FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 7, 2013

Artspace                                          CONTACT:201 E. Davie St. Shana Dumont Garr, Director of Programs & ExhibitionsRaleigh, NC 27601 sgarr@artspacenc.orgwww.artspacenc.org 919.821.2787

Dear Nature on Display at Artspace Starting September 6Exhibition Dates: September 6-October 26

First Friday Gallery Walks: September 6 & October 4Discussion & Dance Performance: September 18, 7-8:30 p.m.

Raleigh, N.C. – Artspace, a non-profit visual art center located in downtown Raleigh, N.C., will display the exhibition Dear Nature in its Gallery 2 from September 6-October 26, 2013. Dear Nature features artwork by artists Natalie Abrams, Cynthia Camlin, and Mi-Sook Hur.

In conjunction with Dear Nature, Artspace is collaborating with Code f.a.d. Company, who will choreograph a dance inspired by this exhibition. Code f.a.d. will give three ten-minute performances, which will take place at the top of each hour during September's First Friday Gallery Walk (7:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m., & 9:00 p.m.). A continuous, 30-minute performance, followed by a discussion between Code f.a.d.'s Artistic Director, Autumn Mist Belk and participating Dear Nature artist Natalie Abrams, moderated by Director of Programs & Exhibitions, Shana Dumont Garr, will take place on Wednesday September 18, 7-8:30 p.m. Follow Artistic Director Autumn Mist Belk's experience on the dance company's blog.

Exploring the core of Dear Nature, art critic Dave Delcambre observes:

A constant dialogue with nature (positive or not), seems in fact deeply rooted in our modus operandi, perpetually engaging us on multiple levels. Not only is the ever-changing tableau of the natural world (and perhaps most importantly our interactions with it) a constantly roving target, but the particular challenges of capturing and representing such variety is an especially daunting one given nature’s familiarity and the simple fact that we think we know the natural world better than we actually do.

Interesting to note in this exhibition, aptly entitled Dear Nature, is how one certain trio of artists - Mi-Sook Hur, Cynthia Camlin and Natalie Abrams - unflinchingly grapple with these issues head on. Within their work, time and process are inextricably interwoven so much so that it is often difficult to tell where each begins / ends and / or begets the other.

Artist Natalie Abrams utilizes wax on wood panel to create sculptural, fluid pieces that reflect on concepts that include transition, capturing moments of time, how our systems and relationships mimic those found in the natural world, and the disregard we sometimes have towards the future while acting in the present. Abrams has exhibited work throughout the United States at venues including Ball State University Atrium Gallery, Muncie, I.N.; Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, A.Z.; The Gallery at R & F Paint, Kingston, N.Y.; and the Denver International Airport, Denver, C.O. Abrams was recently a Summer Affiliate Artist at the McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, N.C. Abrams was also recently awarded a scholarship grant from the Seventh International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, M.A. and, in conjunction with the conference, curated the exhibition Losing Ground, Gaining Perspective at Gallery X at Castel Hill, Provincetown, M.A. In 2014, Abrams will have a solo exhibition at City Ice Arts in Kansas City.

With watercolors painted on screenprints, Cynthia Camlin focuses on, in her words, “Interpreting erosion, cracking, melting, refreezing through abstracted forms, … [asking] how it would look for a glacier to melt, if you could watch the whole process decade to decade from above.” Camlin received a M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from the University of Texas at Austin. Among her solo and two-person exhibitions are those at Punch Gallery, Seattle, W.A. and 1708 Gallery, Richmond, V.A. Her recent group exhibitions include the 10thAnnual Northwest Biennial, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, W.A. and The Gaia Factor: Sandy Gellis, Cynthia Camlin, and Deborah Springstead Ford, Semmes Gallery, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, T.X. In 2012, Camlin was a finalist for the Neddy at Cornish Award in Painting. Other awards include an Individual Artist Fellowship, West Virginia Commission on the Arts; a Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, V.T.; and a Creative Fellowship Award from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. Mi-Sook Hur uses casting to multiply and divide shapes and structures found in nature, like those of peppers and seedpods, exploring ideas of repetition, seasons, and cycles. Hur earned a M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, W.I. She is a three-time winner of the North Carolina Regional Artist Project Grant. Hur has won several awards for her work, including Best in Show for the 1st Fine Art Juried Exhibition, Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, N.C. and at the 24th Annual National Juried Fine Arts Exhibition, Wayne County’s Art Council, Goldsboro, N.C. Recent exhibitions include Mi-Sook Hur, Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge Gallery, Greenville, N.C.; Craft Forms 2012, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, P.A.; Two Views: Komelia Okim & Mi-Sook Hur, Quirk Gallery, Richmond, V.A.; Refined VII: Inspiration, Reavley Gallery, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, T.X.; and Preyed Upon, Art Avenue Gallery, Greenville, N.C.

Image Information: Cynthia Camlin, Glacial Speed, nos. 42-53

ABOUT ARTSPACE:Artspace is a nonprofit visual art center dedicated to providing arts education and community outreach programs, creating an environment of more than 100 professional artists and presenting nationally acclaimed exhibitions. Located in downtown Raleigh in the historic Sanders Ford building, Artspace has been providing the community with the opportunity to interact with working artists and to participate in hands-on arts education since 1986. For more information about Artspace, exhibitions, programs, or membership, please visit www.artspacenc.org.

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