#5 LIGHT, PONYTAILS AND SOUVENIRS

 

My favorite photo in Ponytails and Souvenirs

WHERE I WENT AND WHY....  

I was determined to go to a Charlotte gallery this week!  So I checked Sunday's paper and there was a gallery opening on the one night I was in town at The Light Factory!  It sounded interesting, so after inviting a few friends who have said they would like to tag along sometime, I was off.

Pat O'Rorke met me at the gallery

She is standing beside a piece called Chest Hair 

and small piece of jewelry with pubic hair!!

WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO...

The hardest part is finding The Light Factory.  They are at 1817 Central Avenue across from the Harris Teeter, but in the back of the building that houses International House, the old Midwood School.  Turn toward what looks like a church just past the strip shopping center.  There was plenty of parking and they are open Wednesday - Saturday noon-6 pm.  The current show runs through October 12.

WHAT I SAW...

Rebecca Drolen's Ponytails and Souvenirs consists of two different exhibitions of photographs.  The first, in the larger room as you walk in is entitled Hair Pieces.  It explores our love of a revulsion of hair.  Rebecca is her own model in the photos and each tells its own story, sometimes humorously and unexpectedly.

These two are probably the "grossest" of the exhibition. When does body hair "cross the line"?

Entitled Detangler, I could use this with my granddaughters!!

This triptych explores our emotions with our hair...

Is cutting it liberating or defiling?

The smaller gallery held an exhibition entitled Particular Histories.  It explored our transition from childhood to adulthood using daydreams, longings and fears.  Often a childish solution was juxtaposed with an adult problem.

I

If only a cornucopia could help my hearing!!

And I would love to hear flowers!

Who hasn't felt like we've grown up to fast and no longer fit?

B

 

Borrowed Heels - Women are resourceful!!!

WHAT I LEARNED...

I was able to talk to the artist. and then she gave a short talk about her work.  I learned that you understand the works much better when you are able to hear the artist's explanation and see her humor and passion.  She said she used synthetic hair purchased at Halloween and costume shops for most of her photographs.   Each piece had a hint of the absurd (sometimes blatantly!!) which made them fun.

Rebecca Drolen speaks at the Light Factory

The hair tie behind her was and interesting play on maleness and feminism

She is a professor of Fine Art at the University of Arkansas

I liked the second exhibition better.  Each piece was almost like a modern fairy tale.  She was able to tell a story with just a few items in the frame.

Rebecca Drolen and I share a glass of wine at her opening

IF MON$Y WAS NO OBJECT, WOULD I PUT IT IN MY HOUSE...

While I came to appreciate the humor and symbolism, I would not want a piece of art I was continually having to explain to my friends!  

WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE BOUGHT IT...

We just recently purchased this piece for our mountain house, Park's Peak.  Entitled Launching and Homecoming, the small bird can face either way.  Made and carved from river rock by an artist from Boone (I'll add his name later!) it is perfect for our mantle on the stone fireplace!  The amorphosizing of the mother bird just appealed to both David and me.  We have been delighted several Springs with nests of mourning doves on our porch and have been honored to witness their first flights!  This piece makes me smile.