Micro/Macro: Views of Earth by Marilyn Bridges and Jeannette Klute
Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Gallery
September 2, 2017 - March 11, 2018
Too often when we walk through galleries, we forget the amount of study it takes to be able to create the objects we are looking at. Art is indeed a lifelong learning pursuit, and exhibitions like this one help to highlight how artists conduct research. — Anderson Turner, "Two Photographers Change Our Views of the World," Akron Beacon Journal
Marilyn Bridges and Jeannette Klute both chose Earth’s natural and human-touched terrain as their subject matter. Micro/Macro illustrates how photographs of the Earth on both an intimate and aerial scale can be disorienting as well as familiar, and the inherent compositional parallels between the work of two very different artists. Bridges photographs sites around the world that show signs of past or present human activities. Looking down from the open door of a small plane flying at an altitude between 300 and 1000 feet, her aerial photographs record a visual experience that is neither like standing on the ground, nor looking out the window of a commercial jet. Her black and white images flatten Earth’s terrain into patterns of light, dark and texture. Exact scale and orientation are not clear except through detailed examination. Klute is known for her contributions to the technical development and expressive value of color photography in the mid-1900s, when few artistic photographers used color processes. She was hired by Eastman Kodak in 1939, one of few women in the field at the time, and by 1945 was head of the visual research studio in the company’s color technology division. Klute tested a variety of subjects and environments in her research and art, often turning to nature as a source of myriad colors and textures. Her photographs of tide pools emphasize the colors and patterns in these micro environments, with overall compositions that decline to privilege particular objects but rather aim to translate the fascination and wonder she felt towards shore life. The photographs featured in Micro/Macro: Views of Earth by Marilyn Bridges and Jeannette Klute come from the collection of the Akron Art Museum. This exhibition is organized by the Akron Art Museum and is supported by the Ohio Arts Council.
Related Links:
[ Anderson Turner, "Art Review: Two Photographers Change Our View of the World," Akron Beacon Journal ]
Marilyn Bridges and Jeannette Klute both chose Earth’s natural and human-touched terrain as their subject matter. Micro/Macro illustrates how photographs of the Earth on both an intimate and aerial scale can be disorienting as well as familiar, and the inherent compositional parallels between the work of two very different artists. Bridges photographs sites around the world that show signs of past or present human activities. Looking down from the open door of a small plane flying at an altitude between 300 and 1000 feet, her aerial photographs record a visual experience that is neither like standing on the ground, nor looking out the window of a commercial jet. Her black and white images flatten Earth’s terrain into patterns of light, dark and texture. Exact scale and orientation are not clear except through detailed examination. Klute is known for her contributions to the technical development and expressive value of color photography in the mid-1900s, when few artistic photographers used color processes. She was hired by Eastman Kodak in 1939, one of few women in the field at the time, and by 1945 was head of the visual research studio in the company’s color technology division. Klute tested a variety of subjects and environments in her research and art, often turning to nature as a source of myriad colors and textures. Her photographs of tide pools emphasize the colors and patterns in these micro environments, with overall compositions that decline to privilege particular objects but rather aim to translate the fascination and wonder she felt towards shore life. The photographs featured in Micro/Macro: Views of Earth by Marilyn Bridges and Jeannette Klute come from the collection of the Akron Art Museum. This exhibition is organized by the Akron Art Museum and is supported by the Ohio Arts Council.
Related Links:
[ Anderson Turner, "Art Review: Two Photographers Change Our View of the World," Akron Beacon Journal ]