Pittsboro art gallery puts bras on the rack

Uniquely and outlandishly decorated brassieres dangle on clotheslines in the display window of a storefront.

No, it’s not Victoria’s Secret. It’s the ChathamArts Gallery in downtown Pittsboro.

“The purpose is to raise some excitement regarding the arts in the community, showing that art is not limited to just paintings on the wall or sculpture,” said ChathamArts Gallery Manager Lyn Sims.

“It can be fun. It can be exciting. And it can be just a little bit naughty.”

The bras will be displayed in the gallery on Hillsboro Street until Sunday, when they will be raffled off at The City Tap restaurant in Pittsboro.

Tickets to the Chatham County Arts Council’s “BRAvo! Lingerie Soiree” are $15, available online and at the door.

The price covers a sandwich, choice of beer, wine or soda and two raffle tickets.

“It’s not a fundraiser. It’s for gallery awareness,” said Florence Johnson, one of the gallery’s artists and an organizer for the event.

Pittsboro attracts a lot of tourist and shopping traffic in the block between the courthouse and the stoplight at the intersection of Salisbury and Hillsboro streets, but Sims and Johnson said most people do not make it past the light, where the gallery is located.

“It’s hard to get people to cross the street,” said Sims. “So we tried to do something that would catch their attention.”

Men will model the bras at the event Sunday, another way to draw attention to the gallery, Sims and Johnson said.

“Some were pushed a little, like my husband,” Sims said. “Others just walked in and wanted to model.”

Among the first to volunteer as a model was Jeffrey York, public art administrator for the town of Chapel Hill and vice-president of the Chatham County Arts Council.

The ChathamArts Gallery features area artists working on the same theme.

For April and May, the gallery chose “soft” to be the theme, and the artists tried to think of a creative way to portray it.

“We needed to do something in the gallery that would stop traffic, cause a stir,” artist Marcelle Harwell Pachnowski stated in an e-mail.

“Since the show was entitled ‘Soft’, why not have artists compose an artistic piece with a bra.

Soft = bra = breasts.”

Negative reactions have been minimal, much to the surprise of Sims and Johnson.

“I’m a bit surprised,” Sims said. “Most people as they walk by are just captivated.”

The materials used to create the bras are as creative as the names given to the works.

One of the most popular bras is made of wrought iron. Another is made from materials found in nature like twigs and leaves. Others are actual store-brought bras decorated by the artists.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of artist you are,” Sims said.

“You don’t even have to be an artist,” Johnson added.

Contact the Arts Editor at arts.dth@gmail.com.