By Susan Shinn
Salisbury Post
I’ve always been intimidated by sculpture. Thanks to Michael Baker, I’m getting less so.
Baker, a sculptor who owns EastSquare ArtWorks, has a show featuring six North Carolina sculptors ó including himself.
“Six Sculptors” runs through June 30.
To make sure art lovers have ample opportunity to see the show, EastSquare ArtWorks is open every day in May. Hours are 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and Sundays by appointment.
EastSquare ArtWorks also includes art by Baker’s wife, Connie, as well as pieces by Whitney Peckman and Syed Ahmad, who are the Bakers’ next-door neighbors. The couples renovated the 20,000-square-foot former Flowers Bread Co., and now live upstairs.
“The great thing about living here is that if we’re here and someone comes by, we’re more than happy to come down and open up the studio for them,” Baker says.
EastSquare galleries are also featuring Connie Baker’s paintings, Peckman’s weaving and painted-vessel sculptures and Ahmad’s fused glass paintings.
The five other sculptors in Baker’s show are all members of Tri-State Sculptors.
They include:
n Jerry Adams of Mooresville, who has resin and fiberglass sculptures in the show.
n Jim Gallucci of Greensboro, who crafts benches, gates and other functional pieces out of steel.
n Harry Seng of Morganton, who is showing pieces of wood and copper and wood and stone, inspired by shapes in nature.
n Dan Millspaugh of Asheville, who uses cast bronze and cast iron to make curved wedges which can be interpreted any number of ways.
(One grouping reminded me of Brazil nuts; photographer Wayne Hinshaw said he thought it looked like armor.
The cool thing about contemporary art, Baker says, is that Wayne and I are both right.)
n Harry McDaniel, also of Asheville, fashions fanciful mobiles out of aluminum and wood.
n Baker’s own pieces in the show include “Geo Composition no. 2” and “Reaching,” both fairly large pieces in stainless.
Salisbury is hosting an outdoor sculpture show in March 2009.
“We thought this would be a great way to have local sculptors show their work,” Baker says, as a prelude to next spring’s show.
The pieces in the current show are made of stainless, wood, steel, bronze and cast resin.
The couples are hosting events in May at EastSquare as a way to invite more people to see their artwork. On May 16, Bruce Wilson led a workshop on framing for art lovers and art collectors.
“It was great,” Baker says. “A lot of people came who had not been here yet.”
Baker admits that sculpture can be intimidating.
But he encourages people to give it a chance.
“Being that it’s three-dimensional,” he says, “you can look at it from 360 degrees. It looks different all the time.”
Whether it’s shown inside or outside makes a difference, as does time of day as the light changes, Baker says.
The more sculptures you see, Baker says, the more you learn about it ó and hopefully, the less intimidated you’ll be.
You won’t necessarily like every single piece of sculpture you’ll see, he says, but you can still appreciate it and ask questions about it.
All the pieces in the show are for sale.
Baker likes showing sculptures in different mediums, although his focus is on stainless.
“North Carolina has a lot of really good sculptors,” he says. “The more EastSquare becomes known, the more people will come visit.”
Baker notes that EastSquare ArtWorks will have other shows with other types of art, although there will probably always be an emphasis on sculpture.
For more information about the EastSquare ArtWorks sculpture show, call Michael Baker at 704-798-0047 or visit www.eastsquareartworks.com.
For more photos, see page 9.