Bucci's Art

CHARLOTTE NIEL
photography

March 1 - April 4, 2008

Website: www.cnielphotography.com
Email: nielesque@hotmail.com

Lost and Found-Route 66

When I was growing up, my family traveled the "Mother Road" several times prior to the big push for faster, wider highways. On those cross country trips, we learned to read by keeping track of all those outlandish billboard messages that entertained and directed for miles and miles. Dinosaur parks, curio shops, neon lit motels and little diners all make up that lost landscape of the past.

This last trip allowed me to revisit old places that have lost their original allure and can be easily missed as motorists speed along to their final destination. Dilapidated signs and road stops such as "Dunes" or "Here it is" are falling into decay as memories fade and life moves forward. I view these old signs and places with nostalgia, curiosity and sometimes humor. They are part of this vast landscape of props, messages and characters that were designed to coax you to stop and buy before your final destination and many times did not quite live up to the "promise." They are guardians of the past when the car was the "king of the road", gas was cheap and a new life in the west was the hope for many who made the journey.

Artist Bio

I have been photographing for the last 20 years and have been influenced by a wide range of photographers such as Diane Arbus, Francesca Woodman, Cartier Bresson and Salgado. My work has been shown nationally. Recent exhibitions include the Coopers Union Gallery, New York City, the Sussex Community College Gallery, Newton, New Jersey, the Barbara Anderson Gallery, Berkeley, California, the Gallery One Visual Arts Center in Ellensburg, Washington and ArtSF, San Francisco, California. I am currently President of the Bay Area Photographers Collective, a non-profit, membership organization of fellow photographers and artists.

RESTAURANT & BAR HOURS
Lunch: Mon. - Fri. 11:30 - 2:30
Dinner: Mon. - Sat. 5:30 - 9:30

Bucci's Bar: Mon. - Fri. 2:30 - 5:30
Serving soup, salad, panini, cocktails, dessert