Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
A photograph by John Howard hangs in the Aegis Gallery. Titled 'The Sentinal,' it shows the remains of a tree that had grown through rock before it died.
Shutterbugs delight in new Aegis exhibit
By Shari Kaplan
Among Aegis Gallery's more than two dozen member artists are four prolific photographers. Usually seen exhibiting alongside their compeers, the quartet--Saratogans Mel and Ronnie Rabedeau, Los Gatan Nancy Jo Lopp and John Howard of Sunnyvale--have the front room of the Big Basin Way gallery all to themselves as February's featured artists.
The Rabedeaus--both members of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Camera Club and the Photographic Society of America--take, develop, print and matte black-and-white and color photographs. The couple travel throughout the United States and the world, capturing images that draw out the beauty and uniqueness of both nature--and man-made scenes.
The former can be seen in Mel's Farm Amid Rolling Hills and Ronnie's Poppy Field, Provence, France. Mel's pastoral portrait of cows grazing in a lush valley, with farm buildings nestled in the distance resembles a typical European countryside, but it, in fact, is the hills east of Monterey Bay. Conversely, Ronnie's meadow of tall grasses and fiery poppies, interrupted by a lone gnarled tree, looks quite Californian--perhaps of the wine country or the Central Coast. Only the title gives away its true location.
Lopp again creates one-of-a-kind works of art, using the Polaroid emulsion transfer process she has perfected, but her subject matter is very different from her usual flowers, trees and angels. This time, she's using the process on photos produced from a handful of family and travel slides she and her father took in the 1950s. Below each print is a caption, written by Lopp, that reveals anecdotes or sentimental thoughts associated with each scene.
Appropriately, the series title is "A Daughter's Memories." Among these memories are Patience, an endearing scene of Mike, the family's old golden retriever, serving as a kid-sized "chair" during a picnic; The Catch, in which Lopp's father poses with his pride and joy--fish he freshly caught; and State Barbershop, a landmark store in downtown Minneapolis that Lopp's father took over when his own father died.
When not creating her delicate emulsion transfers, the Santa Cruz Mountain resident has another very different hobby--she grows, cuts, dries and arranges her own lavender bouquets, sachets and other fragrant items.
Howard's artist statement at the gallery hints that his share of the exhibit comprises one example of his current work and a handful of photographs he's made over the past 25 years. It would appear that Trees, La Cueva, N.M., is probably his newest piece.
Unlike his other color and black-and-white photos, whose sharp, distinct qualities is reminiscent of Ansel Adams, Trees looks as if it were shot through the rippled surface of a pond, the blur of heat waves or the distortion of privacy glass. It's an unusual and attractive approach to a common outdoor topic.
Among his other photos, The Sentinel is the most impressive in size and subject matter. The weather-beaten remains of an ancient tree jut from a rocky outcropping overlooking Yosemite Valley. In the bottom right of the photo, Half Dome looks on in all its majesty. The Sentinel is also in keeping with what Howard describes as his attraction to portraying nature, nostalgia and things that have withstood the passage of time.
An artists' reception, with refreshments, takes place on Feb. 9, from 6 to 8 p.m. Lopp will also demonstrate her Polaroid emulsion transfer process during the reception. The public is invited. Aegis Gallery is at 14531 Big Basin Way; hours are Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, call 408.867.0171, or visit www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8678/ on the Internet.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
