This is Sandy Brown Jensen for Viz City, KLCC’s arts review program.
May brings us two superb photography shows. At the Emerald Art Center inn Springfield, go upstairs to the outstanding PhotoZone Members Show. The Featured Artist is David Jones, who just passed away this year. Take your time to appreciate the diversity of his work--from elegant callas to dramatic architecture. He was known to us all as a generous teacher, master technician, and always an inspiration in his passion for beauty.
Corvallis local, Rich Bergeman, has a show of black and white photographs called “The Vanishing West” in Eugene at the White Lotus Gallery.
Again, I want to say this isn’t a place for an Instagram scroll. Slow down and use your eyes as well as your love for old barns, derelict ghost towns, and cobwebbed windows to the past.
It isn’t always easy knowing what to look for in photographs like these besides the dramatic content. Let’s look at “Spring Feeding, Baker Valley, Oregon,” for example. The foreground is a panorama of a truck and hay trailer followed by a line of cows all in solid black, like a hand cut silhouette card.
In the middle of the photo is a thick line of fog, smooth and featureless, the opposite of the line of cows. In the far distance at the top of the photo is a snow-dusted ridge with the pale detail of trees making a distinct third layer. Now, put all three sections back together in your mind, and you’ll feel closer to the art, more appreciative.
Come on in to both of these shows unhooked from social. Consider turning your phone off. Find your favorites and then revisit them. Take time to really see and make the image a part of you. When you leave, you’ll clearly remember two or three images rather than having a blur where the hour was. Close and thoughtful viewing always rewards the memory and the heart and will make you a better conversationalist at dinner!
This is Sandy Brown Jensen for KLCC.
