Michael Rhinehardt
Director's Gallery - December
In December of 2023, Michael Rhinehardt's work was featured in our Director's Gallery here at Craven Arts! Michael graduated from East Carolina University with a BFA in Fine Arts. Years later, he was hired to teach at East Carteret High School, where he credits his teaching experience with making him a better artist. Rhinehardt's exhibit featured his work of paintings depicting various astronauts, where he brought viewers his perspective of fatherhood, the struggle of children trying to relate to a different time and place, and the quest to hold on to the lifelong bond of a parent and child, and more.
The Warrior and the Artist
Director's Gallery - November 2023
The VFW Post 2514 and Auxiliary in partnership with Jacksonville Veteran Administration Center organized an exhibition consisting of work created by veterans as an outlet to express their experiences in war and feelings through art. The purpose of the exhibition is to reach out to the over 17,000 veterans living in Craven County and adjoining communities to help heal hidden scars caused by war and celebrate freedom. This effort is an extension of combat veterans counseling offered by the Jacksonville VA Center to assist combat veterans and families readjust to civilian life.
Our Town
Main Gallery - November 2023
Our Town featured Michael von Graffenried’s images of the people of New Bern over the last 17 years, starting in 2006 to the present. These photographs examined the modern culture of the city,
including racial and economic disparities, local celebrations and traditions, and ongoing life in our community. Michael von Graffenried is a Swiss photographer living and working between Paris, Brooklyn, NY, and Switzerland. He started working as a photojournalist in 1978, travelling the world for numerous publications. The exhibition focuses on and highlights the people of New Bern, and their daily lives, struggles,and successes. Our hope was to create a dialogue between various city wards, communities, and groups, about life in Our Town including our shared past history and hopes as move towards the future.
including racial and economic disparities, local celebrations and traditions, and ongoing life in our community. Michael von Graffenried is a Swiss photographer living and working between Paris, Brooklyn, NY, and Switzerland. He started working as a photojournalist in 1978, travelling the world for numerous publications. The exhibition focuses on and highlights the people of New Bern, and their daily lives, struggles,and successes. Our hope was to create a dialogue between various city wards, communities, and groups, about life in Our Town including our shared past history and hopes as move towards the future.
Mums the Word
Director's Gallery - October 2023
New Bern’s annual Mumfest brings thousands of people to the downtown area for fun, shopping, and entertainment. As part of the festival, Craven Arts Council will host Mum’s the Word, an art exhibition and contest to select artwork for the next year’s Mumfest. The winner of the Adult category will receive $200 and their piece will be featured on tee shirts, bags, banners, and other promotional items for the 2023 celebration. This year there will also be a youth category for anyone under the age of 18. Artwork does not have to be only chrysanthemums, but must feature chrysanthemums in some way.
Coastal Photo Club
Main Gallery - September
This exhibit will feature work by the Coastal Photo Club’s nearly one hundred members, with images taken from eastern North Carolina and around the world. Each artist has been invited to submit up to two images for exhibition. The exhibit showcases the variety of styles and materials available to the modern photographer, including framed photos, canvas prints, and metal laminate pieces from different artists. Differences in production are also highlighted, from classic darkroom techniques to advanced digital photo manipulation.
Chuck Jensen
Director's Gallery - September
Chuck Jenson began painting at age 6 and later went to the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied Fine Arts and Architectural Interior Design. After serving in the military, Jenson practiced commercial interior design in the Chicago area. He worked as an interior designer and space planner in office design and later worked for 30 years as a restaurant/hotel designer in California. He now resides in New Bern where he continues to pursue his artistic goals. Jenson is known for his large-scale heavily patterned work where each part of the canvas has something interesting for viewers to look at. It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere is a series of five abstract paintings, in part inspired by Kandinsky, which explore the many layers of partaking of various spirits and socializing with friends and strangers alike. Paintings exploring themes such as “Ladies Night”, “Beer-Thirty” and “Beethoven’s 5th” will be on display
One Beauty: The Prophet
Main Gallery - July and August
This ekphrastic exhibition will focused on artwork inspired by, or related to Kahlil Gibran's seminal work, The Prophet. 2023 marks the 100 year anniversary of the book's publication, and Craven Arts Council & Gallery sought to honor its contributions to literature through an exhibition of artwork by the book.
