On an excursion to Switzerland with her daughter, watercolorist Cassie Tucker found herself admiring more than the elegance of the country’s historic castles. Her eyes were drawn to every brass lock and handle as she passed through elaborately carved doorways. 

Tucker photographed the craftsmanship and detail, her mind immediately pondering how to replicate the robust woods and metals in watercolor. As her ideas began to take shape, she also considered the contrast between the castle’s luxurious upstairs and the locks and chains of the dungeon downstairs. 

“It just struck me, that whole idea of going in, shutting the door, and the details reflecting the people that are privileged to enter,” says Tucker, who began a five-year process of photographing locks and doors. “I would take pictures and store them away. I just knew I was going to come back to that because I like things that have the spirit of something long ago.” 

Whether it was observing the architecture of England, France, Italy, or the historic buildings and homes of Savannah and Apalachicola, Tucker steadily built a visual library of locks. Her solo watercolor exhibition “Exodus…locks, latches and longings,” opened at Thomasville’s Hubs & Hops in December and features more than 20 of her original works. 

Tucker says she was struck by the rustic nature of Hubs & Hops’ newly expanded indoor space and felt it as the perfect setting for this particular show.

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