Past

Coming Home: Friends & Family of Jim Biggers

May 8 – August 14, 2010

This show, guest curated by Jim Biggers, brings together thirteen artists with ties to North Carolina and the Gaston County area.  Each artist has his or her own style and medium, but together they express their unique talents and shared heritage. 

Many of the artists are national and internationally known, with their artwork located in galleries, museums, and private homes all over the world.

“This exhibit is the gathering of a portion of my ‘Artist Family’, for the visual acknowledgement of diversity in our human family. We honor the contributions of our elders who established the paths and gave direction, insight, and the ordering of possibilities to create the foundations that give voice to these visions. Thank you for this opportunity to share this experience with you.”  

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Colorscapes by Katie Wall Prodracky

June 29 – August 28, 2010

Organic branch forms and intense seasonal tree colors have long intrigued me when it comes to painting the trees. Perhaps the intrigue stems from playing in the wooded area next to my parent’s Asheboro home, or even that summer job in the biology lab that had me collecting leaf samples from the Dogwoods of the Shenandoah Valley. 

In every painting I attempt to capture extravagant color, swirling movement and elegant patterns of light and dark. I fuse my fascination with nature, background in biology and my own love of intense color to create art that surprises and delights. Each painting is an exploration of color as light and a celebration of the art of living every day to the fullest.

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Healing the Children: The North Carolina Orthopedic Hospital

September 12, 2009 through March 6, 2010

This unique exhibit featured oral histories from the patients and staff, photographs, and artifacts relating to NCOH. The North Carolina Orthopedic Hospital treated a wide range of diseases and conditions - from birth defects to polio to burns. 

NCOH was one of the leading orthopedic hospitals in the country and developed procedures still being used by doctors today.  The hospital was also a major teaching institution for resident physicians and nurses. The hospital closed in 1979, but the building still remains on New Hope Road in Gastonia.

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Standing on a Box:
Lewis Hine’s National Child Labor Committee Photography, Gaston County, 1908

November 8, 2008 through February, 2009

This exhibit was one component of Standing on a Box: Lewis Hine’s National Child Labor Committee Photography, Gaston County, 1908, a multi-part community project exploring Greater Gaston’s early twentieth-century textile history and its influence on Gaston County’s present and future.       

The Standing on a Box exhibit showcased the 1908 Gaston County photographs of Lewis Wickes Hine, staff photographer of the National Child Labor Committee.

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The History of Sun-Drop:  A Gaston County Legacy

May 10, 2011 - September 10, 2011

This exhibit featured Sun-Drop memorabilia, including old advertising signs, clocks, thermometers, NASCAR items, and of course the ever-changing bottles.  Also featured were photographs and news articles relating to the Sun-Drop bottling company here in Gastonia and how it has developed over the years. 

This exhibit brought together two major collections of Sun-Drop material that have never before been seen in their entirety. Whether individuals had been drinking Sun-Drop their entire lives or recently discovered this tasty drink, patrons enjoyed learning about the history of Sun-Drop and where it’s headed in the future.   

 

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