The Arthur S. DeBerry Gallery for Botanical Art & Illustration, a side-room inside the Pegg Exhibit Hall, features two-dimensional botanical and nature-inspired art by local artists. Exhibits rotate every two months.
Are you an artist interested in showing in the gallery? Learn more on our Artist Information page.
October 26 – December 20, 2024
No Thought of Time
Susan Fecho
Exhibit Reception: Sunday, November 3, 2-4 p.m.
Working from collected specimens – fragments of nature and found objects – Susan has produced landscapes that simultaneously celebrate nature and reference civilization. Progressing from realism to the abstract [using textural layering, collage, muted values], she aims to create subtle tones of “place memory” where discontinuous times and places become interactive. To study nature’s repeating patterning and texture requires focused attention and awareness of universally attractive forms. Susan uses intentional and chance methods to record nature and to understand that nature does not transcend culture, nor do the traces of the human within the land. This exhibit began with a series of small woodblocks and lino blocks that she developed and then repeated to a larger scale by printing on toned washi paper, then collaged all together and augmented with watercolor, gouache and silverpoint pieces.
About the Artist
Susan Fecho specializes in multi-media printmaking, surface designer, and illustration with a M.F.A. from ECU. Fecho has exhibited nationally, and internationally – and has received numerous awards, grants, and residencies. Fecho, born in Virginia and long-term resident of North Carolina, is connected to “place” – she has a deep appreciation for the natural world of North Carolina, her home. Fecho’s images have
been accepted into several major collections: the Smithsonian Institution’s American Art Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Museum of Women Artists in Washington.
Her work is inspired by the natural world – while also responding to the vernacular. The focus of her work is often a result of locational surroundings along the winding roads of the Tidewater regions to Appalachia [born/raised Appalachian, long term resident of Tar-Pamlico River Basin]. These sites are filled with sensory experiences that include historic vernacular and indigenous botanicals. She has developed an abiding love of interpreting the past as personal, archetypical and cultural artifact. Before she constructs a piece, she constructs its meaning – a story—matrix of personal, cultural, and archetypal associations within which my assembled fragments will find their place. She imagines these fragmented surfaces, placed in space, informing, and concealing deeper meanings. Her multi-media methods include printmaking, fiber, illustration, and assemblage – which invites viewers to examine and engage with orchestrated expressive textures and forms. This included the cultured landscape and history within its’ social context, such as the cultural units and spaces of these communities.
January 7 – March 2, 2025
Birds of North Carolina: Community Photo Exhibit
Reception: Sunday, January 12, 2-4 p.m. (Inclement weather date: Sunday, January 26)
This exhibit will feature more than 200 photos of wild birds in North Carolina thanks to submissions from individuals from across the state and country. Stay tuned for more details!
March 6 – April 27, 2025
North Carolina Birds and Where They Live
Watercolors by Catherine Kramer
Reception: Sunday, March 9, 2-4 p.m.
This collection of expressive portraits of North Carolina birds and with impressionist local landscapes serves as a reminder of what we have and what we have to lose.
About the Artist
Catherine Kramer is a multi-media artist who works in fiber art, print-making, and watercolor painting. She has studied with other artists and teachers at the University of Minnesota, Durham Arts Council, John Campbell Folk Art School, TerraCotta Art, Pocosin Arts, and others. She is a member of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina, the Orange County Artists Guild, the Durham Artists Guild and Alamance Artisans. Her work has been displayed at many local venues since 2008.
Catherine’s abstract and semi-abstract landscapes depict her impressions of the constantly changing natural world. Reflected light and color can be observed only momentarily, as the light passes and changes. A watercolor impression of a moment in time provides a sense of the transient and fragile nature of our world. In 2023 her painting “Adagio” received the Permanent Purchase Award from the Watercolor Society of North Carolina.