Meet the artists
Sarah Whitney’s playful woodcut prints celebrate woodland creatures with bold, tactile immediacy. The physical process of carving into wood echoes the marks we leave on natural spaces, while her subjects remind us of the wild lives that persist alongside our own.
Amy Friend’s intimate graphite drawings and woodcut prints imbue birds and animals with distinctly human emotions, creating powerful metaphors for our shared vulnerabilities and desires. Her work examines the tension between freedom and security, adventure and rootedness—universal struggles that connect human experience to the instinctual lives of creatures navigating their own survival.
Andie Freeman creates work exploring nature reclaiming spaces once tamed by humans. Working alla prima, en plein air and in the studio, Freeman pushes to capture truth in her subjects through light, color and movement with elements of abstraction. For this exhibition, Freeman brings her observer’s eye into the natural world, finding the intimate and the uncanny in equal measure. Her work is rooted in conservation and connection, driven by a desire to share stories of reclamation and renewal.
Autumn Cobeland documents Raleigh’s greenway system—those precious corridors where urban life and nature negotiate shared territory. Her paintings capture the
Triangle’s breathing spaces, celebrating the infrastructure that allows both humans and wildlife to move through the landscape. Embracing “wabi sabi”—the Japanese philosophy celebrating imperfect, handmade objects—Cobeland works with paint’s organic nature rather than against it. A portion of proceeds supports the greenways themselves, extending the work’s impact beyond the gallery walls.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
In Raleigh and beyond, the boundary between the built world and the natural one is increasingly hard to find. In Threshold, a September exhibition at VAE's Jobe House gallery on Morgan Street, four artists examine the interplay between nature and human community. Through woodcut prints, oil paintings, gouache, acrylic, graphite drawings, and sculptural work, Threshold explores how we coexist with the natural world — from moments of harmony, conservation, and curiosity to nature's persistent reclamation of what we've built.
How do we live alongside nature? When do we intrude? Can we find balance?
The Threshold artists are active in Raleigh and exhibit regionally and nationally.
Amy Friend's intimate graphite drawings and woodcut prints imbue birds and animals with distinctly human emotions, drawing powerful connections between animal instinct and human longing. Her work examines the tension between freedom and security, adventure and rootedness — universal struggles that connect human experience to the instinctual lives of creatures navigating their own survival.
Sarah Howes Whitney's woodcut prints carve landscapes, plants, and ecosystems directly into the silhouettes of threatened animals, emphasizing that a species' identity is inseparable from the environment it depends on. Beginning with detailed observations of local flora and fauna, Whitney's practice has evolved into a focused investigation of habitat loss, biodiversity, and environmental stewardship. Through layered textures, bold lines, and vibrant color, her work is both visually striking and urgently felt.
Autumn Cobeland documents Raleigh's greenway system — vital corridors where urban life and nature negotiate shared territory. Her paintings celebrate the infrastructure that allows both humans and wildlife to move through the landscape. Embracing wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy of imperfection, Cobeland works with paint's organic nature rather than against it. A portion of proceeds supports the greenways themselves, extending the work's impact beyond the gallery walls.
Andie Freeman paints the moments that almost disappeared. Working from found photographs and direct observation, she paints ordinary life caught unaware — a figure mid-turn, still life holding the memory of a space recently occupied, people living their day without awareness of being observed. For Threshold, Freeman turns this observer's gaze toward the natural world — figures moving through outdoor spaces, light falling in the forest, the evidence of lives lived alongside nature rather than apart from it.
Threshold will be on view at VAE September 4–27, with an opening reception on Saturday, September 12, 2–5 pm. The exhibition includes artist receptions and programming throughout September, including a special evening on September 24 in conjunction with the Sunset Market at The Bend Bar on Morgan Street.