VoxPhotographs Weblog

Susan Porter, Director of the new Addison Woolley Gallery at 87 Market St. in Portland has an agenda and it’s worth talking about.

The full name of her new business is Addison Woolley Gallery and Center for Photographic Inquiry. She wants the gallery space to be a center for a myriad of cultural events including art (obviously), music, writing. But she wants it most of all to be a place where photography is discussed and explored beyond what is on the walls at any given time. Stop in and talk with her about her vision. She’s deeply knowledgeable about the history of photography as well, so the conversations are valuable.

While you are there in May, there’s a 3 person show called Nature: Subtle Sublime Surreal. David Wade’s Sandscapes are made using a small aperture on photo sensitive film, Fran Vita-Taylor shows four large closeups called Baxter Wood Series 1-4, and Dan Dow is exhibiting mostly black and white close ups of natural elements from Peaks Island, Hawaii, Mesa Verde and Key West.

Dead Fern © Dan Dow, courtesy of Addison Woolley Gallery

This is where it gets twisty – in the back part of the gallery are 7 photographs by students in grades 6-8 involved in The Telling Room project called Hidden Portland. Vita-Taylor and Porter taught this workshop. I really liked the images, especially Sarah Hesselink’s red-framed window on a white wall and Kate Hull’s shadow of a bicycle.

What I liked the most is the collaboration between a commercial gallery and a wonderful organization like The Telling Room. These seven kids can see their work hanging in a commercial space and understand that effort and expanding one’s horizons leads to something good. Thanks, Susan.

This entry was posted on May 18, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under EXHIBITS/SHOWS, Maine . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.