Focus Magazine of SWFL Hot Summer Looks | Page 167

"Bejeweled"

"Bejeweled" is a multi-media art exhibit that combines gelatin silver portraits
and delicate beadwork that has been affixed to the photographic image. The
lovely work represents a combination of Renaissance beauty and Beaux Arts
fashion. It is currently on display at Creations Gallery in Punta Gorda, Florida
and will be there until mid-April.
Myrna Charry, fine art film photographer, has a degree in photography from
the City University of New York. She has been producing and exhibiting work
for 20 years and has taught photography in Florida, New York and London, UK.
Charry's images are in the surreal tradition: not conventionally pretty, they
present fresh forms and curious arrangements. She uses light to highlight as
well as hide shapes and form, employing "chiaroscuro" techniques of 14th and
15th century painters.
Virginia Abraham has been a teacher for 35 years, employing innovative and
imaginative learning techniques and materials in her classroom. She has been
doing beadwork for 15 years, following in the footsteps of Beth Morrison, her
friend and mentor.
The collaboration in this exhibit was a new and unique opportunity for Abraham. The photographs provided ideas for the use of shapes and colors in addition to whatever feeling the photographs invoked. Besides beads from her extensive collection, adhesive semi-precious rhinestones were also incorporated
into many of the pieces.
FOCUS of SWFL 2014 167