Pray to Love Anne Goetze’s Photographic Journey Emerges as Mixed Media Solo Exhibition Customs House Museum • February 3 to March 1 by Rebecca Pierce
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ate last year the Customs House Museum asked Nashville Arts Magazine to curate a year of monthly exhibits for the museum’s Planter’s Bank Peg Harvill Gallery. The call for entry brought in submissions from across Middle Tennessee that were juried into 11 solo shows. Visit our website for a complete listing of who will be showing when. Opening on February 3 is the exhibit Pray to Love by Anne Goetze.
For over 20 years, Anne Goetze made repeated journeys to Annecy, France, to visit her Aunt Helen, Soeur Margarite Marie, at the Monestere de la Visitation, home to the Visitation Order. In this small order, over 400 years old, the nuns live closed cloistered, a simple, contemplative life that does not include interaction with the public. Anne was not permitted inside the monastery, but on every visit she documented her impressions and photographed the grounds and village surrounding the monastery. Over the years, Anne grew to love the small group of women, and they became accustomed to having her there with her camera.
Do You Have the Right Soul, Ashes, oil, archival ink, canvas, 40” x 30”
Anton Weiss became so enamored with the series that he developed the prototype for the frames.
Pray to Love includes a dozen pieces with captions written by nuns from the closed-cloistered Tyringham Monastery in Massachusetts. Anne and her son, Nathan Collie, created a film documenting Anne’s experiences and the creative process, which is projected on one wall of the gallery.
Pray to Love by Anne Goetze will be on view February 3 through March 1 at the Customs House Museum’s Planter’s Bank Peg Harvill Gallery in Clarksville. Anne Goetze will be at the gallery during the Clarksville Downtown Artwalk on February 5 from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information, please visit www.customshousemuseum.org. To see more of Anne Goetze’s art, visit www.annegoetze.com. Cobblestone Rue, Ashes, oil, archival ink, canvas, 30” x 40”
“Each time I was filled with so much emotion by the beauty and spirit of the place. And each time when I returned home from one of the oldest cities in the Alps, I knew that I would never be the same again,” Anne wrote. She saw her Aunt Helen for the last time in November 2013. “She was just shy of her 85th birthday when I returned in January 2014 for her funeral. Once again I roamed about with my camera; this time I was freely allowed within the interior walls of the monastery.”
When Anne returned from the funeral she became completely immersed in painting the imagery she had collected for decades. Now she is ready to exhibit this cohesive body of work that is somewhat documentary in style. Its title, Pray to Love, is a saying the nuns use frequently. Anne says, “While it is a very personal project and definitely not commercial, it also draws community. No matter what your faith, you can relate to the peacefulness and serenity.”
Monastere De La Visitation, Ashes, oil, archival ink, canvas, 20” x 30”
14 | February 2015 NashvilleArts.com