Nature has long been a muse to visual artists. Art works that express both awe and anguish have recorded our changing landscapes and inspired viewers to appreciate and value our natural world. Visual images have been convincing tools in conservation efforts, playing a large role in environmental politics for well over a century.
One of this region’s most valuable natural resources, the Catawba River, has been the catalyst for our cultural history, from its earliest Catawba Indian inhabitants, through European settlements, to industrial utilization, and current recreational and developmental uses. Changes to the river’s waters and shoreline show evidence of human use and abuse. That change has been drastic and is still occurring rapidly, without adequate documentation.
For RIVER DOCS, six artists were commissioned to ‘document’ the Catawba River for one year from fall 2006 through summer 2007, from its headwaters just below Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina, to Lake Wateree, South Carolina. – June Lambla, Curator
Artist Biographies:
Raymond Grubb, Photographer
Raymond Grubb blends usual perceptions of documentary photography, to ‘capture the moment’, with artistic nostalgia and manipulation. Raymond focused on the upper sections of the Catawba River from its headwaters, through Lake James and the first free flowing part of the river, to Morganton, Lake Rhodhiss and Lake Hickory.
Raymond Grubb has been a free-lance photographer for over twenty years. A previous McColl Center for Visual Art affiliate artist, he has received numerous regional and state awards.
Byron Baldwin, Photographer
Byron Baldwin’s expansive, panoramic photographs aptly mimic the form of the Catawba River as it widens into Lake Norman south of I-40. Through this section, and as it drops into Mountain Island Lake and Lake Wylie, the river experiences its most dense usage, its most extreme development, and possibly its most drastic abuse.
Byron Baldwin has been a photographer and photography teacher for over thirty-seven years. Teaching and traveling have forged a photographic style that lets both students and viewers learn more about other cultures and communities as well as themselves.
Nancy Pierce, Photographer
Nancy comes to the RIVER DOCS project with both a commitment to photojournalistic objectivity and a passion for environmental activism. The lower river sections documented by Nancy, below the Lake Wylie Dam until the river empties into Lake Wateree, are subject to their own spills and contamination in addition to what flows from upstream.
As a photojournalist and previous staff photographer for The Charlotte Observer and the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin, Nancy Pierce has received numerous news, feature and sports photography awards from the National Press Photographers Association.
Mike Wirth, Digital Media Artist
Mike Wirth’s vision for RIVER DOCS was to map the river through digital media, recorded sounds, interviews and digitally scanned photos. Incorporating collected photographs that were contributed by folks living near or using the river, he designed an interactive installation that allows viewers to watch and interact with various images flowing past on the monitor.
Mike Wirth is an artist, filmmaker and educator who uses technology as his central medium. He conducts classes and research at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Art Institute of Charlotte.
Marek Ranis and Maja Godlewska, Installation Artists
Installation artists Marek Ranis and Maja Godlewska give context to the many individual interpretations of the Catawba River in RIVER DOCS. Maps of the river, showing changes before and after dam constructions, depict a startling perspective on time and distance. This physical evolution is largely a result of industrialization, molding a natural, completely free-flowing river into a series of ‘man-made’ lakes and dams.
Maja Godlewska and Marek Ranis were born and educated in Wroclaw, Poland, and have lived in Charlotte, North Carolina since 1997. Both Maja and Marek work as artists and teach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. They share a studio as guest artists at Little Italy Peninsula Art Center in Mt. Holly, NC, and are represented by Joie Lassiter Gallery.
When:
March 29, 2008 through January 4th, 2009
Opening Reception:
Friday, March 28th 6-8pm
Where:
Museum of York County
4621 Mount Gallant Road, Rock Hill, SC
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Museum Website:
chmuseums.org
Related Programming:
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