Pretty in Pink   copyright Theresa Jackson

It's getting close to show time!  Our reception is from 4 - 8 on Friday, November 18th.  Join us for great company, music, refreshments, and fine art. 

Maastricht Memories by Sally Reis Vogt

One of the images I will be exhibiting in Gallery 21 is entitled Maastricht

Memories. It was taken in 2009 on a return visit to this beautiful city in the

southern tip of The Netherlands. My family has lived and traveled in this town

over the course of the last 20 years and I have photographed it extensively.

This particular scene is a cityscape on the River Maas and began as a ‘stitched’

panorama.

Recently, I took the Digital Darkroom class at Palomar College and learned about the newest ‘brushes’ available in Adobe’s CS5. The brushes palette has a huge number of options and the learning curve to master them is quite steep, however I decided to give it a try with this image that was quickly becoming one of my favorites. The resulting ‘painted’ imagery was printed on high gloss dye infused aluminum to give it further depth and interest. Maastricht Memories has received several awards and become one of my most treasured pieces.  

Maastricht Memories is also the title to the book I wrote chronicling my life in Maastricht over the last two decades.

Sally R. Vogt

sallyrvogt@cox.net

David Lenhert's Latest Work

I am part of the exhibition at Gallery 21 with two photographs I took of Grand Staircase at Escalante National Monument, but I just returned from a vacation and photography trip to Hawaii where I took over 2 thousand images, so I wanted to share an image from the trip.  Most were on the Big Island and a fair number on Kauai.  It will be weeks before I’m caught up and can edit the selections.  With each trip to the Big Island I hope to be able to fill my camera frame with red lava from Kilauea.  Either dripping into the ocean or bursting forth like a fountain. 

I was able to balance the foreground light of the Kilauea caldera and still capture the Milky Way in the sky.  I had recently read about a recommended formula for determining how long I could leave the shutter open before star trails would become apparent: Start with the number 700 and divide it by the focal length of the lens.  

Come to our reception for more details.  Or you can visit my blogspot. 

David Lenhert

www.luxfire.com

My World by Tom Rossi

I got interested in photography when I retired from a career in graphic design.  Needing a way to continue expressing myself visually, I signed up for a photography class and got hooked.

I am a storytelling photographer.  I pick a subject based on how it captures my heart.  But the designer in me looks for interacting shapes and contrasts in tones and textures.  Both of my images in this show are about mood and movement.  In My World the stallion is king of his world.  He is contemptuous and aggressive and powerful in his movement.   

Currently, I am shooting a series called LA626.  Having lived in Los Angles for 23 years, I have decided to shoot parts of that huge city from 6 am to 6 pm – people and abstracts mostly.

Scatter by Irv Lefberg

I became interested in photography as a ten year old when I received a gift of a Kodak Brownie box camera.  I immediately began taking pictures of animals at the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, New York, and was forever hooked.  At age 12, my best friend and I assembled a darkroom in the bathroom of my home, which unfortunately did not please my mother.  I continued taking photographs as a hobby for the next 40 years, while pursuing a career in economics.  When digital photography and photographic software became available, I started an on-the-side business as a photographer.  Since retiring last year and moving from Washington to San Diego, photography has become a profession. 

My greatest thrill as a photographer is to realize that my work will hang in someone’s home or office and bring them joy for many years.  I love to combine photography with hiking.  At these times, I am completely transported to a place both peaceful and serene. 

IFLPHOTOGALLERY.COM

Old Mission Dam by Lee Loventhal

I was never adept at painting or sculpting, but when I took a photography class in 1985, a new door opened.  In a short time, I had learned enough to see that I finally had some potential to participate in the world of art.  Photography was something I had enjoyed ever since my parents gave me a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye at age ten. 

My photography stayed relegated to vacations during the 30 years I owned a plastics recycling business, but my skills improved.  In 2008, now retired, I joined the digital revolution and in 2010, I joined the PhotoArts Group in Escondido, CA.  This group exhibits throughout San Diego County giving me an opportunity to show my work.  I am pleased to be part of our group’s exhibit at Gallery 21.

Photography allows me to create images worldwide from places that excite me visually and emotionally.  I want to pass that enthusiasm on to my audience. My images are built from the use of lines, shapes, colors, and textures.  This is my art.  

www.loveleeimages.zenfolio.com

Swaying Palms by Judy Olesen

I have always been a traveler.  I grew up in Michigan and to escape the cold, dark winters, my family vacationed in Florida.  As an adult I lived in London for 2 years.  While living overseas I traveled to Paris, Milan, Geneva, and Kenya, always with camera in hand.  I photograph whatever moves me, but landscape photography gives me the greatest joy. 

Exhibiting in Gallery 21 at Spanish Village has given me an opportunity

to display one of my favorite images - Swaying Palms.  I made this picture on the island of Molokai, Hawaii in the once private palm grove of King Kamehameha V.  Established in the 1860's, he planted 1,000 coconut palms to represent each warrior in his mighty army and to shade his sacred bathing pool. The instant I saw this place I knew I had to photograph it!  After lots of trial and error, I finally decided that infrared was the best way to depict the history and beauty of the King’s remarkable grove. 

You Are Beautiful by Robin Reid

You Are Beautiful © Robin Reid 

Visiting New Orleans last year was an emotional experience viewing their mixed attempts to recover from Katrina.  The motivating icons for the locals seemed to be The Saints football team and the rebirth of tourism personified by Jackson Square an the French Quarter.  But as I viewed the wreckage along the shore from a tour boat in the Mississippi, I was struck by how in many ways the city still looks like a bombed out area from World War II.  

My collage is my attempt to capture both the beauty and the pathos of the region.

Robin Reid

http://www.pbase.com/rtwo

Curator Statement, Kris Hodson Moore

In this show we see traditional approaches to image making as well as more experimental work. Regardless of style, as a curator I wanted to encourage photographers who brought a strong personal vision to the process of crafting their images. With the “straight photographs” I was pleased to be able to select some of the best work PhotoArts Group has to offer. In the more experimental pieces we see how digital tools, when applied to photography, seem to create an entirely new category of art, the photo-based digital image.

Kris Hodson Moore

www.KrisMoore.net

Curator Statement, Amanda Dahlgren

The PhotoArts Group is a diverse collection of passionate photographic artists and I believe that the work chosen for this show represents each photographer’s unique and confident vision. It is evident that all of the photographers here have a strong command of composition and of all things technical when it comes to the craft of photography, but what set these particular images apart for me as a juror was that they represent the next step in artistic photography: to find what you love and make it your own!

Amanda Dahlgren

http://www.AmandaDahlgren.com

Curator Statement, Bob Barry

It was gratifying to select the images from the group of entries and have the resultant book (thanks to Theresa Jackson) and exhibition fuse into a pleasurable aesthetic experience. We three judges had minimal dissent in making the choices and the show came together rather easily; like the cream rising to the top.

In viewing art, I am stimulated by things that give me goose bumps, make me laugh, tear at the heart, stimulate thought, or simply show me something that amazes me. The heart of the matter is that it is an artist’s viewpoint, their voice that opens possibilities for the audience to learn and experience.

Thanks to the photographers who submitted work and shared their creativity.

Bob Barry

www.robertbarryphoto.com

Welcome

Welcome to the PhotoArts Group blog for our upcoming show at Spanish Village, Balboa Park. We plan to fill this blog with contributions from all of the participating artists. Please check back often.