Nature Narratives, Fairmount Arts Crawl, APRIL 25

Tomorrow is the big day and I'm psyched!

I'm calling it Nature Narratives and each piece is a series from one walk once in a place. The only piece that is a collage of different times and places is the grid wall hanging in the back with small 4 x 6" photos of color and chaos. The majority of the images are in wall border strips that wrap from one wall to another and are in sequence from the start of the trip to the end. I selected walks from Ocean City, Cape May, the Wissahickon trail here in Philly, Tigertail Beach in Florida and the Cherry Blossom Walk (21st Street between Parrish and Brown). Also in the show are a wall of quads, four images in a grid, of pictures from my hike in the Ashville, NC Blue Ridge Mountains, taken just last month.

I hung the show last night and it was really strange to not have any frames and trying to get everythig level and flush on the walls was a challenge, as was the huge wall in the back of the Beehive Hair Salon. I'm not a big fan of rickety ladders and heights, I just imagine stories of people breaking their backs or scenes from America's Funniest Home Videos of people doing stupid things, but all want well.

I'm not sure how poeple will respond to the images, since they are not just pretty pictures of flowers or waterfalls or something. Some are dark and wintery and have fungus and lichen and bare trees or pictures of birds partially obscured in tree branches, but I wanted to show the honest spaces, not just the edited pretty bits, the whole experience. I've been working on this problem since I was in college, and I think this is an exciting way to present a place and a time.

Let me know what you think.

I'll be there tomorrow from 2-6 pm selling quad prints of select images from the show and cards. Stop by, despite the rain. They'll be a band, food and drinks and hair demos going on! Beehive Hair Salon is closest to 23rd and Fairmount Streets, across from the CVS at 2323 Fairmount. Everything in the hood will be open for the Fairmont Arts Crawl with artists and free food and drinks.