The South Arkansas Arts Center is proud to announce it will host El Dorado photographer Lisa Burton Tarver’s show, ”Southern Elegance,” which will hang in the Merkle and Price Galleries during the month of March. Tarver’s show will open on March 1, 2019 and hang through the 27th. An artist’s reception will be held to honor Tarver on Saturday, March 9, from 6:00-7:30pm. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm.
Lisa Burton Tarver has been taking photographs for years and loves seeing things through the camera’s lens. She has shown her work in five previous shows at SAAC, but this will be her first show shot solely with her iPhone. The exhibit, titled “Southern Elegance,” features the artist’s collection of vintage sterling-silver pieces photographed in black and white. “I am very proud and excited to bring ‘Southern Elegance’ to the South Arkansas Arts Center galleries.
“The subjects of my latest photography show are just that for me. They are old friends who have been present for every important event of not just my family, but three generations of our family. As early as the 1920’s, they have been there for Easter and Christmas festivals, baptisms, wedding and baby showers and, yes, for daily celebrations of lives well lived. While worn in places, their beauty serves to remind us of who we are and where we have been. They are like old friends whose mere presence warms us with the possibilities for the future and the people who will gather around a family table then.
“These items in my show played a part in all the important occasions of our family life. They became like the familiar faces of aging relatives, lined, then softened by the events of a life well lived. They were silent actors in the dramas and comedies of our lives, old friends sharing common experiences.
“I have long wanted to share that story and, finally, with an old shutter, my iPhone and the light of my sunporch, I have captured a treasured heirloom and the sweet memories of family and friends…with a tad of “Southern Elegance’.”
Tarver is an Arkansas Artist in Education artist and teaches her specialty, photography, in Arkansas schools. She and her husband, Jon, have a daughter, Claire, married to Wesley Beard, and a granddaughter, Layla.