Photography Atelier

Women Speak on the Election

Women’s rights were central to the 2024 election. As a woman I turned to art as a way to connect with other women in particular, across the entire political spectrum. I wanted to understand what they were thinking and feeling in these polarized times.

I worked in two media – photography and the written word – both photographing and interviewing each woman. I wanted their words to convey their thoughts and feelings, and the intimacy of the photographic portraits to reveal what words could not. No woman is identified with any specific quote, in order to dispel stereotypes. My own preconceptions were quickly shattered as I heard the layered and sometimes surprisingly unstereotypical ideas and thoughts that were shared with me.

The intention of this project is to bear witness to the common humanity of women from every political perspective. To offer the hope that we can reach for each with both empathy and accountability, even in the most extreme environment. In doing this work I learned that a deeper connection and understanding is possible for me and that every woman I spoke to was thirsting for the same thing, despite our differences. Perhaps by having one conversation at a time, one connection at a time, “bird by bird”, we can be healed.

Uncertain Designs

Tension — between truth and fiction, clarity and opacity, assurance and uncertainty — drives my image-making. I believe questions fuel creativity, and my work embraces ambiguity as a space for exploration rather than resolution.

Uncertain Designs consists of a series of discrete images conceived as disconnected tableaux, stage sets seen just after the curtain rises and lights go up, but before actors appear or speak. In this hushed, liminal space anticipation builds, questions flourish, and narratives, still undefined, can go anywhere. These images combine multiple photographic and discrete AI-generated elements, digitally collaged and manipulated as guided by intuition, to create layered, open-ended narratives that resist fixed meaning, challenge certainty, and encourage curiosity. There are no answers here; I am, after all, only the stagehand. You are the director, the playwright. Take these sets where you will.

As we all increasingly are bombarded by lies masquerading as truths, as authoritarian authors disparage inquiry and promote absurdities as wisdom, our ability, willingness to question, to create unbounded by dogma, is more important than ever. By blending the “real” with the constructed, I invite viewers, both here and most especially once outside the gallery, to question, to engage with the unknown, to embrace uncertainty, and to find meaning not as delivered but on their own terms.

The Allure of Darkness

Stacey Ewald

From childhood, we are taught to fear the dark, a primal instinct reinforced by ghost stories and the unknown. However, I have always found myself drawn to its enigmatic embrace. I am captivated by the ‘darkside’ in art, literature, and film. Even now, amidst the often difficult realities reflected in news and media, I remain pulled toward its undeniable power. Darkness is not just a landscape of danger and uncertainty, but a place of silence and contemplation, of romance and intimacy, and of unexpected beauty where the familiar fades and the unexpected blooms. It is where our instinctive fear of the unknown clashes with a deeper curiosity. We are wired to seek clarity and predictability, yet darkness offers something else: a fertile space for imagination and emotional depth.

My work explores the lyrical power of darkness not to obscure it but to transform. The images are reimagined through shadow and absence. Within this darkness, perception slows, allowing for a closer look and a new kind of engagement, one that reveals hidden truths, sparks mystery, and offers the possibility of finding unexpected warmth in its resonant atmosphere. This is an invitation to embrace the allure of darkness, to challenge the ingrained fear and to discover what lies within the velvety rich shadows.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered emotions are not thoughts but physical sensations-chemical responses released in the brain. For years, I carried stories of joy, injustice, shame, and frustration, believing them to be my emotions. In reality, those stories were simply thoughts I had attached to fleeting feelings.

Science has shown that, with the exception of grief, emotions pass through the body in just ninety seconds-just a minute and a half. Yet, instead of allowing emotions to move through me by simply naming them and letting them go, I held onto them, replaying narratives that kept them alive far longer than necessary.

This realization has profoundly shaped my artistic practice. Through my work, This Too Shall Pass, I explore the transient nature of emotion and the tension between momentary feeling and prolonged thought. Using images applied to mirrors, I create pieces that serve as meditations on what it means to experience, release, and transform emotional energy. I broke the plate and this feeling is embarrassment. My things were stolen and this feeling is anger. My mother is sick and this feeling is sadness. The mirror reflects the viewer back to themselves, making them an active participant in the work.

An accompanying clock further reinforces this concept, offering an immersive experience of the ninety-second arc in which emotions naturally rise and fall. This added element encourages visitors to confront their own emotional attachments and consider how they engage with their feelings-whether they let them pass or prolong them through thought. By embracing this perspective, my work becomes a visual and temporal representation of emotion’s impermanence. It encourages self-reflection, awareness, and perhaps even liberation from the stories we tell ourselves.

Julia Buteux

“Graceful Moments” is a collection of photographic images that celebrate the serene elegance of nature, inspired by my transformative trip to Japan. The country’s culture and art, particularly it’s simplicity, deeply influenced my approach to photography. In an isolated portrait-style, I often focus on Japanese objects – baskets, screens, and Japanese paper – capturing their harmony with nature. The use of intentional negative space and an unusual dip in composition, create a sense of stillness, balance, and quiet reflection. An abstract angle changes one’s perspective allowing a glimpse of the intrigue outside the space. This intimately private peek into my personal world creates a wonder of moments in time.