Lilly Krcmar
Director's Gallery - August
Lilly Krcmar (ne Juta) will be displaying a series of nontraditional quilts in the Director’s Gallery in August. She was born and spent her childhood under colonialism in Paramaribo, Suriname. As a young teenager, she moved to what is now known as Indonesia, the home-country of her grandmother who had worked the sugar-cane plantations as an indentured servant. Thus, as a “half-cast,” life in Indonesia remained a challenge. When Indonesia gained its independence, and all those not “full-blooded” were removed, she became a refugee. The Netherlands briefly became home, followed by Brazil, and finally-- the most coveted--a visa to the USA. Like many people, Covid found Krcmar with solitude. When daily life came to a total halt, taking everything away, her spirit was not to be defeated. She always loved, textiles, colors, their textures bringing life into her hands, and so started her creations, her stories, a gift from COVID.
Laura Gammons
Director's Gallery - July
Laura Gammons is a resident of coastal North Carolina. She began her career as a professional artist in 2006 and has pieces in private collections throughout North America and Western Europe. Gammons believes strongly that our world is faced with challenges that serve to separate people from peace and that we need things in our lives that provide a sense of refuge or give us the opportunity to find balance. With that commitment, her work is heavily inspired by nature and rarely depicts man-made features. Each piece of art embraces an opportunity to find common threads of understanding shared by people of many cultures.
Juneteenth
Main Gallery - June
Juneteenth is celebrated on June 19th every year and commemorates the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in the state of Texas after the Civil War. In honor of this historic celebration of freedom in the South, local African American artists will present works about African American History. Each artist has been given a time period and asked to create artwork based off historical events from that time period. The panels in the Main Gallery will each represent a time period, creating a visual timeline of African American History since the original Juneteenth.
New Bern High School Honors Students
Director's Gallery - June
Students in the upper-level visual arts classes at New Bern High School have been working this semester to articulate their artistic voices and hone their creative processes. The work represents their thought process for tackling certain thematic goals Students research, brainstorm, and visually plan for each piece with the goal of effectively communicating their themes to their viewers. Featured will be works in various mediums, each accompanied by an artist statement.
Congressional Art Competition
Director's Gallery - May
The Congressional Art Competition features the work of local high school students. Participating students were selected by their teachers to showcase their talents. Students were tasked to create artwork that fit the theme of “Joy.” All selected works will be judged and select artwork will receive awards. The student awarded First Place will have a chance to attend a reception in Washington D.C. where all artwork awarded First Place from across the country will be displayed.
ROY G BIV
Main Gallery - ROY G BIV
Each artist received a 12”x12” cradled board and select a color randomly. Artists then utilized hues, shades, tints and tones of that color as the primary palette for the work. Each panel in the Main Gallery at Bank of the Arts was filled with works featuring that color, creating a rainbow that moves across the gallery.
TRAA and CCC Students
Main Gallery - April
The Twin Rivers Artists Association (TRAA) exists to promote and encourage the creation, education, and appreciation of fine art in the region. The membership meets monthly to learn and discuss techniques, provide feedback, make social connections, and distribute news on the arts in the area. Skill levels range from beginners to professional artists, in an environment that encourages cooperation and mentorship. Once a year the Craven Arts Council hosts an exhibition of the group’s membership, combined with students from the local Craven Community College, in order to encourage the creation and exhibition of local art. Works on display will include painting, photography, sculpture, pottery, and mixed media.
Private and Homeschool Student Exhibition
Directors Gallery - April
Craven Arts Council is proud to present work by private and homeschooled students in Craven County in the Director’s Gallery for the month of April. This exhibition will feature work created by students in art classes from various private, parochial and home schools across the county. Students from Epiphany Global School, St. Paul’s Catholic School, Annunciation Catholic School, and various homeschooled students across the county will be exhibiting their work in the Director’s Gallery. Art has been shown to have an integral beneficial effect on youth education in subjects from math and science to literary analysis. Bank of the Arts is pleased to reinforce these ideas by offering the students a chance to exhibit their works in a gallery setting.
