New Faces of Tradition: Documenting North Carolina’s Young Artists

Promotion is one aspect of art-making that, unlike the creative process itself, is seldom a labor of love. New Faces of Tradition, a collaborative photographic venture by the N.C. Arts Council, Duke Art, and the Rubenstein Arts Center, meets that need. These portraits, taken by students at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, along with other community members, capture a broad swath of artists whose work is rooted in longstanding traditions (bluegrass music, Turkish water marbling, classical Indian dance); at once artfully documenting a new  generation of North Carolina artists, and helping to get their names out into the world. In each portrait, an artist is captured in their element: a painter holds a brush in her studio, a poet pensively rests his head on a hand, a guitarist smiles candidly on a park bench.