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.