Enjoy a casual tour of the museum’s current exhibits and a Zoom talk with Our Living Past photographer Timothy Duffy during Art at Happy Hour on Thursday, March 10, from 5 – 7 p.m. at Piedmont Arts.
For over 35 years, Duffy has forged a unique vision immortalizing Southern musical heroes and the world in which they live. The founder of Music Maker Foundation — a non-profit that preserves the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it — Duffy traveled the South to capture the compelling collection of 25 wet-plate collodion photographs featured in Our Living Past: Platinum Portraits of Southern Music Makers. The exhibit includes portraits ranging from guitar virtuoso and Allman Brothers Band member Derek Trucks and legendary bluesman Taj Mahal to lesser-known blues and soul artists, as well as images of instruments, like former Carolina Chocolate Drops member Dom Flemons’ circa 1920 banjo, “Big Head Joe.”
Dear B.J.: Postcards from the Pandemic is a creative non-fiction interpretation of life in Appalachia during the COVID-19 pandemic, as imagined by artist L.S. King through intimate postcard-sized images and written correspondence. Each card features a black-and-white photograph with a backside written to a mysterious B.J. and signed by “ME.” Through these vagaries, King invites the viewer into a shared world. Perhaps you wonder who B.J. is, or maybe you know. Perhaps you relate to the “ME” who signed the cards. And as you think about it all, perhaps you overlay King’s visual narrative over your own.
Tara Compton’s eponymous exhibit features work by the local abstract painter, sculptor and jewelry designer.
Art at Happy Hour is free and open to the public with complimentary sips and snacks. RSVP attendance by March 9 to (276) 632-3221 or online at PiedmontArts.org.
Exhibits on display through Saturday, March 12. Exhibit admission is always free.
Our Living Past: Platinum Portraits of Southern Music Makers on display at Piedmont Arts through March 12.
