50 for 50 with Ron Rash

Ron Rash | Photo courtesy Clemson world magazine

Ron Rash | Photo courtesy Clemson world magazine

“I tell people that North Carolinians have done three things really well: cook barbecue, make music, and make literature.”
— Ron Rash
 
 
 
 

50 for 50

50 artists celebrate North Carolina

Arts Across NC

A podcast by and about the NC Arts Council

Get Involved

Help us celebrate

 

Statewide Arts Celebration

Recently Shared

In a brand new essay for Come Hear North Carolina, historian and cultural critic Dr. Mark Anthony Neal reflects on Pasquotank County native Max Roach's seminal Civil Rights recording: We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite. He writes: "The album stands as an early musical testament to the burgeoning rage, anger and passion that would take the Civil Rights Movement from its early victory in Montgomery in 1955 into a future that would dramatically alter race relations in the United States. And as perhaps fitting, the impetus for Roach’s artist statement came in the aftermath of tragedy." Read more at the link in our bio and catch a staging of the record at Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center this weekend. | Photo by William Gottlieb
Congratulations to Lillian Hawkins, our 2019 North Carolina Poetry Out Loud winner! The New Hanover County native will represent North Carolina at the national Poetry Out Loud finals in Washington D.C. in March. Join us in wishing her GOOD LUCK!
Yesterday was one for the books. Governor Roy Cooper officially inducted Jaki Shelton Green as North Carolina's new Poet Laureate. She is the first African American Poet Laureate in our state's history. We are grateful for the many supporters who attended and made the event so special. Our state's literary community is a true treasure. Photo by Linda Fox, Department if Natural and Cultural Resources
NEW PODCAST! Fiddler Lauchlin Shaw grew up in a household steeped in Scottish culture. His family hailed from the Isle of Jura off Scotland’s coast, and his grandfather and father spoke Gaelic. The Harnett County based musician knew dozens of fiddle tunes, all learned by ear. The latest and final episode of our podcast Arts Across NC mini-series Director’s Cut features a recording of “Sally With The Rundown Shoes,” performed by Lauchlin Shaw and Chatham County banjoist A.C. Overton. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at the link in our bio! Photo by Mary Anne McDonald
Congratulations to Andrew Hayes, the North Carolina artist selected for the 2019 South Arts State Fellowship! Andrew is an Asheville-based artist who was first drawn to North Carolina by Penland School of Craft. His work is exhibited nationally and included in several permanent collections. His artist statement for the award winning series is below: “Book paper and steel are placed in different contexts in our lives. The book is appreciated as an object of education, growth, and escape. Whereas steel is often invisible, even though it is a primary structure of our constructed environment. I strive to level the playing field between these disparate perceptions and materials. I search for harmony between paper and steel that in so many ways possess similar attributes: flexibility, history, mass, and density. Unbound blocks of text lose their original meaning when I cut the pages from their bindings. This allows me to respond to the shape and texture of the paper and give new meaning. Introducing metal to the process gives structure and support to the loose pages, and elevates the steel – a familiar material in industry and architecture – to the level of the book – an object for contemplation. Alongside the paper, the steel becomes graceful, its subtle colors and surface heightened. Bound together, the pages and steel become something new and unified. No longer a book on a shelf, but a unique object with its own strength and story.”
 
 

Can't find what you're looking for? Try our search feature: