New Exhibits: Portraits by Tawny Chatmon celebrate black childhood, large-scale abstracts by Halide Salam

Tawny Chatmon, Three (from Deeply Embedded)

New exhibits featuring portraits by Tawny Chatmon and large-scale abstract paintings by Halide Salam will be on display January 18 – March 7, 2020 at Piedmont Arts.

Fragile, Handle with Care features portraits by Tawny Chatmon that capture the beauty, innocence and hope of black childhood. Chatmon is devoted to creating portraits that are loosely inspired by works painted spanning from the 15th to 20th centuries, with the specific intent of bringing to the forefront faces that were often under-celebrated in this style of work. Her works almost always begin as photographs she has taken of someone close to her. She then alters her photos in diverse ways, creating a depth of layers. She chooses to frame her work in gold vintage, antique and baroque frames that she collects from estate sales, galleries, auctions and private sellers. These frames were constructed during (or are reminiscent of) an era in which framing subjects such as her’s wasn’t a consideration. Recently, Chatmon discovered a common theme amongst the sellers of these frames. Something that is often expressed is their concern over the fragility and the importance of the frames. Retrospectively, she realized that the sellers' concern over the fragility of these previously loved frames, was her wish for the subjects she was placing inside of them. Chatmon's photography has been featured in Vogue Bambini, Parenting Magazine and Babytalk Magazine. Her commercial clients include YMCA, Until There's a Cure, National Education Association and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

Halide Salam, TransLight Yellow

TransLight/TransPlace features large-scale abstract paintings by Halide Salam. Like a shaman, Salam dances on surfaces to open passages into the undiscovered world within, and to make meaning of the world without. Her paintings are neither visions nor memories. She paints in silence with no preconceptions, drawings or ideas, relying on what she knows and feels about the natural world and her place in it. Salam moves the paint, through unspoken words as tones, lines and hues, connecting images that arise through a sense of unison within patterns and structures that evolve and emerge through the process of call and response. It is a rhythmic dance on the canvas that opens up various forms of consciousness making visible the invisible, finding harmony through a passage of consciousness. Salam received a Masters of Art in painting from New Mexico Highlands University and a Ph.D. in fine arts from Texas Tech University. She is a professor of art at Radford University. 

Windows of the Soul, featuring work by Loretta Joy Crossman, will be on display in the Lynwood Artists Gallery.

Join Piedmont Arts for an Opening Reception in honor of these exhibits on Friday, January 17, 2020 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at the museum. Free and open to the public. Complimentary wine and light refreshments will be served. This reception is Sponsored by Jerri and Joe DeVault, Jill and Jay Dickens, Imogene and Isadore Draper, Cindy and Steve Edgerton, Joyce and Kenneth Staples and Lynwood Artists. Please RSVP attendance to 276.632.3221 or online here.