Frog Anatomy Finds a Home at the CAM

Frog Anatomy has found a home as part of the permanent collection at the Cameron Art Museum. The piece was one of three handmade toys I created that were curated into the show Toying with Art. The piece was purchased as part of the museum's initiative to begin collecting artist made toys.

No Boundaries 2009

This November I had the incredible experience of spending time at No Boundaries an artist colony held annually at Bald Head Island, NC. I wrote an article about No Boundaries for the November issue of Wilma Magazine and have posted the unedited version of it below. My personal experience was amazing. I jokingly called it "art camp, but with wine" to friends that asked about the time I spent there. It was an intensely creative environment. There were 15 artists of varying ages, backgrounds, and experience levels thrown together and told to create freely. There was collaboration, celebration, and unfettered conversation about how and why to make art. It recharged my batteries and reinforced why I make art. It was an absolute gift!

 

No Boundaries International

by Abby Spangel Perry

No Boundaries, an International artist colony that comes together on a biannual basis in early November, invites artists from around the world to spend two weeks on Bald Head Island for the sole purpose of creating art. The mission of the colony is to share ideas and culture with one another and the surrounding community with the belief that art has the power to break down political and geographic boundaries. Now in its 11^th season, NBI has been host to artists from across the globe.

No Boundaries came into being almost by happenstance. In 1994, Artist Pam Toll connected with the organizer of an artist colony in Macedonia through a friend studying in the newly formed nation. This connection set Pam on a path that bonds her to Macedonia to this day. Toll says she had “a profound awakening as an artist”. She found the freedom to create with what she endearingly called “her own tribe”. It was an experience that transcended nationality and reached the core of what it means to be an artist within a community of artists. The organizer of the colony charged Pam with the task of being an ambassador for the small nation. At the time, the country formerly part of Yugoslavia, had no embassy and was occupied by UN Peace Keeping troops.   After returning home, she found support from a letter she wrote to President Clinton advocating the need for cultural exchange. A response came from the State Department encouraging her to start an art colony in Wilmington stating “art is the best diplomacy”. The following year artist Gayle Tustin made the journey to Macedonia followed by Dick Roberts. With the three working together in three years the goal became realistic and in four years it came to fruition.

The community support in terms of goods, services, and donations are what have sustained the colony over the years. Kent Mitchell and Bald Head Island Corporation each year provides housing and transportation to the island. Members of the community cook meals. Businesses such as Great Harvest Bread, Jackson Beverage, and Tidal Creek have provided food and drink.  On one occasion a Bald Head resident cooked a Thanksgiving meal for the foreign visitors so they could experience the bounty of the American holiday.

No Boundaries has evolved over the years, receiving grants and creating alliances with organizations such as Wilmington’s Sister City Program and the international organization Paint a Future. It worked to bring artists from sister cities in China, Barbados, England, and Italy.  Paint a Future provided Pam the opportunity to work with international artists in Brazil. This year Gayle, Dick, and former NBI participant Bonnie England travelled to France under the same program. The circle of ties to artists around the world continually expands.

In the year between hosting artists from abroad, the colony provides regional artists the opportunity to come together and broaden their artistic experience.  When asked about her time as a participant in 2006 & 2008, Bonnie England jokes “each was a fantastic experience and a great opportunity to paint side by side with artists from all over the world; sharing ideas, techniques, visions, stories, and wine!” Bonnie looks forward to participating this year and sees the upcoming colony as ”another wonderful opportunity to meet, fun, interesting, talented artists from different parts of the globe and to paint, paint, paint without any tedious distractions “like paying bills, walking the dog, and cleaning the car!”

Paul Hartley

Esteemed North Carolina Painter Paul Hartley Dies

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- A memorial service for Paul Hartley, 65, who died Thanksgiving Day after a 19-month battle with cancer, will be held Sunday (Nov. 29) at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Greenville.

Hartley, a longtime professor of studio art at East Carolina University School of Art and Design, was a renowned painter. He was an exponent of mixed media painting in which oil, acrylic, collage and appropriated imagery are combined to make a single painting.

His own works were characterized by abstractly painted backgrounds with pristinely rendered realistic objects floating on the surface of the canvas. The objects in the foreground were always painted using an oil glazing technique practiced by the Renaissance painters.

Hartley joined the ECU faculty full-time in 1975 after having served as a lecturer at the university from 1970-1972. His final semester at ECU was the fall of 2008 when the cancer was diagnosed.

“There is no art instructor in this state who taught more students than Paul Hartley,” said Lee Hansley, the Raleigh art dealer who has represented Hartley for the past 17 years. “He has influenced more young artists than anyone in North Carolina’s university system. That will be his legacy, along with a remarkable body of work in collections far and wide,” Hansley added.

An exhibition, entitled “The Legacy of Paul Hartley,” will be held at Lee Hansley Gallery in January. It will feature works by outstanding students of Hartley, many of whom are now art professors.

