Lynne Reed looked closely at a black and white linocut picture of Harriett Tubman pointing the way for weary slaves looking for a way to the North.
"I love the texture of it," she said of the deep grooves in the artwork that form the image. "It feels like you could touch it and it would be rough. The texture is gorgeous."
The Harriet Tubman image, by Elizabeth Catlett, was part of the "Of My People" exhibit featured at the Hickory Museum of Art from October through Sunday. The exhibit honored the NAACP's 100th anniversary, and featured work by Catlett, Romare Bearden, John Biggers and Jacob Lawrence. All four artists lived in North Carolina at one time or another.
The works in the exhibit varied, from a bronze bust of Martin Luther King Jr. to photographs, lithographs, collages, wood prints and more.
Several of the people who came to the "Of My People" exhibit on Sunday did so because it was the last day. Reed said she had meant to come early, but had been unable to.
Many of the pieces of art on display were lithographs and looked like paper cut out and laid out on top of each other in smooth shapes.
There was one Lawrence created, depicting Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala., on March 7, 1965. That day, 600 marchers were driven back by Alabama State Troopers and deputies after crossing a bridge.
Lawrence's work shows men and women in simple, solid-colored clothing on a bridge, with turbulent water below them. On the other side of the bridge a dog with menacing teeth is forcing them back.
Bearden's works were collages and prints. John DePerczel said he came to the exhibit because he was interested in the type of art displayed, particularly Bearden's.
"I'm familiar with Bearden because I've seen his work in exhibits in Charlotte and D.C.," he said. "I think the collage is a unique art form. Each component, separately, doesn't make any sense. But when you put it together, it's wonderful."
Richard Williamson liked a piece by John Biggers, called "Upper Room." One of the larger works of art in the exhibit, the lithograph in brown and white stretches more than three feet high. It showed three women lifting a house with shooting stars in the night sky. Williamson said the piece "really grabs you."
He also liked the piece next to it, by Jacob Lawrence. Done in bright colors, it shows three men working on a structure, while a family of four walks by.
"It shows an elegance about the people," Williamson said.
He added that he thought the exhibit showcased a good sampling of work.
"I'd like to see more of this in the future," he said.
On the Net:
Hickory Museum of Art: http://www.hickorymuseumofart.org/home.php
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