SECCA Steps Up: "Inside-Out"

Great news to start a year of public art. SECCA, Winston-Salem's Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, is sponsoring a series of seven prominent exhibitions of public art in the city in 2009. As the Winston-Salem Journal's John Railey noted in a recent editorial, SECCA is itself closed for all of 2009 in order to undergo major renovations to its building, and could have been forgiven for staying out-of-sight for a year as it revamped. Instead, they have boldly announced a plan to broadcast their mission of engaging the community with best in current art by turning their museum "Inside-Out," the title of this series of shows. You can hear SECCA's Curator of Contemporary Art Stephen Matijcio and Curator of Education Michael Christiano talk with WFDD's Bradley George about the concept for the series in this Triad Arts Up Close radio/podcast interview.

First up in the SECCA lineup is wood artist and sculptor Charlie Brouwer, a Radford University art professor. On the last two weekends in February, Brouwer will invite the town to lend him its old wooden ladders - and any war stories attached thereto - for a month-long show at Tavern Meadow at Old Salem. Brouwer has wonderful gifts for pulling beauty and meaning from woods, from intimate carvings to large assemblages. In Winston-Salem, he'll use the familiar, the community meeting ground of Old Salem and your own garage artifacts, to present an installation of new meaning and depth by which to welcome spring. We'll post more details here on Brouwer's wants and display dates as they become available.

What a nice connection between the craft traditions of Salem and the art aspirations of our modern town - thanks, SECCA! All images from Charlie Brouwer's website.