Elon photography professor featured in local exhibit
Photography professor Sandra Varry focused on showcasing her
vintage collection in Chapel Hill this past weekend
Ryan Howard / Reporter
The Octagon Room in the Horace Williams House at Chapel Hill
was originally the main room of a farmhouse that was built in
1840. Today the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill uses it
to exhibit the work of local artists. Elon photography
professor Sandra Varry is one of three artists whose work is
currently displayed there.
The exhibition opened with a reception on Sunday afternoon
where the artists were on hand to discuss their work. Varry
has eight color photographs on display, each of them
close-ups of old letters she has found. She backlit them with
a light bulb to give them a soft yellow glow and placed the
camera close enough to the letters so the viewer can see the
texture of the paper.
Most of Varry's photographic subjects are old
possessions that people have discarded, such as books or a
pair of shoes. She feels that once an object has been touched
by its owner, something of the owner will be left behind with
that object forever. Varry tries to capture this nostalgic
sense in her photographs.
Her interest in the type of things she photographs started
out as a collection of antique items and was also inspired in
part by her family values growing up. "In my family
there was always an appreciation for things that people made
themselves," Varry said.
Varry's interest in the letters stem from the idea of
"residual touch." She has found the documents in
places like flea markets and abandoned houses. The letters
have a personal quality because they were written with a lot
of care. Varry points out that when they were written, people
could not erase or whiteout anything. The letters were
written with care because people had to take the time to
think about what they were writing. "To me, that's a
bit more personal than, say, an e-mail," Varry said.
Every year the Horace Williams House does 12 shows, roughly
one per month. Varry submitted slides of her photographs that
were then approved by a committee. In addition to the
exhibition, Varry recently had several photographs published
in the latest edition of "Exploring Color
Photography" by Robert Hirsch. "It's so cool to
look in the front of the book and see your name printed on
the same page as all these other great photographers,"
Varry said.
The Horace Williams House is located at 610 East Rosemary
St. in Chapel Hill. It is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Tuesday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. Varry's
work, along with photographs by Louanne Watley and book art
by Susan Leeb, will be on display until March 13. More of
Varry's photographs can be viewed at http://www.sandravarry.com.
Contact Ryan Howard at pendulum@elon.edu or
278-7247.
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