OPI celebrates 50 years of James Bond with the SKYFALL COLLECTION
Come let our new nail technician paint your nails like a bond girl! Certified as an OPI Expert NT and Creative Master Tech, Vivian has worked over 15 years excelling in the application of natural looking enhancements giving top priority to maintaining healthy nails. A Nail Care Specialist, she provides medical grade services, having extensive experience pedicuring geriatric, diabetic, sports, and other hand/feet issues while educating clients on maintaining healthy nails, always ensuring a clean, sanitary, safe environment.
WHO DOES YOUR NAILS? Experience Alter EGO!
This Friday: Ott Art!
On Friday October 5th, Alter EGO invites you to experience Ott Art. Elijah Ott grew up in beautiful upstate New York on an organic farm. Spray paint is his medium, and he makes use of various tools from newspaper to bare hands. This First Friday he is bringing you futuristic cityscapes.
"Using a can of spray paint lets me create something quickly. I start a painting with just a small idea and from there, go with the flow and let it kind of create itself. I don't have to be neat or perfect with a spray can. Just get lost in paper and fumes!!"
Sept First Friday: Contrast Studios
John Rodgers started his business in 2008, specializing in commercial, weddings, and portraiture, but he personally enjoys more artistic ventures. John's love of art brought him to choose photography as a career.
John says, "Finding ones style is an ever changing and growing journey, and one that I personally hope never ends. Embracing change is ... refreshing and inspiring. My style today is a far cry from years gone by, but I believe that it is maturing from raw, visceral works -- to capturing a more refined and thoughtful vision of our world. In the end I am driven to continuously heighten my level of skill, while pushing the boundaries of my artistic evolution."
First Friday August! Celebrate Summer before its gone...
Through his illustration, graphic art, and painting Franco synthesizes art and activism to form a genre of his own - visual activism. The characters and images he creates will grab more than your attention; they will spark your conscience.
"By finding an ironic comfort in the use of bold lines and bright colors, my art is designed to gently, but vigorously liberate minds from the bonds of conventional thinking."
At once easy to digest and thought-provoking, Franco's work makes statements about the laudable triumphs and continued struggles of those who fight for social equalities.
AE Presents: Taylor McDonald
"Collecting, remembering and altering are the essentials to my creations," says collage artist and photographer Taylor McDonald. For Taylor, Art is honesty. Creation is about bringing forth facts, images, and emotions that reflect the truth that she sees and feels around her.
Taylor regularly sorts through old pictures, magazine ads, stamps, trinkets and even junk yards. In doing so she says she is "mentally searching for a mind state, a way to sort through the present, remember the past and address things in need of change."
This series of Work is titled "Collecting, Remembering and Altering." It features photography and collage art Taylor has been creating since living in Georgia where she attends Savannah College of Art and Design.
This Friday: Anne Atkinson's Photography
Anne describes herself as a “professional treasure hunter”, which is very telling of the way she captures her photographic subject matter. Whether combing the cobblestone streets of fishing villages along the Amalfi Coast in Italy, or rummaging about a farm’s junk pile in rural North Carolina, Anne’s gift is finding treasures in simple things.
A self-taught photographer, Anne started her career as a photo stylist first in New York City and then in Denver, Colorado. But she turned her focus to working behind the lens when she gave birth to her first favorite photography subject, her son, Evan. Fourteen years later, Anne’s favorite photography subjects also include natural abstracts, architectural elements and street art. Her newest venture is in mixed media, where she infuses her photographic images into abstract collages using handmade paper, paint and ephemera.
Anne lives in downtown Raleigh with her husband, Ken, her son, Evan, two dogs and an occasional cat.
Rock it 'til Your Wheels Fall Off! First Friday
This Friday rock it 'til your wheels fall off at Alter EGO! See Graffiti by the world famous VanillaGorrilla and hear DJ F4CEPAINT lay it out on the 1's and 2's. Be there or be square!
First Friday: "Pieces" by Leigh Moose
Though not classically trained, Leigh Moose found herself so captivated by what the world and fellow artists had to offer, that she developed her own natural talents and has chosen to narrate living and share her voice through photography.
Born and raised in North Carolina, Leigh now resides just outside her hometown of Wake Forest. Encouraged by her parents to explore and experience the world around her; Leigh seized the opportunity to live in cities across the country. Experiencing both small town living and large metropolitan areas, Leigh found herself inspired by the diversity of the architecture, color, nature, history and people these areas had to offer. This exposure nurtured an appreciation for a variety of art mediums.
Leigh has worked with several major local musicians and her photography has graced the cover of three CD’s. Leigh has also enjoyed artistic photography work with fellow textile artists, making sure that those artists’ pieces also have a voice through her photography. Some of Leigh’s artwork has displayed at Raleigh’s VAE, The Anne Marie Sculptural Gardens Gallery: About Faces exhibit, Appalachian State University’s Turchin Center: The Halpert Biennial Exhibition, and The Lede Gallery of Wake Forest: Journeys Unknown exhibit. Although Leigh focuses most of her work on portraiture, she always takes the time to encourage a more “out of the box” approach to classic photography. Leigh lives by the motto that, “Every photograph deserves a moment in time.”
First Friday: "Abandoned Spaces"
Erin Woods lives with a creative passion and curiosity about the world. After graduating from Elon with a degree in Painting and Fiber Arts, she has made Raleigh her home.
