NC Art Outreach Program

I was one of 20 NC artists selected to present their work again in front of a panel of arts professionals. Sixty artists participated in the first round of presentations. This time the panel will consist of art professionals from NYC. The presentations will occur on April 23, 2013 at the Greensboro Cultural Center. I am thrilled and honored to have been one of the twenty selected. Now it's time to practice! A giant thanks to Edie Carpenter for organizing this event! Edie is the Director of Curatorial & Artistic Programs of the Green Hill Center for NC Art in Greensboro, NC.

The panelists are: ​Lilly Wei, Peter Plagens, Miles Manning

NC Museum of Art - exhibition installation

El Anatsui exhibition installation, April, 2012. Tom Lopez, Jonathan Brilliant, Drew Robertson, me, Michael Klauke and I forgot her name.

I spent a week at the museum helping install the current exhibit by El Anatsui - one of contemporary art’s most celebrated practitioners—from his early woodwork in Ghana to today’s metal wall sculptures created in his studio in Nigeria. It is always fun to work with everyone at the museum. I'll be back in July to pack up the show. I'm glad because it pays well!

Stacey Kirby, me (with the beard) and the registrar from the African Art Museum in NYC. (Still can't remember her name).

This piece consisted of around 1,200 boxes that had to be specifically placed. There were many changes that had to be made in the layout. Crazy!

NC Museum of Art - 2nd Annual Art of the Auction

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"Discombobulated", acrylic on canvas, 18x18 in.

"Discombobulated", acrylic on canvas, 24x24 in. The NCMA has selected this painting to be auctioned for their annual fundraiser. I'm happy to contribute to a worthy institution and am honored to have been selected. For more information: http://ncartmuseum.org/calendar/event/2012/04/14/art_of_the_auction/1900/

NCMA Art of the Auction, 2012 - Warren Hicks

NCMA preview party, April 30, 2012

NBC exposure: "The Fusion Confusion Illusion"

This painting was featured on the local NBC program "My Carolina Today" in the "Chick Chat" segment on Jan.31, 2012 . It aired immediately after the "Today" show. They introduced the painting, asked if I worked for Dr. Seuss after saying the title and announced the opening of my solo exhibition at Art Space. I would like to thank Art Space for making this happen!!

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"The Fusion Confusion Illusion", acrylic on linen, 18x18 in.

This is the link to the previously mentioned program. NBC- My Carolina Today WARNING! This show is painfully cheesy so you can skip past the first 63 seconds to get to the 48 second clip about the painting. If you love cheesy shows then you're in for a special treat! I'm not complaining though. It was great exposure and the painting remained on the set for a week!

Solo Exhibition at Art Space in Raleigh, NC

I never got around to posting this but this is the series that was on exhibit during the month of Feb., at Art Space in Raleigh, NC. There were 10 paintings in total on display. If you click on this image you can see the entire series of 21 paintings.

"The Viral Spiral", acrylic on linen, 36x36 in.

A battle-worn soldier

Old Faithful

This is the brush that I've used for most of this entire series of new paintings. It has been in use off and on for over 9 years. This image was taken a few months ago so the brush is even a little more worse for wear. I've started breaking in some new brushes but this one will always have a special place in my heart. It's only a mater of a few short weeks before I'll have to send it off to brush heaven. The technique I've been using for this series requires the crappiest brushes I can find.

2011 Open Studio Tour conclusion

It's over! This year's Tour brought 238 visitors to my house to see my new work. That is a new record. Last year I had 164! The weather was perfect so that might be a big contributing factor.  I thoroughly enjoyed see so many new faces and all of the great conversations I had with visitors. Time to start preparing for next year. Just kidding. I always wait until the last minute. So now it's time to start procrastinating.

NC Museum of Art

In September I was contracted by NCMA to help with the take-down and packing/shipping of the  30 Americans exhibition. It was a five day job that I thoroughly enjoyed, even though those crates can get very heavy. It was my first time working at that museum and I made some new friends with the staff. Now I have worked with every major museum in the Triangle area. The 30 Americans exhibition is from the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, FL. NCMA was the first museum to exhibit the work. The show is now on display at the Corcoran Museum in D.C.

The next exhibition at NCMA is Rembrandt in America. Unfortunately I won't be helping to install it. I'd love to get my hands on a Rembrandt!

2012 solo exhibitions announced!

Hooray for me! I've just secured my third solo show for 2012, all within a six month period. I want to produce three separate bodies of work so I'm not just shuffling paintings from one venue to the next. This is quite a challenge and I'm already starting to sweat. The dates seem far away on paper but the work needs to be completed at least two months beforehand. The reality is that I can’t paint every day and more importantly, and unfortunately, every painting I make isn’t always that good. Some just suck. The other brick dangling over my head is the constant fear of running out of ideas or just becoming repetitive. That’s the nature of the creative beast. She’s a harsh mistress.

February 2012: ArtSpace, Raleigh
April 2012: Durham Art Guild, Durham, NC
July 2012: Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill, NC

ArtSpace - Raleigh

My paintings exhibited at ArtSpace received the People's Choice Award last week during Raleigh's 1st Friday Art Walk. I will also have a solo exhibition at ArtSpace in February 2012! So far 2011 has become one of my best years and it's only July. I'm still waiting to hear whether or not I'll get a solo show for my stuffed animal series Fur Gone Wild. It's probably a long shot but someone out there has to be crazy enough to exhibit them. Anyone?

NC Museum of Art - Raleigh, NC

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"I Ran Out of Titles #21"
acrylic and ink on paper, 6x6 in.

The NCMA just had their first fund raising auction to help support their community outreach programs. North Carolina artists were invited to submit works for consideration to be included in the silent auction. This is the first time I've ever donated an original piece of art to any organization (there's a good reason but I won't go into that now) but this seemed like a great opportunity and it was.

The craziest part about it was that you had to be selected to give a painting away. Luckily this piece along with many other works by NC artists were selected. There were over 350 submissions and only 125 selections (or something close to that number. The preview exhibition was displayed in the museum for two or three weeks leading up to the auction.

El Greco to Velazquez exhibition

El-Greco exhibition installation at Nasher Museum at Duke University

Besides being a full-time artist, I'm also an art preparator/ art handler. I've worked as a contractor for exhibition installations and take-downs for the NC Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum at Duke University, Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh and the Ackland Museum at UNC. There are also jobs in corporate collections as well.

My favorite gig was at the Nasher installing the "El Greco to Velazquez" exhibition in 2008. These photos were in the News & Observer paper and web site. I'm so proud of my hands! It's about time they get the recognition they deserve.

Even though it's part-time work, it helps pay the studio rent and I get to be around great art.

My hands writing down hanging math.