Picturing the Great Outdoors ~ A Photography Show

Picturing the Great Outdoors ~ A Photography Show
Review by Candy Barr

“Picturing the Great Outdoors” with Dennis Curran, David Garten, Sandy Macys, Brian Mohr & Emily Johnson,  Roarke Sharlow, and John Williams together have twenty photos on exhibit at the Festival Gallery in the Village Square Shopping Center in Waitsfield. There seems to be a profound theme running throughout the exhibit that draws us into each photo.  It’s more than a simple, natural landscape of Vermont: each image invites us to connect with man’s scale to nature and be moved by the simple beauty of it all.   

Each of these artists have captured apocryphal moments in the day. They range from backlit trees reminiscent of cathedral splendor in Roarke Sharlow’s large 26” x 34” Morning Rays in the pines to John Williams Sunrise Road and Sea of Maple Leaves both 9.5” x 24” with exaggerated, dramatic proportions.  

Sandy Macys Mt Ellen attains a transcendence through both color and scale.  The tiny lone skier in an orange parka makes a focal point against the end-of-the-day pink and luminescent snow with lavender mountains and periwinkle sky.   

Four pieces in the exhibit are oversized archival pigments on canvas including David Garten’s 30” x 44” Waitsfield Covered Bridge complete with a rainbow and Mad River, Moretown, Vermont and the couple who work together Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson in a detail of  Ferns 32” x 48” and a two 17” x 48” panoramic Green Mountains and Green Mountain Divide, a pair of sunset silhouettes.   

Two of the photos are created using infrared: Warren Falls on silver gelatin and Infrared Trees #4 as a giclee, both by Williams, while Sharlow’s Sap Buckets is a black and white image with a focal point of faint warm color added. The balance are created with archival pigments on paper.  

Dennis Curran’s exquisite Blueberry Lake Warren Vermont 13” x 22” has the tranquility of a Winslow Homer painting of a fisherman surrounded by early morning light and autumn colors.  

This show is a tribute to the magnificence of the Mad River Valley and the splendor of the mountains here.  Each of these photographers offer a unique personal view that quiets the mind and it should not be missed.  

The show is open through July 31st and can be seen 9am - 5pm Monday through Friday.  For more information call 496-6682.