Meet
Your
Neighbor: Jen Coon and Sophie Guevel
by Dana Damico
March 2006
Boylan Heights’ residents Jen Coon and Sophie Guevel met
at Irregardless Café in 1993. Coon was tending bar at the local eatery; Guevel, a French native, was a student at N.C. State University and a regular patron.
The two got together a year later.
Coon, 42, and Guevel, 35, live in a spacious second-floor apartment at 617 1/2 Boylan Avenue. They share their space with their two cats – Zoe and Jester.
Before renting from Joe Webb, the owner of the house, Coon and Guevel lived in the garage apartment at 321 Cutler Street. And before that, Coon lived on Cabarrus Street.
“Moving around has introduced me to a lot of people in Boylan Heights,” Coon said. For instance, she has lived next door to long-time residents Michael Zirkle, Mary Gail and Ray Lanier.
Coon, who is a member of BLAM! Artist Studios, says Boylan Heights is a friendly, protective place. “It’s a little bit of a bubble from the harshness and insulating nature of life,” she said. “We’ve always really enjoyed contact with our neighbors.”
Said Guevel: “I’ve always told Jen it feels like a little village in the city… especially when there was the store.”
The two speak wistfully of the old Cutler Street Grocery which closed in 1998. Both were sad to see it go, and say they wish there was a small shop in the neighborhood that sold wine and cheese.
Guevel’s favorite aspects of the neighborhood include: veterinarian Dr. Kate Bush (“It’s great to have Kate Bush around,” she said.) and Caleb Jefferies, the ever-present go-to man whose specialties include yard work, pet sitting and good conversation.
Coon, who has called the neighborhood home for more than 13 years, has seen Boylan Heights evolve. “It seems to be safer,” she said. “It seems to be more interconnected… and more sort of homogenous which could be good and bad.
“It’s definitely better manicured,” she said. “There are a lot more fixed-up houses.”
As renters, Coon and Guevel know the flip-side of such improvements: higher housing costs. Homeowners generally view climbing real estate values favorably. But rising costs can put the squeeze on renters and drive long-time residents from the neighborhood.
Coon and Guevel worried they might have to move from Boylan Heights after their apartment on Cutler Street was sold and renovated. Happily, they didn’t. But Coon continues to worry that the growing popularity of the neighborhood could put unwanted pressure on the art studios next to the Boylan Bridge.
Coon recently completed a show at Rebus Works, the art gallery at the top of Kinsey Street, which married personal and professional aspects of her life. The title: “The Boylan Bridge, a Storied Span.”
“It just seemed natural to me,” she said. “The bridge is an extension of my studio, the gallery and the neighborhood which all mean so much to me.”
The show featured multi-layered prints that melded photography, old and new, with historical documents, handwritten observations and other images. Coon said the show was a departure from her typical art work which focuses on “the figure,” not architecture.
The experience forced her to see the neighborhood in a different way: from the homeless camps beneath the bridge to former residents she had not previously met. “It gave me a reason to ask people what images or stories they have about the bridge,” she said. “I feel like I only just scratched the surface and there’s so much more to be gained.”
Coon hopes to remount the show in a different space for the neighborhood’s centennial celebration in 2007.
In addition to her art, Coon works as a sales consultant for Carolina Wine Company.
Guevel works as a textile engineer for Schappe Techniques, a French spinning company owned by her father. Schappe Techniques produces flame-resistant, cut-resistant material used in such products as gloves, protective glass and clothing for firefighters.
Guevel came to the United States in 1990 to study at N.C. State. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in textile engineering from the university’s College of Textiles. Guevel was born in Brittany where both her parents are from. When she was 10, she moved to Bourg-en-Bresse, a medium-sized town in the Rhône-Alpes region, in the east of France, north of the Provence region.
“It was a very good international experience to come over and study here in Raleigh,” she said.
Coon, who has called the neighborhood home for more than 13 years, has seen Boylan Heights evolve. “It seems to be safer,” she said. “It seems to be more interconnected… and more sort of homogenous which could be good and bad.
