Imagillaboration Collaborative Sculpture Project

GROUP 3 FACILITATOR

Courtney Ford, Greenville North Carolina

Has not submitted information or photos for who's who

Kyle Lusk, Brevard North Carolina

Kyle Lusk is a sculptor and North Carolina native based in Brevard , NC . Kyle has been teaching art and exhibiting his sculptural works regionally and nationally over the last decade and has many works in private collections and on public display throughout North Carolina . Prior to moving to Brevard, Kyle and his family resided in Boone , NC where he taught art and design at Appalachian State University for eight years. Kyle is currently Assistant Professor of Art at Brevard College.

Josh Weaver, Wilmington North Carolina

Website

After graduating from East Carolina University with a BFA in metal sculpture, I spent a year and a half traveling and working to support my travels, visiting seven countries including Denmark, Finland, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Canada, and Costa Rica. I then spent some months on a ship in the North Atlantic, sailing through the St. Lawrence Seaway to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. During all of my travels, I keep a visual and written journal of impressions and experiences. I took advantage of the opportunity to visit some of the great museums of the world, including the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, seeing first-hand major works that I had studied in school. I was able to personally experience natural landscapes like the rain forests of Central America, which I had only seen before in the media.

Back at home in Wilmington, NC, I developed technical skills in many areas of woodwork, from elaborate trim and finish carpentry, to building furniture, cabinets and related architectural woodwork for a local architect and builder. I have also continued to pursue my interest in metal casting and fabrication, as well as blacksmithing, attending symposia every year in these focus areas, and executing commissions in architectural metal work.

In 2003, the call to travel took me again. This time it was to be a pilgrimage. My sister and I flew to France and spent close to 40 days walking from St. Jean Pied de Port, over the Pyrenees and across northern Spain on an ancient pilgrim's path called El Camino de Santiago Compostella. After reaching the Atlantic Ocean, we traveled around Spain, Portugal, and France, absorbing the layers of architecture, art, culture and history. Once again the experience of travel, meeting people from many cultures, and seeing museums such as the Louvre and the Guggenheim in Bilbao, gave me a perspective and understanding I could not have gained in any other way.

These experiences have inspired me to open Weaver Design Studio. I continue to travel as often as I can to expand my understanding of various cultures and belief systems. My work regularly takes me to Washington, DC and New York City, both meccas of art and culture. I continue to create sculpture and explore the formal and theoretical aspects of my art. I also continue to build furniture, architectural ironwork, and perform renovations and additions on homes through my company, working toward eventually making my place solely through my art.

With Weaver Design Studio as a platform for building knowledge and experience having to do with operating a small business, I have recently started a new venture. Port City Metal Works is a new company of which I am proud to be one of three owners. With Weaver Designs Studio I was feeling to spread out and was not able to concentrate in any one area. Now I have the opportunity to become more intimate with the metal work and to master one area.

Greg Shelnutt, Winston Salem North Carolina

Greg Shelnutt lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he has been a member of the Visual Arts faculty at the North Carolina School of the Arts since June of 2000. In 2005, he was appointed Director of the Visual Arts Program at NCSA. From 1988 to May of 2000, he taught sculpture at the University of Mississippi, also teaching for the University of Georgia's Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy, in 1991. In 1992 he was a Visiting Artist at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia. He has had residencies at the Community Council for the Arts in Kinston, North Carolina, the Association for Visual Artists in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the New York Mills Arts Retreat in New York Mills, Minnesota. He received a Regional Artist Project Grant from the Arts Council of Winston-Salem Forsyth County in 2003, and in 1994 he received a Visual Artist Fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission and an Emerging Artist Grant from the Jerome Foundation.

Brian Glaze, Flat Rock North Carolina

Growing up in northeastern Ohio I have been surrounded by the steel industry. With origins of my family dating back five generations to England, I feel a strong connection to metal based materials. My work has grown from traditional steel sculpture, mixed medium, to collaborative multimedia performance. Digital mediums have become an important part of my research, not only to further my scope of traditional sculpture, but the exploration new avenues. To reinvent the reason why you work in a particular medium while incorporating a new element seems natural.

