Ron Lowery is the featured artist for March at the In-Town Gallery with his exhibit, Southern Charm, featuring images from the past that are quickly disappearing.
The opening reception is Friday, March 1 from 5-8 p.m. at In-Town Gallery on the NorthShore, 26A Frazier Ave. Ron Lowery’s Southern Charm will be on display at In-Town Gallery until March 30.
Although he is more known for his artistic aerial photos, Mr. Lowery has also traveled America on a motorcycle and Southern Charm is the result of many years exploring back country roads around the South.
“In days of the Old West men carried their carbine in a scabbard attached to the saddle. I designed a scabbard for my bike to carry a tripod and a “saddle bag” that was a special camera bag on the gas tank for my camera and four lenses,” said Mr. Lowery.
"As a result of his exploring, he created photos of places of lingering timelessness amid our bustling modern world," officials said.
About the artist and exhibit:
Born in Washington, DC and growing up in northern Virginia, Ron Lowery became interested in photography at age 16. What started as a hobby soon turned into a passion and then a profession. “Unlike an artist with brush and canvas who can add or subtract elements of a scene,” he says, “what I see through the viewfinder becomes the final ‘word.’”
In 1978 he opened a studio in Chattanooga to serve clients’ needs in aerial and commercial photography. Over the years, Lowery has won numerous awards for his work and has shown at many prestigious venues, most recently with a display of his aerial photography at the Nashville Airport. He has also published two highly successful coffee table books, Chasing Lewis & Clark Across America: A 21st Century Aviation Adventure and Tennessee River: Sparkling Gem of the South.
In this current show, Southern Charm, Lowery’s photograph, Two-toning by Mother Nature captures a rusting International truck, weathered and sun-faded, forgotten in a field. Beyond it, just out of the focus range is a once proud homestead, the softness of the image suggesting it too is dissolving away, its days, like those of the truck, now passed. Yet the bold shapes and the rich weathered red color of the truck leave the viewer with a sense of its defiance of time. Eventually those old cars and barns will rust and crumble away to dust. However because of Ron’s art, their memories will become eternal.
The whimsically named, Apartment with a View is a wonderfully evocative photograph of Purple Martin gourds on a pole. The tilt of the pole against the upright trees in the forest background give the image a tension of contrasts, even as the viewer can almost feel and the wind and smell the grasses in the fields on a timeless summer day.
In-Town Gallery is an artist co-op gallery that is open seven days a week and offers a wide range of art and fine craft from 32 artists, including paintings in many media, hand-painted silk scarves and clothing, sculpture, pottery and handcrafted wood items. Also featured are works in stained glass and handmade jewelry, and a section dedicated to fine art photography. In-Town Gallery is open from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday - Saturday and 1-5 p.m. on Sunday.