Mike Benson
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Smelt Art Gallery 220 Lorax Lane, Pittsboro, North Carolina 27312
Varsity on Franklin Street © Michael Benson 1996
Varsity on Franklin Street © Michael Benson 1996
At a time when the Triangle is hurting for places to see visual art, as development in Chapel Hill and Durham evacuates downtown galleries, we’ll always take notice of a new art space, especially when it happens to be in an old aluminum smelting plant. Created by artist and curator Marcela Slade on the campus of The Plant, Pittsboro’s mixed-use eco-industrial park, Smelt Art Gallery occupies the former digs of Inco Alloys, but it now houses monthly art exhibits instead of manufacturing fighter-jet parts. June’s exhibit, which has an opening reception on Saturday, is a solo spotlight for Chapel Hill native and SCAD graduate Mike Benson, a photographer whose contributions to the area also include opening The Southern Rail and The Station in Carrboro and cohosting the radio program Signal 19 on WHUP. At Smelt, Benson will be showing not only photos but also poster art, lamps, benches, and tables. (Yes, he works in construction, too. Apt!) —Brian Howe
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