Featured Artists – William Breazeale, Dave Greway, Jena Matzen, Eric Raddatz, + Vincent Whitehurst

William Breazeale

I am a representational landscape painter. My subject matter may be natural or man-made. The objective is to present the viewer with a panorama that creates a sense of the scale, complexity, and vast expanse of our surroundings — one that contrasts with the partial and incremental view we encounter in our everyday lives.

Natural landscapes are usually based on specific locations in National or State Parks that I have visited – and are labeled as such. The scenes often include broad vistas that dissolve into the distance and an atmosphere in a state of motion and transition.

Urban scenes are largely of Raleigh, North Carolina – a rapidly growing city that exhibits a variety of environments – from a revitalized downtown to low-density suburban development. During my 30 years as a Raleigh City Planner I have seen extraordinary changes in Raleigh’s urban landscape. Juxtaposing the old with the new features tends to be a central theme of my work.

Dave Greway

I am often asked how I find inspiration for my clocks. I have two ways that I found work for me.

1. An idea hits me often when I least expect it. I quickly sketch the idea on whatever is laying around. I take this rough sketch with me as I look through second hand stores, thrift shops, yard sales, and flea markets looking for various objects and materials that I can use to create my piece.

2. While I am wandering through these stores an idea can be sparked by finding forgotten and often broken objects. The design of the piece evolves from the found objects. Each idea will often change as the piece is constructed.

Jena Matzen

I am a self-taught designer and metalsmith who has been creating art in various media since I was a child.  I adore the creative process and delight in experimentation.  When designing, I like to explore universal motifs, natural phenomena, minimalism, negative space, geometry and color.   I am inspired by nature, science, architecture, relationships, spiritualism, pop culture as well as art + design through the ages and around the globe.  I am also inspired by the creative community of North Carolina.  I moved to Raleigh to work as a legal aid lawyer and advocate, but what I found was so much more than just worthy clients and causes.  First it was clay, then glass, and finally metal.  The lure of the creative class, and my beloved family, was so great that I left the law to pursue my art and family-tending full-time.  Eventually landing in Durham, I couldn’t be in a better place to do so.

I consider jewelry to be one of the most intimate forms of expressive art.  Worn on the body, it is selected with great care and consideration of the wearer’s personality, comfort and desire to express.  Thus, I seek to create simple yet interesting, evocative pieces which will be enjoyed and worn daily.  I work intuitively and rarely sketch out in advance what I will make – I just sit at my bench, look at my raw materials and my hands begin to create.  I hand fabricate each piece one at a time using silver, copper, brass, bronze or gold, adding color and texture with tools, patinas, hand-pigmented resins, enamels, pearls, and stones.

I hope my work expresses the peace and joy I find in creating it.

Eric Raddatz

As we walk the streets of our world each of us looks over the discards and stains that trouble and clutters our sight, much of it unseen, the residue, the leavings.  We turn away, ignore, and deny, their very existence.  In these forgotten and never forgiven places I find a sense of peace and quiet.  With camera in hand I seek the meditation, the solitude of self and renewal that my art can only give.  As a Chaplain for Heartland Hospice, my daily life in service to the dying, death becomes a very heavy burden.  In the effort to care for myself so that I may continue to serve, I take these walks through the back alleys of our communities.   The walls, scrap heaps, molds and peelings have a color and design that lend themselves to the abstract expressions seeking release from my imagination.  In the small details I find moments of joy, wonder and even laughter.  The pain of those I serve is soon forgotten just for a little while. A scratch, scrapping, splotch or spill opens a new world that can be discovered and renewed.  Through my lens and the click of the shutter the transfer from trash recorded becomes a gift of life and beauty to be shared.  It is my hope that my photographs will bring to the viewer the same sense of new life, wonder and joy that I have in the taking.

Vincent Whitehurst

What is the subject? Who is the audience?

I didn’t set out with any specific subject matter or story line. These images were construed from the pages of advertising propaganda, be it junk-mail, newspaper inserts, or periodicals: imagery on thin glossy pages destined for the recycling bin. While I didn’t intend to be subversive, I did have the intention of transforming and recontextualizing parts and pieces from polished mass media imagery into dark and gritty, sometimes campy “pop-surrealistic” compositions that open themselves for interpretation.

For these drawings I used a variety of ink delivery methods. One method was a technique that Andy Warhol used in his early advertising work. He would trace a drawing in ink and transfer it to paper by simply pressing it against another sheet of paper, which left an image of irregular dotted lines from the ink bleeding into the paper. I also used brush, pen, paper, tissue, etc. to apply the ink. I rarely have preconceived ideas about the direction the piece is going.