North Georgia Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition

3rd Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition - March 31, 2012 - March 16, 2013

CALL FOR ARTISTS: Deadline for submission of entries: February 10, 2012 - Download an overview, prospectus, and entry forms HERE.

 2nd Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition - through March 16, 2012

The exhibition is free and open to the public, with a self-guided walking tour available at the Information & Welcome Center, just inside North Georgia’s main entrance on South Chestatee Street, as well as at the Department of Visual Arts office in West Main (Hansford) Hall in Dahlonega. The hours of the Information & Welcome Center and the Department of Visual Arts are M-F, 8AM-5PM. There is parking available to visitors at all times near the parking deck entrance at the end of College Circle, off North Main Street. Large groups should arrange visits in advance—guided tours may be available.

For more information, call the Department of Visual Arts: 706-867-2832

 
Mike Russell

Biography
Mike is originally from the Ozarks of Missouri, and now resides in Athens, Tennessee. He learned early on the value of metalworking skills from his father, a respected construction welder. After working in construction himself, Mike moved to Tennessee and taught welding at the Tennessee Technology Center for many years. He has exhibited his sculptural works in Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Georgia.
Statement
My early career experience was all about the functional manipulation of steel. I worked in heavy industrial settings perfecting my skill, but I longed for an inner renewal and a use of my abilities beyond the merely functional. Hence, my quest for personal renewal, revitalization, and a sense of completeness began via the creation of steel sculptures. My work is about creating tangible reminders of hope, new identity, and revitalization. I transform industrial steel components into objects that can be both appealing and provocative. I use sculpture to remake and revitalize the image of what can be.

 
Tom Holmes

Biography
Tom Holmes was educated in New York, and lives in Greeley, Pennsylvania. He is an artist, musician, and sculptor. He has been self-employed exploring his art since his mid-twenties.  He works in stone, metal, wood, light, ice, and water.
Statement
I am drawn to working in the six elements of stone, metal, wood, light, ice, and water. It gives me the ability to work intuitively. All possibilities can exist briefly before I impose parameters to my emotional and intellectual contexts. The undercurrents of natural decay, unity, duality, symmetry, space, time and dimension are at the heart of my creative energy. Process, for me, is the essence of my art.

 
Deedee Morrison

Biography
Deedee Morrison was born in New Orleans, received her college degree from The University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee, and lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama. She has been working as a professional studio and public artist for over ten years. Her experience includes a broad spectrum of commissioned work and public art planning and development.
Statement
Art has value because it affords potential to provoke emotion, soulful thought, glimpses of beauty and realization of those things larger than ourselves. Interaction with sculpture is a tactile experience that allows one the potential to explore intellectually and emotionally, to engage, to enjoy.
Website: http://deedeemorrisonsculpture.com/

 


Bob Doster

Biography
A South Carolina native, Bob Doster has owned and operated his studio and gallery, Backstreet Studios, located in Lancaster, South Carolina, since 1975. His monumental sculptures and functional artwork can be seen in galleries, museums, private collections and in public displays from the corporate collections of Saks Fifth Avenue and Founders Federal Credit Union to the State Art Collection of the SC Arts Commission.
Statement
Art is conversation between the eyes and the soul….my creations arise from my visual memories as they are experienced in my whole being.  My hope is that the viewer will walk away with memories of their own experiences.
Website: http://www.bobdoster.com/

 
Jim Gallucci

Biography
Jim Gallucci, lives and works in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a graduate of LeMoyne College and Syracuse University, and has been a sculptor for over 30 years. Jim has taught art at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He was also an Exhibit Designer for the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro.
Presently, Jim works full time designing and fabricating sculpture in his Greensboro studio assisted by a staff of 6. Most of the works are commissions for public, corporate, and residential spaces around the country. For six years he has shown his work at the annual Pier Walk International Sculpture Exhibition in Chicago, and his work has also been selected for such international shows as the World Expo 88 in Brisbane, Australia and the 7th Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition at the Utsukushi-ga-hara Open-Air Museum, Hakone, Japan and UBE Japan. In 2007 Jim earned a Diploma of Nomination from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Statement
My works are publicly placed objects that invite interaction with the passer-by. Art is a physical manifestation of an idea or event that calls forth an emotional response from the viewer. It speaks to us and evokes a chord deep within us. Good art challenges us, can make us feel righteous, moves us, soothes us and can bring us peace.
Website: http://www.jimgalluccisculptor.com/




Isabell VanMerlin

Biography
Isabell VanMerlin was born in Hartsville, and grew up in Camden, South Carolina. From age three, she spent summers in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Blowing Rock, NC; her grandfather logged hardwood there. She started her art major at Rhodes College, in Memphis, where sculptor, Lawrence Anthony, was her first art professor - he transformed her life, teaching her to "see." Isabell completed her BA in Art at the University of California at Berkeley, and received her MA in Creative Arts from San Francisco State University. She has been making sculpture for over 40 years in a wide range of media: from bronze to handmade paper. She has been making large-scale sculptures using bamboo and fabric in the last 5 years. She currently resides in Lynn, Massachusetts, making art as sculpture, poetry and prose, and teaching Spanish and creative writing.
Statement
In 2006,I was invited to participate in the Gloucester (Massachusetts) New Arts Festival. I wanted to build a hanging labyrinth - and I succeeded by making a large structure of bamboo arches from which I could hang the fabric "paths." I loved the arches just as they were. The next fall, September 2007, I made a spiritual pilgrimage to India and filled my eyes and camera with bamboo structures and prayer flags hanging from bamboo poles. I love the height of the bamboo; it is relatively lightweight and flexible; and I love combining fabric with it. Sculpture is definitely a spiritual practice for me, and my intention is to promote peace through my work.
Website: http://www.isabellvanmerlin.com/

 The first annual exhibition: March 7, 2010 – March 6, 2011

Sculptors throughout the 13 Appalachian states (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia) were notified of the opportunity through a prospectus and “call to artists.” A number of artists scattered throughout this extensive region submitted images of up to three sculptures for consideration, and the juried competition resulted in the selection of a single work by each of six artists.