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Announcing the Summer 2018 #PPGArtists Public Studio Residencies

Published By Power Plant Gallery / published on: May 7, 2018

The Power Plant Gallery is pleased to announce our #PPGArtists for summer 2018. Joining us for Residency 1 is Durham artist Rachel Goodwin, and for Residency 2, Durham native, Anthony Patterson.

Woman on a ladder painting the interior of a satellite red.

Update (5/31/2018): A small change in programming for the Power Plant Gallery summer artist residency. Joining the gallery for the 2018 Residency 1 will be #PPGArtist Rachel Goodwin. Jodi Minnis will now join us in summer 2019.

The Power Plant Gallery is pleased to announce our #PPGArtists for Summer 2018. Joining us for Residency 1 is Durham artist Rachel Goodwin, and for Residency 2, Durham native, Anthony Patterson. Each artist will receive a stipend of $750 and 24/7 access to the Power Plant Gallery, a 1500-square-foot space located in downtown Durham. The gallery will hold public hours during each residency, inviting patrons to learn about each artist’s process and work.

Rachel Goodwin: Residency 1 (Jun 1–July 14)

A native of New Orleans, Rachel has exhibited in San Francisco, Oakland, and throughout the Triangle. Among her summer projects is a series of beaded sculptures calling to mind the old trees of New Orleans that hold Mardi Gras beads in their branches all year long.

Artist Rachel Goodwin joins the PPG for the first residency exploring the shared identity as consumers through her project Balls & Beads. Influenced by her childhood growing up in New Orleans, Goodwin’s project is a series of beaded sculptures calling to mind the old trees of New Orleans that hold Mardi Gras beads in their branches all year long. Utilizing the full space of the PPG, Goodwin intends to expand the forest of many strands, testing its limits and ability to articulate they myth of Mardi Gras.

Rachel Goodwin works with paint, wood and found materials building paintings, collages and constructions. Her pieces create odd, disruptive, intense arrangements, where form and color accumulate, stack and interact. Inspired by how we consume our world and dispose of it, her work resuscitates and transforms the old, broken, tortured objects we live with everyday. Goodwin is originally from New Orleans. She attended Syracuse University where she earned a BFA in painting in 1994. She went on to study painting at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) where she
earned an MFA in 1999. She now lives in Durham, North Carolina. Goodwin has exhibited in San Francisco, Oakland, as well as various places throughout North Carolina. Her work is also part of the permanent collection of the Di Rosa Art Preserve in Napa Valley, California

Anthony Patterson: Residency 2 (Jul 23-Sep 1)

Native Durham artist Anthony Patterson will join the Power Plant Gallery for Residency 2 continuing to explore the relationships between themes of identity, loss, and conviction through his experimental documentary work.

After participating in The Jumpsuit Project by artist Sherrill Roland, Patterson developed his series of portraits, called Any Black Man, that express how American society criminalizes black men. Originally the men were painted in orange jumpsuits with smeared faces and tactile marks across the canvas. Later portraits removed the jumpsuit and focused on how the color orange embodies the ‘criminal’ stereotype.

Anthony Patterson, Any Black Man #3, 2017. 8 ⅜”x8″, oil on watercolor paper.

“During my residency, I will be working on a new series entitled PIGEONHOLED. I will be painting portraits in response to interviews I have with black men who are convicted felons. The portraits will attempt to convey their struggles and, hopefully, create important dialogue surrounding the criminal justice system.” Patterson intends to collect interviews for an audio installation, providing context to the paintings as well as create a powerful, felt experience for the viewer.

Anthony Patterson’s work is rooted in figuration, but also lends itself to the language of abstract painting. Informed by the current sociopolitical climate of America, as well as his interest in documentary studies, Patterson pulls from historical archives, sifts through contemporary media, and records conversations with peers in his community. He then reconstructs the source materials through his painting, resulting in a multi-layered work that investigates societal ills while driving the conversation beyond the pictorial space. Patterson earned his Bachelors of Fine Art in Painting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is exhibited regionally throughout North Carolina.