Not Painted to Go With Your Couch
Main Gallery - March
Brenda Behr is a local artist who is primarily known for her paintings en plein air and her portraits of people. She works in both oil and watercolor, depending on her subject matter and focus. Behr received her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University and her Masters in Fine Arts in Advertising Design from Syracuse University. After working in Minnesota for several years as a graphic designer, Behr returned to North Carolina where she more seriously pursued painting. This led to Behr’s work exhibiting at numerous galleries and museums including the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, the Iredell Museums, the Greenville Museum of Art and now a solo exhibition at the Bank of the Arts. Not Painted to Go With Your Couch will feature works from across her career.
Vietnam Legacies
Director's Gallery - March
Vietnam Legacies will feature portraits taken by McCabe of Vietnam veterans, including himself, next to images of the same veterans from when they were in Vietnam. Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1946, McCabe is a retired US Marine who has travelled extensively. He is an award-winning photographer and is currently the owner of Coastal Light Photographic Arts. He is also the former co-owner and operator of First Flight Photography of Havelock, NC. McCabe lives in New Bern, NC and has been a member of Professional Photographers of North Carolina (PPofNC) and Professional Photographers of America (PPA) since 2005. McCabe received his Certification as a professional photographer from PPA in September 2013 and his Master of Photography Degree in February 2015. In 2012 he received the Kodak Gallery Award and was awarded the 1st Place in Women’s portraiture at the 2012 PPofNC Convention in Raleigh. McCabe is the past president of the Professional Imaging Group of Eastern North Carolina and is a current member of the Coastal Photo Club in New Bern, and sits on the Board of Directors for PPofNC.
HerStory
Main Gallery - February
HerStory seeks to highlight the female experience and what it means to be a woman, in the modern era and throughout history. The exhibition’s title is a play on words, conveying its intent to explore both “Her Story,” the personal narratives of women; and “HerStory,” the history of women and their roles through time through another lens.
Artists are asked to create work that ponders the issues that women have faced over time into the 21st Century. Artists may examine themes regarding the strength of women by creating artwork surrounding stereotypes, gender based violence, generational changes in roles, nurturing, resilience, beauty, health, wellness, and the light and the dark that makes up the essence of being female.
Artists are asked to create work that ponders the issues that women have faced over time into the 21st Century. Artists may examine themes regarding the strength of women by creating artwork surrounding stereotypes, gender based violence, generational changes in roles, nurturing, resilience, beauty, health, wellness, and the light and the dark that makes up the essence of being female.
Valentines Card Sale
Director's Gallery - January & February
Craven Arts Council and the Twin Rivers Artists Association are proud to present the 2023 Craven County Valentine’s Day Card Sale in the Director’s Gallery for the month of February 2023. Created by students in all grades in Craven County Schools, all proceeds are donated to Craven County art teachers for purchasing classroom supplies. This year’s sale will take place in the Director’s Gallery at Bank of the Arts for the month of February. Priced at $3.50 each, these affordable Valentines gifts help fund arts education in Craven County, by donating all proceeds for the purchase of art supplies. The cards were created by the public school students during their arts class, and include a wide range of grades, skill levels, and techniques. This year’s sale was made possible by funding and support from Craven Arts Council and Twin Rivers Artists Association, a local artist guild. The mission of both organizations believes in the importance of arts education, for students of all levels.
30 Years Later
Main Gallery - November 2022 - January 2023
Carol Tokarski and Jan Francoeur served as arts administrators in New Bern for many years in addition to working towards their own artistic pursuits. Jan Francoeur owned and operated Carolina Creations from 1989 to 2017. Carol Tokarski worked in nonprofit arts administration for decades, including serving as Executive Director at Craven Arts Council and Gallery for 13 years. Tokarski and Francoeur went to the same small college in Michigan, but did not know each other well until both moved to New Bern in 1989 and connected. Shortly after moving to New Bern they had a joint exhibition at the Banks of the Arts and now 30 years later, they’re exhibiting at the Bank of the Arts once again. Francoeur’s work in 30 Years Later is all about observations and painting what she loves such as gardens, architecture, travel and New Bern. This past year she experimented with a new medium, oil painting. Tokarski’s work focuses on utilizing rich colors and smooth blending to create energy and motion. She finds inspiration in nature, specifically her backyard where she paints the natural patterns she observes.
