We are excited to continue to exhibit local artist Rebecca Pence to the Wilson Downtown Gallery for April and May! Learn more about Rebecca at rebeccapence.com.
Interested in the virtual gallery? Visit our Facebook Page to view online.
Or if you’d like to visit in person – the gallery is open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm at 83 S. Main Street in Downtown Harrisonburg.
How do we honor the past? How do we honor those who come before us and those around us?
Continual curiosity and interest in retrospective insight caused the artist to arrive at the idea of sharing what it means to have arrived ‘here’. She uses influences from her own journey to inform her work in thinking about elements that allow the human race to progress and evolve. This body of work is meant to lead the viewer into a space that allows the mind to travel through one’s own narrative as well as imagining others narratives. Through graphite, watercolor, and charcoal, the artist attempts to convey memory, significance and cross-generational thought. You can walk alongside her through a story of emotion and gratitude to the vicissitudes of life. Using known elements from her life, Rebecca makes an attempt to bridge from “here” to a global remembrance of thinking about how people get anywhere in life.
Her continual curiosity in this regard spurns the desire to think of and honor influence and elements she was granted. It is amazing what people can do, but maybe even more interesting is the fact that we never do it alone. Some influences are stark, and others are only retained by the subconscious. The silent source, the behind the scenes influence, the unexpected guidance are all elements that should be honored, in addition to the rising individual. Backgrounds involve a myriad of emotions and memories. Influence from people and events shape the trajectory of life. Forever, a journey is changed. Generational effects. Lateral effects.
After putting up her work for the first time publicly, Rebecca was overcome by the idea of ‘here’. She feels this to be a topic she will spend a long time on. However, she wanted to start somewhere. Out of human reflex, she depicts individuals close to her. Memory and story. The works contain symbols of impact on the individual represented. She wants to continue pondering how to explicitly represent influence in her work when it feels important.
A lot of what is known comes from another.
Arriving ‘here’ is also about self acceptance. Joy. Pain. Grief. Loss. Lament. Hope. The journey is hard. The journey is good.
Even when I don’t feel like it. Even when I question it, there is good in it.
The good and the bad. I want to remind myself how I got here. Who got me here. Wherever I am.
“Here” is impermanent but it is so important.
How did YOU get here?
~ Rebecca Pence
What a beautiful show!