“Here and There” by Juergen Vespermann

 

“Here and There” by Juergen Vespermann

Exhibit: November 3 to November 27, 2022
Art Hop Reception: November 3, 2022 – 4PM to 8PM
Artist Reception: Saturday November 19, 2022 1PM to 5PM

 

Juergen Vespermann has been a long-time member of Fresno’s Spectrum Gallery and has participated in numerous one-person and group shows in Germany and California. Born and raised in Muenster, Germany, he became interested in photography during his college years and moved to Fresno in 1989. That year, he also joined the fine art photography gallery Spectrum Art Gallery.

Juergen has worked with a corporation (Westfalen Gas) in Germany documenting the oil production facilities and provided the photograph “Not a Bullet Hole” for the US East Coast heavy rock band Dead Season for the cover of their album          “down again”.

The November exhibition is titled ‘Here and There’, meaning ‘Here’, the general Fresno/California area and his current home, and ‘There’, the rest of the world, but especially Europe, his first home now being somewhat far away, somewhere out ‘There.’ The ‘Here’ is represented by backyard photographs of succulents/cacti, Fresno in the fog photographs, murals from Downtown LA and Downtown Fresno (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) mural by Bobby Von Martin), and architectural photographs from Fresno and Fresno and Tulare counties. The ‘There’ part shows architectural images from his two recent trips to Germany, the Netherlands (Rotterdam), Belgium (Liege) and Paris, and a couple older prints from London and Australia.

Hunting for interesting architectural locations takes you sometimes to areas you wouldn’t necessarily visit otherwise, exposing you to parts of a city or county not many people visit otherwise (e.g. Angiola in Tulare County) . And it’s OK, if that doesn’t turn into good photography but just a new or different traveling experience. On the lighter side of this exhibition’s photography, Juergen also shows his long-time travel companion, the Pink Panther (as a bendable toy), in many different situations and locations.

A notebook will be out at the gallery for visitors to leave notes. Juergen would love to hear people’s thoughts on his show.

 

Spectrum Art Gallery’s New Hours of Operation:
ArtHop (1st) Thursdays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Fridays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

“Will We Listen?” by Wendy Denton

 

“Will We Listen?” by Wendy Denton

Exhibit: October 6 to October 30, 2022
Art Hop Reception: October 6, 2022 – 5PM to 8PM

Called Thousand-Year-Old Words of Wisdom, this is a series
based on the works of medieval women mystics Hildegard of Bingen and others and is comprised of 15 images on themes
such as Justice, God as Mother, the Black Madonna, Code Red
for Humanity, and the Plague.

Hildegard of Bingen was born almost 1000 years ago. What
Hildegard knew then, our best thinkers are calling on us to
know now. Core to Hildegard’s teaching is the rightness of
justice. “With Injustice,” she says, “your soul is dry, totally
without tender goodness.”
“Prophets like Hildegard return from time to time to assist us,”
says spiritual teacher Matthew Fox. “She is a Bodhisattva in
our midst. Listen to her as she speaks your name.”
Will We Listen?

Wendy will do a presentation about the show Friday, October 21st at 7:00 PM.

Spectrum Art Gallery’s New Hours of Operation:
ArtHop (1st) Thursdays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Fridays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

On The Way Here by Richard Harrison

 

“On The Way Here” by Richard Harrison

Exhibit: September 1 to October 2, 2022
Art Hop Reception: September 1, 2022 – 5PM to 8PM

 After being a photographer for over fifty years, the last couple of years I have become interested in the Botanical World. Up until now I had spent very little time taking pictures of flowers. Not that I didn’t enjoy flowers, but I had other interests, never really taking time to explore this fascinating area of photography.

The first series was by accident and the fact that all my wife’s irises were in blossom. A great subject to start the process. After photographing irises for a week or so, until their flowery show dwindled, I started looking around the yard for more willing subjects. And there were plenty! It was at this time the beauty of “weeds” took root.

After my first few encounters with the wonderful world of weeds, I started to take a closer look. To my surprise, the beauty of weeds, in all their glory, began twinkling before the camera’s lens.

“The Travels of WoeBear” is a special section of this exhibit. WoeBear is a loving, magical, odd little Dog who wandered about during the last plague digging up secrets of the Dog Universe. Some (but not all) of WoeBear’s adventures and encounters are shown here.

