Top drawer

White: the new edgy

At Rene Treece‘s photography show, Pendulum Stop, currently at the Wedge Gallery, many of the subjects are wearing white. Of course, the photos are black and white, so dress colors may be misleading, but it could also be a nod to Treece’s main line of work: photographing weddings.

These, however, aren’t nuptial photos. The models, dressed in creations by local designers R. Brooke Priddy and Kelledy Francis, pose in graffiti-scrawled alleys and alongside rusty trains and abandoned warehouses in the River District. The flowing gowns, some with delicate lace, seem out of place in the industrial setting — which is exactly why Treece’s photos are engaging and exciting.

“The fashion photos are kind of just for fun,” she admits. “These were a community collaboration. I’d love to be able to do more [fashion photography] in my work, if designers wanted professional portfolios.”

Treece, who recently completed a degree in multimedia arts and sciences at UNCA, has worked with various local designers and photographed fashion events such as Priddy and Francis’ Of Sea and Sky and this year’s pre-Red Ball fashion show.

“I thought, ‘This is really fun,'” she recalls of the Red Ball show, where designers and merchants sent their crimson-colored outfits down the runway. “I hadn’t realized there were so many fashion designers in town.”

Pendulum Stop also includes Treece’s work with doubled images (painstakingly fused so that even intricate lace patterns match perfectly and two images meld flawlessly) and stop-motion photography (a series of about 2,500 photos, taken in progression and played back, to music, so it appears as a movie rather than still shots).

To view the exhibit, on display through the New Year, call Treece at 423-6888 for an appointment. Check out her work at renetreecephotography.com.