Tuesday, August 08, 2000

Wilmington Artist Maike Walbrecht and Jacksonville Artist Catherine Broadhead to Exhibit at the University Union and Warwick Center

Wilmington, NC -- UNCW Arts in Action is hosting exhibits by artists Maike Walbrecht and Catherine Broadhead through Sept. 18 in the University Union and Warwick Center. These exhibits are sponsored by the Activities and Leadership Center as part of its UNCW Arts in Action series.

Born in Germany, Wilmington artist Maike Walbrecht's exhibit "The Sacred Enshrined (A Place of Honor)" is a collection of hand-made, glass-encased boxes, or "shrine boxes," that include textural mosaic of landscapes, artifacts, people and common objects. Many of the boxes aim to enshrine some part of reality that has importance to the people of a particular culture or subculture. The exhibit is in the University Union Living Room.

Having created visual art for as long as she can remember, Walbrecht has worked with video, photography, leather, silver, beading and watercolor. Her boxes contain bits and pieces of each of these passions, along with a diverse assortment of antique and natural objects collaged together to symbolize the possible permanence of hidden realities that speak of beliefs, longings, dreams and beauty.

"My yearning is to leave a trail of colors and images as I travel the song lines of my life, weaving in textures, objects, symbols, and memories," Walbrecht said in describing her work.

Jacksonville artist and North Carolina native, Catherine Broadhead will exhibit her work in the show "Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral (Mostly Animal!)," representing an eclectic array of media forms. A graduate of East Carolina University, her focus has been printmaking, with a special focus on lithography. The artist hand-prints everything, and the editions are quite small. She does not limit herself to any one discipline, choosing a media sympathetic to the intended mood to be conveyed. Her work often includes drawings, painting, mixed-media, and three dimensional form, while choosing to paint, draw, or print depending on an instinctive response. Broadhead's work involves humans or animals and often both. She works to form interesting and dynamic compositions to direct the viewer to focus on the energy of the work.

"I believe a work is successful if some of the mood (whether humorous, exciting, calming, and so forth) I attempt to portray is also felt by the viewer," said Broadhead whose exhibit can be viewed at the UNCW Warwick Center Lobby.

The Warwick Center and University Union are open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 11 p.m. Sundays. The public is invited to view both exhibits. There is no charge for admission.

For more information, contact Shannon Hooker, UNCW Activities and Leadership Center at 910/962-3827 or visit the Arts in Action website at http://www.uncwil.edu/stuaff/arts .