“Stuff from Old Boxes,” as the name implies, are pictures from the past, using film, chemicals and what was known as silver gelatin paper. Numerous techniques and processes were used, including a camera that, outwardly, wasn’t doing much more than making a clicking sound.

Thank you for taking time to visit; not just my exhibit, but to enjoy all the wonderful images created by other photographers of Spectrum Art Gallery.

Spectrum Art Gallery’s New Hours of Operation:
ArtHop (1st) Thursdays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Fridays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Jeffrey D. Nicholas “Spotlight” Memorial Retrospective Exhibition

 

Jeffrey D. Nicholas “Spotlight”

Memorial Retrospective Exhibition

Exhibit: August 4 – 28, 2022
Art Hop Reception: August 4, 2022 – 4PM to 8PM
Reception in Honor of the Artist: August 13, 2022 – 1PM to 4PM

Award-winning photographer Jeffrey David Nicholas first
became fascinated with the art of photography while studying architecture in the late-1960s. Following a year of traditional formal photographic education, which focused principally on black-and- white darkroom technique, he realized that color was his prime motivation. He cited Edward and Brett Weston, Minor White, Paul Caponigro, especially Harry Callahan – who worked brilliantly in both black and white and color – and (of course) Ansel Adams as early black & white influences. Eliot Glass, Brian Eno, Harold Budd and Arvo Part and, of course, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, and Bill Evans.

Nicholas’ imagery was awarded, published, exhibited, and
collected. In the mid-1980s he moved to Yosemite National Park to work at The Ansel Adams Gallery as book-buyer and curator of prints and exhibits. Later he co-founded Sierra Press with several other photographers to launch a line of color photography books celebrating the beauty of America’s National Parks. Ultimately, working with so many of America’s leading landscape photographers led him to question his own photographic intentions and aspirations. For most of the last 10 years he steadily moved away from his earlier style and subject matter: working instead to find his own voice. Nicholas pursued the muse of photography for more than four-and-a-half decades.

In 2013 Jeff had an exhibit titled “WINDOWS and WALLS.” The series included architectural imagery from Puerto Rico, New Orleans, New Mexico and, yes,
Fresno, California. This body of work, according to the artist, represents his intention to un-learn all the “rules” he mastered during the first 30 years of his photographic career. It is work that is not about what the photograph’s subject “is”, but rather “what else” it might be. This work is, arguably, most heavily influenced not by photographers but, rather, by the imagery of abstract expressionist and impressionist painters.

In 2016 Jeff exhibited a series titled “Essence.” In his exhibition statement Jeffrey noted: The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. And Georgia O’Keeffe is quoted as having said:
     Nothing is less real than realism…
     It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis,
     That we get at the real meaning of things.
Finally, the artist/photographer Ralph Gibson was quoted as saying about his own imagery:
     I can tell you what it is,
     But I cannot tell you what it means.

All I can add to that is: “Ditto.”

We at Spectrum were deeply saddened to lose our long-time member, frequent exhibiting artist, generous donor, and dear friend, Jeff Nicholas. His wish was that any sales of his work benefit our non-profit mission to serve the community. Limited copies of Jeffrey D. Nicholas Memorial Retrospective Exhibition Catalogs will be available at the gallery. Additional copies are available to order.

A reception in honor of Jeffrey D. Nicholas will be held Saturday, August 13, 2022 from 1PM to 4PM. Sharing memories at 2PM.

Spectrum Art Gallery’s New Hours of Operation:
ArtHop (1st) Thursdays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Fridays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Pride! An LGBTQI+ Invitational Exhibition

HELD OVER THROUGH JULY 31, 2022

Pride! An LGBTQI+ Invitational Exhibition

Exhibit: June 2 – July 31, 2022
Art Hop Reception: July 7, 2022 – 4PM to 8PM
Fresno Pride Reception: Saturday June 4, 2022 – 11AM to 1PM1
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Spectrum Art Gallery proudly presents an invitational exhibition of photographic works featuring LGBTQI+ photographers, Spectrum Members and Supporters.

