‘Past Perfect’ will be on view through performances of Over the River and Through the Woods this weekend in Pease Auditorium. This musical is one of many produced through CPCC’s Summer Theater program. The show will close on Monday and we’ll have a new exhibition, ‘Denisovan: Heather D. Freeman,’ up by Tuesday night’s performance.

We have loved hosting Past Perfect and can’t believe it’s already time to say goodbye. These paintings will be shipped back to their home in San Francisco next week. Thanks to all of you who came to see the show!

Artist Heather Freeman’s project “Denisovan” is coming to CPCC Pease Gallery from July 14 to September 4, with a closing reception on August 28 from 5-7 p.m.

She will show prints and text from the app she created to illustrate a fictional narrative of the Denisovan child.

About the project

Denisovan is an interactive artist’s book by Heather D. Freeman, Associate Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  This mobile app is neither a game, nor a book, but resides somewhere between the two and is available on iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices.

The story is a fictional imagining of a girl who died 40,000 years ago.  It was inspired by the genomic mapping of a contemporary of early humans and Neanderthal: the denisovan hominin.  Bone fragments from a single individual were found in a Siberian cave, and paleogeneticists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology mapped the genome, determining that the fragments belonged to a previously unknown hominid.

The story of human evolution is many things.  One part of this story is the nurturing of children by mothers and fathers, generation after generation.  We know that the denisovan girl had brown hair and eyes, but we can only speculate on her family structure, and how parent-child relationships may have evolved in the last 40,000 years.

Download the app for iPhone and iPad

Download the App for Android

Learn more here: http://denisovan.blogspot.com/

Late last week, a short review of Kirsten Tradowsky’s solo show in Pease Gallery was highlighted by arts writer Barbara Schrieber in the Charlotte Observer’s monthly gallery round-up. See below:

‘Past Perfect’

San Francisco artist Kirsten Tradowsky makes paintings of items found on Craigslist – tender, earnest depictions of objects that once were valued but are now forsaken, their owners bored with them, dead or in need of money. Together, these paintings of dishes, puzzles, recreation equipment and other objects constitute a catalog of abandoned dreams.

The centerpiece of the show is “Reunion.” In this mirror-image diptych, crystal swan candy dishes, decorative boxes, pitchers and other sentimental doodads are arrayed on a table in a way that resembles a display of wedding gifts. But this coming together is really a taking apart, a final gathering of once-cherished items that will be dispersed forever.

Click here to read the entire article.

The show is on view through July 3.

Take a virtual tour of Past Perfect: Kirsten Tradowsky, on view now in Pease Gallery.

Join us for an artist lecture at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9 in Pease Auditorium, followed by a reception in the Gallery

Pamela Winegard’s work, previously on view in Pease Gallery, was featured on the Knight Arts Blog. Writer Katie Culclasure explores the intricacies, layers, and references in Pamela’s work beautifully.

Pamela’s encaustics and paintings were on view in a two person show with Betsy Birkner in the early spring show, titled “Artifice.”
Read it here.

Over the past week paintings by Kirsten Tradowsky have been soaring over the US en route to Pease Gallery for the show “Past Perfect,” which opened yesterday (3/17).

Installing this show was a real challenge because every piece was so complex, layered, and dense with color and painting technique. Our hope was to lay out the show in a way that the paintings would complement each other while not competing for attention.

In her artist statement for this show, Tradowsky tells how in each of these paintings she recreates images she finds in the “for sale” section of craigslist, complete with odd angles, cropping, and distorted perspective. Because of this thematic component, we chose to hang the show as if the objects were arranged at a yard sale, with both surprising and obvious groupings: while there is a section of cars placed in a row, there is another section with a life jacket, gun collection, and accordion. Like a trip through a thrift shop, this exhibition is a voyage of unexpected discovery, in which the conversations between pieces are as interesting as the pieces themselves.

Below you’ll find an image gallery of Grace, Heather, and Isaac installing the show. Check back for photos of the fully installed show soon.

We are thrilled to welcome Kirsten Tradowsky to Pease Gallery this spring for our Sensoria Programming. Ms. Tradowsky is a painter living and working in San Francisco, CA.

She paints objects she finds in the “for sale” section of Craigslist, capturing the quality of the seller’s photographic presentation in all its awkwardness, overexposure and strange angles. Using loose brushstrokes, she sympathetically renders these unwanted items in both rich and faded hues, delicately revealing the imperfections of time. Her artwork seeks to bring quality and validation to these objects and to painting itself.

Join us for an artist lecture followed by an opening reception in the gallery on April 9th at 2 p.m.

To learn about more Sensoria events, click here.

Kirsten Tradowsky, Shredded Rose Arm Chair

Kirsten Tradowsky, Extra Life Jacket

Kirsten Tradowsky, Clamoring Chandelier

Thanks to those who joined us at the opening of ARTIFICE – we had a great time celebrating work by the two talented exhibiting artists, Pamela Winegard and Betsy Birkner.

There is one event left for this exhibition, a lecture by Betsy Birkner on her ceramic breastplate sculptures. Please join us in Pease Gallery at 12:30 on 2/13.

We were very excited to see Kirsten Tradowsky as a daily featured artist on The Jealous Curator this past weekend. Curated by Danielle Krysa, this fine arts blog has been featured by Sunset Magazine, Frankie Magazine, InsideOut Magazine, Flow Magazine, The Vancouver Sun, Apartment Therapy, and Glamour Paris.

Click here to see the feature.

San Francisco painter Kirsten Tradowsky takes inspiration from the past. She paints scenes from old photographs, or of old objects, taking no pains to hide their present condition. An exhibition of her work feels like a search in a thrift shop, complete with the imperfect objects and places worn by time. This exhibition will include a group of her most recent paintings, rendered in both rich and faded hues that reference the age of her subjects.

Past Perfect: Kirsten Tradowsky

Pease Gallery

March 17 – July 3, 2014

Artist Lecture April 9, 2 p.m. in Pease Auditorium
Reception April 9, 3-5 p.m. in Pease Gallery

Kirsten Tradowsky, Hanging Slips for Entry

We are pleased to announce the opening of Artifice: Betsy Birkner and Pamela Winegard. Please join us for an opening reception on Thursday, January 16, 5-7 pm in Pease Gallery.