Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
March 29, 2007 issue
Jenny Barron and Shell Pierce Present Gatherings April 6
Story by Sam Calhoun
Self-identity and family identity are the focus of the new installation art piece, Gatherings, by Jenny Barron and Shell Pierce that will open for one night on Friday, April 6, for the Downtown Boone First Friday Art Crawl at the Nth Gallery and Studios, 683 West King Street.
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The road to the creation of Gatherings began more than one year ago when Barron inherited a spinning wheel from her great-great grandmother in Norway. To unearth family history that she did not know, Barron traveled to Norway to explore her family tree and visit some of her family’s homeland.
After her return, Barron connected with Pierce and they began looking through their respective family trees, contacting relatives—both distant and immediate—and listening to old stories. Barron and Pierce conducted interviews with family members as well.
The outcome is an installation art piece that includes works in fiber, photography and sound.
“The installation explores the realizations we’ve had through exploring our family roots,” said Barron. “It’s an experience and sometimes it can be pretty overwhelming.”
To prepare the installation, Pierce and Barron looked at multitudes of old family photographs, looked through family history books and shared stories with each other that they had gathered along the way.
“We realized that [this art piece] could go on forever. We could keep going back and back and back,” said Barron.
The installation includes photography pieces that lack people’s names but celebrate their heritage, Barron said.
“We’re not focusing on complete identity or people’s names, but we are focusing on overall feelings and stories,” Barron said.
The installation also includes a family quilt and a sound piece that intertwines stories collected from interviews of Barron’s family and short story clips.
“I think this will be a good experience for people—it will definitely be an experience,” said Barron.
Want To Go?
Date: Friday, April 6
Time: 5:00 p.m. until late
Location: Nth Gallery and Studios, King Street, Boone
Cost: Free