“Growing up I did not have a lot of chances,” said Leai Ho, who was born and raised in Malaysia and has called Charlotte home since 1996. “ I was not exposed to the arts. It wasn’t something we could afford.” As a child, her exposure to art was limited to the art curriculum in school. So, as an adult, she looked for activities that matched her interests.
Charlotte filmmaker Joanne Hock was destined to become a filmmaker and storyteller. Her father – the son of a movie theater owner – spent countless days after school at the cinema. He shared his love of the artform with her and she recognized film as a medium that married the artistic elements of music, words and visual arts to make emotional connections.
What’s been erased can never be restored. That’s just one problem with tearing down history. There comes a time that people long for what’s no longer there. And it’s too late.
The ever-changing rhythms of the Queen City are reimagined as an immersive experience of abstract animations in Charlotte’s newest public artwork. “SKYLINE,” a site-specific artwork integrated into the Charlotte Convention Center overstreet pedestrian walkway, was unveiled in October as part of the convention center’s expansion opening celebration.
Independent musicians can’t just write a song, record it and hope people buy the CD. They have to market their music. Charlotte’s Tony Arreaza has a process for putting out an album. It includes making videos of a couple of songs and releasing those in advance of the album.
Charlotte artist John Burgin focuses on making art that is whimsical, brightly colored and fun. “I like to take people away from the day-to-day,” he said.
If young people and police officers create art together, what kind of understanding can they reach? Workshops led by the Arts Empowerment Project, a Charlotte program that uses art to heal vulnerable youth, took a recent step toward answering that question.
Shemika Robinson was driving home from work one day when all of a sudden her vision went dark. Terrified, she stopped her Jeep Cherokee in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant and called her older brother, screaming, “I can’t see! I can’t see!”