Oregon Trail exhibit comes to Armory gallery Remember that game you used to play when you were little in school? You know, the one where your little sister got cholera traveling, your ox would be bought and sold and you would trade goods with other travelers? Yes, it's the Oregon Trail, and Heath Ballowe, a graduate of Virginia Tech, has brought out some of the animal and country style in his recent art show. The show is "Caulking the Wagon: Conversations with the Oregon Trail Generation," and is located at the Armory Art Gallery.

Horns, animals, gun, and human anatomy are part of his works.

"The theme really isn't about the Oregon trail per se, but more the discussion itself," Ballowe said. "It's about artists and the art worlds conveying ideas. First thing I remember about dealing with computers is the game the Oregon Trail. Our experience of technology and how our specific generation is inspired by technology was part of the focus of our discussions."

The creativity of his show is evident, and all of the tools used to make his works conveyed the message he wanted to deliver.

Ballowe used an array of items, including different fabrics, screen prints, fur, straw and even zippers. Some of the pieces took on collage formats.

Ballowe wasn't always inspired to do art, however. As a high school student, he said his talent and interests were more involved in writing and poetry.

"I always thought that was what I was going to end up doing," Ballowe said.

As an undergraduate at Virginia Tech, he became an art student.

"I took art history here, and did art as just a hobby, like Bob Ross stuff, I thought it was a joke. Then I got interested in the theoretical side and the expression to it," Ballowe said.

A piece titled "Cock vs. Snake" is particularly interesting. It uses a mixture of fabric, oil crayon, straw thatching, wax and watercolor.

"All of the animal imagery that I pick are animals with horns and that kind of thing. In a subtle way, it's about emasculation due to the phallic imagery. I had been plotting that piece for several years," Ballowe said.

Not only were the pieces interesting to the viewer, but it was easy for the viewer to be amused at how others interpreted the pieces. The works reach different audiences in different ways. A young boy and his father were talking to themselves about all the artwork and their perspectives also made sense with his works, but were different from my own interpretations.

Ballowe intends to keep doing artwork in the future.

"I'm surprised a lot of them sold, but I think I'm going to resubmit them. I was recently just accepted into a great school of design, so I'll be doing art for a while. My teachers that gave me my recommendations said I was the only art student to get into that school," Ballowe said.

 He will be attending the Rhode Island School of Design, one of the top design schools in the world. I'm sure we will be seeing more of Ballowe's artwork to come in the future.

His show will run at the Armory Art Gallery until Aug. 8.