THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509010069
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
THE EXTENDED family on which Anne Peterson's lens has been focused continues to expand. The latest entries in ``The Mathews Project,'' which the Norfolk photo essayist began a few years ago, are on view at On the Hill Cultural Arts Center in Yorktown.
In January, a group of works from that series was shown at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center. She called the collection ``At Grandma's''; sure enough, that is where the photos were taken.
Grandma's rural Mathews County haven is a total wreck, but her heart is in the right place. Everybody's welcome, and nobody worries about housecleaning - or personal hygiene, for that matter.
Peterson doesn't tell us who's who, but you get the idea that everybody's related somehow - by blood, marriage or soul connection. About those walls: Aside from being peppered with holes and largely unpainted, they hardly seem to matter. The boundaries between these folks are paper thin.
As we see more of these people in different settings, the project takes on the quality of a living soap opera. Whatever happened to the newlyweds? What about that real fat lady in short-shorts?
In ``At Grandma's,'' we watch a sturdy young Marine prepare to get married. Now, at On the Hill, we see the results of coupling. Now they are three. They are a family, seen visiting grandma's house.
In one picture, he's in his BVD's, taking a nap. We see that ``U.S.M.C.'' has been tattooed on his forearm. His young wife is playing on the floor with their toddler.
Peterson has a gift for capturing less-expected moments, those in-between times when people are not composing themselves for the camera.
The Yorktown shots take us to new households. We revisit the fat lady, too. She lifts her flowered shorts for us to reveal the new tattoos on her thigh.
There is a classic among these shots, however. Peterson snagged a tight portrait of mom and dad fixated on baby, who basks in the sun of his or her parents' rapt attention. As mother coos and dad stares in amazement, the child beams at this assurance of unconditional love.
Peterson's exhibit - 13 black-and-white prints in the foyer gallery - was part of her award for having won the 1994 ``Aperture'' exhibit at On the Hill.
The main gallery showcases the 21 works that make up this year's ``Aperture'' show. The juror was Thomas Moore, curator of photography at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News.
The show presents a mixed bag of techniques and subjects, including moody infrared setup images, computer-generated photos and straight black-and-white documentary work.
Best in show went to Brenda Wright of Norfolk for ``Angel Wings,'' a straightforward color shot of a rather surreal picture window. Holiday pine garlands are draped around a pink-on-pink window frame; just inside, a mannequin of Frank Sinatra is at the microphone. Painted on the window was this phrase: ``Every time a Bell Rings an Angel Gets its Wings.''
Brian Beachum of Norfolk earned first place for a print from his vanishing era series, ``Eischen's Bar & Grill.'' The interior is full of ghosts - deer antlers, stuffed eagles, old photos of dead people. Yet the one live entity - a man playing an arcade game - is a ghostly blur.
Merit awards went to Peter Giebel for an infrared image of pilings in the water, to Alice McClanahan for a photo that superimposes a woman's face over some sort of heavily-textured natural material, and to Candace Osdene for a portrait of a Chinese man and woman.
Both shows continue through Sept. 17 at On the Hill, 121 Alexander Hamilton Blvd., Yorktown. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. Call (804) 898-3076. SPEAKING FROM GRAVES
Deadline is next Sunday for advance tickets to hear famed architect Michael Graves speak at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts.
If the package is postmarked no later than Sept. 10, admission is $25 per person. The fee includes an hors d'oeuvre reception prior to Graves' talk, and champagne and dessert following.
After Sept. 10, the fee is $30. The event is sponsored by American Institute of Architects Hampton Roads. No phone reservations are being taken. Checks must be mailed to AIA Hampton Roads, Seven Koger Center, Suite 127, Norfolk, Va. 23502.
Graves, 61, teaches architecture at Princeton University, near where his practice has been based for three decades. In 1982, the architectural historian Vincent Scully wrote that Graves ``seeks to create a new, or alternative, classical vocabulary.''
With his commissions, Graves has rejected the austere steel-and-glass forms of modernist architecture, preferring color, friendliness and references to the past. Among his important jobs: the recent controversial expansion of The Whitney Museum of Art in New York.
For those with interest in contemporary architecture, this is one talk not to be missed. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
In this Anne Peterson picture from ``The Mathews Project,'' a mother
coos and the dad stares in amazement at their young child.
by CNB