Rebecca Meyers, far left, points out details about her panoramic photography artwork which features various places such as Hollywood, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Meyers expressed her love of the places she took photos of and how they reminded her of specific times in her life where she grew as a photographer.
Regina Pergola/The Lion's Roar
Rebecca Meyers had her first Hammond Regional Arts Center gallery opening to display works of panoramic photography .
The gallery opening took place on Feb. 3. The collection will hang until Feb. 24. The artwork display was called “Escape through the Mind’s Eye: An Artist’s Journey” and depicted Meyers’ personal experiences.
“This show represents my life,” said Meyers. “Every piece I picked for this show is representative of a time period, it’s representative of a place that I was, that meant something to me. It’s representative of time, travels, things that I’ve done over time. Just like these represent the passage of a movement through a city, it also represents the passage of time through me.”
David Lockwood, Meyers’ fiancé, witnessed firsthand the artist’s dedication to her craft.
“She throws herself into it,” said Lockwood. “I don’t profess to understand the techniques she uses. She has her own darkroom, and all the different films she uses, the processes. I have been with her on a lot of her photoshoots and some of the angles she gets, I don’t know how she does it. She loves what she does. She’s always experimenting. She’ll sit for hours, experimenting with techniques.”
The pictures used for the gallery opening were enlarged for the display. Photos are symbolic to the artist and capture what she sees in her mind’s eye.
“Thinking back to the beginning, where I was, and what I was doing, I look at those pieces and I think of that time and they just bring me back,” said Meyers. “I travel back in time to all those places. So for me, they’re not just an image that I’m looking at. They represent a particular time period in my life. It’s hard to explain more than that. A journey as a photographer is more cut up than that.”
For over 20 years, Meyers has been a professional photographer. For the past 14 years, she has been developing black and white film panoramas for her own personal journey through art or from being commissioned. Meyers’ journey began at a young age.
“I loved taking pictures as a kid, but I didn’t really know that I loved taking pictures as much as I did until I got to be on a real research project,” said Meyers. “They used film, so I got to go into a darkroom. And see, when you’re in a darkroom, you can hear your breath, it’s quiet, there’s no distractions. You’re just immersed. Just like those pictures are immersed in that developer, you’re immersed in that darkness and there’s only that one little red light.”
HRAC board members, friends of Meyers and other interested patrons were able to enjoy the artwork that was hung up on stands and projected onto the wall with the option of buying pieces that they wanted and talking to the artist herself.
“This is fairly unique, in terms of a skill to make this happen like she did,” said Jerry Grieves, a HRAC patron. “While some of the things are of great interest, especially the New Orleans things, I like the Hollywood thing there, it’s pretty interesting. All in all, it’s a great show.”
Patrons, along with Rebecca Meyers’ fiance, above far right, were able to view various artworks that depict different cities that Meyers has taken photos of and been to. Her artwork is inspired by her life and the journeys she has taken.
Regina Pergola/The Lion's Roar