Read on from Erin regarding her opening of "Abandoned Spaces" at Alter EGO:
"I can remember going on adventures with my dad, as a kid, through rural parts of Maryland. We would explore old tobacco barns and abandoned spaces. There was always a lot of mystery surrounding these structures and I would wonder about their stories. Like an archaeologist uncovering clues about the past, there is a great amount of excitement, imagination, and wonder present when I seek out these spaces. I take my role as an observer very seriously and never manipulate any of the scenes in my photos. What you see is what was left when and where I found it. As well as being visually interesting, I hope to convey a story and evoke emotions that will help the viewer imagine what might have happened." - Erin Woods
Making it even easier....
Celebrate something new: A First Friday Harpist
Diane Leffler of Geneseo, NY has been playing harp since 2004 when she studied therapeutic music with the International Harp Therapy Program out of San Diego, California. The program emphasized developing improvisational skills and led her to begin writing and recording her own pieces. In July of 2011, Diane premiered an original composition in a performance at Kilbourn Hall of the Eastman School of Music.
Join us this Friday December 2nd and treat yourself to Diane's beautiful music for the holiday season. You'll have the added pleasure of viewing Mathew Curran's Corrugated Medium show, on display through the end of December.
See Mathew Curran November Only @ AE
Mathew Curran - Stencil Art Show - 11.04.11 from Chris Rief Photography on Vimeo.
Miss Mathew Curran's Opening on Nov 4th? You'll still be able to view the collection through December at Alter EGO. Stop in anytime. Thanks to Chris Rief Photography for shooting and publishing this video.
Mathew Curran - Stencil Art Show - 11.04.11 from Chris Rief Photography on Vimeo.
HE'S HERE! Mathew Curran: First Friday.
Mathew Curran. b 1979 Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Mathew Curran received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Art and Design at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Curran is best known for his elaborate and large scale stencil work. 
He sites street art and graffiti from around the world as major influences. Recent gallery shows include NCNC at SECCA in Winston Salem, North Carolina; Divergence at North Art Space in Jakarta, Indonesia and Fat Cap Gallery in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has a collaborative mural currently on view at The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina and Georgia Power downtown Atlanta.
Mathew says, "My work is heavily influenced by urban American culture, with its random and unchecked energy and raw sense of possibility. I work with cardboard, spray paint, ink and photography. My work involves intricate stencil cutting, which I use to capture the virility and stamina of street life. My recent projects focus on reintroducing wildlife back into our urban landscape area. " 
Learn More about Curran at http://www.mathewcurran.com/
Don't Miss Jarrett Burch - First Friday @ Alter EGO
Jarrett Burch is a self-taught abstract painter whose style ― initially influenced by Rothko, Turner, and Frankenthaler ― has since matured to reflect a more personal and intuitive creative process. His canvases grace the New York City living room of an internationally renowned operatic soprano, as well as other homes in New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Raleigh-Durham. In his works, Burch seeks to evoke a variety of different moods, images, and emotions, leaving each viewer to bring his or her own experiences and sensibilities to interact with the canvas.
Tues. Oct 4th: Girls Night Out!
GIRLS' NIGHT OUT
$30/person
6:00-9:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 4th
Bring a friend for
Blowdry Bootcamp: Learn how to recreate that Salon look at home!
Tricks of the Trade makeup session with Belle Trachtenburg
Jewelry Display by Jaclyn Anthony
Light refreshments will be provided.
September First Friday: Alter EGO presents Conall Callen.
Alter EGO presents Conall Callen, a painter living and working in Raleigh. Born in 1971 in Arlington, Virginia, Conall received his formal arts training at Carnegie Mellon where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1994. Subsequently he moved to Portland, Oregon, began a career in banking and started a family. The Callen family has lived in Raleigh since November 2010. For Conall, a successful piece of work should contain enough beauty and harmony to distract the viewer. There should be enough complexity that continues to inform the viewer over time and enough identity and individualism to distance itself from its own making, therefore appearing to have no known origin. Ultimately, it should remind you of a person that you would like to meet.
Come by this Friday, September 2, to view Conall's collection. Stop by to check out the salon, book your next appointment or have a drink. We look forward to seeing you!
Portraits of Love. This Friday. by Julie Livingston.
Also August 5th, Get your Jaclyn Anthony Designs at Alter EGO.
Jaclyn Anthony Designs makes high-fashion jewelry affordable before they style is irrelevant, without sacrificing the rich details that make a piece look high-style.
What sets Jaclyn Anthony Designs apart is versatility. Each piece is easily transitional from day to night. It can make a statement on its own, or easily incorporated into any existing collections, and it can be built upon within the Jaclyn Anthony Designs collection.
Jaclyn's jewelry is designed and made in Raleigh, NC, where it is assembled by a small production team of skilled craftspeople overseen by Jaclyn, whose true pride in their workmanship is evident in the high quality of each piece.
First Friday: Angela Casesa
Don't miss the work of Angela Casesa this Friday at Alter EGO!
Angela was born and raised on Long Island in New York and moved to North Carolina at 25. She is studying Art and Design at NC State University. When asked about her work, Angela replied, "Since I was a child I always had an interest in art. I love to draw, typically in mediums of pencil or charcoal. I love the amount of detail, and control that using these mediums gives me. I always enjoyed taking photos; I saw it as a way of holding on to my memories. As they say, 'a picture is worth a thousand words.' "