Music-themed artwork chosen for GATEWAY hub
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on July 27, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Local artist Eric Schreffler painted several canvases with a musical theme and his artwork was chosen to be hung in the city's new GATEWAY Transfer Station.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Painted panels created by artist Eric Schreffler will hang in the new GATEWAY Transfer Station.
Eric Schreffler nearly missed the chance to be a part of the new GATEWAY Transfer Station art project.
He saw a notice from the Arts Council of Wayne County about submitting ideas for the artwork at the last minute, but desperately wanted to be part of the effort.
So, he submitted his ideas for several large panels of art -- pieces that will now be on display at the GATEWAY station.
Schreffler, 47, went with a music theme and was selected from a pool of many other artists who submitted ideas.
"His designs were perfect for the space and will also serve to highlight Goldsboro/Wayne County's participation in the North Carolina Arts Council's African American Music Trails project," said Arts Council director Sarah Merritt. "It highlights the rich African American music history that comes out of this area of the state, specifically in ... Wayne County. With Eric's work, that's going to key in with the work we're doing with the trail."
Mrs. Merritt said Schreffler's work is large scale, which is exactly what was needed for the transfer station.
"And it's got kind of a graphic quality to it and won't get lost in that large space," she said.
Schreffler calls himself a music-inspired artist, having been drawn to abstract work that is music-related.
He typically names his abstracts after songs, and on occasion, he creates a piece that is not an abstract, but that's still music-related.
His pieces for the transfer station are all music-inspired, with some having trumpets and some having drums. Others have upright basses and guitars.
"They are leaning hard to an abstract type of look," Schreffler said. "They are not clean. There's a lot of movement in the paintings with the movement of the paint. I don't try to make lines specifically in a painting or even go from one value to another. I let the paint do that.
"One color might spray or splatter another color over that. But you can still tell they are instruments when you look at them. The more you look, the more you can see some extra things I've added."
Some of those extras have to do with local history -- like the Paramount Theatre abstract with instruments surrounding it, Goldsboro's traffic circle in another painting and even Wilber's in another.
"I kind of hide it somewhere in the painting," Schreffler said. "They are things that personalize it to Goldsboro."
Schreffler was also motivated to be a part of the GATEWAY Transfer Station art project because he believes in the downtown revitalization.
"I think downtown is going to be unbelievable in the coming years," he said.
The paintings will hang in the main lobby area of the station, where the ceilings are very high.
"Because of that, the acoustics are kind of harsh," Mrs. Merritt said. "The architect decided he wanted to do some kind of acoustical panels."
Each of the panels will be 63 inches wide by 72 inches tall.
The works that will hang from the ceiling will be double-sided with a different painting on each side.
There will also be four solid colored panels. Six panels will hang on the walls at the ends of the lobby.
"The panels are not just a piece of cloth," Mrs. Merritt said. "They're kind of quilted. The painted panels are sewn together and there's batting in between, so it created something that will absorb sound."
The panels will be hung the first part of August, in time for a big unveiling and ribbon cutting for the new station, Mrs. Merritt said.