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Art Exhibit: Within
Art Exhibition: “Within” will feature Pamela Martin’s expressive, double exposed fine art photography and new work by members of the Manayunk Artists’ Co-Op in a wide range of styles and media.
Presented in the gallery at the Manayunk Art Center (MAC)
419 Green Lane (rear), between Mitchell & Pechin Streets,
Philadelphia, PA 19128
Phone: 215. 482.3363
Contact: David Kozinski at 302-764-1291
Opening reception: Sunday, June 7, 2009 - Noon to 3:00 PM
The public is invited to meet the artists and partake of light refreshments.
“Within” runs through Sunday, June 28th.
Gallery hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, except for Memorial Day weekend when the gallery is closed.
Admission is free, donations encouraged
Dual story lines and doubly exposed images conjoin in Pamela Martin’s photographic art. As she explores public gardens, arboreta, cemeteries and other public spaces, Martin often finds herself drawn to one particular statue or structure and to its story. The information readily available to her varies, but most often she discovers a connection between the subject and events within her own life. The photographic works she will exhibit in her featured show at the Manayunk Art Center (MAC) in June, titled “Within”, are full of recognizable forms and natural foliage. They are also rife with mystery, emotional impact and abstraction.
Once Martin finds herself strongly attracted to a subject, such as the sculpture of a woman dressed in 19th century attire that appears in “Tranquility”, she begins shooting it repeatedly and from many angles. She came upon the sculpture at Longwood Gardens and her fascination with it led to a combined image. A basket suspended from her right wrist, the woman leans on a shepherd’s crook in front of a wall that gives way to treetops and sky. Pink flowers garland the left side of the picture, as if flowing down from the woman’s shoulder, while red ones punctuate the middle of an arch-supporting column behind her. Left ambiguous is whether the woman’s form is emerging from the wall and sky, the foliage, or, if they are emanating from her.
Born in Lafayette Hill, PA, Martin was raised in Blue Bell, PA. She began painting in high school and soon developed an interest in other art forms, including photography. In 1993, she received a BFA with honors in Fine Art Photography from Tyler School of Art, in Elkins Park, PA. For the past thirteen years, Martin has counseled adolescents and families. In 2006 she earned a Master’s degree with distinguished honors in Counseling Psychology from Arcadia University in Glenside, PA. She is currently employed as a child welfare worker, specializing in adoption, at the Human Services Center in Norristown. She also works part-time as a therapist for Child Guidance Resource Centers in Havertown, Delaware County. She credits these experiences as having contributed to her growth both as a person and as an artist.
Martin’s sixteen-year-old son, Alex, is supportive of her artistic endeavors, particularly with her photographic work. He helps her select the images she will keep from the multitude that she has shot. “I trust his honesty and he’s almost always right,” she notes. Alex, a self-taught guitarist who plays in various styles, including rock music and Big Band era tunes, will perform at the opening reception for “Within”. In her biography for the exhibit, Martin refers to her son as “a daily inspiration.”
All of Martin’s pictures featured at MAC will be double exposures, most of which have never before been exhibited. The blended images represent emotional states --- with which Martin identifies --- and also function as studies in color and composition. Full of vivid colors derived from a stained glass window and a tree with bright red flowers, “Miracle”, is among the most dynamic and abstract images
Martin will exhibit. “Allure” presents a sculpture whose full lips and almond-shaped eye are visible through a spray of fountain grass. Although predominantly blue, the serene human form is rendered in hues of purple and green as well, while the grasses and other flora vary from white to gold and from brown to gray.
The moods evoked in Martin’s pictures range from playful to serene to somber and sometimes coexist or overlap. Some of her images obliquely suggest profound questions of life and death, reality, illusion, and art. The viewer is invited to apply his/her experience and imagination to interpreting each work. A fountain depicting a woman pouring water from a jug caught Martin’s attention at the Philadelphia Flower Show. She recalls, “I began to see and feel a connection with more than the stone,” and returned repeatedly to view and shoot the scene. The result is “New Life”, in which sunflowers and pale carnations spring up from the fountain and from the stucco wall behind the figure.
When she began studying art, Martin’s painting was influenced by the work of the French master Edgar Degas, “because of his layering of color, which carried over into my approach to photography.” Martin insists that photography is fine art. This conviction is reflected in the attention to detail evident in each finished picture. Even her choice of materials on which to print is carefully considered. “Display paper is very thin and shiny. It’s good for vivid colors, but it tears easily, so you have to be careful working with it. Watercolor paper works well for softer images – it’s almost as if the image is painted on,” she explains. Her favorite, silver rag paper, “is of high quality and has a medium sheen, but it’s expensive.” Martin regularly works with a framer in Spring City, near Phoenixville, and chooses framing and matting to match the subject and tone of each piece. Although most of the works in “Within” will be 12” by 18” or 16” by 24”, smaller prints of them will be available at MAC.
After a ten-year hiatus from exhibiting her work, she has recently shown it at MAC, as a member of the Manayunk Artists’ Co-Op, and at the Phoenix Art Village gallery. Prior to that, she had exhibits at the Skippack Gallery of Contemporary Art and at Marco’s Restaurant in Old City, Philadelphia and participated in exhibitions at Tyler and in various juried shows. She has felt her work gaining momentum in the past few years and no more so than in the last few months, as she has prepared for “Within”. “I’ve been shooting a lot recently and the more I do, the stronger it seems to get. I’m looking forward to seeing all the work together in the gallery.”
For more information about this show, upcoming shows, and directions to the Manayunk Art Center, please visit www.manayunkartcenter.org or call 215-482-3363 (leave message).
Humanities / Poetry
CONTACT: PETER KROK
Humanities Director of the Manayunk Art Center, at 215-482-3363