Art at home

By Sage Merritt

Published: May 28, 2008

When her exhibition of paintings was hung at Shenandoah Valley Art Center earlier this month, Dabney Mahanes’ perspective of the world had changed just a bit since she had last been in the building at 125 S. Wayne Ave.
“When I was 5 or 6 years old, those stairs looked twice as high as they do now,” Mahanes said with a laugh. “It was so interesting to go back into that building.”
Mahanes, who now lives in South Carolina, grew up in Waynesboro and returned to show her artwork at SVAC at the suggestion of her cousin, Ron Hiserman.
Mahanes feels that her show in Waynesboro is a fitting homecoming. Her grandfather, Russell Luvenius Hiserman, was a professional photographer in Waynesboro for 40 years, and Mahanes has memories of visiting her grandfather in his studio on the second floor of the Gaw Building, the structure SVAC now inhabits.
“It’s been a very well-received show,” said Judy Harlow, docent director for SVAC.
Mahanes’ artwork also ties her to her grandfather in another way: Her paintings, like his photographs, deal primarily in portraiture.
“It was really poignant to come back
to Waynesboro and have that show there in my grandfather’s stomping grounds,” Mahanes said. “I feel connected with
him now. It feels very special to come back to Waynesboro.”
Mahanes left Waynesboro after high school to attend Richmond Professional Institute, studying commercial and fashion illustration. Though she married and raised children, she said, “I always kept my fingers in the art.”
Mahanes made the choice to return to the fine arts, her “first love,” full-time in 1994. She went back to school, secured a studio and poured herself into her work, eventually hanging her first one-woman show in 1999.
“It’s just been painting ever since,” Mahanes said. “It was part of a spiritual journey for me. … It’s kind of getting back to my roots. When I was a kid in Waynesboro, I was choreographing my own dance pieces and entering contests. I really wanted to go to New York and be on Broadway, and that just didn’t work out. Now I’m finally back in the arts.”
SVAC is currently preparing for next month’s Annual Members Judged Show, utilizing all galleries at the center and judged by Jennifer Whitmore of Blue Ridge Community College. Entry fees are $15 per piece, or two for $25, for SVAC members only. Any media is welcome; drop-off times for the show are 3-5 p.m. on June 3 and 10 a.m. to noon on June 4. The show will be judged on the afternoon of June 4, and the opening reception and awards ceremony will be held June 5 at 5 p.m.