Bull City Sculpture Show Announces People's Choice Award

A Durham guest will be sticking around for a while. The Bull City Sculpture Show has announced the People's Choice Award winner, a sculpture that will be staying in Durham until April, 2015. Basin & Range by Todd Frahm is a six-foot limestone structure, will be displayed at the American Tobacco Campus just North of the Lucky Strike Tower.

Frahm is an Ashville-based artist who designed his sinuous sculpture to be a thought provoking reminder that some of the highest mountain ranges in the world, including Mt. Everest, are composed of marine limestone, meaning that they were once under water.

The Bull City Sculpture show consists of large-scale installation pieces in place from the Historic Durham Athletic Park to the American Tobacco Campus. Find a map and more information here.

Art is a year-round pursuit here in Durham. Check out the Durham Event Calendar for more information about exhibits, openings, and gallery events, and start planning your visit to Durham online.

"Making it Happen" Gallery Show and Sculpture Announcement at Liberty Arts at 3rd Friday Art Walk

Liberty Arts will be hosting a bevy of events during the Third Friday Art Walk Friday, June 21st  2013.  There will be a Gallery Show, "Making it Happen" and a reception from 6pm-9pm along with a historic sculpture announcement.

There will also be the first public unveiling of Artist Leigh Hayes, “Rings of Fire,” at 7.30 pm. Imagine glass rings rising from a molten bath. Steel drummer, Wilton Dubois, of Resounding Steel, will be on hand both playing his instruments and giving a demonstration of steel drum construction techniques. This event will also provide an opportunity to view the new installed bar by Liberty Arts artists Mike Lupa and Jackie MacLeod.

Liberty Arts is a collaborative nonprofit arts community that reflects the dynamic and diverse personality of Durham, NC. Liberty Arts believes in community outreach and encourages visionary thinking. Liberty Arts Sculpture Studio & Foundry is located at 923 Franklin Street, Durham, 27701 in the Cordoba Center for the Arts (adjacent to Scrap Exchange).

For more information on arts in Durham visit www.durham-nc.com.

Third Friday Art Walk At Golden Belt May 17

It's not every day that visitors can attend an art walk that includes listening to a spoken word poetry show in a creative reuse center with filmmakers of an upcoming documentary. But in Durham, this is just a normal third Friday event.

Third Friday Durham is a monthly art walk and this month's offerings on May 17 from 6-9 pm at the Golden Belt Arts complex have much to offer.

Third Friday at The Scrap Exchange
The Scrap Exchange along with the filmmakers of the upcoming documentary film "Truth Underground" will be presenting "Friends and Family" a Green Gallery show in support of the spoken word poetry film. The event will take place in Durham, at The Scrap Exchange. Poets from the spoken word poetry team, The Sacrificial Poets, along with local student poets from Durham-Chapel Hill and Carrboro city schools will be presenting.

Read more about the film on the Southern Documentary Funds website and about the filmmaker's fundraising efforts on the Clarion Content's website.

Third Friday at Liberty Arts
Liberty Arts Sculpture Studio & Foundry will host a gallery show, "“Mighty Fresh.” Visitors can see live demos, stroll through the gallery, meet the artists and sidle up to the newly "scavenged" bar.

Liberty Arts is a collaborative nonprofit arts community that reflects the dynamic and diverse personality of Durham, NC. Liberty Arts believes in community outreach and encourages visionary thinking.

Visit the Durham Events Calendar for more unique things to do in Durham.

Ladies' Arm Wrestling Charity Fundraiser Supports Art Programming

Lewd women are usually not talked about in polite company.  In Durham, it's encouraged. LUEWWD women, that is.

The League of Upper Extremity Wrestling Women of Durham (LUEWWD - pronounced “lewd”) is teaming up with Liberty Arts and the Scrap Exchange Saturday, April 20th for LUEWWD VIII: Industrial Strength, a ladies arm-wrestling charity fundraiser to provide scholarship funds for women and girls interested in taking select courses at either organization.

The LUEWWD VIII: Industrial Strength event will take place at 7:30 PM on April 20, 2013 at Liberty Arts Sculpture Studio, 923 Franklin St. Durham, NC 27701. Tickets are $5 and will be available at the door. You can also purchase ringside tickets in advance for $25 by contacting luewwd@gmail.com.  All proceeds will benefit Liberty Arts and the Scrap Exchange. Food Trucks and beverages will be available (Chirba Chirba Dumpling, Liv’s).