A painting for the North Carolina Museum of Art’s collection is making its way through the approval process now, thanks to the largess of three Greenville art patrons--Nelson Crisp, June Ficklen and Mrs. Jordan Whichard III. Hartley has works in the collections of the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, the Greenville Museum of Art, the Cameron Museum of Art in Wilmington, the Barton College Museum in Wilson and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem.

Additionally, his paintings are in the collections of private institutions like Bank of America, GlaxoSmithKline, Philip Morris USA, the Transamerica Corporation and Merrill Lynch, Inc. A suite of eight major Hartley paintings is permanently displayed at the Sheraton Hotel (formerly Hotel Europa) in Chapel Hill.

His work was the subject of over 25 solo shows and over 75 small group or themed exhibitions over the course of his career. His last show was entitled “Looking Back” which was in September and October of this year at Lee Hansley Gallery. In 2002 the Greenville Museum of Art organized a retrospective, complete with illustrated catalogue.

Hartley was born Dec. 30, 1943, in Charlotte to the late Paul Hartley Sr. and to Mrs. Kathleen Board of Winston-Salem. His early years were spent in Atlanta where he met his wife of 42 years, Lane Harville Crawley.

He earned a B.A. in 1967 at the University of North Texas in Denton and in 1970 an M.F.A. in painting at East Carolina University. After being hired to teach art at ECU, Hartley was named head of the painting program, a position he held until he entered a phased retirement.

In addition to his wife and mother, Hartley is survived by a daughter, Lorin, and son-in-law Mark Kaley of Greensboro; a son, Paul Randolph William Hartley of Chapel Hill; a brother, William Joseph Hartley of Winston-Salem; and two sisters, Susan Hartley Guinn and her husband, Gilbert, of Greenwood, S.C., and Kathy Hartley Smith and her husband, Robert Meier, of Boone; and one granddaughter, McLane Kaley of Greensboro.

Artist Made Toys @ the CAM

"Toying with Art" at the Cameron Art Museum
When: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
Extended holiday hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 22-24, 26-27 and 30-Jan. 3 and Exhibit hangs through March 28.

Great exhibit of artist made toys at the CAM!

War & Pieces by Lauren Hodges

Coverage for Nature Wars in Encore.

Nature Wars

Many things going on in November. I am putting the finishing touches on "Nature Wars". The reception is Friday November 6th 7-9 @ Independent Art Company's Wabi Sabi Warehouse. It is shaping up to be a fun night. Follow this link to Nature War's Gallery to check out the work.

The following information explains what the show is all about:

Nature Wars by Abby Spangel Perry- “A Small Group of Paintings with a Big Story”

@ Independent Art Company’s Wabi Sabi Warehouse

19 N Princess Street

Wilmington ,NC 28401

November 5 through December 13^th, 2009

Artist Reception Friday November 6, 2009 7-9pm

Nature Wars by Abby Spangel Perry is a small group of paintings with a big story. It is a cautionary tale that speaks to our current relationship with the environment. What unfolds through a series of children’s story book style images is a visual account of the abuses against nature experienced through the eyes of a few little bunnies and their choice to stand up to the rats that are at the bottom of the situation. These bunnies face many of the same issues we as a society experience every day. In the end, we all must “draw our own conclusions” and through an interactive piece viewers of Nature Wars are asked to do just that. What solution do you have to offer?

Independent Art Company

Independent Art Company's Wabi Sabi Warehouse

Keep track of what is going on at Independent Art Company's Wabi Sabi Warehouse through their blog. Its the groovy little blue warehous on 9th and Princess where lots of art is happening!

Deborah Velders

Here is a link to an interview I did with Deborah Velders, Director of the Cameron Art Museum, for the July issue of Wilma Magazine. I hope that the article will create inspiration and action in the arts around Wilmington.

CFCC Virtual Art Show

Check out the work of some of my wonderful drawing students in the CFCC 2009 Virtual Art Show. Gene got Best in Show (#16)! and Sam received First Place Drawing.

# 9, 16, 33, 47, 49, and 26 are projects done in my Drawing I classes.

Surfer Girls

Here is a link to an article about women of all ages that can be found surfing around Wrightsville Beach. Slightly misinforming article as far as my bio...

Surfer Girls by Allison Ballard

Michelle Masson

Here is a link to Michelle Masson's
article I wrote for the March issue of Wilma Magazine

Breta Carnes Article in Wilma

Sculpting Water

Sculpting Water is an article I wrote for the February issue of Wilma Magazine

Creative Wilmington

Creative Wilmington

All things cultural in Wilmington

Dreams of Wilmington

I work for Dreams of Wilmington an after school youth arts outreach program that offers free or reduced rate classes with professional artists, musicians, writers, actors, and dancers.

Natural Instincts

Natural Instincts
Article written about my thesis show at Wabi Sabi Warehouse in Wilmington by Lauren Hodges

Second Look At Nature

Second Look at Nature

Great article written by Nancy Sanders about my thesis show when it was at Kinston Council for the Arts.