The third annual “For the Love of Athens County” exhibit is ARTS/West’s first show of the year.
Photographers will show their love for the rolling hills and brick-lined streets of Athens County through photos at an ARTS/West exhibit during the month of February.
The third annual “For the Love of Athens County” gallery offers another installment to a “constantly changing” exhibit, Kelly Lawrence, the curator of the gallery, said.
Opening Thursday at 6:30 p.m., the exhibit will be on display through Feb. 26. The gallery will be open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Nineteen local photographers will feature more than 70 pictures of people, places and objects that depict what they love about Athens. Some show familiar Athens locations, while others share more personal and obscure moments.
“(The photos) are hard to describe,” Lawrence said. “(The photos) are everywhere.”
After learning about the event through Facebook, Tim Creamer, submitted some of his work. Three of his photographs are featured in the show.
One of his photos shows an oak tree near his home that he continually has been capturing since he moved to Athens eight years ago.
“I fell in love with the area, the beauty of it,” Creamer said.
The photos in the exhibit were all taken with smartphones, as opposed to cameras.
Lawrence said that was done to make the art more casual. She added that it also breaks down the barriers of the art form, because expensive or intimidating camera equipment isn’t necessary.
Creamer likes that the exhibit used photographs taken with phones, because it creates spontaneity.
“The best camera you have is the one you have with you,” he said.
Margaret Gingerich, a potter and paper maker in Nelsonville, has three photos featured in the exhibit.
Though photography isn’t her typical medium, she used it to capture the materials she more frequently uses.
Two of the photos show her creations. One is an image of paper she made at Paper Circle, where she works as a studio artist. The other photo is of the colors of her spun wool.
“I don’t know if it is the artist in me. I record things all the time — color, images, shapes,” Gingerich said.
She said she often revisits those images to be used in her pottery or other art.
“It is really a fantastic tool,” she said.
After going to college in Athens, working there and creating art there, she said she could be considered a “townie.”
“(Athens is) a very, very special place,” she said. “I’ve never met a place like it.”
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Most of the photographers are locals, some with no experience in the medium — the youngest of who is 12 years old.
The exhibit gives community members a chance to come together, Lawrence said. It is the exhibit’s biggest year yet, so she said she expects even more attendees, with families and friends coming out to show their support.
“I think people will enjoy it … to see Athens through other people’s eyes,” she said.
@graceoliviahill
