The ArtsCenter is proud to host this new collaboration and showcase of solo works by Shelly Hehenberger and Luna Lee Ray. The Exhibition will take place in the Sweet Bay Gallery from March 7th – April 27th. A special opening reception and poetry reading will take place on March 27th from 6-8:30.
We have been working collaboratively for over a decade. It started as a fun impulse- Shelly was uninspired by something she had started, Luna asked if she could work on it….and that has led to over 200 collaborative works on paper , panel, and canvas.
Working collaboratively, as we do it ,is much like improv comedy: it requires a great willingness to let go of how something began, and move forward with freedom when a changed piece comes back to you. We usually pass our pieces back and forth multiple times, until we start to see something emerge . We both need to be excited about it, and feel like there is enough of each of us in it, to agree that a piece is finished.
This new body of work, Meanderings, began in a different way than we have started in the past. Shelly had been looking at images of the trails and patterns that insects leave on trees, below the bark, and we both got excited about the visual layering possibilities. We then got together and generated collage material , ink and paint on tracing paper, inspired by these meandering insect lines. We had never started with such a specific reference point before, and although we each took our own direction with it, the resulting pieces all beautifully express that beautiful ,organic, indeterminate line found in nature.
All titles are fragments of Mary Oliver poems.
Luna Lee Ray
Bio
Luna Lee Ray received her BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon in 1988. Born in Queens, NY, and the great- grand- niece of Man Ray, she has lived and shown her work in Oregon, Hawaii, Arizona, and New Mexico, before settling in the Chapel Hill area in 1998.
Luna is a founding artist member of Frank Gallery in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, as well as the lead curator for the gallery. She is also a well established and respected teacher of watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media painting at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, North Carolina. In addition, she has been a member/participant in the Orange County Artist’s Guild Annual Open Studio Tour since 2004.
Statement
My current paintings are inspired by the interplay of air, water, and light: Rain and sunshine and mist; Moisture in the air at dawn; The charge in the air after a summer storm.
My artistic process involves multiple layers of acrylic paints and graphite-sometimes charcoal, pastel, ink, and collage as well. I begin each piece as an experimental journey, finding the composition and meaning as I go.
I work with both randomness and intentionality. The early stages of a piece involve active drawing, sometimes with my eyes closed. I then add multiple layers of thin and thick paints, adding more graphite between layers. As a piece moves on I will begin to add more complex forms and fine tune the color harmonics. As I layer, some elements are enhanced and some are obscured, resulting in an atmospheric surface rich with history, depth, and luminosity.
“I am learning to see something new. In addition to sky and land, a third thing has equal significance – the air.“ -Rilke
Shelly Hehenberger
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Indiana University, 1990
Master of Fine Arts, University of Cincinnati, 1994
I have been a working and teaching artist since 1994 when I completed a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from the University of Cincinnati. I have exhibited widely in the Carolinas since moving to the South in 2000.
The various mediums I use include oil and cold wax medium on wood, acrylic mixed media on paper, and digitally created illustration.
My work can be seen at Frank Gallery on Main Street in Carrboro, where I am an active member. I have been a teacher of Mixed Media and Photoshop at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro since 2024.
