstand

I've got a bad habit of picking up a handful of (new-to-me) books during my weekly library visit.  Whether it has a beautiful cover, or an intriguing title, some books just seem too irresistible to leave sitting on the shelf.  The clencher for me is they're free and I can renew them up to 9 times {who could resist that?} so surely I'll 'get around' to reading them.  Right? Psssh.  Yea right.  Not when I have a 11 month old and 28 other books piled by my bed.

But book-hoarding aside, I stumbled onto this title a few weeks ago and have been challenged and encouraged as I've read through it.  As an artist, mother, woman, friend, wife... I am not unique in my struggles, my triumphs, my day-to-day.  I'll attempt to write more once I've actually finished it, but for now I'll say it's been a refreshing and surprising read.

Twenty Eight Artists and Two Saints