'Ready To Wear: Paintings By Lisa Stroud' Will Be On Display in the Betty Ray McCain Art Gallery This Month

Lisa Stroud, Cary-based abstract artist, has a solo show opening at the Duke Energy Center for Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh on Thursday evening, March 17, with a reception from 5:30-7:30 pm.

"Ready to Wear: Paintings by Lisa Stroud," a collection of 31 paintings, explores the beauty of womankind, its challenges and eccentricities, using the Little Black Dress as her wise, bantering, and sometimes, whimsical narrator. More importantly, her artwork supports women and encourages them to always believe in themselves. Her exhibition could not be more timely in celebrating and championing women, considering that March is National Women's History Month.

"From the tedious and mundane to the profound and universal, her Little Black Dress is the narrator, telling stories about how women move through the world. Her symbol, like the dress itself is practical, versatile, durable and sexy when it wants to be, offering the wearer a sense of freedom and independence," writes Frances Gardner, Professor Emerita, University of South Carolina, Lancaster, and curator of the show.

Just think about some of Stroud's titles for the art and the everyday stories these paintings reveal about women as individuals, in their relationships, in politics or at work: "When He Kisses Her Forehead, She Explodes into Flowers," "If You Want Perfection, Find Yourself a Mannequin," "A Woman's Place is in the House," (U.S. House of Representatives, that is!).

Stroud has work in the permanent collections of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Myrtle Beach Art Museum, and the Maria V. Howard Arts Center. She was a finalist in the 2010 Artist's Magazine Annual Competition and won Best in Show in 54th National Juried Art Show at Maria V. Howard Art Center. Her work was selected for the 2011 Artspace Three-Person Curated Biennial Exhibition, and it was juried into the prestigious annual Artfields competitions of 2015, 2016, and 2017 in Lake City, SC.

"Ready to Wear: Paintings by Lisa Stroud" will be on display at Duke Energy Center for Performing Arts through May 31. The March 17 opening reception is free and open to the public. Both the artist and curator will speak about this body of work.

For more information, please contact artist Lisa Stroud at 919.233.0756 or curator Frances Gardner at 803.287.0760. www.lisastroudart.com

To post a comment, you must register and login.