Inspiration can come in a number of ways. Welding and metal casting aside, sound, color, and action can also create a composition from non-traditional materials. Audio and video can reflect another aspect of an artist's medium. The sounds of welding, the crackle of the process, the flow of gas through the regulator, and the glow of the arc brings to viewer into the artists space within environment of creation. Most artwork cheats the observer of this, leaving only the result with little reference of the action. With this other element, the subject matter remains constant, but exposes the viewer into another level of artist's expression. The result of this can include the physical composition, recital, imagery, and sound. All of which is defined by stimulation, time, and the action of the artist.

Currently, my research covers a number of areas of metal sculpture and personal ties to the medium. First, is seen as more traditional approach to sculpture i.e. fabrication and welding. The mainly outdoor steel sculpture, this work utilizes bold color, dramatic compositions, with industrial references. The second, cast metals, comments on raw foundry materials used for metal casting i.e. iron, coke (coal), and creating work in more of a contemporary manner. Third is digital based while still subject remains constant. Where a steel or cast sculpture is limited, the motion, the sound of the act and process is most likely lost in the artists studio. Digital forms (audio/video) of creation have become a way to explore feelings, emotions and memories, which may not be best, represented as a steel sculpture. Finally, is multi-media performance, incorporating all stated areas study, while collaborating with others outside of my discipline. This work deals with music, dance, audio and video, where the physical sculpture is utilized as support, not as a static distraction. With all of these sub categories I of my work I feel exploration limitless, cohesive and satisfying while sharing the commonality of the material and myself.

Daingerfield Ashton, Wingate North Carolina

Tripp Jarvis, Greenville North Carolina

My work is a journey that centers on the expression of relationship between the physical and spiritual worlds and the balance found between the two. I believe that these two essences cannot exist independently of each other. For me the physical world of matter is the vessel and foundation for the spiritual existence. Without the physical the spiritual could not manifest itself and without the spirit the material world be lifeless. I see my sculptures as the fingerprints and vessels of my spirit. They are physical objects in a real, tangible world and can be witnessed in a tactile reality. At the same time they are an expression of my being and reflect my insights, my dreams and all that I find sacred in the world. It is through the interaction of the physical and the spiritual that I begin to find the center of my being. I feel that the connection between these two poles is the heart. As an artist I feel the need to express the ever-awakening nature of the heart in its response to the unfolding perceptions of experience. With each of my sculptures I come to a clearer understanding of the creative nature of the universe and its manifestations in relation to my self. This creative process also reveals another layer and insight into my values, my convictions, my beliefs found the expression of my heart. I think that discovering who we truly are is one of the greatest and most profound experiences.

I refer to my sculptures as “Temple Heart Vessels”. To sum them up they speak about the sacredness of the world (the temple) and the physical world holding the spiritual (the vessel), which together forms the center of my heart and being. Each sculpture is a journey into one of these worlds and many times they embrace each other while always revealing a deeper essence. This has been my journey.

Jim Gallucci, Greensboro North Carolina

website

Jim Gallucci, a graduate of LeMoyne College (BA, English 1973) and Syracuse University (BFA and MFA, Sculpture 1976), has been a sculptor for over 26 years. He was an art instructor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He was an Exhibit Designer for the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro, NC.

Presently, Jim works full time designing and creating/fabricating sculptures in his Greensboro studio assisted by a staff of four people. His commissions can be found in public, corporate, and residential spaces throughout the country and the world. For six years, Jim's work was selected to participate in the “Pier Walk Sculpture Show” in Chicago, IL, the world's largest outdoor sculpture show with an estimated 8.2 million visitors. Jim has been chosen for such international shows as the World Expo 88 in Brisbane, Australia and the 7th Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition at the Utsukushi-ga-hara Open-Air Museum, Hakone, Japan.

Jim's sculptures usually incorporate elements of doors and gateways that invite viewer participation. He believes gates give viewers a literal entry into his work, a portal to an aesthetic journey. In Raleigh, NC, Jim designed a 62' long gate called the “Whisper Gate”for Exploris (a children's interactive global awareness museum). This functional gate is a lyrical interpretation of the world created by sound tubes that wind throughout the structure encouraging people of all ages to whisper messages into the gate. This interaction of discovery and communication brings the global experience to everyone.

