Korea, edited by US students

United States, edited by Korean students

Message from the Director

Dear Friends,

As renovations begin, I've been thinking about all that we want you our valued patrons and our at-large community to know about SECCA. The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art has always been more than bricks and mortar. We aspire to be a laboratory dedicated to exploring the very best of international contemporary art, craft and design.

Over the next year, we will be taking an aggressive public art program to our community. Just as the project selections are unexpected, so too are the strategies that drive the decisions on places and neighborhoods where the installations will take place. Our goal is to expose and serve as diverse an audience as possible through the series and its varied education components.

We designed Inside Out: Artists in the Community II as a vehicle to connect with our supporters and to expand our service reach while building new audiences for contemporary art.

We will be working with outstanding community partners during this year-long project. For example, our first installation will be created in conjunction with and on the property of Old Salem Museums and Gardens. On the funding side, this project has received generous support through a special project grant provided by The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County and a program grant provided by the James G. Hanes Foundation. Additional in-kind support is provided by Sundance Plaza Hotel, Spa and Wellness Center.

To maximize impact and promote appreciation for these exciting installations and performances, an innovative series of programs supported by community partners such as the Gateway YWCA is being planned by curator of education Michael Christiano. The Inside Out Classroom to be held at the YWCA will offer a unique opportunity for students to work with a spoken word artist to create poems inspired by artist Charlie Brouwer's installation Rise Up Winston-Salem. Students will use their own personal stories of hope and aspiration to fashion their innovative and personal poetry. We will keep you up to date on these events and educational programs here on our Web site.

As Inside Out: Artists in the Community II moves across our community, I encourage you to follow along. The artists involved will bring to this exciting series a unique perspective that together will greatly enhance our community's public art profile and our appreciation for the art of today.

Sincerely,

Mark Richard Leach
Director

SECCA's Building Closing for Renovations

SECCA is closing the facility for renovations Jan. 4, 2009.

Mark Leach, SECCA's director, says, "We're looking forward to beginning the process of renovation. We have exciting and broad-based plans for the arts center and they all start with improving the facility. We're very grateful to the North Carolina General Assembly and the citizens of the state who are giving us this opportunity.

"When the renovations and repairs are completed," Leach continues, "we will be able to reopen the art center and be positioned to provide the residents of North Carolina with the kind of programmatic excellence that the citizens of Winston-Salem and the southeast region have come to expect."

Updates on the renovation progress will be available here on SECCA's Web site. The objective of the renovation will be to replace the roof of the 46,400 square foot arts center and the climate-control system for the building.

Although SECCA will suspend programming at its 750 Marguerite Drive location for the 2009 calendar year, it will continue to conduct vigorous exhibition and education programs throughout the Winston-Salem community. SECCA will present Inside Out: Artists in the Community II, staging seven commissioned site-specific art works or performative events in Winston-Salem's four wards. Partners in the project include Old Salem, North Carolina University of the Arts, and Reynolda House Museum of American Art, among others.

SECCA will reopen its Marguerite Drive location in early 2010. The design firm Szostak Design Inc. (SDi) of Chapel Hill has been awarded the contract to renovate SECCA by the state of North Carolina.

SECCA reaches new audiences with television commercial produced by WXII News Channel 12

Meet SECCA's New Curator of Education

SECCA recently welcomed Michael Christiano to the staff as the curator of education. In this role, Michael will be developing educational programming opportunities for the public to enhance communication and understanding of SECCA exhibitions.

"It's an honor to join an organization whose core values so deeply reflect a commitment to education and community involvement, particularly at this exciting and critical point in its history," Christiano says. "I am eager to drive forward SECCA's legacy of progressive and engaging educational programs, guided by the diverse interests of Winston-Salem's community."

Christiano is the former education manager at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University. In this position, Christiano developed and implemented an extensive array of public education programs correlating to audience-specified needs and exhibitions at the center. He is bringing to SECCA diverse experience in education program development, evaluation and management for all audiences including seniors, youths and teens, special-needs individuals, public school and university groups.

SECCA director Mark Leach says, "Michael brings an invigorating educational perspective to our staff. His interest in and use of technology coupled with innovative programming ideas will extend the reach and impact of our exhibitions and provide solid cultural benefits to our community and beyond."

Christiano has also held positions at the Frist Center for Visual Arts in Nashville, TN; The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Academy for the Fine Arts. He holds a Masters of the Arts from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and is a Cum Laude graduate of the State University of New York at Oswego. He has received the Tennessee Association of Museums Award for Excellence and is a Metro Arts Commission Grant recipient. He also served as the chairperson of the Society for Photographic Education Northeastern Regional Conference.

He and his wife Rebecca Parker, a performance artist, moved from Millbury, MA, to Winston-Salem Nov. 1.

