Artspace Changes Lives Through Art
Posted: 02-11-2009 : RALEIGH, N.C.

Raleigh, N.C. – Artspace is inspiring creative energy at the Salvation Army! In March, Sculptor Paris Alexander will begin a new Artspace Outreach Program with 15 youths (3rd-6th graders) at the Salvation Army on Wake Forest Road, Raleigh, NC. Alexander will meet with youths for two hours every Friday through the end of May, instructing them in the carving of limestone sculptures. The sculptures will then be assembled into a permanent installation on the grounds of the Salvation Army.

About Artspace Outreach Program
The Artspace Outreach Programs was created in the fall of 2001 to provide at-risk children and young adults with a voice through art - providing them with the language of art through which they can express their thoughts and ideas, and share them with the community in a positive way.

For more than seven years the program has provided visual art opportunities for approximately 4,000 children and adults through partnerships with neighborhood social service organizations and local schools. Together with these partners, Artspace provides safe, engaging and constructive environments for underserved children who lack adult supervision and adults who may have faltered along the way. Each outreach program is taught by an artist-in-residence, chosen specifically for their particular expertise with a given medium and their previous residency teaching experience.

Artspace believes in changing lives through art. Our outreach programs offer children and adults in difficult situations a voice to express their struggles, their joys, and their triumphs. Teaching artists spend twenty-four contact hours with youths or adults, creating a collaborative large-scale work of art. The final public works of art remain a constant reminder to our community of the diversity among us and the positive impact of art and the creative process.

About Paris Alexander
Paris Alexander is a professional sculptor specializing in figurative stone carving. Since moving to Raleigh eleven years ago, Alexander has shown his work extensively throughout the state, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of World Cultures, UNC-Wilmington, Duke University, and the Fayetteville Museum of Art. Alexander has also shown in numerous commercial art galleries, including 21st Century Gallery, an affiliate of the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, in Williamsburg, VA; Somerhill Gallery, Chapel Hill; The Center of the Earth Gallery, Charlotte; Raleigh Contemporary Gallery, Raleigh; and the Broadway Gallery, Alexandria, VA. His public commissions can be found across the state. Alexander has been a sculpture and anatomy instructor for the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Durham Arts Council, and Artspace. He has also acted as a coordinating artist for the North Carolina Museum of Art Outreach Program, completing numerous community stone sculpture projects across the state.

About Artspace
Artspace, a thriving visual art center located in downtown Raleigh, brings the creative process to life through inspiring and engaging education and community outreach programming, a dynamic environment of over 30 professional artists studios, and nationally acclaimed exhibitions. Approximately 95 artists hold professional memberships in the Artspace Artists Association. Thirty-five of these artists have studios located at Artspace. Artspace is open to the public Tues.-Sat., from 10 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and on the first Friday of each month for the First Friday Gallery Walk until 10:00 p.m. Admission is free; donations appreciated. Guided tours are available. Artspace is located in Historic City Market in Raleigh at the corner of Blount and Davie streets.

Artspace is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, the Raleigh Arts Commission, individuals, corporations, and private foundations. For more information, please visit www.artspacenc.org.