Other projects include the “Veteran's Memorial Archways” for Rockville, MD; the “Gate of Opportunity” for the South Trust Bank building, Jacksonville, FL; “Play Ball” the baseball gates for UNC-Greensboro; “9-11 Sculpture Project” two lasting sculptures incorporating 32 tons of World Trade Center steel in remembrance of all the lives lost and affected on September 11, 2001. In 2006, in collaboration with mason artist Brad Spencer, Jim created a gazebo for Wal-Mart corporations first ever public art work.

Jim develops each project with a unique sense of self-expression creating art that captivates viewers.

Mark Brown, Greensboro North Carolina

Website

Connections implied, inherent, imagined, and real between objects, iconography, and materials motivate me conceptually. Physically the work is centered around connections as well; nails, junctions, appliques, knots...all form integral parts of each piece.

Building and the notion of construction have been constant lures since childhood. Sculpture and drawings are both constructed, and both always show traces of their fabrication. Materials are never specific; the works dictate thier make up as they mature.

Alyssa Ray , West Jefferson North Carolina

My name is Alyssa Ray, otherwise known as Mudpie and I am 22 years old. Art is one of the things in the world that really floats my boat. I love to make art with all kinds of materials, but right now I am getting my fine arts degree with a focus in ceramics at the University of North Carolina at Asheville .

Lately I have been building architectural ceramic pieces that are fireplace facades. These pieces comment on the stonemasonry that I do in the summers with my family and they comment on the American worker in general. Public art is a very cool thing and I love being involved in any kind of public project. I have painted two public murals in Ashe County and currently have a collaborative sculpture at the River Sculpture Festival in Asheville . Another one of my passions is casting iron. I love anything that involves a team effort and that is one of the reasons that Imagillaboration was attractive to me.

Children are very important to me and I have a calling to be a public school teacher. I am a North Carolina Teaching Fellow and plan to dedicate a portion of my life to sharing my love of art with young people. For the future, I plan to travel to Ecuador on the Rotary club's cultural ambassadorial scholarship where I will learn Spanish to be able to better communicate with my Spanish speaking students. I also hope to carry out a public mural while I am there. Art is a wonderful journey, and I hope to share it with the world.

