Four Artists represent VGCC in State exhibition
The 16th North Carolina Community Colleges Art Exhibition is officially open for public viewing in downtown Raleigh, and it includes four works representing Vance-Granville Community College. Paintings by Laurie Stephens and Jean Quick, both of Oxford, and quilts by Peggy Stocks and May Thurber, both of Manson, were selected to take their place among the 139 pieces of art by students and employees from colleges across the state. The exhibit features a wide variety of media ranging from paintings and sculpture, to functional pieces such as lamps and jewelry. Several submissions to the two-year (2013-2015) exhibition showcase the history of community colleges in North Carolina, because this collection also serves to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the N.C. Community College System . All of the pieces of art are displayed in the Caswell Building (200 W. Jones Street), headquarters for the N.C. Community College System Office.
The selection from Stephens is a watercolor called “Mountain Snow.” Stephens said that she has been painting since she was a teenager and continues to take personal enrichment art classes at VGCC. She has another community college connection, since she earned a degree in Commercial Art/Advertising from Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte. She regularly shows works of art in the Kerr Lake Art Society shows held at VGCC, winning prizes several times.
Quick is another VGCC personal enrichment art student who has won prizes in several Kerr Lake Art Shows. Her work in the exhibit is an acrylic painting called “Autumn Bounty.”
Stocks, who has taught quilting classes at VGCC since 1995 and has made more than 100 quilts herself, said that her winning piece of art, a wall hanging called “Mariner’s Compass,” is “intricate as far as quilting goes. Some call it art. The small stars and border print are difficult to do but very rewarding.” She calls quilting “my joy and my passion.”
Thurber, one of Stocks’s students, said that even though she is the daughter and granddaughter of quilters, it took her many years to take up the craft. “After attending several semesters of quilting at Vance-Granville Community College, I decided I needed a challenge,” Thurber said, of her selected quilt, “Star of Bethlehem,” which was inspired by a picture in her VGCC class workbook. “After many hours of selecting fabrics, piecing and quilting, this is the result.”
The N.C. Community College System Office partnered with Johnston Community College’s Fine Arts Department to install the artwork. The exhibition will be on display for two years, and can be viewed via virtual tour at http://www.nccommunitycolleges.edu/pr/ArtExhibit/ . Public tours are available on a limited basis and may be scheduled by calling (919) 807-7100.
For more information on Art, Quilting and other Personal Enrichment/Community Services classes at VGCC, contact Theresa Somerville at (252) 738-3427.
Above: The painting, “Autumn Bounty,” by Jean Quick of Oxford. (VGCC photo)
Above: The painting, “Mountain Snow” by Laurie Stephens of Oxford. (VGCC photo)
Above: The quilt, “Mariner’s Compass,” by Peggy Stocks of Manson. (VGCC photo)
Above: The quilt, “Star of Bethlehem,” by May Thurber of Manson. (VGCC photo)
