Via Penland 2009

Exhibition

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Via Penland : Evan Lightner and Sylvie Rosenthal

Opening Reception: Friday, December 4, 2009

December 4, 2009 through January 31, 2010

Rebus Works is pleased to announce the seventh annual Via Penland, which will open the First Friday of December 4 from 6-10 p.m. It will also be on view during the Boylan ArtsWalk on Sunday, December 6 from noon - 5 p.m. and will remain on display until January 30, 2010

View Evan Lightner's website.

View Sylvie Rosenthal's website.

This year’s featured artists are woodworkers Sylvie Rosenthal and Evan Lightner. Both are North Carolina artists who create exquisite pieces that are meticulously detailed, finely crafted and undeniably fresh. These two contemporary woodworkers have chosen to create functional pieces that are steeped in tradition and yet push the boundaries of what is expected.

Artists include Abie Harris, Anthony Ulinski, Aran Galligan, Beth Schaible, Christina Boy, Cynthia Rohrer, Dail Dixon, Jon Shearin, Justin Turcotte, Lesley Patterson, Lisa Colby, Jocelyn Howard, Margaret Cogswell, Marianne Dages, Mark Dixon, Sallie Ricks, Sarah Warner, Shaunna Lyons, Susan Feagin,Tom Spleth, and Jason Burnett

Sylvie Rosenthal’s work blends European woodworking traditions, folk-art, and pulp fiction. She cites the “everydayness of the human condition” as her subject while also including animal imagery specifically, carved birds and snakes. She exhibits an intense knowledge of materials, honoring traditional woodworking while reinventing techniques, refreshing her work in a way that feels both authentically classic and honestly contemporary.

Rosenthal received a Bachelor of Fine Art in woodworking and furniture design from the School of American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2003. She has received numerous awards and grants including the North Carolina Arts Council Craft Fellowship in 2008, and the American Craft Council Searchlight Emerging Artist (Baltimore, 2009). Her work is featured in 500 Chairs (Lark Books, 2008) and is in the collection of the Museum of Art and Design (New York) and the Eli Whitney Museum (New Haven, CT). Rosenthal has taught and served as a visiting artist at Penland.

Evan Lightner’s work utilizes materials as varied as recycled piano ivory and 18^th century molten sulfur inlay, with an aesthetic touch that successfully weaves the contemporary with the traditional. Lightner is inspired by an assortment of sources including historic cattle brands, derivative morse codes, alchemical symbols, crop circles and Kublai Khan’s court script. The Art Deco movement of the 1920's and the American Craft movement of the 1970’s both inform his work as well.

Lightner holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Anthropology from East Carolina University. He started Evan Lightner Furniture in 1998, creating custom pieces for his clients. He received the Best in Show award in the Contemporary Objects and Utilitarian Craft exhibition at Artspace (Raleigh, N.C.) in 2001. Evan has been both a student and studio assistant at Penland.

Penland School of Crafts has influenced each artist in this exhibition-- some are current students, some have taught or resided at Penland, and all have taken classes at the school. While not directly connected to the school, this exhibition seeks to celebrate Penland’s contributions to the world of art, design and craft and to share the great spirit of community and creativity espoused by the school with the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill community.

View artists' statements, bios, and resumes here . (Opens as a PDF in a new window).