Tuesday, Feb. 07, 2012

Art coming to Clayton

The following is from Clayton Visual Arts.

This year’s art exhibits at The Clayton Center will feature homegrown talent from Clayton and Johnston County.

In all, 20 artists will show their works over the course of the year – 11 from Clayton, four from other Johnston towns, one from Garner and four from elsewhere in the Triangle.

Dorothy Demboski is head of the exhibits committee for Clayton Visual Arts, which chose the artists. “This year we made a conscious decision to seek out and choose local artists to showcase in our exhibits,” she said. “Clayton and Johnston County have a wealth of talented, practicing artists – more than people think.”

Demboski added, “We at Clayton Visual Arts think our local art compares well with work being produced elsewhere in the Triangle and in North Carolina and that it will bring joy to those who own it.”

The list of 2012 exhibitors does not include the 40 to 50 artists who usually enter the annual September Art Faire competition. Nor does it include the many Clayton High School students who will exhibit their art in May.

The exhibits are at The Clayton Center, 111 E. Second St. Each show hangs for a calendar month. Here are this year’s shows:

•  February’s featured artist will be Walter Day, a Clayton resident since 1983 who paints in oil. He recently was commissioned to create works that will hang in the Johnston Medical Centers in Clayton and Smithfield.

•  March will showcase watercolors by the late William Leslie Jr. of Morganton. The exhibit will complement son Bill’s concert at The Clayton Center on March 11. Bill Leslie, longtime news anchor at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, will perform a program of original Appalachian Celtic music with the Celtic-fusion ensemble Lorica. A reception for Bill Leslie will follow his performance and will spotlight his father’s art.

•  Two Clayton artists will exhibit in April – Jane Prete and Kathleen Nobles. Prete, president of Clayton Visual Arts, moved to Clayton about six years ago and paints in watercolor and other media. She won Clayton Visual Arts’ 2011 Poster Contest with the work “Flipside.” Nobles, who returned to the Triangle about four years ago, is owner with husband Vic Ganoe of The Coffee Mill and Flipside restaurants, where her work is displayed. She paints in oils and acrylics. Both Prete and Nobles moved to Clayton from the N.C. coast.

•  May’s exhibit will feature art by students at Clayton High School.

•  A three-woman show is on tap for June. The artists are Ann Tahir of Clayton, Jo Tucker of Four Oaks and Lin Frye of Oxford. Tahir works in mixed media, Tucker paints in acrylic and oil, and Frye works in mixed water media.

•  In July, Doug Strickland of Benson will pair with Dan Lee of Four Oaks. Strickland, who paints in oil on canvas, won an Award of Excellence in 2010 in the Clayton Visual Arts’ Art Faire competition. He also won the 2007 Poster Contest with “Woman’s Club of Clayton.” Lee works in oil on canvas and charcoal. He won the Poster Contest in 2009 with “Entrance to Historic Clayton.”

•  A three-person show in August will feature Thurmond Goins II and Keama Richardson, both of Clayton, and Kirk Adam of Smithfield. Goins works in acrylic, Richardson in ink and spray paint, and Adam in mixed media.

•  September will bring entries in the annual Art Faire competition. Last year more than 50 artists entered, and half were from Clayton.

•  In October, Demboski of Clayton will be paired with Tom Hale of Goldsboro. Demboski is past president of Clayton Visual Arts and has lived in Clayton since 2005. She is creator of “Clayton Patchwork,” the town’s first mural, which she painted on the second-floor landing at The Clayton Center. Hale, an artist since the 1960s, works in oil on canvas. His paintings hang in several galleries in the Southeast.

•  November will bring a four-person show – Clayton jeweler-painters John and Jovi McFadden, Clayton artist Heidi-Lee Peach and Goldsboro artist Toni Murgas. The McFaddens came to Clayton three years ago from Ohio and have established a jewelry business on Main Street. John McFadden also curates the art exhibits at the Clayton Steakhouse on Main Street. Peach is an award winner from the 2011 Art Faire and a member of Clayton Visual Arts. Murgas, also a member of CVA, is an emerging young artist who works in acrylic.

•  The calendar year wraps up in December with a two-woman show. Gail O’Neil, a Clayton native, will team with Keiko Genko of Garner. O’Neil paints in vibrant acrylics and until recently sold her work from GO Designs on Main Street. Genko is a native of Japan and works in acrylic on canvas.