Queer culture is as unique and diverse as the individual community members within the LGBTQI+ community.  Through photographs, we celebrate and express ourselves and our culture, our struggles and our hopes, and our visions that come together and make us who we are.  During Pride month, we celebrate this diversity, and through it, we find strength and empowerment.  LGBTQI+ photographers have a unique perspective, especially considering the challenges, struggles, and obstacles that generations of our queer community has been through, and Spectrum Art Gallery is proud to bring this vision to light through this exhibition. 

Pride! Features a combination of Spectrum Art Gallery members who identify with, or are supporters of the LGBTQI+ community, and in the spirit of inclusiveness and support, have invited several LGBTQI+ guests to show photographic artworks that represent their personal vision.  Listed among our guests will be Ray Quenga, Avigdar “Bill” Adams, and others.

Join us for ArtHop on Thursday, June 2, 2022 between 5pm and 8pm to see these amazing artworks, and if you come to the Tower District Pride Parade on Saturday, June 4, stop on in from 11am-1pm for a special reception you won’t want to miss!

Spectrum Art Gallery’s New Hours of Operation:
ArtHop (1st) Thursdays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Fridays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Fenestration & Demarcation by Edward Gillum & Kris Kessey

“Fenestration & Demarcation”

by

Edward Gillum & Kris Kessey

Exhibit: May 5 – 29, 2022
Art Hop Reception: May 5, 2022 – 5PM to 8PM

Edward Gillum will be sharing his recent photography-based artwork with that of new gallery member, Kris Kessey, in a two-person exhibit during May of 2022. The title of this upcoming show is “fenestration and demarcation.” Her mixed media with photography work is focused on windows – looking through glass and the images therein as well as those reflected upon the surfaces. Edward’s work takes the form of an installation, and shares as its subject matter, the images of 41 gates that can be seen while driving between Fresno and Oakhurst on Highway 41. 

 

Kris Kessey has been interested in photography since childhood, beginning with the iconic Brownie and then borrowing her dad’s Leica. A few years later a friend introduced her to a darkroom and all the magic that happens there. This prompted her to purchase her first SLR camera, a Canon A-1, and a Beseler enlarger. In college at the University of Nevada Reno, Kris majored in Fine Art with an emphasis on Photography. She was drawn to macro imagery and nature subjects . Sometimes she would make scientific “slides” to use as negatives directly in the enlarger. After college Kris went to work for Kruger Photographic Services in Reno. She was put in charge of the black and white darkroom and film developing. Spending eight to ten hours a day in the darkroom had her up to her armpits in vats of developer and fixer. No longer able get the smell of fixer out of her nose and mouth and off her skin she decided it was time to switch careers. She began teaching art and dabbling in other fields. Fast forward to 1999, Kris entered the Graduate Program at Fresno State where she earned a Masters degree – in Sculpture. Even though Kris is now primarily focused on the 3D aspect of Fine Arts, photography is always looking over her shoulder. With the advent of digital photography Kris has enjoyed being able to take unlimited images without being restricted to rolls of film and processing time and expense. As an avid traveler many of her images have been taken in various places such as Italy, Norway, and Spain. Often the photos she takes serve as ‘memory joggers’ though many are compositions of place, texture, and detail. Struck by how many images in her archives dealt with the idea of fenestration, she felt a theme based on windows and reflection would be a good choice for her upcoming exhibit at Spectrum Gallery. Kris is retired from Fresno State after over 20 years of adjunct teaching in the Art Department. She spends most of her time in her studio, working on remodeling projects and traveling, all the while a camera close at hand.

Spectrum Art Gallery’s New Hours of Operation:
ArtHop (1st) Thursdays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Fridays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

An Infrared Fantasy by Caroline Jackson

An Infrared Fantasy by Caroline Jackson

Exhibit: April 7 – April 29, 2022

Art Hop Reception: April 7, 2022 – 5PM to 8PM

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"Nicole S." -- Caroline Jackson
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"Radar" -- Caroline Jackson

