By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — The fiberglass and aluminum zig-zag sculpture on the lawn at the Rowan Public Library has won the top award in the 2012 Salisbury Sculpture Show Discover What’s Outside.
“A Little Less than Meets the Eye” by Bill Wood of Fairfax, Va., was named the Norvell Best of Show by judge Steven Matijcio, curator at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem.
“What at first seems shy and unassuming, slowly but distinctly slides into a chameleon of light, form, suggestion and surprise,” Matijcio said in his comments. “With every turn around Wood’s midnight zig-zag, new forms and configurations appear as planes reorganize and the eye readjusts.”
The sculpture’s location on the library’s west lawn helped.
“The play of light upon the facets of the work, especially as it moves through the trees, extends this play and pushes this work to unexpected but no less memorable dimension,” Matijcio said.
Another sculpture by Wood, “Tilt,” won second place in the 2010 Salisbury Sculpture Show.
Matijcio previewed the 16 sculptures in the show brochure before spending several hours touring the installations and selecting winners.
Born in Toronto, Canada and educated in New York, Matijcio has held positions at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery.
This year’s second place award went to Jason Emory of Asheville.
Emory’s steel and cast iron sculpture titled “Unit” stands behind Building 400 at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
Location again played a role in Matijcio’s decision. He noted the setting for “Unit” brings the “heavy, rusted memory of industry” to meet “architectures of the future” at RCCC.
“In this confluence of aesthetics and connotations, Emory’s dynamic sculpture urges its audience to circle, ponder, and reconcile its tumbling geometries,” Matijcio said.
Like Wood’s work, every new perspective of “Unit” generates “the potential of new meaning,” Matijcio said.
“There is no one right viewpoint, and yet all of them are cumulatively compelling,” he said.
This sculpture is Emory’s first installation in the Salisbury Sculpture Show.
Another previous winner, Jim Gallucci of Greensboro, won third place for “Oak Leaf Horizons.” The stainless steel piece stands at the corner of North Fulton and West Innes streets in the green space maintained by St. John’s Lutheran Church.
“This work is of the future and the past, open and closed, an invitation and a barrier,” Matijcio said. “Oak Leaf is trying to find itself, and yet in the process, in the tension of the in-between, it becomes a resonant question — and a pleasure to ponder.”
Matijcio awarded Hanna Jubran’s “The Cycle” an honorable mention. The piece by Jubran, who lives Grimesland, N.C., and teaches at East Carolina University, stands in front of VantageSouth Bank on East Innes Street.
Apart from the juried awards, Salisbury residents picked “Currently Nesting” by Jeannette Brossart of Durham for the Citizen’s Choice Award.
In this colorful piece, the artist wants the viewer to explore what is “enough” in the modern, consumer-driven society and compare that with the simplicity of bird eggs in a nest — what is truly essential in life.
“Currently Nesting” has been a favorite of many young visitors to Rowan Public Library, where it is installed appropriately under a large oak tree.
The Salisbury Sculpture Show has been extended through Feb. 2, 2013, to allow the pieces to remain on display during the N.C. Main Street Conference, Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 in downtown Salisbury.
A new selection of sculptures will be installed in early spring 2013.
Printed brochures are available at the Salisbury-Rowan Convention and Visitors Center, Salisbury City Hall, Rowan Public Library and at several downtown restaurants and galleries.
A downloadable brochure, along with more information on the show and its artists, is available at www.salisburyart.com .
Prizes were $1,250 for first, $750 for second, $500 for third and $250 for citizen’s choice.
The Salisbury Sculpture Show is paid for by private donations and grants.
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.