and please visit Imagining, our 2020 Joint Show

*****

Hugh's Artist Statement

Whimsy lives in the irreverent and allusive zones of the Imagination,
where things are built that cock snooks at
conventional boundaries of the factual.

The whimsical rests upon
risible analogies,
wordplay,
and a fine sense for the absurd.

Visible manifestations of the whimsical
are frequently pareidolic ("...it looks like..."),
often grandiose (what can I conjure out of this rock?),
and are generally calculated to amuse
(think Grandville)
or sometimes to warn and admonish
(think Gargoyles).

The whimsical is likelier to elicit a snort than a guffaw.

But it is wise to remember
that some folk are annoyed by the whimsical,
and that the most literal-minded are often simply baffled.

So choose your audience mindfully
and avoid poking the bear.

These photographs invite the viewer to consider
what the mind does with what the eye sees, and
how the imagination conjures forms that make meaning,
and builds stories to make sense of visual evidence.

*****

How did I arrive at this fascination with imaginary beings?

Perhaps it all began with the Twelfth Imam:

 

the Elm Tree at Horton Landing, Nova Scotia

 

Forward Looking

 

thusly

 

Whisper

 

Waldorf
and
Statler

 

 

Krishna on the q.v.

 

Really the Blues

.....

 

Flower's Cove, Newfoundland

.....

My sand images are visual conundrums, provoking different readings...

 

The Seagull

 

Antelope and Torch Singer

 

Maelström Chicken

 

Lady Windermere's Fan

.....

 

Clark Island triptych

.....

 

and Kate quilted Mr. Snuffleupagus:

*****

Elizabeth's Artist Statement

My photographic aesthetic was shaped for life by intense immersion in black and white fine art photography 60 years ago. Since that time, technological developments expanded the scale of human vision to galaxies and shrank it to molecules, creating cameras that can make videos within human bodies, roam the universe, or display your boarding pass. A vast army of people click at every second of the day and night, registering personal memories, documenting events, and maintaining family bonds. Where, then, in that vastness, does a photographer find personally meaningful subject matter?

I am drawn to photographing patterns in nature, primarily using macrophotography, that is, close-up shots. Over about 10 years, I created a series of macrophotographs of patterns of frost, published in LensWork magazine in 2018; some of those photographs were exhibited in the annual juried Maine Photography Show. I have also created portfolios of flowers, of dewdrops, and of ice on ponds and streams.

Lately, I have been exploring the idea of sand as a palette. The sand itself is emotionally neutral, just grainy. The forces of nature work on it as the tide comes and goes, creating ephemeral patterns. Among those patterns there is immense choice. There I can apply my photographic aesthetic, observing, and choosing that which I find powerful, that which is personally meaningful.

My photographs in this exhibit were taken over the last 5 years, mostly at Drift Inn Beach in Port Clyde, Maine, but also at Great Wass Island Preserve and Birch Point State Park in Maine, and in Oregon, Utah, and Massachusetts.