“Drawing From the Human Form” exhibit opens at TC Arts, Aug. 22

From a press release:

“Drawing From the Human Form” exhibit opens at TC Arts, Aug. 22

The Transylvania Community Arts Council will host their new exhibit “Drawing From the Human Form” from August 22 – September 19. This exhibit will feature the artwork of Ben Long, James Daniel, and Angela Cunningham.  Mediums include: drawings, paintings and sculpture about the human form. Curator for this exhibit is Ann DerGara of Red Wolf Gallery. The public is invited to a reception at the TC Arts Council on Friday, August 22 during Brevard’s 4th Friday Gallery Walk from 5-9 pm.

Ben Long is a classical realist painter, who focuses on the human figure. Long is known for his portraits, drawings and fresco work. In addition to his prolific fresco work, Long has had works in the Royal Academy as well as the Royal Portrait Society (London, UK). He has exhibited in Florence, London, Paris, Atlanta, San Francisco, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and is represented in major collections throughout Europe and the Americas. He has lived and worked in Europe for over thirty years and now divides his time between Europe and the United States. In 2001, Long was awarded the coveted Arthur Ross Award for Excellence in the Classical Tradition (Classical America, New York, New York) by Philippe de Montebello (current and longest-serving Curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Mr. de Montebello has referred to Long as the greatest draftsman of the 20th Century. This same year he founded the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas in Asheville, NC, a school devoted to teaching the fundamentals of classical realism in the way of the old masters.

James Daniel has been working professionally as an artist for over twenty years. He studied painting at Savannah College of Art, but, craving for a more traditional approach he decided that the time tested apprentice master relationship was the best way to acquire the desired skills.  He began his search for a working artist/teacher and found, in Southern-Pines, NC, his first taste of traditional realism with Jeffrey Mims.  After three months working with Jeffrey he was encouraged to attend the Paul Ingbretson Atelier in Boston.  He spent three years there before moving to Florence, Italy where he enrolled in the Charles Cecil Studio.  He then found Romano Stefanelli.  Stefanelli was a long time student of Italian maestro Pietro Annigoni and was exactly what James was looking for.  Over the next year or so James visited Stefanelli’s studio weekly to receive critiques and watch the maestro work.  James returned to the U.S. in 1996, and needed a new master teacher.  Long story short…he found Ben Long, a North Carolina native like himself and also a student of Pietro Annigoni.  Long was just about to begin a fresco project in Charlotte so James packed up and moved there.  Little did he know that that move would prove to be the end of his search.  He continued to work with Long on seven frescoes over an eight year period.

Angela Cunningham is portrait painter and genre-painter and sculptor in a naturalistic and realistic style. She finds artistic inspiration from many artists, especially the Naturalists of the late 19th century (Emile Fraint, William Bliss Baker), the late 19th Century Russian Realists (Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi), the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, and contemporary artists Bruno Walpoth, Sally Mann, and Nicola Hicks.  Cunningham said, “My inspiration is the character and individuality of the models and subjects. I enjoy working from life. I feel it’s the best way to see the intricacies of the subject’s form but also a great way to interact and be inspired by the personality of the life in front of me. Painting is a way of reading the world and getting lost in observing it, but it’s also an interaction, an understanding, and a relationship. Every individual has something that is unique. I’m fascinated to learn each particular person’s character, traits, thoughts, and quirks. And no matter how different we are as individuals, there is an underlying element of commonality. We can all relate to art that reveals someone’s contained emotions and inner thoughts, that triggers a glimpse into humanity.”

This exhibit at the TC Arts Council will run August 22 – September 19. The TC Arts Council and Gallery are located at 349 S. Caldwell Street in Brevard, NC. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm. For more information call the TC Arts Council at 828-884-2787 or go to www.tcarts.org.