Closing Sat 11/29 @ 5pm
There are people who believe that life imitates art, while others hold fast that life is art, but perhaps it is the people who can find the art in everyday life — be it a disembodied head or decapitated building — who are the happiest.
Local photographer Jen Hearn is one such person, and the location of her current exhibit, Choose Your Own Adventure, exemplifies that. The photographs displayed on 20 large canvases, 10 large acrylics, and 10 prints, along with small items like 8 x 10 and 13 x 19 museum quality prints and small metal prints, were taken digitally over the last two years.
“Each medium is so different,” she explained. “The acrylics are shiny and flowers looks really beautiful. The canvases are great for complex images, detailed landscapes and abandoned buildings. The work is an eclectic mix of what interests me — mainly Cleveland — its abandoned factories, thriving downtown, landscapes. I also collect creepy old dolls, so there’s definitely a dark theme to the work – maybe something about finding the beauty in the old & decayed.”
Some of her work is the result of hours spent crawling around the old Warner Swasey factory at E. 55th and Carnegie, exploring a former observatory on Taylor (that older Clevelanders may remember visiting as children), and trudging through the Westinghouse Factory on Cedar.
“I was fascinated with these old factories, sitting out in the middle of inner city neighborhoods, with the structures being taken over by ivy & graffiti,” she said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about the thousands of people in Cleveland who worked in the factories — people who came from other countries to work in manufacturing — and how those jobs all went overseas in the 1970s.”
Now her visual examination of Cleveland as a working town, full of quirks, mystery, and nature hangs in a working establishment — Michael Stefan Salon, which supports an ongoing art gallery among their dyes and clippings. The art salon typically features the paintings, drawings, sculptures, photography, jewelry and other works of local artists, although they do support the occasional international artist as well.
“The hair salon makes a surprisingly great space for art work,” Jen said. And although some of the salon’s day clients may be a bit put-off by the creepy doll photos, art fans have shown great enthusiasm for her show.
Following a successful opening and a three-month showing, Choose Your Own Adventure will close Sat 11/29, following a downtown Willoughby wine walk (noon to 5 pm) and closing party (5pm to 9pm). The closing night party will feature wine and cheese, music, and discounts on the art for sale.
Michael Stefan Salon is located at 4082 Erie Street in Willoughby.
An avid photographer since 6th grade, Jen is a software tester by day and runs her photography business at night. She said her true passion is portrait photography, and after a six day class at The International Center of Photography this summer she learned “that to take a portrait, you must see yourself in your subject. Then you make a picture, together, as a collaboration. That’s how you capture something real.”
http://jenhearnphotography.com
Hollie Gibbs has a BS in journalism from Kent State University and studied photography at School of the Visual Arts in Manhattan. Her articles and photographs have appeared in numerous local and national publications. She can also be found playing guitar with various bands and building life-size monster props.
Willoughby, OH 44094