Windows on Chapel Hill - March 1 to May 31
Downtown Chapel Hill storefronts come to life with site-specific installations by local artists! A collaborative year-long project between the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership and Town of Chapel Hill Public and Cultural Arts Office brings eye-catching pop-up art displays to downtown storefronts, promotes artists in our community and further establish downtown Chapel Hill as a dynamic space for art.
Additionally, an art wrapped Transit bus by Chapel Hill artist Mary Carter Taub entitled Mobile Mural will be traveling downtown routes for a year beginning in March as part of the Town’s Downtown Art Program in partnership with the Orange County Arts Commission.
Made possible by funds from the Town of Chapel Hill's Public and Cultural Arts Office, Windows on Chapel Hill has grown from one location to encompassing three sites in the fall of 2012; with three more locations in the spring of 2013. To support this and other arts initiatives in our community please make a donation to Friends of Chapel Hill Parks & Recreation.
The Declaration Project by Stacey L. Kirby
(419 W. Franklin St - Yates Building)
Photo by Alex Maness
Since 2007, artist Stacey L. Kirby has played the part of a Local Declarations Officer in The Declaration Project, her ongoing "performative interaction" with the public. In her mobile vintage office space, Officer Kirby has taken over 1100 participants on an interactive exploration of self-identity through the creation of a bureaucratic paper trail. The office "stage" has popped up in various galleries and storefronts – even in a P.O.D.S container. Each office installation has customized Declarations cards, an IN/OUT board, a punch clock, authentic paper files, office knick knacks, ink stamps, the sounds of a Olivetti typewriter, etc. As the uniformed officer on duty, Kirby asks visitors to take part in a handwritten assessment of their "personal belongings" -- these declarations cards are then archived and travel with the project. Officer Kirby invites all participants to step out of the virtual and into the physical world by reflecting upon their personal histories through the ever-growing Declaration Project.
Office Hours:
Friday, March 8, Second Friday Artwalk 6-9 pm (opening reception)
Saturday, March 23, 11-3pm
Friday, April 12, Second Friday Artwalk 6-9 pm
Sunday, May 12, 2 - 6pm
Saturday, May 25, 11-3 pm
Dates are subject to weather conditions
Stacey L. Kirby Photo by Alex Maness
Stacey L. Kirby is an interdisciplinary artist living in Durham, NC. Kirby’s artwork and collaborative projects often include installation, performance, sculpture and sound in alternative and public spaces. Kirby has also been awarded artist residencies throughout the U.S. including the Headlands Center for the Arts (Sausalito, CA) and the Atlantic Center for the Arts (New Smyrna Beach, FL) and Artspace (Raleigh, NC). She is a recipient of grants from the NC Arts Council, the Durham Arts Council and the United Arts Council of Wake County as well as an Indies Arts Award from the Independent Weekly (Durham, NC). Kirby has exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Mint Museum of Craft and Design (Charlotte, NC), Bard College, Flux Factory (Queens, NY), Fraction Workspace, (Chicago, IL), California State University in Fresno, Wellesley College (MA) and District Fine Arts, (Washington, DC). Her work is represented in the Duke University Rare Book Collection and other private collections. In 1999, Kirby earned her B.A. at the UNC-Chapel Hill in Studio Art and in Visual Communications in School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Kirby is a conservation technician at the NC Museum of Art. www.stacey-kirby.com
Depiction by Parasol B
(431 W. Franklin St - Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe)
Depiction Durham Image
Depiction is an interactive installation using multiple mediums ranging from the most traditional--paint, canvas, photography--to the newest of the new--smartphones, geo-locational information, crowd-sourcing and the web. Viewers of the Depiction paintings, located at Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe, use their smartphones to scan barcode paintings. This is just the first stop for the viewer/participant in this installation. From there, the participant is instructed to find a variety of specific sites within walking distance in downtown Chapel Hill. At each site the viewer is given specific instructions, via barcode, to stage or compose a photo, using their smartphone, then submit their photo to the resulting community-created photo collection. Parasol B enjoys the challenge of trying to remove barcodes (QR codes specifically) from their usual context. A cluster of tiny, printed black and white pixels, which encode information for consumers of products and services becomes a large, loud and colorful hand-rendered, apparently abstract painting. Except that it is not abstract. It, too, encodes information, but for the purpose of engaging its viewers in a cultural way. Historically, the expected rules of behavior for viewing artwork in traditional settings have left Parasol B frustrated. So, she has forcibly reversed the "don't touch", "quiet, please" and "no phones" policies for potential viewers/participants who wish to experience her interactive multimedia artworks. parasolb.com/shows
Walking tours with Parasol B:
Saturday, March 16, 2pm
Saturday, May 11, 2pm
Starting at Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe, walks last 1-2 hours.
Parasol B
Parasol B has been interested in interactive media since completing her BFA in Experimental Video and Audio in 1993 at the Atlanta College of Art (now a part of Savannah College of Art and Design). Since then she has worked in the field of software development, while intermittently experimenting in different artistic media as a hobby. Since 2010 she has been focused on combining traditional media, like painting, with new media, specifically using smartphone technology, barcodes and the internet (more info at parasolb.com). In both 2011 and 2012 she was selected to exhibit interactive paintings of QR barcodes by the Durham Storefront Project. More information about these exhibitions is available a thttp://parasolb.com/exhibitions. Parasol B has lived in Chapel Hill since 2000.
Everyday People by Franco
(108 East Franklin St - Walgreen's Display Case)
This installation explores race and equality by using illustrations of people’s faces. These illustrations depict people of different complexion and gender with a happy and joyful expression. The complexion and gender of each face as well as background colors will play a big part in offering the viewer that powerful message. The images convey a sense of pride and a state of harmony. Each illustration is hand drawn and scanned into the computer. Once the image has been scanned it is saved as an Illustrator file and converted into a vector art. The final step is adding color and shading to bring the piece to life.
An artist is someone who creates art. An activist is one who engages in intentional behaviors to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Through his illustration, graphic art, and painting, Franco synthesizes art and activism to form a genre all his own—visual activism. Franco’s visual activism embodies his strong urge to create and sustain justice and opens up the space for truth to prevail. By doing so, the characters and images he creates grab more than your attention; they spark consciousness. www.francoproject.com