The project images are printed on a luminous vellum that compliments the hand gilded metal substrate creating a unique work of art. Each piece is then cold waxed and hand buffed to bring out the translucent beauty of the gold leaf. The process of photographing, whether inside or outside, is deeply meditative for me, inviting mindfulness and an appreciation for the delicate importance of nature. It also draws parallels from transient beauty found in nature, much like the fleeting moments captured in Japanese Haiku poetry.

 

Moments

Graceful petals fall,

With stillness in the day’s air,

Time slips through my hands.

                  ~ Georgia McGuire

Women Speak on the Election

Women’s rights were central to the 2024 election. As a woman I turned to art as a way to connect with other women in particular, across the entire political spectrum. I wanted to understand what they were thinking and feeling in these polarized times.

I worked in two media – photography and the written word – both photographing and interviewing each woman. I wanted their words to convey their thoughts and feelings, and the intimacy of the photographic portraits to reveal what words could not. No woman is identified with any specific quote, in order to dispel stereotypes. My own preconceptions were quickly shattered as I heard the layered and sometimes surprisingly unstereotypical ideas and thoughts that were shared with me.

The intention of this project is to bear witness to the common humanity of women from every political perspective. To offer the hope that we can reach for each with both empathy and accountability, even in the most extreme environment. In doing this work I learned that a deeper connection and understanding is possible for me and that every woman I spoke to was thirsting for the same thing, despite our differences.

Perhaps by having one conversation at a time, one connection at a time, “bird by bird”, we can be healed.

Uncertain Designs

Tension — between truth and fiction, clarity and opacity, assurance and uncertainty–drives my image-making. I believe questions fuel creativity, and my work embraces ambiguity as a space for exploration rather than resolution.

Uncertain Designs consists of a series of discrete images conceived as disconnected tableaux, stage sets seen just after the curtain rises and lights go up, but before actors appear or speak. In this hushed, liminal space anticipation builds, questions flourish, and narratives, still undefined, can go anywhere. These images combine multiple photographic and discrete AI-generated elements, digitally collaged and manipulated as guided by intuition, to create layered, open-ended narratives that resist fixed meaning, challenge certainty, and encourage curiosity. There are no answers here; I am, after all, only the stagehand. You are the director, the playwright. Take these sets where you will.

As we all increasingly are bombarded by lies masquerading as truths, as authoritarian authors disparage inquiry and promote absurdities as wisdom, our ability, willingness to question, to create unbounded by dogma, is more important than ever. By blending the“real”with the constructed, I invite viewers, both here and most especially once outside the gallery, to question, to engage with the unknown, to embrace uncertainty, and to find meaning not as delivered but on their own terms.

I create photographs that function like visual symphonies—images that don’t just capture moments but unfold like music over time. By translating rhythmic structures into visual form, I guide the viewer’s gaze much like a composer leads a listener through sound. Whether it’s the order of urban patterns or the vitality of natural chaos, rhythm shapes the emotional tone of my work. My goal is to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary; images that are not just seen but felt. 

Even before I press the shutter, I find myself “listening” to a scene—tuning in to its tempo, its dynamics, its emotional tone. Whether it’s the orderly cadence of urban architecture or the unpredictable pulse of nature, each image is crafted to evoke specific emotional responses. 

This cross-disciplinary perspective not only sharpens my visual intuition but also invites collaboration—where photographers and musicians can meet in shared creative space, building layered, immersive works that are full of metaphors. For me, rhythm is the connective tissue between image and feeling, sight and sound, stillness and movement—and it is through this rhythm that I find the heartbeat of my art.

A Portrait of Place

The American novelist John Steinbeck, reminds us, “You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself”.1 These words run deep, and bring me back to a very young age when the conversation at our family dinner table wasn’t about food, it was about respect; treating people with dignity and respect no matter what their station in life, what they looked like, where they came from, or where they lived. Today, at 71 years old, this powerful lesson is still the driving force of my photography.

In this body of work, I have created portraits of people’s surroundings and lives in the lesser known small rural and urban places in my home state of New Hampshire. The motivation behind this,  and all my work, is to inform, inspire, and to connect cultures and lives that help start conversations about dignity and respect.

These images, a combination of digital monochrome and black and white film, focus on the interplay of light and shadow and detail. They allow the viewer to concentrate on the subjects’ expressions and environment while enhancing an emotional connection.

In each photograph, there are signs of a calm, steady human presence-each with their own character.  The buildings serve as a tangible link to the past, offering us a sense of place and continuity, a story of quiet resolve – i.e. a century old granite church, the active brick factory buildings, and a small town hall on a country road.  Creating black and white images help transcend time,create emotional depth, and bring people directly into the present. 

All of these photographs extend the viewer an invitation into the spaces where one can easily enter and perhaps contemplate who might live here, feel their presence, and imagine their voices.  Each photograph, complete with its beauty and complexity, becomes a single thread in a much larger story.

1 From a recent public exhibit, Portland Museum of Art 2023