Tori Bush, Asheville North Carolina

Has not submitted information or photos for who's who

Rhiannon Scheidt, Raleigh North Carolina

	GROUP 3 FACILITATOR Courtney Ford, Greenville North Carolina Has not submitted information or photos for who's who
	Kyle Lusk, Brevard North Carolina Kyle Lusk is a sculptor and North Carolina native based in Brevard , NC . Kyle has been teaching art and exhibiting his sculptural works regionally and nationally over the last decade and has many works in private collections and on public display throughout North Carolina . Prior to moving to Brevard, Kyle and his family resided in Boone , NC where he taught art and design at Appalachian State University for eight years. Kyle is currently Assistant Professor of Art at Brevard College.
	Josh Weaver, Wilmington North Carolina Website After graduating from East Carolina University with a BFA in metal sculpture, I spent a year and a half traveling and working to support my travels, visiting seven countries including Denmark, Finland, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Canada, and Costa Rica. I then spent some months on a ship in the North Atlantic, sailing through the St. Lawrence Seaway to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. During all of my travels, I keep a visual and written journal of impressions and experiences. I took advantage of the opportunity to visit some of the great museums of the world, including the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, seeing first-hand major works that I had studied in school. I was able to personally experience natural landscapes like the rain forests of Central America, which I had only seen before in the media. Back at home in Wilmington, NC, I developed technical skills in many areas of woodwork, from elaborate trim and finish carpentry, to building furniture, cabinets and related architectural woodwork for a local architect and builder. I have also continued to pursue my interest in metal casting and fabrication, as well as blacksmithing, attending symposia every year in these focus areas, and executing commissions in architectural metal work. In 2003, the call to travel took me again. This time it was to be a pilgrimage. My sister and I flew to France and spent close to 40 days walking from St. Jean Pied de Port, over the Pyrenees and across northern Spain on an ancient pilgrim's path called El Camino de Santiago Compostella. After reaching the Atlantic Ocean, we traveled around Spain, Portugal, and France, absorbing the layers of architecture, art, culture and history. Once again the experience of travel, meeting people from many cultures, and seeing museums such as the Louvre and the Guggenheim in Bilbao, gave me a perspective and understanding I could not have gained in any other way. These experiences have inspired me to open Weaver Design Studio. I continue to travel as often as I can to expand my understanding of various cultures and belief systems. My work regularly takes me to Washington, DC and New York City, both meccas of art and culture. I continue to create sculpture and explore the formal and theoretical aspects of my art. I also continue to build furniture, architectural ironwork, and perform renovations and additions on homes through my company, working toward eventually making my place solely through my art. With Weaver Design Studio as a platform for building knowledge and experience having to do with operating a small business, I have recently started a new venture. Port City Metal Works is a new company of which I am proud to be one of three owners. With Weaver Designs Studio I was feeling to spread out and was not able to concentrate in any one area. Now I have the opportunity to become more intimate with the metal work and to master one area.
	Greg Shelnutt, Winston Salem North Carolina Greg Shelnutt lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he has been a member of the Visual Arts faculty at the North Carolina School of the Arts since June of 2000. In 2005, he was appointed Director of the Visual Arts Program at NCSA. From 1988 to May of 2000, he taught sculpture at the University of Mississippi, also teaching for the University of Georgia's Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy, in 1991. In 1992 he was a Visiting Artist at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia. He has had residencies at the Community Council for the Arts in Kinston, North Carolina, the Association for Visual Artists in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the New York Mills Arts Retreat in New York Mills, Minnesota. He received a Regional Artist Project Grant from the Arts Council of Winston-Salem Forsyth County in 2003, and in 1994 he received a Visual Artist Fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission and an Emerging Artist Grant from the Jerome Foundation.
	Brian Glaze, Flat Rock North Carolina Growing up in northeastern Ohio I have been surrounded by the steel industry. With origins of my family dating back five generations to England, I feel a strong connection to metal based materials. My work has grown from traditional steel sculpture, mixed medium, to collaborative multimedia performance. Digital mediums have become an important part of my research, not only to further my scope of traditional sculpture, but the exploration new avenues. To reinvent the reason why you work in a particular medium while incorporating a new element seems natural. Inspiration can come in a number of ways. Welding and metal casting aside, sound, color, and action can also create a composition from non-traditional materials. Audio and video can reflect another aspect of an artist's medium. The sounds of welding, the crackle of the process, the flow of gas through the regulator, and the glow of the arc brings to viewer into the artists space within environment of creation. Most artwork cheats the observer of this, leaving only the result with little reference of the action. With this other element, the subject matter remains constant, but exposes the viewer into another level of artist's expression. The result of this can include the physical composition, recital, imagery, and sound. All of which is defined by stimulation, time, and the action of the artist. Currently, my research covers a number of areas of metal sculpture and personal ties to the medium. First, is seen as more traditional approach to sculpture i.e. fabrication and welding. The mainly outdoor steel sculpture, this work utilizes bold color, dramatic compositions, with industrial references. The second, cast metals, comments on raw foundry materials used for metal casting i.e. iron, coke (coal), and creating work in more of a contemporary manner. Third is digital based while still subject remains constant. Where a steel or cast sculpture is limited, the motion, the sound of the act and process is most likely lost in the artists studio. Digital forms (audio/video) of creation have become a way to explore feelings, emotions and memories, which may not be best, represented as a steel sculpture. Finally, is multi-media performance, incorporating all stated areas study, while collaborating with others outside of my discipline. This work deals with music, dance, audio and video, where the physical sculpture is utilized as support, not as a static distraction. With all of these sub categories I of my work I feel exploration limitless, cohesive and satisfying while sharing the commonality of the material and myself.
