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.