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| above: Agnes Gallery logo |
For me, Agnes was the beginning of many things including a life-long and important friendship with Jon and Shawn who are two of the most delightful and inspiring people in my life.
During my time spent at Agnes, I met a and worked with some of the best fine art photographers in the country. Among them, Karen Graffeo, whose work with the Roma, I would later show as my first curatorial endeavor at Georgia College Museum, Melissa Springer, and the late Ruth Bernhard. As an assistant at Agnes, I became, like those before me and those who followed, one of the kids. This is a group to which I am proud to belong. The "Agnes kids" includes, among others, artists, educators and curators Cynthia Farnell and Clayton Colvin both of whom I have had the pleasure of working with on other projects.
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| from the "miniature" series |
Jon's work as an artist includes a broad range of media. He draws, he paints, he sews and today-- I will leave you with my favorite, the "miniature" series. Each piece from this series is numbered and each one tells a story.
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| This is number 23 and it is from the collection of Gerda Carmichael, 1994. Jon says, "One of my very first commissions [from the "miniature series] was for Gerda Carmichael and she was married in this short version of a sari in India. This garment was very worn and frayed and I was so afraid to cut into it at first. This is on of those pieces that I began to realize could effect people in such a myriad of ways. She cried upon seeing it for the first time and she told me she pictured her wedding day back in 1935. Her husband passed away in 1980. |
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| This is # 19. It is linen and measures 15.5 x 14 cm. Chronicallly, this is the first piece Jon did [for Shawn Boley] after Shawn wore the shirt almost completely out. |
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| Numbers 301 a (pajama top) and 301 b (pajama bottom) belonged to six year old Jon. They mark a time before Disney and Warner Brother cartoon characters donned children's sleepwear. |
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| Number 103 is a formal blouse from the 1930's. It marks fashion history as one of the first designs for the "New Era." Made of a silk- cotton blend, it features over-sized Peter Pan collar. The exaggerated silhouette would have been cinched at the waist by a large belt. |
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| This is #90. The Huffman fabric company registered this fabric design in 1936. This small shirt features a large collar with cuffed sleeves and a placket front. It is made of 100% cotton although many of Huffman's designs were applied to other fabric types. |
Stay tuned for more about Jon, his journey, his work as an artist and his many other endeavors.
