Singer and artist Sy Arden presents Paper, Scissors, and Rock at the Looking Glass Artist Collective, 405 N. Lee St., July 28. The show will feature Arden’s art and her original music, which will start at 8 p.m. There is a $5 cover charge. Guests are invited to wear black.
Arden is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts. She expanded her education with a solo, three-month trip across the country, ultimately landing in San Diego. She became a skilled craftsperson, building guitars for Taylor from 1999 to 2002.
Arden returned to North Carolina and worked as an exhibit developer and chief preparator for the Levine Museum in Charlotte. She also worked with the Mint Museum in Charlotte,the Atlanta History Center as well as various other galleries and non-profits.
One of the exhibit pieces she developed for Levine Museum was noted in a New York Times article discussing culture and personal space. Working with Ivy League scholars, influential designers and premier instrument makers has influenced her work…but then so has a summer job working on Little Sugar Creek Greenway where she found herself employed by a French restaurateur. To fill time between patrons Arden sketched the subject matter that surrounded her—mostly nature.
One day her boss brought some moth wings in a paper bag and said, “I saw these and thought to pick them up—maybe you can do something with them?” So she preserved them and incorporated them in one of her sketches….and TADA! the beginning of a show was born.