The Captiviting Armor of John Petrey at the Tennessee Valley Art Museum

Genevieve by John Petrey

Tennessee and Alabama have some wonderful art museums- some large and well known, others small and tucked away.  I am amazed at the quality of exhibits some of the smaller art museums have.

The other Sunday afternoon a friend and I went to the Tennessee Valley Art Museum in Tuscumbia, Alabama.  I had gotten an postcard announcing a new exhibit and it seemed to fantastic to pass up.  We were fortunate to be there when the  Stephanie Qualls, the Curator of Exhibitions was working.  She gave us a wonderful tour with interesting facts about the artist and his work.

John Petrey, a Chattanooga artist, works in found and repurposed materials to create fabulous sculptured metal dresses.  Genevieve is a stunning dress made from copper that for the bottom and train is cut into leaves with a red patina.  The copper shows through the patina looking like veins in the leaves.

Carina is a dress made from aged steel rod, wire and vintage ceiling tiles.  The dress is 54"x33"x12" that hangs from a hanger.  Think Tim Burton movies and you'll get the idea.

There are small dresses some made from bottle caps, others from the nails with the plastic disks that roofers use to nail on the tar paper.  Lainey is 27" x 15"x 16" and is made from embossed aluminum and red bottle caps.  There was a Japanese feel to this dress but  it also reminded me of Rosie from the Jetsons.  Another one reminded me of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz or one of the Mom's from that certain era of TV when the women of the house where all dress impeccable with peter pan collars and pearls.  However that dress was made from roofing nails with blue discs and metal ovals.

Melissa by John Petrey

Video about John Petrey and his work.

The exhibition, “John Petrey: Captivating Armor,” is open through Friday, May 10. Hours at the museum, 511 N. Water St., Tuscumbia, are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 1-3 p.m. Sundays. Admission to the exhibition is $5 adults, $3 students, free to museum members and free on Sundays.

Artwork in this post is the copyright of John Petrey.