A New Perspective: Carnegie exhibit features photographs taken from ‘Alternative Viewpoints’
Images of a Sept. 11 memorial, a winter wonderland, a Ferris wheel, basilica and the Milky Way Galaxy transport visitors at the Carnegie Visual Arts Center to New York, Minnesota, Berlin, Paris and outer space.
The Carnegie’s new exhibit, “Alternative Viewpoints,” which opened Tuesday, features 50 images captured by members of the Huntsville Photographic Society. The exhibit challenged the society’s approximately 250 professional and amateur photographers to capture images from alternate viewpoints.
From that challenge came a portrait of a fly by John Shriver, an image of a lone Auburn football fan amid a sea of Georgia fans by Bob Gathany, close ups of milkweed, Hosta plants, calla lilies and day lilies, and the bottom of cracked ballet shoes.
There is “Milky Way Odyssey” by Don Wolfe, which features two bare trees framed against a purple and vivid pink sky. There is “Geese on the Pond, DeKalb County” by Doris Leverett, which shows a body of water with two geese and the reflection of a tree. There is “Timed Show” by Charles Gattis, which pictures the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paris through the clock window of the Musee d’Orsay.
“When I think about ‘Alternative Viewpoints,’ I think about perspective and how to give a different perspective to something, which is something you always look for in photography,” said Gattis, president of the Huntsville Photographic Society. “I do a lot of flower photography and sometimes I’ll shoot that flower 80 or 90 times from different perspectives.”
Along with the black-and-white “Timed Show” photograph, the exhibit features color photographs by Gattis of the underside of a pier at St. Augustine Beach, a calla lily lit by a flashlight and a Mandevilla flower.
“I love black-and-white and color. Some subjects lend themselves more to monochrome than to color. It’s the nature of the art. Something that has a lot of shapes, interesting shadows and texture, color may not have much to do with that image. If the color is part of the art, you want to keep it in color. I really enjoy both and there is a challenge in each,” Gattis said.
Photographer and University of Alabama in Huntsville associate professor Jose Betancourt, who the Carnegie featured in a solo show in January, juried the exhibit.
The Carnegie will host an artist reception on Friday from 6-7:30 p.m. Admission is free for members and $5 for guests.
Along with Gattis, Leverett, Wolfe, Shriver and Gathany, photographers selected for the exhibit are Barbara Staggs, Christopher Baker, Dave Edens, C.T. Chi, Charles Leverett, Ed Townsend, Susan Chi, Sam Tumminello, G. Allen Gary, Olin Perry Norton, Julia W. Gary, Diana Lyn Davidson, Tom Bryant, Richard Bumgardner, Curt Haskell, Martha Teal, Carol Eidson, Danny Pugh and Wayne Cummins.
The exhibit will remain on display through Sept. 18. The Carnegie, 207 Church St. N.E., is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Admission is free with donations accepted.
Other local exhibits on display include “Hidden Spaces: People & Places of Northwest Alabama” and Helen Keller Art Show of Alabama at the Alabama Center for the Arts on Second Avenue Northeast in Decatur.
“Hidden Spaces” highlights the history and heritage of Old Town, the Northwest Decatur neighborhood where, up to the mid-20th century, Black-owned businesses, from clothing stores, meat markets and barber shops to movie theaters, funeral homes and medical offices, lined the streets. The exhibit will remain on display through Aug. 31.
The 31-piece Helen Keller Art Show of Alabama exhibit showcases works of art created by students who live with visual impairments. The exhibit will remain on display through Sept. 15. The Alabama Center for the Arts is open 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday to Thursday, and 8 a.m.-noon, Friday. Admission is free.
At the Huntsville Museum of Art, Recent Acquisitions featuring a mixed media piece by Michael Baggarly, a watercolor by Dean Mitchell and an etching by Pablo Picasso will be on display through Oct. 31. “We the People: Portraits of Veterans in America” by Mary Whyte, which includes 50 watercolor portraits of American veterans, will remain on display through Sept. 26. “Encounters: Greely Myatt,” on display through Aug. 29, features whimsical sculptures and installations made from discarded and found objects by Mississippi-born artist Myatt.
