Raleigh Rambles

MUSA – “making” in the US today

The MUSA show at Cozart’s Antiques in west downtown Raleigh (just closed October 18th) was varied, intriguing and successful in presenting artistic takes on the issues behind the show’s concept – work and making things in the post-industrial age.  The show was held in a back  space which formerly housed a furniture factory.  I have formerly described my personal connections to the space and its employees.  I went opening night and then back for more pictures.  There were a scattering of very interesting installations within this large show, and these were what I focused on.

One striking installation had some very cool craft history associated with it.  Jon Barlow Hudson’s  “Felt Hat Body” also offered a chapbook called “The Handmade Felt Hat.” I picked one up and found it, as a papermaker, a wonderful history of the craft and the culture surrounding it.  There was also a beautiful accordion book by Kathleen Loeven on display, seen below.

The show was incorporated into its space in a unique way.  Many trappings of the former furniture works were still in place – from commercial tin decoration samples to the old paint shop.  One of the installations used spray paint and objects to evoke the history of the place’s paints. The large back room featured a working silk screen process as well as the installation of “Invisible,” the music group that played at the opening and other project events.  Below, an Invisible member sets the pegs on the player piano wheel that provided some of the random sounds.

The artwork was extremely variable in style and quality.  My favorite piece by far was a large contraption that hung clay “icicles” over a pan of water.  As visitors pushed the lever that lowered them into the water, the blobs of clay were soaked and softened.  Gradually they would slip off their strings and fall into the water creating an evolving pattern in the water.  Below is a picture I snapped just after a young woman had been splashed by a sudden plop.

Another very fun piece was the shrine to highway US 1  by Dave Alsobrooks that was installed in a small side room.  There was a church pew, a slide show of the artist’s road trip (whose imagery was “desaturated” for effect), and -best of all- a US1 bumper sticker which I have proudly displayed on my car!  I liked the artist’s attempt to “find beauty in the mundane” and really like his description of the piece recording “the constant plodding of our human race towards an unknown future…”

Highway US 1 shrine

The show was a lot of fun and thought-provoking as well.  The gritty, down-n-dirty atmosphere provided an excellent setting for much of the art work.  Carter Hubbard and Sarah Botwick are to be commended for finding a way to enlarge the possibilities for art events in downtown Raleigh.

art house at the MUSA show

photo album of MUSA show

October 24, 2009 - Posted by raleighnaturalist | art, Raleigh downtown, Raleigh history | art, Carter Hubbard, Raleigh downtown