The Arthouse -

Welcome to the ArtHouse- Center for Creative Expression

We are a group of local artists working in different media and disciplines... from paint and photography to copper and light. In our twelve studios and galleries you will find a wide variety of approaches to art and expression.

We offer classes on technique and specialized instruction as well.

Someone once told me: "The difference between a good photographer and a great photographer is stopping the car." They attributed the quote to Ansel Adams. I don't know if it's his or not, but it has stayed with me. I admit, I don't stop nearly as much as I should, but I did stop one night to capture rain drops on a windshield. I was mesmerized. What I found was the baby steps in a journey exploring bright, alien landscapes. So... Stop the car.

Bobby Blue was born and raised in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He's lived in Charlotte, Wilmington, Florida, California, and back home in Charlotte.
He's been taking photographs for about 20 years.
Contact info: bobby_blue70@yahoo.com 704.562.2239

An opening by uS and NODA's spring gallery crawl "uS"
Brent Bumgarner and Chris Johnson
April 3 - April 31, 2009 @ the arthouse Reception for the Artists: Friday, April 3, 6-10 pm
In their young oeuvre, uS negotiates the balance and unbalance of learned aesthetics within a controlled relationship of their concepts and interpretation of derivative. These "mixed medias" hover interiorly with the advances in art instead of working to escape them. We can agree/disagree in the associations with digital, conceptual, or outsider art, but can't deny uS' revere for the minimal. Once exposed, their frequency dismisses medium as it achieves density inside a spare corridor that doesn't find freedom until the viewer has released it as their own. uS places symmetry on stage to create a barrier between suggestion and truth, but from behind a curtain. Once unveiled; the symbiosis is complete. "We leave most things out so the rest can stay in. That is to say... it's all here." uS is the pseudonym for the Conceptual/ Outsider Art duo of Brent Bumgarner and Chris Johnson. Brent, a blind quadriplegic from an automobile accident in 1999, uses an usb pen with his mouth to draw, type, trace, and paint. Chris collaborates in a technical advisor capacity.
The childhood friends formed uS in 2005 from a convalescent home in Asheville, NC after an argument while trying to write an email with speech recognition software. Since then they've created hundreds of works, published a book, and started a non-profit organization to support stem cell research.
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