we took an amazing road trip this week up to the mountains of north carolina to spend the morning at the blowing rock art & history museum to view gallery artist page laughlin’s solo exhibition of paintings on view through may 4th. ship/shape is very special due to the fact it is the first time for page and her partner david finn’s sculptures to be shown side by side. if you find yourself in blowing rock over the next few weeks definitely stop by brahm to see the show. big thank you to museum director stephan dragisic and curator ian wilson for being so gracious. we look forward to exhibiting page laughlin’s ship painting in july/august at hidell brooks.
SHIP/SHAPE is a dynamic exhibition featuring more than 20 paintings and sculptures, from painter Page Laughlin and sculptor David Finn, that explore and delight in the various manifestations of ships as image, symbol and metaphor. The exhibition showcases two distinct, but interrelated, bodies of work presented side by side. Although at first glance the two artists’ work might appear radically different—in medium, use of color, physicality—on closer examination strong parallels emerge. This marks the first time in over 30 years that the two artists, who are a couple, have developed an exhibition together.
Laughlin/-ship(s)
Page Laughlin's images of ships carry a range of meanings, exploring the artist's relationship with painting, symbolism, and poetic expression. Working on loose paper, Laughlin embraces the unpredictable nature of her medium. Her process is rooted in gesture, alternating between concealing and revealing elements within her compositions. Over the course of her -ship(s) series, her approach to delineating volume has shifted-where earlier works conveyed depth through dense, layered pigment, her more recent paintings use negative space and lighter washes to create a sense of openness and restraint.
The ships, and the dynamic environments they occupy, feel both alive and timeless-like specimens preserved in amber. These paintings are not isolated works but part of an ongoing exploration. Each one is a study, a single step in a broader inquiry. As you look closely at the works in this gallery, you might notice informal groupings or themes that emerge, reflecting different phases of Laughlin's process.
Some paintings feel like portraits, intimate explorations of the formal and stylistic character of the ships themselves. Other compositions are situational, the seafaring vessel serving to articulate the context it emerges from: frothing seawater, turbulent skies, or the geometry of their intersection in the horizon. Still others take on allegorical qualities, hinting at narratives that may not be immediately clear.
Ultimately, these images revel in their painterly surfaces, and Laughlin's works invite both joy and contemplation. She often speaks of the pleasure of looking, and her paintings offer that pleasure in abundance-rewarding both careful study and pure visual enjoyment.
Ship In A Bottle/leave a message
The Ship In A Bottle project, developed by artist Page Laughlin in collaboration with BRAHM, invites the community to reflect on the meaning of the suffix "-ship." In preparation for SHIP/SHAPE, museum staff engaged participants in identifying words-such as friendship, leadership, or partnership-that reflected their personal values and aspirations. Participants wrote messages about their most meaningful "-ship" on slips of paper, which were then placed into small glass bottles. These bottles, merging the ideas of "ship in a bottle" and "message in a bottle," were woven into a handcrafted fishing net, symbolizing the power of art to create and strengthen community bonds.
The project extended beyond the museum walls as BRAHM staff traveled to locations across the region, inviting diverse communities to contribute their messages and expand this shared network of experiences. On an oversized fishing net, hand-knotted by Laughlin and museum staff, over 400 bottles are suspended, creating this installation that integrates the voices of the community directly into the gallery.
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, which profoundly impacted this region, Ship In A Bottle serves as a timely reminder of art's ability to connect, heal, and empower. By blending individual expressions into a collective tapestry, the project reinforces the resilience of our community and the enduring strength found in shared human experiences. Visitors to BRAHM are encouraged to participate, adding their stories to this evolving installation and contributing to its powerful message of unity and hope.
The poster on the wall opposite contains the guiding image Laughlin produced for this project. A few of the multitude of common "-ship(s)" are listed above her simple yet evocative prompt:
What is your "_-ship"? Leave a message in the bottle,
explore one of the important "-ships" in your life.
“For this series, I developed a body of artworks that use the explorative process of oil painting to reveal and consider the image of -ship(s) as a visual metaphor for our contemporary state of being. Throughout this project, I have collected a multitude of ship images from widely varied sources, such as museum archives, playgrounds, Netflix TV shows, liquor bottles, and “junktique” shops. A simple yet complex image, easy to overlook yet surprisingly ubiquitous, a wooden sailing ship evokes a multitude of historical and contemporary references. These associations range from a ship as a symbol of exploration or colonialism to a nostalgic image of intrepid endeavors or obsolescence, from the innocence of a lullaby to the excesses of Pirates of the Caribbean.
I believe painting’s power lies in its capacity to serve as a contemplative artifact of our contemporary existence. Looking to current events, phrases such as “at sea,” “sailing into unknown territory,” and “knocked the wind out of our sails” float to the surface. In our language, the suffix “-ship” modifies words to mean “the state or condition of being something.” Not simply a quick read or a didactic, the paintings serve as richly layered and nuanced artifacts. Whether considering citizen-ship, relation-ship, owner-ship, censor-ship, or friend-ship, viewers can bring their own associations to the experience of the artwork over time.”
Page Laughlin’s artwork has been selected for over 43 competitive exhibitions, including 11 museum exhibitions, 10 solo exhibitions or installations, and six published color exhibition catalogues. Her residency fellowships include the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, Calif.; the Virginia Center for Creative Arts in Amherst, Va.; and the ON::View Residency in Savannah, Ga. Her work is in numerous private and public collections throughout the United States, including the American University Museum at the Katzen Art Center in Washington, D.C. and the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, N.C. In 2021, Laughlin retired from teaching to focus on her creative activities and is now a research professor at Wake Forest University.
