The Artisans Village Guild (AVG) hosted more than 350 guests last Thursday night for its 9th annual Dual Vision reveal, held for the fourth-straight year at Barrel 118 in downtown Eatonton.
Four months earlier, 78 Artisans Village Guild members had selected 139 photos from 15 participating members of the Lake Country Photo Club (LCPC).
Each piece of art, whether a painting, drawing, statue, jewelry, or any other creation, was initially inspired by one of these photographs captured by an LCPC member. With each inspirational photo and its accompanying artwork displayed side by side, Dual Vision attendees were invited to cast votes for their favorite pieces from each discipline.
The end result was more than 275 pieces of photography and artwork, displayed side by side, all for sale to an appreciative audience, with several pieces selling on the night of the show.
“What a fabulous selection of artwork in so many different mediums, as well as such great photos,” Dual Vision Event Chair Linda Foster said.
Once the votes were tallied for both “People’s Choice” awards, LCPC board member Greg Miller had shot the winning photograph for the fourth-straight year, this time with “Milky Way,” a layered, late-night, multi-exposure image of a western U.S. desert sky.
Meanwhile, local artist Brian Danson gained the most votes for a welded sculpture he titled “The Pages are Old, but The Song Still Renews.”
Danson, who also has a metal eagle installed near the downtown Veterans Wall of Honor as part of Eatonton’s popular Sculpture Trail, created a pair of hands playing a harp, all constructed of various metals and even including a piece of construction rebar.
Danson said he based his piece on a photograph by LCPC member Angela Lance, who presented a shot of an open, propped-up Bible on a pulpit.
“When I saw the picture, I was drawn into the balance of it, the warmness of the colors that were on the pages,” Danson explained. “And I’m also a Christian, so I appreciated that, the Bible view.”
He then noticed the photo depicted a Bible open to a page of Psalms, Danson added.
“I was immediately reminded of King David, who wrote many of the psalms, and he was also known to play a harp. He played it to his sheep in the field; he played it to the first king of Israel to calm his tormented mind; and he was known to play it throughout his entire life,” Danson explained. “So, many of those psalms are written to music, and that inspired me to make this piece that kind of brought it into a three-dimensional form that showed this book opening up, filled with wind and life, and showing the intrinsic ‘whateverness’ of the hands plucking the strings. And I really thought it was a beautiful thing to be able to visualize that, so I made it happen in metal.”
All photos and artwork that have not already sold will remain available for viewing and purchase at The Artisans Village Art Gallery (110 W. Marion St., Eatonton), through October. The gallery is open Wednesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“It really is incredible how much effort and dedication go into creating such a wonderful event as the Dual Vision show,” AVG member and participating artist Dana Wiggins Thompson said. “And it’s great that people can come together to appreciate art in all its forms.”
For more information on upcoming Artisans Village Gallery events or to register for art classes, visit theartisansvillage.org.