Orange Co. Arts Commission

Vitamin O Artist of the Month: Leigh Stringfellow

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By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O Although it is easy to immediately make beautiful music on the harp, mastering the instrument is difficult. Musician Leigh Stringfellow has loved the harp since she saw one at age four; she started playing at nine. The strings are the same as the white keys on a piano. Therefore, in addition… Read More →

Vitamin O Artists of the Month: North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble

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By Alicia Stemper Founded in 1982, North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble (NCYTE) is a repertoire company with roughly 40 dancers, all age 18 or younger. Surprisingly, founder and artistic director Gene Medler did not start dancing until age 28. He quipped, “I didn’t want to blossom too young.” Likewise, regarding NCYTE’s nationwide and international reputation,… Read More →

Vitamin O Artist of the Month: Sol Ramirez & 123 Puppetry

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By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O After becoming interested in puppetry at age three, Sol Ramirez founded 123 Puppetry while still in elementary school. Puppetry includes a much greater variety of form than the classic sock puppet. Explains Sol, “Anything with movement can be considered a puppet.” Sol has also been a “full-on member” of the well-known… Read More →

Vitamin O Artist of the Month: Elsa Hoffman

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By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O Metal and wood artist Elsa Hoffman works out of a barn/studio hybrid she built with her good friend George Allen and the help of others on a 40 acre grain farm in Mebane. They used wood milled from trees on the property. “I never built a building before – it feels… Read More →

Vitamin O: Artist United “The Walls We Build”

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Click here to see a schedule of Orange County exhibits: Chapel Hill & Carrboro – Opening during Second Friday ArtWalk, June 8 Hillsborough – Opening during Last Friday ArtWalk, June 29 By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O During Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy, photographer Donn Young envisioned a statewide art exhibit organized around the theme The Walls We Build. Young… Read More →

Vitamin O: One Song Productions

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By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O “The Dream of the Burning Boy,” a play by David West Read, will be produced and performed by One Song Productions, a completely youth run local theatre company, at the Carrboro ArtsCenter June 1-3, 2018. “Burning Boy” is co-directed by Eliza McLamb (Carrboro High) and Naomi Nelson (East Chapel Hill High)…. Read More →

Vitamin O: Hill Country Woodworks

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By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O Beyond trying to be easy to find on Google and Facebook, Hill Country Woodworks owner/operators Mark Todd, Will Bucher, and Dave Pearson don’t worry too much about advertising. “We’re not trying to be popular…we’re just focused on being good.” Their custom furniture business sits in an old gas station on Old… Read More →

Vitamin O: Sarah Cornette’s Choice Based Classroom

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“Happy Art Day!” is the greeting Sarah Cornette gives students when they arrive at the Mary Scroggs Elementary School art studio.  Visitors are greeted with a brochure. The choice-based arts education here is so different, adults need help making sense of what they are seeing.    Every aspect of the studio supports “design thinking.” Cornette believes… Read More →

Vitamin O: Poet Jaki Shelton Green

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By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O for the Orange County Arts Commission Jaki Shelton Green, named the inaugural Piedmont Laureate in 2009 and inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2014, is obviously a poet. But she is also a story teller, writer, teacher, creativity coach, and change agent in the lives of others…. Read More →

Vitamin O: Builder and Woodworker David Hinkle

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By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O for the Orange County Arts Commission David Hinkle designed and built the new bee hotel, a habitat for solitary bees, in Gold Park on Hillsborough’s Riverwalk. Solitary bees are “awesome pollinators” and the unsung heroes of our food supply. Hinkle estimates that only 5% of people know what a solitary bee… Read More →