Come Fly With Us, Come Fly, Come Fly Away...
This time of year I always yearn to get away, often fantasizing about far off places, sun or just a change of scenery. If this is something you experience, pop into Brackenwood and at least take a trip with your eyes! Join us tonight, March 1 for JOURNEYS Artists' Reception and Langley's Art Walk from 5-7 PM !
Stepping through the door you might feel like you’ve been transported up into the clouds, anyway that’s the feeling Kevin Horan’s light and airy photographs make me feel. I love the deep blue of the sky, which is in stark contrast with the pure white of the clouds. The photographs are restful and serene. Kevin told me when he gets on an airplane he can’t stop looking out the window. The beauty totally captivates him and he finds himself snapping pictures of the scenes going by the oval window of the plane. Looking at each one I find myself wondering what part of the world he was flying over when he snapped the photo; the ocean, water, farmland but where? Kevin’s work has something to say, and each of us will have our own interpretation!
Joining us for this show is photographer and poet Lorraine Healy. Lorraine hails from Buenos Aires but is now a Whidbey local. Healy has a wabi sabi philosophy about her art; she likes the little imperfections, or blemishes that crop up when she uses her plastic Holga cameras. These imperfections give the photograph character, which reminds the viewer of the human behind the lens. Healy captures the look and feel of Paris, like the iconic nymph leaning over the Pont Alexandre III. She is looking back over her shoulder like she has something to say to you. It must have been a wet day because she looks shiny and wet too. The image is crisp in the middle but the outer edges fade to black all in a circle, something our iphone cameras just don’t do. This is the wabi sabi Lorraine is fond of coming through, I love it.
Moving onto the Sahara Desert with images of Berber Tents, beautiful tiled doorways, sand dunes and a local beckoning the tourist into his store. The warmth of the desert is so apparent in Earl Olsen’s photographs. Earl’s ability to see what others may miss makes his work something special. He often finds some ordinary thing like a wire just sticking out of a building, but then he stops long enough to realize the wire is spelling something… then snap its captured and we get to share in the surprise.
Silky yellows, ochre, mauve, gold and peach come to life in the shimmering shawls and scarves Carys Ann Hamer has on exhibit for this show. Carys Ann journeyed to Morocco a few years ago and took classes on native dying techniques. Using osage, cochineal, madder Hamer creates multicolored Murzuga shawls that are stunning. They are simply scrumptious to feel and are definitely eye candy for the soul.
Another Mediterranean country well represented is Italy. Zoë Osenbach’s journey to Venice is so lovingly captured through her Pinhole camera study. Zoë’s patient, she must wait 7-8 minutes for the magic to work in her little box camera. Pinhole cameras do not have a lens instead there is a small hole in one side of a lightproof box. Zoë manually moves the shutter so that light enters through the hole landing on photographic paper. No dark room here, no chemicals, just the light on the paper. The paper Zoë used has a great deal of texture, which adds to the overall look and feel of these photographs.
Finally Rene Flynn Federspiel’s oil paintings have captured her emotional memories of the places she has traveled in Italy. A poignant moment seeing a man sitting outside watching the street, or ladies truckin’ down the street going somewhere in a hurry. Rene has a great sense of humor and it comes through her paintings. One of the experiences Rene tries to capture is stillness. I really feel the stillness in her beautiful stone doorways and the table just waiting for someone to sit down and enjoy a meal. That’s the beauty of art, we all get to interpret what it is the artist was trying to say.
I hope you can come in and take your own journey. The weather is fine, the ambiance is quiet but welcoming and the art is simply superb!