By Andie Foley
andie.foley@salisburypost.com

For Grievous Gallery owner Elysia Demers, love, acceptance and support are natural facets of the Salisbury experience.

Accordingly, the decision to host the gallery’s third fundraiser in three years came easy: On Friday April 26 at 7 p.m., the Gallery will host a “Foto Fundraiser” Art Raffle and Auction for local photographer and multimedia artist Duane DuVall.

The fundraiser comes in effort to replace inventory and equipment damaged when DuVall’s basement studio flooded due to heavy rains.

Demers said that DuVall, a Kannapolis-based creator, quickly rose in Salisburian notoriety by capturing local streetscapes and buildings through an “outsider’s eye.”

“With Duane’s art — and maybe it’s because he doesn’t live in Salisbury — he  captures things that we all take for granted,” said Demers. “We walk or we drive through the Square, we see the Plaza every day but we don’t allow ourselves the time to just stop and appreciate these things.”

DuVall discovered these urban treasures when part-time work at Salisbury’s Sweet Meadow Cafe brought him into the heart of Salisbury. His ability to create enrapturing and expressive works with every day scenery was what made his work both unique and beautiful, said Demers.

Sweet Meadow will cohost the April 26 event.

“He’s been overwhelmed with love and appreciation,” she said. “He’s really been absorbed into the fabric of Salisbury and its really awesome community of people.”

Demers points to DuVall’s pictures of local architecture such as the Plaza building, Hogan’s Alley, Historic Salisbury Station and more, many pieces developed with a combination of time lapse and long exposure, she said.

“He has this glamorous, almost editorial style that really tells a deeper story,” she said. “… If he doesn’t get back into photography then we’re all missing out.”

The Foto Fundraiser will feature live music and refreshments alongside of a silent auction and raffle. Raffle tickets will be $5 each or six for $25.

Pieces to be raffled or auctioned are the few surviving items of DuVall’s collection: those on display at Sweet Meadow as well as pieces of a special curated exhibit called “Through the Eyes of the City.”

The exhibit was on display in the Salisbury Business Center when DuVall’s studio flooded. They will remain on display from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. this week.

All proceeds from the event will go directly to DuVall.

“I think that Duane felt the positivity of the area once he really plugged himself into Salisbury,” said Demers. “You get the support of people, strangers and you’re constantly going to be able to make new friends. … We like to do these things where we can bring people to Salisbury where they can keep paying it forward.”