	Daingerfield Ashton, Wingate North Carolina
	Tripp Jarvis, Greenville North Carolina My work is a journey that centers on the expression of relationship between the physical and spiritual worlds and the balance found between the two. I believe that these two essences cannot exist independently of each other. For me the physical world of matter is the vessel and foundation for the spiritual existence. Without the physical the spiritual could not manifest itself and without the spirit the material world be lifeless. I see my sculptures as the fingerprints and vessels of my spirit. They are physical objects in a real, tangible world and can be witnessed in a tactile reality. At the same time they are an expression of my being and reflect my insights, my dreams and all that I find sacred in the world. It is through the interaction of the physical and the spiritual that I begin to find the center of my being. I feel that the connection between these two poles is the heart. As an artist I feel the need to express the ever-awakening nature of the heart in its response to the unfolding perceptions of experience. With each of my sculptures I come to a clearer understanding of the creative nature of the universe and its manifestations in relation to my self. This creative process also reveals another layer and insight into my values, my convictions, my beliefs found the expression of my heart. I think that discovering who we truly are is one of the greatest and most profound experiences. I refer to my sculptures as “Temple Heart Vessels”. To sum them up they speak about the sacredness of the world (the temple) and the physical world holding the spiritual (the vessel), which together forms the center of my heart and being. Each sculpture is a journey into one of these worlds and many times they embrace each other while always revealing a deeper essence. This has been my journey.
	Jim Gallucci, Greensboro North Carolina website Jim Gallucci, a graduate of LeMoyne College (BA, English 1973) and Syracuse University (BFA and MFA, Sculpture 1976), has been a sculptor for over 26 years. He was an art instructor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He was an Exhibit Designer for the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro, NC. Presently, Jim works full time designing and creating/fabricating sculptures in his Greensboro studio assisted by a staff of four people. His commissions can be found in public, corporate, and residential spaces throughout the country and the world. For six years, Jim's work was selected to participate in the “Pier Walk Sculpture Show” in Chicago, IL, the world's largest outdoor sculpture show with an estimated 8.2 million visitors. Jim has been chosen for such international shows as the World Expo 88 in Brisbane, Australia and the 7th Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition at the Utsukushi-ga-hara Open-Air Museum, Hakone, Japan. Jim's sculptures usually incorporate elements of doors and gateways that invite viewer participation. He believes gates give viewers a literal entry into his work, a portal to an aesthetic journey. In Raleigh, NC, Jim designed a 62' long gate called the “Whisper Gate”for Exploris (a children's interactive global awareness museum). This functional gate is a lyrical interpretation of the world created by sound tubes that wind throughout the structure encouraging people of all ages to whisper messages into the gate. This interaction of discovery and communication brings the global experience to everyone. Other projects include the “Veteran's Memorial Archways” for Rockville, MD; the “Gate of Opportunity” for the South Trust Bank building, Jacksonville, FL; “Play Ball” the baseball gates for UNC-Greensboro; “9-11 Sculpture Project” two lasting sculptures incorporating 32 tons of World Trade Center steel in remembrance of all the lives lost and affected on September 11, 2001. In 2006, in collaboration with mason artist Brad Spencer, Jim created a gazebo for Wal-Mart corporations first ever public art work. Jim develops each project with a unique sense of self-expression creating art that captivates viewers.
	Mark Brown, Greensboro North Carolina Website Connections implied, inherent, imagined, and real between objects, iconography, and materials motivate me conceptually. Physically the work is centered around connections as well; nails, junctions, appliques, knots...all form integral parts of each piece. Building and the notion of construction have been constant lures since childhood. Sculpture and drawings are both constructed, and both always show traces of their fabrication. Materials are never specific; the works dictate thier make up as they mature.
	Alyssa Ray , West Jefferson North Carolina My name is Alyssa Ray, otherwise known as Mudpie and I am 22 years old. Art is one of the things in the world that really floats my boat. I love to make art with all kinds of materials, but right now I am getting my fine arts degree with a focus in ceramics at the University of North Carolina at Asheville . Lately I have been building architectural ceramic pieces that are fireplace facades. These pieces comment on the stonemasonry that I do in the summers with my family and they comment on the American worker in general. Public art is a very cool thing and I love being involved in any kind of public project. I have painted two public murals in Ashe County and currently have a collaborative sculpture at the River Sculpture Festival in Asheville . Another one of my passions is casting iron. I love anything that involves a team effort and that is one of the reasons that Imagillaboration was attractive to me. Children are very important to me and I have a calling to be a public school teacher. I am a North Carolina Teaching Fellow and plan to dedicate a portion of my life to sharing my love of art with young people. For the future, I plan to travel to Ecuador on the Rotary club's cultural ambassadorial scholarship where I will learn Spanish to be able to better communicate with my Spanish speaking students. I also hope to carry out a public mural while I am there. Art is a wonderful journey, and I hope to share it with the world.
	Tori Bush, Asheville North Carolina Has not submitted information or photos for who's who
	Rhiannon Scheidt, Raleigh North Carolina