Representatives from Liberty Arts and the Scrap Exchange want to expand art programming to reach girls and women who may have an interest in such skills like welding, glass blowing, or sculpture. Such resource intensive classes can be expensive and cost-prohibitive for many and the two organizations were looking for a way to broaden opportunity. That’s when Mike Lupa, an artist with Liberty Arts contacted LUEWWD.

Lupa had attended women’s arm wrestling fundraisers in upstate New York and knew that there were several leagues across the country, one of which was right here in Durham.  LUEWWD uses theatrical arm wrestling as a means of raising funds for projects and initiatives that benefit women and girls in the Durham community.  Lupa contacted LUEWWD organizers and submitted an application to become LUEWWD’s next beneficiary along with the Scrap Exchange. The application was accepted in October of last year and the three organizations (Liberty Arts, Scrap Exchange, and LUEWWD) have been planning this unique event since then.

Unlike previous LUEWWD events, this one will take place outside behind Liberty Arts in a space donated by the Cordoba Center for the Arts. This change in venue is an exciting one for the LUEWWD organizers and they are thankful for the support from local sponsors to make this event happen.

The April 20th event LUEWWD VIII: Industrial Strength will feature 8 new wrestlers such as Pippi Strongstockings, Betty Rumble, and Alotta Doe. The doors will open at 7:30 for pre-game activities featuring 2 food trucks (Chirba Chirba Dumpling and Liv’s) cornhole, and beverages. The event is sponsored by The Boston Beer Company - Twisted Tea, Cordoba Center for the Arts, ReUse Warehouse, Morgan Imports,  The Casbah, Phunco, and MAYDNEW DJ & Event Planning.

For more information about LUEWWD: www.luewwd.com
For more information about the Scrap Exchange: www.scrapexchange.org
For more information about Liberty Arts: www.liberty-arts.org

About Liberty Arts
Liberty Arts is a nonprofit arts community whose collaborative practice reflects the dynamic personality of Durham, North Carolina. Our mission is to expand access to three-dimensional art and share the skills required to make it.  All are welcome to take part through hands-on classes, public events, mentorships, and commissions.

About the Scrap Exchange
The Scrap Exchange is a nonprofit creative reuse arts center in Durham, North Carolina whose mission is to promote creativity, environmental awareness, and community through reuse.

For more information on the arts in Durham, click here.

Arts Community Rallies to Save The Scrap Exchange

The Durham community is rallying around two Durham nonprofit art institutions; The Scrap Exchange and the Liberty Arts Foundry. The organizations, along with many artists and businesses have been displaced from their Liberty Warehouse location due to the heavy rains that fell May 14, a partial roof collapse, and the subsequent condemning of the building.

In an effort to help the nonprofits secure a new location, offset any costs lost in relocation and help in reopening as soon as possible, the local music community will be putting on a day-long benefit show: Save the Scrap at Casbah on Saturday, June 4 from 1pm-1am.

Save the Scrap will feature (at least) 10 hours of music by 10+ bands for 10 bucks. All of the money will go towards the Scrap Exchangeʼs Capital Campaign and Liberty Arts Foundry relocation. Benefit organizers have received an outpouring of support from local venue owners and area musicians representing all genres of music; the following are just a few of the performers:

Rainbow Nerd, Durham Ukulele Orchestra, The Pnuerotics, Midtown Dickens, Mary Johnson Rockers, Phil Cook & His Feat, LiLa, Hindugrass, Sara Bell, JKuchma and Thee Dirtybeats

Additionally, Casbah will be hosting an Artist Market featuring the work of local artists, artisans and friends of the Liberty Warehouse tenants. The Scrap Exchange will be on site with a hands-on make and take, silk screening Save the Scrap on apparel provided by attendees. Attendees are encouraged to bring an extra shirt!

Both The Scrap Exchange and Liberty Arts Inc will be relocating to a permanent location in the mill behind Golden Belt, at 923 Franklin Street. The Scrap Exchange plans to reopen the same day as the event, during itʼs regular store hours 10-4.

Save the Scrap organizers are calling out to all of those who vowed to support “the myriad of places we have all come to love... and to support Durhamʼs nonprofits” in last monthʼs massive show of community engagement, Marry Durham.