Become a SECCA Renovator Member Today!!

Your membership will help SECCA provide contemporary art projects in the Winston-Salem community while we undergo much needed renovations to the Galleries and Hanes Home in 2009. Click here to check out the new membership levels and benefits and join online today!

SECCA on FACEBOOK

SECCA is now on Facebook! You are invited to join our Facebook group where you can meet new people interested in contemporary art, participate in discussions and blogs, and find out what's happening at SECCA.

Click here to become part of the SECCA Facebook Community.

Meet SECCA's New Curator of Contemporary Art

Bringing outstanding perspective into the international arena of the art of today, Steven Matijcio joined the staff of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) as curator on August 1.

SECCA director Mark Leach says, "Steven's insight into international art practices will bring SECCA to the forefront of cutting-edge contemporary ideas and art-making on the global stage. His vision will provide a rich foundation for SECCA's program as we move into an exciting era in partnership with the North Carolina Museum of Art." In December 2007, SECCA became an operating entity of the North Carolina Museum of Art and the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

"With his breadth of experience," Leach continues, "Steven brings the energy and ideas that will infuse SECCA's exhibits with substantial cultural meaning -- fulfilling and pushing forward the purpose and mission of the art center."

Born in Toronto, Canada and educated in New York, Matijcio has an accomplished background in the gallery and museum field. He has held positions at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and has organized projects across all media and themes. For the past three years he has worked as curator at the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg, Manitoba (one of Canada's most respected and cutting edge institutions exhibiting contemporary art). During this tenure, Matijcio curated a provocative series of exhibitions featuring the work of Marina Abramovic, Marc Bijl, Minerva Cuevas, Nathalie Djurberg, Omer Fast, Sarah Anne Johnson, Hulda Stef�nsd�ttir, Shaan Syed and Anna von Gwinner.

Matijcio says, "Joining SECCA is an opportunity for me to become part of a team, a mandate, a history, and a gallery known for its willingness to be a trailblazer in today's art world. I'm looking forward to working in the vibrant Winston-Salem community, alongside Mark [Leach], whose passion, experience, and ambition will undoubtedly lead SECCA into a bright new era."

Alongside his activities in curating, writing and criticism, Matijcio is an active researcher and lecturer who has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Governor General's Award and the Orpheus Prize in Humanities. He was named a University of Toronto scholar all four years of his undergraduate study, and received both a fellowship and scholarship to attend graduate school at the Center for Curatorial Studies in New York (Bard College).

Under curators such as Marcia Tucker, Ivo Mesquita, John G. Hanhardt and Christiane Paul, he co-curated an exhibition that investigated the effects of institutional structures on the human body (Instructure). Matijcio was commissioned by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation to organize an online exhibition highlighting important, but lesser-known works by the iconic Mapplethorpe (Momentum).

Matijcio has also worked in numerous academic arenas. He served as an instructor in the University of Manitoba's School of Art from 2007 - 2008. He is currently researching the relationship between art and political activism, and has received a number of travel grants to conduct research in countries such as Italy, Germany, Austria and Brazil.

Matijcio has edited and published a number of notable texts. He conducted interviews with Jane Alexander, Shaun Gladwell, Nasrin Tabatabai and Babak Afrassiabi for the 2006 Sao Paulo Bienal Catalogue, and has written for journals such as Canadian Art, Border Crossings, Locus Suspectus, and Canadian Architect. As part of his curatorial practice, Matijcio has contributed essays on the work of Daniel Barrow, Richard Hines, Micah Lexier, Dominique Rey and Diana Thorneycroft, and worked as editor/curator for the recent publication Scratching the Surface: The Post-Prairie Landscape.

He looks forward to employing all of these skills and experiences at SECCA, cultivating a more robust writing program, expanding exhibition geography and organizing public programs to better connect audiences to art. Matijcio notes the importance of community involvement in all these ventures, and seeks to make SECCA a hub for cultural activities of all kinds - connecting with students, artists, colleges and universities, filmmakers, and a range of audiences. With an eye toward fall and beyond, he says, "this center has the history, vision, and staff to be a truly special place -- I can't wait to be part of its future."

Design Firm Selected for SECCA Renovation

The design firm Szostak Design Inc. (SDi) of Chapel Hill has been awarded the contract to renovate the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) by the state of North Carolina.

The objective of the renovation will be to replace the roof of the 46,400 square foot arts center and the climate-control system for the building.

SDi has won 12 regional and state design awards since 1986. Major projects the firm has designed include: The Durham Performing Arts Center, the Science and Technology Building for East Carolina University, the Sommerhill Gallery in Chapel Hill and the Broughton Hall for North Carolina State University.

Mark Leach, director for the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art states, "We're looking forward to begining the process of renovation. We have exciting and broad-based plans for the arts center and they all start with improving the facility."