Mother, Daughter Find Common Ground for Exhibit
In May 2001, Megan Cutter and her mother, Anna von deBardeleben held a joint exhibition "Leaving Traces" at the Junior League Gallery/Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa, AL which featured Megan's photography and her mother's oil, pastel and fractal multi-media paintings. Read on to find out more about their collaboration.
Click here for a PDF of the original article published in The Tuscaloosa News.
by Mark Hughes Cobb
The “Leaving Traces” art exhibit focuses on the environment and nature.”
While the mother-daughter team of Anna von deBardeleben and Megan McLeod was preparing the joint art exhibit “Leaving Traces,” a family of birds began building a nest.
“It was right outside the house,” von deBardeleben said, “We could watch the whole progression through the window.”
This “silly little story” began to take on deeper meaning for the mom, as she saw the baby birds strain and grow.
The day the joint show opened at the Junior League Gallery, the babies flew away.
“Megan is in her own right a young woman,” she said. “And it's very poignant to me to see my daughter stand and represent her own work.”
Although McLeod is physically not far from her mother, this show, her first exhibition of photographs, represented something of a fluttering of wings.
‘Leaving Traces'
The two women have very different styles: McLeod photographs landscapes and portraits, and von deBardeleben works with a variety of media, from oil and pastel paintings to dimensional sculptures using fractured glass.
Still, they found common ground for the exhibit.
“My mom and I have focused on the environment and nature, and our impact on that,” said McLeod, who works with Phifer Wire as an assistant in the promotions and advertising department. “The title refers to how we leave traces for future generations, in both very positive and very negative ways.”
Von deBardeleben said the show attempts to bring art down to eye level, not to raise it to a pedestal.“What we would like to do is present art that reflects what's going on through the eyes of people,” she said.
“Also what you see in nature, through animals, how that makes a connection with the mind-body spirit, makes a connection between people and the earth.”
The pieces are interspersed throughout the gallery, grouped by subject.
“When you walk in, I have several photographs of trees and she has art pieces from nature,” McLeod said. “I'm really interested in finding new or different perspectives on people and the land.” Some of her photographs come from travels in Australia, and elsewhere around the United States.
“What we found is that the pieces fit really neatly together,” McLeod said. “Some of her portraits and nature pieces fit well with mine.”
Learning
Von deBardeleben has been an artist for more than 20 years and is president of the West Alabama Art Association. She recently won the Purchase Award at the West Alabama Juried Art Show and third place in the abstract category.
She had the space in the Junior League Gallery reserved and approached her daughter about the joint exhibit idea.
They're close, but it's not as if they don't have differences. “We decided that if we got through this without pulling each other's hair out, it would be a good bonding experience,” she said, laughing.
It was also a learning experience for both. Mom learned that her daughter has “terrific vision.” She'd always known about her daughter's artistic abilities, but “to see it unfold was a terrific experience.”
McLeod saw more in her mother's work than she'd realized before. “She knew what I had in terms of photographs, but I didn't know the variety of hers,” she said, “She has so many different types of work, from the masters' styles to the very abstract fractals pieces.”
Although McLeod had studies art in college and written and photographed, “for a long time I didn't think I had the creative gene.”
That's a typical humble remark from her daughter, von deBardeleben said.
“She will do something for anyone and not take credit for herself.”
For the show, Mom had put together a collage of photographs, had it all arranged. McLeod walked in and rearranged it. “It was much better; I did not realize how artistic she was, “ von deBardeleben said.
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