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Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing, Juried by Susan Hauptman, Opens January 18 at UNC Asheville

January 10, 2013

Exhibit to include giant work by Chris LaPorte, winner of ArtPrize's $250,000 top award

The UNC Asheville Department of Art will open "Drawing Discourse," the university's fourth annual national juried exhibition of contemporary drawing, with a lecture by juror Susan Hauptman at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, in Lipinsky Auditorium on campus. An opening reception will follow from 6-8 p.m. in the S. Tucker Cooke Gallery in Owen Hall. These events are free and open to the public.

Hauptman, who works only in charcoal and pastels, is known for striking self-portraits and still life drawings displaying technical mastery. As juror for this exhibition, Hauptman selected 33 works from among more than 1,000 entries submitted by 369 artists.

Hauptman's work was previously featured in solo shows at the Forum Gallery in Los Angeles and the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, and is part of permanent collections in the National Portrait Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other museums. She has received numerous grants, including two from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Adolph and Esther Gottleib Foundation and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.

Among the works selected by Hauptman for this exhibit is the 23.5-foot wide "City Band" by Chris LaPorte, who uses pencil to create stunning detail and who won the $250,000 top award in ArtPrize's 2010 competition for an earlier drawing.

Also selected for this exhibit are works by Timur (Isaack) Azaev, Therese Bauer, Elisa Berry, Brandon Briggs, Sue Bryan, Dennis Carrie, Antonio Coro, Meghan Flynn, Scott Hunt, Sharon Knettell, Barbara Mehlman, Ed Nadeau, Aaron Pennington, Margaret Reneke, Shaun Roberts, Janveir Rollande, Kay Ruane, Joan Ryan, Pete Schulte, David Schurbutt, Randy Simmons, Brian Simpson, David Stanger, Robert Stickloon, D. Dargan Teska, Cara Walz, Peter J. Warburton and Jennifer Wroblewski.

UNC Asheville's S. Tucker Cooke Gallery is free and open to the public, and the "Drawing Discourse," exhibit will be on view from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, through February 5. For more information, visit art.unca.edu or call 828.251.6559.

For a video about the remarkable story of “City Band,” artist Chris LaPorte, and his ArtPrize award, follow this link.