Residents and students are used to posting photos of their beloved Athens County to Facebook and Instagram, but they aren’t used to seeing those photos displayed on a gallery wall.
ARTS/West, 132 W. State St., will host a photography exhibit, “For The Love of Athens County,” from Feb. 5 through March 3.
All the photos featured are submitted by Athens residents, and all are taken on smartphones.
ARTS/West was inspired to do this exhibit by the Dairy Barn, 8000 Dairy Lane, which did a similar smartphone exhibition for its 100th anniversary.
“Unlike (the Dairy Barn’s), ours is not a competition,” Kelly Lawrence, events coordinator and curator of the gallery space at ARTS/West, said. “We will highlight everybody who sent in a photograph.”
While only 18 pieces will hang in the gallery, all 49 submissions will be shown through a slideshow presentation at the opening event on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m.
13 Athens residents sent in the photographs of their favorite spots in Athens, Lawrence said. Photos include all different subjects, including people, places and things around the town. Two of the photographers who submitted work are children.
Jennifer L’Heureux will see her photograph, “Neighbor’s Apples,” which she snapped after picking apples at her neighbor’s house, displayed in the exhibit.
“I discovered these apples growing in abundance off of a neighbor’s tree while attending their yard sale,” L’Heureux said. “They were so good and we had so much fun, we went back for more.”
The pieces picked to be shown were judged by four Athens residents: Paul Wiehl, mayor of Athens, James Shirey, an Ohio University professor in mathematics, Bob Winters, chair of the Athens Municipal Arts Commission and Trisha Lachman, a local music teacher.
“There were nature shots, people shots — it was very interesting,” Winters said. “There was such a wide variety.”
Limited funding was needed for the exhibit, which made it easier for ARTS/West to coordinate. Online submissions were free to artists, although they were expected to frame their own works.
“We’re hoping to do this every year from now on,” Lawrence said. “We want it to become a community art show.”
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