40 artist-made lanterns on display at Cameron Art Museum

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A new collection from various artists adds light and whimsey to the Cameron Art Museum.

The museum’s new exhibit Illumination 2021 Rebirth + Renewal is on display Dec. 3 to Jan. 9, 2022. The artists explored themes of “hope as well as trepidation connected to our collective pandemic experience.”

The collection features 40 artist-made lanterns. CAM received a record number of submissions when the call-to-artists went out over the summer.

The featured artists are from Wilmington, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia and Texas.

Three artists will win cash prizes totaling $1,500 for their works. Judges for the exhibit included WECT’s and Fox Wilmington’s Ashlea Kosikowski, Penguin Radio’s Beau Gunn, UNCW Art professors and artists Anne Lindberg, Gene Felice and Donald Furst, D. Baxter’s Lamp Shop’s own Debbie Baxter, Port City Daily’s Editor Shea Carter and Kimberly Cheatham from UNCW’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion.

To celebrate the opening of the exhibit on Fri., Dec. 3, CAM will extend its hours and there will be live music from the Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra along with dueling guitars from Smokey Dunes.

According to a press release from CAM, the full schedule is as follows:

10:00 AM – 7:30 PM Illumination Exhibition opens

4:00 – 7:30 PM CAM Café open for drink service and light bites food for purchase

4:00 – 5:00 PM Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra Performances

·Holiday selections from WSYO trios and quartets

5:00 – 5:30 PM Recognition of attending artists and announcement of winners

5:30 – 7:30 PM Live Music by Smoky Dunes

The museum will mark the end of the exhibit with on Jan. 9, 2022 with Cameron Art Museum’s Floating Lantern ceremony from 4 to 7 p.m. at the museum’s reflecting pond. Learn more at www.cameronartmusuem.org.

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