Art Gallery Exhibits
Animals, Farms & Nature @ The Gallery
The first show for the Art Gallery's 2024-2025 season features artist, and ERUUF member, Amy Wilson-Stronks. Her art expresses feeling and emotion through color and movement in representative and non-representative forms inspired by animals, farms, and nature. This show features Amy's "Barn" series and her "Animal Squares." Her Barn series was inspired by her Michigan barn and continues with scenic barns here in North Carolina. Amy's Animal Squares are fun, sassy, and whimsical; featuring each animal's personality and what they have to say. Ask her about a personalized Animal Square for your favorite pet!
Summer ‘24 @ The Art Gallery
This summer, the ERUUF Art Gallery showcases Religious Exploration (R.E.) art created by ERUUF children and youth. The first of three summer shows focuses on Black History by: 1) celebrating Juneteenth with scratch art inspired by Sonia Sadler and 2) collages inspired by the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. This show is up until Sunday, July 21. Come and check out our very talented children and youth!
The theme for the second of three shows created by ERUUF children and youth featured in our Art Gallery is Love Is at the Center. This show is up until Sunday, August 11. Come and check out our very talented children and youth!
The theme for the third - and final - show created by ERUUF children and youth featured in our Art Gallery is Flowers, Pride, and Joy. This show is up until Sunday, September 1. Most of these floral images were created using the clear, produce bags found in most grocery stores; however, a few of our budding artists used their own hands. Come and check out our very talented children and youth!
Photography with a Painterly View by Ross McKinney
Digital photography has made it easier to print on surfaces beyond paper, and with that opportunity has come the potential to see subjects in a different way. For this exhibit, my goal was to choose photographs that had a composition that reminded me of a painting. They’re still lifes, not driven by action or a chance to capture fleeting moments. I had time to consider color and composition, and large enough print sizes that the photographs can draw you into their world. The photographs in this exhibit are printed on canvas or metal, and they come from several different countries.
I have been a photographer since I was given my first box camera at age 5. My father encouraged me and had enlargements made of photos I took while in elementary school that he hung in his office. I’ve owned dozens of cameras, and shot hundreds of rolls of slide film, but since 2000 have exclusively used digital cameras. My last display in the ERUUF Gallery was in in 2013. My wife Holly and I have been members of ERUUF since 1980.
Blanc and Blanche by André Belton
André Belton is a visual artist (painter) and copper wrapped crystal jewelry creator. He started painting, teaching, and engaging in performance art alongside live bands, poets, and vocalists while living in Washington, D.C. Painting became an outlet, because he loves the allure of using uniquely blended colors to deliver an emotion, and to make the viewer feel something. He uses his art to inspire, and show communities that people of all walks of life, can and do bring beauty and value to the world.
Hidden Wonders by Steve Criscenzo
The ERUUF Gallery is proud to present “Hidden Wonders” an exhibit of artistic woodturning created by Steve Criscenzo.
Steve explains, “One of the joys of the woodturning process is the gradual reveal of previously hidden textures and patterns as the wood blank is shaped and finished. Adapting the turned piece to highlight the evolving figure while maintaining a pleasing form allows the turner a unique opportunity for artistic expression.” The pieces in this exhibit have been selected to highlight the unique features of the finished work.
Mini AIDS Quilts Display
In honor of World AIDS Day (December 1), the art gallery will be displaying Mini AIDS Quilts to honor friends and family members who have been impacted by HIV/AIDS. In collaboration with the Multicultural Team, Pride+, and Spiritual Threads, members and friends of ERUUF came together to create these Quilts. The Quilts with be on display in the Art Gallery for the month of December.
Six Days In Iceland
Argentine-born photographer Dario Preger, now a resident of Durham, North Carolina and a member of ERUUF, has been creating enduring images for more than three decades. During the earlier years of his journey, he focused on architectural photography for design and architectural clients, along with corporations such as the House of Blues and Lyons Entertainment Group, followed by a successful portrait photography business for private and commercial clients. In more recent years, Dario turned to fine art photography, letting his passions lead the way in choosing photographic projects. These projects include travel, beaches and other landscapes, cityscapes, amusement parks and winged insects.
Dario’s most recent project is a series of images taken during a trip to Iceland in the fall of 2023. They will be on display in the ERUUF Gallery from Sunday, January 7, 2024 through Sunday, February 11, 2024. Dario will be in the Gallery after both services on January 7 and January 14 to discuss his work and answer any questions.
To see Dario’s work online, visit www.dariopreger.com.
"nan's wild life" Photography by Nan Walker
Show runs through November 26, 2023
"I became hooked on photography at age eight when I received my first camera. Jump ahead to retirement when I began traveling extensively. With five trips to Africa, several to South America, and beyond, I discovered an affinity for photographing wild animals. Some say I prefer animals more than people.
I love the colors and textures of their coats, and their facial expressions are so telling of their moods. My heart races when I am in the presence of these magnificent creatures, and yet it brings a sense of peace while I focus on getting the image I want. Surrounding myself with the images of these beautiful creatures feeds my soul. This exhibit includes photos from Antarctica, Africa and Churchill, Manitoba."
In A Moment, This is What Came, by Lisa Witzke
Lisa Witzke 1969-present
Mother, wife, daughter, artist, healer, nature lover, lesbian, scavenger, collector of the unexpected, open-hearted warrior
In A Moment, This is What Came
This collection is aptly named, “In A Moment, This is What Came.” Mixed in a box of thousands of magazine pieces, I came across a photo clipping of Marsh P. Johnson at the Scrap Exchange. When I saw Her something ethereal opened up in me, speaking to my heart and the piece, “Mother Marsha” flowed from my soul.
As I worked on Her, other pieces would flow out of the universe and present themselves to me; only when I was deep in my creation did they come.
These pieces come from somewhere outside myself as well as somewhere deep inside my soul. I want to bring forward the memory of the trail blazers and warriors that came before me. The icons that paved the way for my generation and the ones after me.
In the forgetting comes an erasure, an erasure of how we came to this place we are currently standing. I for one do not want to forget.
I started this series by painting pieces of paper with watercolor and acrylic paint. I then cut the paper into hundreds of one-centimeter wide strips, and the creations began. The use of musical sheets in my art has been something I have incorporated for years. It symbolizes the music that is in my soul. I find musical notes and patterns utterly beautiful. If you look closely you will see recipes, bicycles, words, ribbons and a myriad of other references to my life and things that have inspired me.
These pieces are just the beginning, there are so many stories yet to bring forward.
I chose to show these 12 pieces because they asked me to, they were sitting in my studio knocking at the door to get out. So, I present to you the first of many…
In A Moment, This is What Came.
Lisa Witzke
Lisa's show will be in our gallery from August 30, 2023 - October 9, 2023
Seascapes by Sunny Ladd
Seascapes is an exhibit that features watercolor paintings by ERUUF member, Sunny Ladd. The paintings depict three types of water scenes, one with salt water, ferries, and rocky beaches in Maine; another with lakeside views of herons, kayaks and reflections in New Hampshire, and a third of lagoons in Kerala, India.
