blvd. | artists
Rise together CHARLOTTE ARTISTS JEN HILL AND TORRIE SAVAGE TEAM UP TO CREATE A POP ART SENSATION. by Liz Logan
PHOTOGRAPH BY JUSTIN DRISCOLL
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few years ago, in a small yoga studio on Hawthorne Lane, Jen Hill and Torrie Savage met as they moved alongside each other in Chakti yoga, a practice dedicated to dance, balance and empowerment. The two artists had seen each other’s work displayed around town and on Instagram — Hill with Jen Hill Pop and Torrie with The Savage Way. Hill’s work focuses on brightly colored, often glittered paintings of pinup and pop icons with an Andy Warhol-meets-feminism approach. Savage concentrates on nature-inspired moss art, creating textured murals and logos, with a bit of clean graffiti — sidewalk art created with stencils and pressure washing — on the side. The duo formed a friendship based on mutual respect for one another’s work, the intimacy that comes with the yoga community, and a shared love of hip-hop and creativity. In September 2019, as Hill’s partner, Chef Vince Giancarlo, was developing an event at Camp North End merging food and music, he began dreaming up ideas for art inclusion. One of these ideas grew from a flicker to a full-on glow: What if Hill and Savage collaborated on a project for the space? A band performing during the dinner would feature the music of Jimi Hendrix and Prince — thus, Hill says, “The first love child was born.” The two got to work immediately, conceptualizing what this first project featuring two of music’s biggest icons would entail. The process was somewhat the same then as it is now: Savage and Hill mull over images of a given subject, finding the best fit for their marriage of moss and paint. Hill creates a rendering, while Savage determines where to place the moss amid Hill’s signature style. After weeks of work on their inaugural project, the pieces were completed, and the
"Frida" graces the Dilworth studio of cosmetic tattoo artist Stephanie Leigh.
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