The North Carolina Museum of Art is staging an exhibition, \"Songs of my People,\" that includes more than 100 photographs by 50 African-American photographers.
Mark Hewitt has brought his pottery-making talents, philosophies, and sensibilities from England to Chatham County, where he and his wife have constructed a workshop and kiln. Folks come from all over the state to admire and purchase his pots.
Artist Beverly McIver of Durham overcame opposition from her college professors and other obstacles to paint the subject matter she wanted to- portraits and images of the black community.
Censorship was at issue over a painting entitled \"Man D\" by University of North Carolina faculty artist Elin O'Hara Slavik. The painting was to be exhibited at Raleigh's Artspace gallery, but, to Slavik's dismay, some sponsors objected to its content.
Ariail tours three Triangle gardens, the N.C. State University Arboretum in Raleigh, the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, offering observations and musings.
New legislators have brought a different philosophy of the arts to the 1995 General Assembly, pushing cuts in personnel and program funding and requiring artists receiving grant money to sign contracts stating that they will not create \"obscene\" works.
Durham artist Bryant Holsenbeck has evolved through pottery to basketry, to become an eco-artist, hunting and gathering society's discards to form them into artistic creations.
In 1994, the state and Israel signed nine exchange agreements, including those pertaining to biotechnology and medical research. Now a cultural exchange program has been added, with over 30 exhibits from Israel to be shown during the fall of 1996.
Performance space is a need of local art groups in the Triangle, like the Raleigh Symphony. Remedies include building an art center for local groups or building additions to Memorial Auditorium.
The spring of 1997 marks the 50th anniversary of the General Assembly's appropriation of funds for the creation of the North Carolina Museum of Art, the first state art museum in the nation started with public funds.
The Triangle area not only has a number of university and independent bookstores selling new books, but it also has many used bookstores, including Durham's Readery and Chapel Hill's The Avid Reader, that offer great titles at modest prices.
Some of the best mail-order nurseries in the nation are located in the Triangle area. Among them are Niche Gardens, Plant Delights, Camellia Forest Nursery, and Singing Springs Nursery.
Bert Carpenter taught art history to generations of students. He was also a well-known painter and for twenty-five years served as director of the Weatherspoon Art Gallery at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. During that period he put together an outstanding collection of modern art. In March, 1999, the Gallery honored him with a sixty-five year retrospective.
Rick Dove, riverkeeper for the Neuse River, received an INDEPENDENT 1998 Citizen Award for his forceful advocacy of cleaning up the waterway and its tributaries. He became the state's first riverkeeper in 1993
After thinking about having a new art museum for years, Duke University will build one. Duke alumnus Raymond Nasher will give $7.5 million of the $15 million cost. The 50,000-square-foot-building will bear his name. the scheduled opening is 2002.