Sound Machines: Stringed Instruments by the Capozzoli Guitar Company
November 23, 2019 - April 11, 2020 (Atwell Gallery)
For local craftsman and musician Chris Capozzoli, playing music is one of the greatest past times. It brings friends and strangers together. It makes you feel good as both a player and listener. “One of my top passions is to design and build engines for this circumstance, to create tools that may help inspire the artist or performer to write and create music and to perhaps give the player individuality with the uniqueness of each instrument,” Capozzoli says.
“Sound Machines: Stringed Instruments by the Capozzoli Guitar Company” is guest curated by Willard Watson III and features over twenty handcrafted guitars built here in the High Country alongside photographs of the maker, captured by Ashley Warren of Natural Craft Photography. The guitars range from acoustic, electric, and bass, and much of the wood used to make them is repurposed from local resources, such as old barns.
“The wood endured by the rain, snow, and sunshine on the side of these hundred-year-old structures tell stories of how difficult it’s been to hold itself up for so many years, “ explains Capozzoli. “And how well it protected the content that dwelled within. My designs are mostly inspired by vintage guitars. The worn out curves where someone’s hands and body have stripped away the finish or even the wood itself from love or neglect. The smell of an antique guitar perhaps reminiscent of that old chest of drawers living in the attic of your grandparent’s home, a scent like no other. Thoughts of the invention and innovation of guitar amplification, electric guitars, the sounds they made and the world that existed eighty and ninety years ago remind me of what it has taken to get this far in history. Music wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for music from the past. Capturing these elements is part of what stimulates my instruments' motif.”
Image Credit: Ashley Warren. “Perspective” (detail), 2019. Digital photograph. Courtesy of the Artist.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Playing music is one of the greatest past times. It brings friends and strangers together. It makes you feel good as both a player and listener. One of my top passions is to design and build engines for this circumstance, to create tools that may help inspire the artist or performer to write and create music and to perhaps give the player individuality with the uniqueness of each instrument.
My personal inspiration derives from the environment I’m submerged in, from the materials I choose to the designs I create. We all exist because the past came before us. The past is always lingering around, showing us signs of where we came from and where we’ve been. We pass it by every day. Some may see it and not even realize it’s a piece of the past yet they know it makes them feel good when it’s in their presence. I incorporate elements of yesterday with modern comforts of today and tomorrow to create timeless instruments that seem familiar yet new.
Much of the materials I prefer come from old barns off the local North Carolina landscapes. The wood endured by the rain, snow, and sunshine on the side of these hundred-year-old structures tell stories of how difficult it’s been to hold itself up for so many years. And how well it protected the content that dwelled within. It’s done its job and now it’s reward is not to rot away back into the earth or burn up in an inferno for more land space but to sing eternally and be appreciated by the newcomers of current times and the future.
There’s something about old instruments that really attracts my eyes. My designs are mostly inspired by vintage guitars. I've always been drawn to them. The worn out curves where someone’s hands and body have stripped away the finish or even the wood itself from love or neglect. The smell of an antique guitar perhaps reminiscent of that old chest of drawers living in the attic of your grandparent’s home, a scent like no other. Thoughts of the invention and innovation of guitar amplification, electric guitars, the sounds they made and the world that existed eighty and ninety years ago remind me of what it has taken to get this far in history. Music wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for music from the past. Capturing these elements is part of what stimulates my instruments' motif.
Learn more at CapozzoliGuitarCompany.com
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In our exhibit, "Sound Machines: Stringed Instruments of the Capozzoli Guitar Company" we have the rare opportunity to showcase pieces that are both works of art and instruments for creating art. In this program Chris Capozzoli will tell us about a few of his instruments and his friend Jeff Moretz will demonstrate the instruments in action.