Caroline Jackson bought her first camera 10 years ago, and has seldom set it aside. She never settled on a particular genre, and normally takes a mindfulness approach to creating images. Her photographs are not made with intention – such as documentary work – but on free flowing feeling. Always drawn to the range of human experience, and usually a darker, lonely or edgy mood, her images feature themes of alienation, separation and exclusion and can encompass street scenes, lonely desert landscape, crumbling structures; scenes that convey isolation and being cast aside. Being drawn to the outlier segments of society, her pictures are usually not “pretty.” The goal is always to have the viewer pause, feel, listen and question their relationship to a subject, emotion or idea. Caroline’s primary presentation has always been monochrome – without the distracting element of color – the subject and composition takes center stage. 3 years ago, Caroline decided to convert a digital camera by having its hot filter removed and replaced with a filter that allows some infrared light to reach the sensor – light not within our visible spectrum. This genre of shooting accentuates her usual lonely and edgy scenes. Working with this light the human eye cannot see lends a sense of distortion to her photographs. They appear “different,” and  at times other worldly.The infrared medium gives a new spin on familiar subject matter, a portal to a new or strange vision. Much of Caroline’s work has a shrouded, depressed, or gritty feel. With infrared, there is a different take created on cliche subject matter. Infrared photography has a learning curve, like any genre. An out of the camera RAW file is a jumbled red image, essentially unusable. She shoots with a custom white balance, and utilized a DNG profile in Adobe Camera RAW, to allow the images to be edited. Swaps of color channels are done, to bring out the infrared spectrum of color, and eventually most images are converted to monochrome for a haunting appearance.

Caroline V. Jackson is an attorney from the San Francisco Bay Area, now making her home in Fresno. Infrared takes her photography to the realm of noir. She is affiliated with Spectrum Gallery in Fresno. Her work has been shown at various exhibitions in the Central Valley.

Spectrum Art Gallery’s New Hours of Operation:
ArtHop (1st) Thursdays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Fridays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Spectrum Art Gallery Annual Print Auction

Spectrum Art Gallery Annual Print Auction & Exhibition

Exhibit: March 3 – April 3rd 2022 • Auction: March 15- April 3 2022

Art Hop Reception: March 3 – 5PM to 8PM

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"Lumenocity #7" -- Travis Rockett
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"Crow's Landing" -- Sue Thorson
Spectrum Art Gallery is hosting its Annual Print Auction! 

Spectrum Art Gallery’s Annual Print Auction is now open for your bidding!!  The auction closes on April 3rd at 5PM.  Select the following link to open the auction website to start bidding:

https://www.accelevents.com/e/2022spectrum

Over 55 items from internationally recognized photographers and well-known local artists will be available to view at Spectrum Art Gallery and posted on Spectrum’s on-line silent auction site hosted by Accelevents.  The link will be available on the Gallery Website at www.spectrumphotogallery.org on March 15, 2022.

For further information regarding either the images or the photographers please contact Spectrum Art Gallery at auction@spectrumphotogallery.org. All sales will be final. No returns or refunds will be provided.

Auction Prints on Exhibit
Spectrum Art Gallery
608 E Olive Ave, Fresno, CA 93728
March 3 – April 3, 2022

Spectrum Art Gallery’s New Hours of Operation:
ArtHop (1st) Thursdays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Fridays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Members’ Exhibition

Spectrum Members’ Exhibition

February 3 – 27

ArtHop Artist Reception: Thursday, February 3, 4PM to 8PM

Wheels of the Past, Bodie, CA - Travis Rockett (1 of 1)
Wheels of the Past, Bodie" -- Travis Rockett
Self Esteem, From Captive Isolation Series - Jesse Merrell
"Self Esteem" From Captive Isolation Series -- Jesse Merrell

A Group Exhibition of Works
by Spectrum Art Gallery Members.
 

Spectrum Art Gallery is proud to present the 2022 Member’s Exhibition. We are excited to show new works from our membership, including members who have recently joined our collective. This show will be an open theme, so members are able to highlight their favorite works they would like to share. Our membership is an eclectic group comprised of photographic artists from many different walks of life. We’ve come together to express our joy of photography, and continue to do so well into our current era. Forty years ago, exhibitions of photography as an art form appeared very infrequently, especially in the San Joaquin Valley. It was at that time that a growing number of photographic artists congregated in Photo- Synthesis, a darkroom rental gallery establishment. In 1980, this group formed a not-for-profit cooperative and created a local forum for fine art photography.

