THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509170053
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY EARL SWIFT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
Five feet off the floor, one foot atop a ladder and another on a plant rail, Scott Ward shakily positioned the painting and glanced to the critics below.
``The colors are going to pull the whole thing over that way, if we put it there,'' said Christopher Davis, a Norfolk artist.
``It could go over a bit,'' agreed Barbie Sonier.
Maggie Curtis, another Norfolk painter, noted that the wall already bore a nail right where the painting was.
Sonier shook her head. ``I really would like it over a little.''
Ward stretched on his perch and shifted the painting a foot to the right. Everyone agreed it looked much better, now that it was farther from the refrigerator.
They might not have to worry over such details over at the Chrysler Museum of Art, but harmonizing cultural achievement and industrial equipment was high in mind Friday at Charlie's Cafe, a breakfast and lunch landmark at 18th and Granby streets in Norfolk.
The occasion: The hanging of an art show in the narrow, high-ceilinged eatery operated by Ward and his wife, Kathy - a show that celebrates the work of local artists, and offers variations on a theme beloved by Charlie's patrons.
The painting Ward now gingerly hoisted onto a newly hammered nail depicted two fried eggs, two strips of bacon, buttered toast, a cup of coffee, and a vase of yellow blossoms.
Beginning today, breakfast is literally an art form at Charlie's.
``It's very exciting,'' Kathy Ward said. ``The other art we've had here has been wonderful, but this show should be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to seeing it on the walls.''
If there's art in cranking out cheese-stuffed omelettes and milky mounds of creamed chipped beef, Charlie's has been a gallery for years. From its busy griddle springs comfort food of epic proportion, guaranteed to stick to ribs and all untreated surfaces. Its home fries are meals in themselves. The coffee is strong and scalding and plentiful.
Its food, along with low prices and first-name familiarity, has produced a staunchly loyal clientele that includes members of Ghent's arts crowd - musicians, painters, writers and poets. Recovering from hard nights spent searching for muses, they've straggled in for the cafe's Saturday and Sunday brunches since the place opened in 1987.
But not until this summer did art on the walls begin to attract notice. Barbie Sonier, a Louisiana native and lifelong artist, had been waitressing at Charlie's for two years when she oversaw the cafe's first art show opening in July.
``We started an artists' support group - we get together, encourage each other,'' Sonier said Friday. ``We do our art, started showing it here, and we've just had a real good time.''
That first show attracted six artists, who produced works ranging from nudes to a large painting of motorcycle helmets. For the new show, Sonier decided to introduce a unifying theme.
``We said `breakfast.' That's it,'' she said. ``And this is what came out of that one word.''
Eleven artists answered the call, among them Davis, whose ``Breakfast on Black Velvet'' boasts beaded and sequined eggs, bacon, coffee, orange juice and utensils sewn and glued onto a rich velvet canvas.
``I've never done anything like this,'' said the artist, who usually favors colored pencils and pastels.
Sonier's ``Java Love'' features a dark, roiling ocean of coffee that evokes Dante. Tom Curtis's ``Blue Chairs'' depicts a small table set for breakfast, a partial nude reflected in a mirror behind it. In ``Sister Chick,'' by David Compton, a four-armed Hindu goddess clutches a plate, a bowl and a coffee pot.
The display is interactive: Each artist produced a simple line drawing of his or her finished piece, which Sonier has assembled into a coloring book for Charlie's patrons. The cafe will supply crayons, too.
Most of the pieces will be offered for sale at $65 and up, through the show's completion Nov. 2. ``The more we change the shows and the more people are aware,'' Sonier said, ``the more selling I think there's going to be.''
To that end, Sonier and her fellow artists brought a museum's meticulousness to Friday's hanging. Scott Ward had plenty of direction as he positioned Martha Wilson's ``7 a.m. Rendesvous'' high on a wall near the door.
``That's not level,'' Sonier told him.
``It's level, even though it doesn't look level,'' he replied.
``It's not lined up with the ceiling,'' another artist said.
Ward placed a carpenter's level alongside the painting. ``It's level.''
``No, it's not,'' Sonier said. ``You have to go with your eyes.''
``Line it up with the paneling,'' someone suggested.
Ward aligned it with the paneling. ``That better?''
Sonier nodded.
``Well,'' Ward sighed, ``it's not level.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
Scott Ward, a short-order cook at Charlie's, puts up the work of
local artists in the restaurant. Maggie Curtis, whose work is in the
show, helps.
by CNB