Human Remains

I just returned from a volunteer shift at the Visual Art Exchange, serving as a gallery-sitter on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The VAE is currently hosting a small group show in its Exchange Gallery that includes two of my own paintings. The show remains on view through next weekend.

This week's featured painting (above) is "Human Remains." Completed last summer, the work is based on an actual house in Columbus, Ohio. I chose to depict it as a derelict ruin, and transplanted it into a moody tropical setting. The concept of painting a demolished house came to me one day while driving on a long trip, but I let the idea ruminate in my creative thoughts for about a year. Finally, I settled upon this composition and chose a title that captured the darkness of the subject matter.

"Human Remains." Oil on stretched canvas, 24 x 30 inches. Completed July 2010.

Morning in America

Despite suffering from a head cold, I have been working on several behind-the-scenes business aspects of my visual art career this week. Last Sunday I spent several hours restyling my visual art web site, www.kennetheugenepeters.com. My site is hosted by Yahoo! Small Business Solutions, and I decided to move to their Sitebuilder web authoring program to maintain the site. It has made web updates much easier, so I restyled all of the main pages within the site. I have also submitted two new solo exhibition proposals to local arts organizations (Durham Arts Council and the Chapel Hill Public Arts Office). While I have not been in front of a canvas, it's been a busy week.

This week's featured canvas is "Morning in America," completed last July. Based on structures I sketched and photographed during my Columbus, Ohio days, I placed the buildings in a dawn setting. The title is a play on Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election theme; the irony seemed to fit this canvas well.

"Morning in America." Oil on stretched canvas, 24 x 36 inches. Completed July 2010.

Exchange Gallery Opening

The trip to Savannah, Georgia last weekend was a refreshing change of pace, and has helped recharge my creative batteries. The weather was spectacular - sunny and mid-70s - and I was able to capture many images that I hope to use as source material for future works.

Last night was the opening reception for the small four-person show I am in this month at the Exchange Gallery, located at the front of the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh. Included in the exhibit are N. Lee Ball, Emily Lees, LC Neill and Sterling E. Stevens. The weather did not choose to cooperate on this night, however (cold, steady rain) so the First Friday crowd in Downtown Raleigh was sparse. The exhibit will remain on view until February 24. The Visual Art Exchange is located at 325 Blake Street (City Market) and is open Tuesdays-Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.