Later that year, the group rented a space in Fresno’s Tower District, and referring to the broad variety of work produced by the charter members called itself “Spectrum Gallery.” The present is an exhilarating time in which we now have many traditional photographers, photographic artists, and creatives that push the boundaries of photography. This exhibition will show a collection of our members’ work. Come on down to the gallery for ArtHop and view original and refreshing photographic art by our fine members.

Metonymies-Sojourn

“Metonymies – Sojourn”
An Exhibit Featuring the Photography of
John Moses and Joshua Moulton

November 4 – November 28, 2021

ArtHop Reception: Thursday, November 4, from 4PM to 8PM

Mausoleum Door, Highgate Cemetery -- John Mosea
Mausoleum Door, Highgate Cemetery -- John Mosea

“Metonymies”
By
John Moses

Metonymy is the imaginative process that uses a part to represent the whole.  Proximity, or contiguity, is basic to how it operates in figures of speech.  But more than just a literary device in poetry, metonymy is part of everyday communication, a way of understanding and speaking about the world—for example, “hand” for helper, “Hollywood” for American movies, “Rothko” for the artist’s paintings.

But what does that have to do with photography, you may be wondering.  Linguists and artists have long extended the concept to the visual arts—from painting to the cinema.  Roman Jakobson contrasted the metaphors of surrealist art to the metonymies of Cubism.  Sergei Eisenstein theorized about the metonymies inherent in distinct categories of cinematic montage, the relations of shot to shot.

Photographers constantly make judgments involving contiguity.  Whether in the viewfinder or the darkroom, they reveal what is in the frame and what is beyond it.  Sometimes the subject is complete and surrounded by empty space—a still life, a building, an object from nature.  Just as often, the subject is only implied by the part shown, sometimes so abstracted as to be ambiguous even in its concreteness.

The images of “Metonymies” play with these possibilities. They imply what is not there as much as present what is.  Some are abstract, minimalist images—a light shining on a reel of film; a detail from a 6-foot bronze; a hoist drum from a Cornwall mine.  Others are more recognizable parts of some whole—a building façade, a tree within a forest, components of a steam engine.  And others are of images connected to concepts like flag for country.  Each illustrates how metonymy is as basic to visual language as it is to verbal.

Functionally, metaphors are the opposite of metonymy, based on imagined similarities rather than recognized proximity. Yet the two creative processes often operate together. A flag connects to country but also evokes ideas about honor or dishonor. The closeup of a sunflower’s center may epitomize the beauty of the flower but can also remind us of Van Gogh’s fields of yellow or a dreamlike scene from a Busby Berkeley musical.  So, while I present the images in this exhibit as examples of metonymy, I invite you to imagine the metaphoric possibilities as well.


Kirkjufell -- Joshua Moulton


Sojourn
By
Joshua Moulton

Hiking through the Icelandic mountains on a deary, late afternoon and coming over the rise of the hilltop, I finally get my first glimpse at the Geldingadalir volcano and my heart skips a beat. As I draw nearer to the eruption I feel heat from the lava warming my face just like I’m sitting in front of a campfire even though the source is thousands of feet away. The sound of stones grinding upon each other as the hardened uppermost layer of molten rock flows past in a river of fire fills my skull. And then comes the eruption-a magnificent, glorious and violent explosion of lava directly from the heart of the volcano high into the sky as more pours down the side. This could be Mordor. 

At my core I love fantasy. I love fantasy books, movies, games, and the wide-sweeping vistas that detail the epic quests and scenes that drive these stories. In essence that is what Sojourn is to me. Sojourn features photos from around the world that share that common sense of adventure and wonder. From the Martian landscapes of the Tron a Pinnacles to the abundant waterfalls of Iceland, each location weaves a story for my camera to capture. 

California is home to many captivating and varied landscapes and I take every opportunity to explore my native state, but nothing excites me more than the call of an exotic land. My latest sojourn to Iceland, the land of ice and fire, did not disappoint. There are waterfalls everywhere you look, erupting volcanos, glacier bays and epic canyons that transport you to a time before humans roamed the earth. In this collection I’ve gathered moments from Iceland, California and afar to bring viewers along with me on my adventures. 

So, come sojourn with me through these epic landscapes and maybe, if you’re feeling up to it, you can hum along to the Lord Of The Rings soundtrack like I always find myself doing when I’m out there.