Duo creates ‘Body Canvas’
Jennifer Harvey has been taking pictures over the past 18 years, longer if you count the times when, as a child, she would steal her father’s camera and use up the film. She studied privately, fine-tuning her natural ability to capture the spirit within her subjects.
Her specialty is women and children. “People are interesting; they’re all so different,” she said. Her goal is to “leave a thumbprint on the world,” testimony to the fact that she was indeed here.
International artist Bill Edge also wants to leave his mark via a book he is planning to write about painting and through teaching his craft to others. He recently moved to the area from Stockport, England, after meeting a Spokane woman on a poetry Web site. They married about 18 months ago.
Edge, 64, is a caricaturist, a cartoonist, an illustrator, a fine artist, a professional clown and a writer. A jack-of-all-trades, Edge said he can’t remember when he wasn’t an artist. In England, he taught a range of styles in colleges and exhibited his work often.
Neither Harvey, 31, nor Edge are college graduates, but each has passion and love for their art forms and desire to move others. Their work is raw, slightly edgy and lacks pretense, for it comes from the simple need to share and give back to others.
In January, Harvey contacted Mary Anne Ruddis, executive director of the Candlelighters of the Inland Northwest, an organization that helps families with children with cancer. “I held a dying child once,” Harvey said, leading her to donate to and volunteer for many charities for children. Harvey suggested an art exhibit to benefit the Candlelighters and Ruddis agreed.
In September, Harvey met Edge at the Artist’s Tree Gallery in downtown Spokane; she spoke of her project and he gave suggestions. Together they decided on “Body Canvas,” a showing of photographs of subjects hand painted by Edge. Harvey contacted people she has worked with and they were eager to support the cause.
Tastefully done, the final products are the human body decorated with Edge’s designs, including a blooming flower on the belly of a woman blooming with child, a subject transformed into a fairy, and another blending into a brick wall. The centerpiece of the show is Miss Spokane County, USA, adorned with a cheetah.
No altering (except for one where a hand-painted background was added) has been done to the photos, though Harvey uses a digital camera. “Everything I do can all be done in a darkroom,” she said, “A camera doesn’t take a great picture anymore than a typewriter writes a great novel.”
Edge and Harvey worked well together, taking up to 10 hours for each piece from conception to fruition. Together, they hope to do more projects. “I’m anxious for the show,” she said. “Yeah,” Edge said, “It will be good.”