Kate Dobbs Ariail

Chandra Cox says she paints like a printmaker, fitting together interlocking sections of color, with the work laid down flat. But you could also say she paints like a sculptor. The recent works in her current show at the Durham Art Guild all have such a physicality that they almost seem built rather than imaged–and […]

Well, we have reached another crossroads: old year, new year–and definitely the new millennium this time. But we are, in the United States, at another cross in the road, and we may be stuck there for a while, if the tug-of-war in the long election is any indication. At the crossroads, you always have to […]

In the dark of winter, we all turn instinctively towards symbols of rebirth, and we celebrate in our various ways the miracle of light and all that it means. Our spirits long for light, just as our bodies do. We feast on the rich delicacies of the season, but it is the candles, the images […]

Many shops and galleries are full of wonderful handmade objects at this time of year–the time when most craftspeople, artists and their representatives make the bulk of their annual income. But sometimes all those galleries seem too full of product, too commercial, too glossy and trendy, when you crave something timeless rather than fashionable, something […]

Stepping through the doorway, into the smell of new paint, into the cheerful light slanting through high windows, you know immediately that this is a brand-new art gallery. There’s art on the walls, but the baseboard’s not down yet; countertops aren’t quite finished; a staff member looks perplexedly from manual to computer. While the gallery […]

I’ve been thrashing around at my keyboard for two days, banging out sentences and deleting them, trying to get to the core of what I think about GFP Bunny in 1,000 words or less. GFP Bunny is the project with the green-glowing genetically altered rabbit that Eduardo Kac believes is art. Kac, a Brazilian-born artist […]

I am often surprised by the art at Chapel Hill’s Horace Williams House, but the surprise is not always a happy one. While the gallery features the occasional outstanding show like that of Andrea Gomez’ paintings this summer, all too often one finds mediocrity there. That crime is generally compounded by ill-advised pairings of artists. […]

At Tuskegee University there stands an imposing sculpture by Charles T. Keck memorializing the school’s first leader. The formally dressed standing figure of Booker T. Washington is in the act of lifting the shroud of ignorance from the face of a seated, draped black man, who is revealed holding a book. The pedestal’s inscription reads: […]

Ansel Adams, surely the most famous of American photographers, produced a body of work that has had an enormous impact on Americans’ self-image. His pictures of the vast landscapes of the American West have influenced the way we (white people, at least, and maybe this is true across the board) think about what it means […]