The MC Erny Gallery at WHQR is open again with “Nature Observed: Work by Abby Spangel Perry & Andy Wood.”
Join us on Friday, September 23 from 6-9pm for a Closing Reception, which is part of the Arts Council of Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Night. Meet artist Abby Spangel Perry and nature photographer Andy Wood and enjoy art, wine, and light refreshments with WHQR staff. We're thrilled to welcome guests to the MC Erny Gallery once again.
About the Artists:
Abby Spangel Perry takes an interdisciplinary approach to art making with the objective of communicating ideas about ecology. She determines what materials and techniques to use based on the ideas that she is exploring. She often focuses on nature’s fragile beauty and the tension between concepts such as hope through nurturing and creation, and fear through neglect and destruction. In weaving together these elements, she attempts to portray subjects with vital intensity and desperate vulnerability.
She focuses on our cultural ambivalence toward nature. She often shifts between representing the smaller components of ecological systems and presenting the problematic affects felt by these components due to our cultural attitudes toward nature. Through subverting image styles found in science and popular culture she gives visual form to the misuse of nature as a commodity and draws attention to the effects our society is having on the smallest components of ecosystems.
Her practice is informed by studying biology and environmental issues through workshops, lectures, and literature. This approach stems from her education as an Americorp volunteer where the value of working with a social conscience was placed in practice on a daily basis.
Andy Wood is Director of Coastal Plain Conservation Group, a 501 (c) (3) organization protecting this region’s biodiversity, especially imperiled plants, wildlife, and their habitats. He is a biologist, author, and conservation educator, working to prevent extinction of rare plants and wildlife in southeast North Carolina, including imperiled habitats that provide ecosystem services to our benefit. Andy’s exhibit images were captured with simple point-and-shoot cameras.
Artist Statement:
“Nature Observed” features interpretive paintings by Abby Spangel Perry and photographs by Andy Wood in an exhibit focused on southeast North Carolina’s unique and wondrous natural heritage, including plants, wildlife, and habitats found nowhere else on earth, let-alone the Universe.
