glenn sanford greeted me at the door of the h.c. porter gallery in vicksburg, mississippi. i recognized the name of the gallery because just that morning i had perused the vicksburg tourist magazine. i was drawn to the gallery because the magazine said h.c. porter worked in three medias: photography, printmaking, and painting. i wondered how an artist could do that.
looking at the work, i noticed the subjects were all black. glenn explained to me how h.c. first takes a photo, then silk-screens it, and finally paints it. it sounded very complicated and i imagined h.c. must be some kind of technological genius, all that serigraphy and all.
"here's h.c. now if you want to meet her," glenn said.
walking towards me was the antithesis of how i had pictured h.c. porter. h.c. was a tall, caucasian blonde, who when she heard i was on a long bike ride, started telling me about a friend of hers who does cross-country bike tours.
"excuse me a minute; i'll be right back," she said.
while awaiting her, i noticed her dossier on the wall and read it.
upon returning, h.c. talked about the plaza art fair in kansas city after i told her i was from kansas.
"i'm glad to clear up something i was wondering about. i looked at the children's art down on the riverfront and thought they had a great teacher. now i've learned that you are that teacher," i explained.
"oh, yes, i love working with children," she replied.
"i really must get upstairs to my painting," she continued. "i'd love talking with you, but i have 40 paintings to get done."
after she left, glenn explained to me that h.c. had gone to view the devastation of hurricane katrina right after it happened. she took 9000 photos, then selected 40 to make into paintings. he showed me some of the photos. they, like her other paintings, each showed one person in black-and-white photography, standing where their house had once been. they were in the eye of the hurricane.
in march 2008, the 40 paintings will start being on exhibit around the country. the project is called "backyards and beyond: mississippians and their stories.
h.c.'s motto for the project is: there is healing in the telling...and the being heard.
she is the perfect healer.
1 comment:
Stephany, it was a pleasure visiting with you today and you honor us by including us in your blog. Only one thing I need to point out is that H.C. is doing 80 paintings - not 40... so you can understand her need to get back to her studio.
Come visit anytime,
Glenn
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