Three new exhibits at Waterworks Visual Arts Center open Friday, including “Purgatory Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues” by Tyrone Geter, “The Quest: Dreams and Coincidental Discoveries” by Salisbury artist Don Moore, and “Atmospheres: Formed and Formless” by Natalie Bork and Maja Godlewska. The exhibits will be on display through Feb. 7. (See feature on artist Don Moore in tomorrow’s Lifestyle section of The Salisbury Post.)
Waterworks is also hosting the Fifth Annual Artists’ Invitational Exhibition and Sale, a group show of the art of 13 artists and craftspeople.
The opening reception, which is free and open to the public, is from 6-8 p.m. Friday.
Columbia artist Tyrone Geter’s exhibition, “Purgatory Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues,” treats the theme of persevering through purgatory-like struggles in a distinctly African American style. This series of large-scale figurative drawings portrays African Americans pulling from a collective legacy of courage and strength to overcome trials, discrimination, and “the blues.”
Geter draws inspiration from the life and spirit of his mother, who grew up in the early 1900s. Racism, poverty, and illiteracy were some of the issues she faced. Despite so many obstacles, however, she survived to instill a sense of love, compassion, hope, and integrity in her children. Geter says his work refers to “the trials of youth and the struggle of the aged.”
“It seeks to speak to and for those with no voice. My work is compassion, hope, justice, and perseverance, things I learned from my mother.”
Geter grew up in Anniston, Alabama and graduated from Ohio University in 1976 with a Master’s in Fine Arts degree. He and his wife moved to Zaria, Nigeria in 1979, where he spent the next seven years making art in the local villages while learning about the culture of the nomadic Fulani tribesmen. Geter currently teaches at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. He has exhibited in South Carolina, New York, Ohio, the United Kingdom, Japan, Nigeria, and West Africa. The artist has also illustrated ten children’s books.
In “Atmospheres: Formed and Formless,” a two-person show in the Woodson and Osborne galleries, Charlotte artists Natalie Bork and Maja Godlewska demonstrate two unique approaches to abstract painting. Bork draws on nature for her abstractions that search for relationships between control and chaos, while Godlewska’s shaped canvases explore ideas of form and formlessness, permanence and decay.
After selling her first artwork, an abstract floral painting, at the age of 8, Bork decided to dedicate her life and career to art. She studied art at Buffalo State College in her hometown of Buffalo, New York, before earning her BA in Art Education at Winthrop University. She currently teaches at Charlotte Country Day School and pursues a master’s degree in painting at Winthrop. She lives in Charlotte and has exhibited in New York, Georgia, and throughout North Carolina.
Born in Wroclaw, Poland, Godlewska earned a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in painting from Wroclaw’s Academy of Fine Arts in 1990. Her exhibition record includes over 24 solo shows and 48 group exhibitions in the United States, France, Germany, Ireland, South Korea, Indonesia, Chile, Iceland, Ukraine, and Poland. She currently teaches at UNCC and lives in Charlotte, where she is represented by Joie Lassiter Gallery.
The Fifth Annual Artists’ Invitational Exhibition and Sale, featured in the Young People’s Gallery, will showcase the works of 13 local and regional artists and craftspeople. Although they represent a wide variety of media, styles, approaches, subjects, and backgrounds, these artists were all invited to participate because they exemplify excellence in their field.
Featured in this year’s invitational are glass works by Syed Ahmad; textiles by Bill Colvard; jewelry by Molly Dingledine, Sharon Hamilton, and Mary Linn Norvell; paintings by Carol Dunkley and Donald Redmond; wood turnings by Ric Erkes; oil paintings by Patt Legg; watercolors by Jane Price; folk art dolls by Cindy Riccardelli; pottery by Ken Sedberry; and folk sculpture by Don Stevenson. Work may be removed at the time of purchase. Sales benefit the educational programs at Waterworks and support the artists.
Call 704-636-1882.