My father passed away a few years ago. Every year my family gets together on his birthday to celebrate and remember him. It’s difficult to describe those get-togethers, because it’s filled with such a mixture of emotions. You know when you laugh so hard you start to cry? It’s kind of like that – but it works both ways.
Likewise, the visit can be both incredibly draining and overwhelmingly fulfilling at the same time. Because of this, we often find ourselves staying at home, because we are just too wiped out and indecisive to do anything else. Not this year, though. This year we went to see some art.
I really like the new animated SECCA (Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art) logo designed by Pentagram’s Luke Hayman. To see the logo in action, check out Secca’s website. For all my fellow design nerds out there, AIGA Raleigh is hosting a talk with the designer next Thursday at Secca, which is located in Winston Salem. Awesome!
Another North Carolina art museum, another Pentagram logo, this time for the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem. In SECCA’s new logo, introduced last Thursday, the letters will change position with virtually every new application. SECCA has no permanent collection, and the dynamic, evolving logo reinforces the ideals set forth in the museum’s mission statement, namely to explore “the dynamic relationship between art and society” and to present “new trends and issues in contemporary art.”
I grew up in Winston Salem and at the time I totally took the city for granted. It was partly because I was too young to take advantage of the really fun things in the city & it was also probably a rebellious attitude of ‘if mom & dad like living here so much, this place must be the dumps.”
I’m older and *wiser* now, and I can finally see that Winston really is a solid place to live. One of the best things it has to offer is the South Easter Center for Contemporary Arts next to the R.J. Reynolds mansion. The last time I visited SECCA they had David Byrne’s tree drawing installtion on exhibit, which was quite a treat.
I was saddened to see recently, however, that SECCA is closed for the entire year of 2009 for renovations! Fortunately the good people at the musem planned ahead for this situation & have invited seven renowned artists to set up installations throughout the city. The series is appropriately called ‘Artists in the Community,” and the first installtion is from Charlie Brouwer. This piece was entitled ‘Rise up Winston-Salem’ and was constructed in the historic Old Salem.
Charlie was born in Holland, Michigan and has spent most of his life in the north. Since then he’s taken to the south and is currently nestled in the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virigina. His outdoor installation work certainly seems to incorporate southern spirituality; so much so, in fact, that I was rather surprised he didn’t grow up around here.
