Silhouetted Skaters Enchant in New Public Art

In the storefront windows of Winston-Salem's historic Loewy building, 500 W. Fourth Street, downtown restaurants' evening patrons, our RiverRun Film Festival guests, and anyone with an interest to come and see can enjoy Anna von Gwinner's second local video installation, Minus 8, as part of SECCA's ongoing public art exhibition, Inside Out. The installation is on view April 15 - 30, nightly, from 7 pm to midnight.

Inside the Loewy Building, von Gwinner projects silhouettes of figure skaters practicing their routines. Watching these figures glide and soar, viewers can project their own escape from the expected in the urban landscape, and, in the words of SECCA's website, see "hints at Winston-Salem traditions of theater, athletics and ghost stories." It's also just cool to watch. You can dial 336-201-0681 and hear podcasts with more about the artist and the creation of this work.

Von Gwinner and the buildling's namesake would have had an affininty for each other's work. Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) left his mark on hundreds of products and businesses still in use today as one of the last century's premiere industrial and graphic designers. In 1949 Loewy Associates was hired to expand and remodel 500 W. Fourth (then the Thalhimers department store) with his distinctive streamlined design. His was a constancy of aesthetic vision across a variety of material mediums.

Anna von Gwinner studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths' College in London and Architecture at the UdK in Berlin. Her experience in a successful architectural practice for several years informs her talent in exploring and manipulating spaces withing the urban landscape. Her short video loops, all imaginary moments in the life of a city, show a constancy of aesthetic play within a variety of architectural shapes.

Loewy Building photo from Downtown Winston-Salem Association website; Loewy photo from Raymond Loewy on the web. A word of thanks: "Inside-Out: Artists in the Community II" is supported by a grant from The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that "a great nation deserves great art." In-kind support is provided by Sundance Plaza Hotel, Spa and Wellness Center; AdColor of Winston-Salem; and Moore's Self Storage.

Millennium Park's Ed Uhlir Speaks at City Hall

The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, and Mayor Allen Joines are co-sponsoring a lecture by Chicago architect and public design innovator Ed Uhlir on Tuesday, April 21, at 7 pm in the second-floor City Council Chambers of Winston-Salem's City Hall, 101 N. Main Street. Uhlir is the Executive Director of Chicago's Millennium Park, and is responsible for the management, maintenance and improvement of this world-famous center for art, music, architecture and landscape design.

Millennium Park is the result of a unique partnership between the City of Chicago and its philanthropic community. Among works featured in the 24.5-acre park are the outdoor concert venue designed by Frank Gehry, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion; Gehry's brushed stainless steel walkway, the BP Bridge; the video interactive Crown Fountain, by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa; and Anish Kapoor's liquid mercury-inspired Cloud Gate sculpture on AT&T Plaza. The lecture is yet another part of SECCA's Inside Out: Artists in the Community II exhibition series.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but seating is limited, and RSVPs are required. To reserve your space at the event, please call 336.397.2109 or e-mail SECCA here. Image from the Millennium Park website.

Arts Council Funding New Public Art Commissions

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County today announced its commitment to spend up to $100,000 in commissions for two public art projects at the new Downtown Center for the Arts. The Council has begun a renovation and enlargement of its former headquarters at the historic Sawtooth Building in downtown Winston-Salem, and construction should be completed by fall 2010. Two locations at this site, home of the new Downtown Center, have been selected for placement of specifically commissioned works of art. Professional artists or teams of artists nationwide may submit qualifications for the two projects up to the submission deadline of May 15. Information about the art locations and the full Request for Qualifications ("RFQ") can be found here at the Arts Council website; and artists with additional questions may email the Arts Council's Rebecca Parker. Three cheers plus for the Arts Council's leading by example, investing in our city's public art landscape!