Elder Art Gallery presents

“Back Home in Carolina”
Paintings by Gina Gilmour &
sculptures by Karen Roberson Powell

Opening date: November 7, 2003

Coming home is not always as sweet as leaving but in the case of Gina Gilmour and Karen Powell, Charlotte never looked so good! Actually, they never looked so good as evidenced by the bold paintings and sculptures they have produced for their homecoming show at Elder Art Gallery. On Friday, November 7th, both artists will be on hand to show their latest work.

Gilmour, a Charlotte native, maintains studios in New York and Charlotte and has been shown in numerous galleries and museums throughout the United States. Some of those include The National Women’s Museum in Washington; The Mint Museum in Charlotte; The New Jersey Museum of Art; SECCA in Winston-Salem; Queens Museum in New York; Danville Museum of Art in Danville, VA; Gibbes Museum in Charleston, SC; plus others.

Powell has recently moved back to North Carolina from Dallas, Texas. She received her M.F.A. at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro with a concentration in sculpture. She pursued additional training in Italy, Wales and England as well as the academy of Realist Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Carving Studio in Proctor, Vermont. In 1993 Powell took a year’s leave from her university position to attend the Berllanderi Sculpture Workshop near Cardiff, Wales. While there she was featured on BBC television and radio for her installation at Cardiff Bay for a piece entitled “The Voyage”.

Gilmour’s contribution to the exhibition will be work from five series of paintings that she has completed over the past several years. The majority of her paintings in the exhibition are very large canvases. She intersperses a few smaller paintings to round out her portion of the show.

Powell’s bronze sculptures portray aspects of man’s balancing acts. They are physical metaphors for this intangible yet ever present process. The figures in each sculpture are placed in symbolic environments, particularly architectural elements. These physical elements are tied to the individual’s home, work or spiritual life. Aesthetically, she uses the bold structural design of the stairs, steps, windows, doorways, etc. in contrast to the more organic form of the figure or the round globe. She is fascinated by the way that objects achieve a balance in spite of inherent physical impossibilities.

“Back Home in Carolina” will run from November 7 through December 6.

Elder Art Gallery presents
“Figures and Faces” by June Roberts

Opening date: Wednesday, November 19, 2003

“Figures and Faces” by June Roberts at the gallery’s location in Charlotte’s Historic South End District. Mrs. Roberts, born in Boston in 1919, will be present to discuss her paintings done in oils as well as in pastels.

Mrs. Roberts grew up in Nutley, New Jersey and graduated from Pratt Institute. She was a fashion artist for three years prior to traveling for two years with USO Camp Shows where she sketched wounded veterans in hospitals throughout the United States.

She returned to New York City and became an illustrator for children’s books. She attended New York’s National Academy and Art Students League. After her marriage in 1949 she continued to illustrate books and paint portraits. She illustrated a total of fifteen books.

“I like to paint realistically. The artists that I most admire and who have inspired me the most, Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Degas, were all realists” says Roberts. “One of my greatest joys in producing art is the opportunity to paint all kinds of interesting people. My work at Elder Art Gallery represents a good cross-section of some of the interesting people I have met and painted over the years.”

Included in the exhibition will be a number of realistic pastel paintings that demonstrate Mrs. Roberts’ expertise in handling this challenging medium. One of the paintings entitled “Roberta” was recognized for excellence during The Pastel Society of America’s show in 1985.

At the age of eighty-four Mrs. Roberts is actively painting portraits and landscapes in her quest to produce the very best paintings possible.

“Figures and Faces” will run through November 30, 2003.

Elder Art Gallery
1427 South Boulevard
Charlotte, North Carolina 28203
Phone: 704-370-6337
www.elderart.com

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