Photography in the spotlight at St. Tammany Art Association

Nola.com: Photography in the spotlight at St. Tammany Art Association
Many say that technologies, including the digital camera, provide the perfect medium for the time in which we live. The camera may be the most ubiquitous. Not only do most of us record the world with our cameras, but we constantly experience a huge number of images coming our way over the Internet, in print, and on television. All copy work which documents other mediums is accomplished by use of photography, and every image can be manipulated in some way by the novice.

There was a time when the function of photography outweighed its creative use in the mind of the average person. But then, as Bob Dylan reminded us, “Times have changed.”

Our concept of what constitutes art that is meaningful to us is more inclusive than ever. Experienced jurors have a broad knowledge base in all mediums, including photography, and one may expect to find a fair number of photographs on display with the more traditional mediums, a reflection of the significant role photography has assumed in contemporary art.

The 46th Juried Artists Exhibition, an annual national competitive show hosted by the St. Tammany Art Association, would certainly provide a strong case for such a statement if we examine a number of photographs included in Summer Show 2011.

Of the 27 works in all mediums on display, seven are photographs and four of the photographers live in St. Tammany Parish: Andrew Boyd, Covington; Charles E. Leche and Izzy Percy, Mandeville; and William Schuette, Folsom.

“Fourth Street Pier,” an archival pigment print by Andrew Boyd, captures a sense of place that transcends documentation. Boyd’s image is part of an ongoing series. He creates expansive space by selecting a minimum of visual elements and contrasts the geometric shape of the pier in the foreground, directing the eye to the organic atmospheric presence of the tree line in the distance.

The sharp focus of the pier and the projection into the water is action contained. Boyd implies a human presence, perhaps, that of the viewer as our eye follows the direction laid out for us. We feel what it is like to be at the end of the pier, the sharp edge touching the soft reflection of trees in water. Here is a fine example of photographer as artist.

Charles E. Leche’s photograph, “Moonwalk Moments,” actually includes the human figure. A mood of solitude is implied not only by the solo form seated on the bench but in the spacing of the formal elements of verticals and horizontals present in the street lamps, bench, and barriers. Leche uses light, both atmospheric and subdued in forming a visual triangle between the radiant light in the distance and the enclosed light in the two lamps.

Folsom photographer William Schuette introduces the viewer to strong contrasts in composition and texture with ‘Truckin.’

Schuette places the flat hood front of the truck against the left side of the picture plane and compresses the space between the windshield of the cab and the intricacies of the grill.

The grass in the foreground, the sliver of light in the middle ground, and the tree line in the background create a feeling of desertion, suggesting that nature possesses the ability to reclaim what humans have manufactured.

The sky appears ominous and though it foreshadows a sense of abandonment, it also pulls the eye of the viewer from light to dark, from the bottom of the image to the top. It is perhaps a scene beyond human control, in the hands of powers greater than our own. Schuette takes us a step further in printing on aluminum, a nontraditional industrial surface that lends itself to his theme.

Visit the St. Tammany Art Association to experience these works of art in person and spend some time with Summer Show 2011. The opening reception will be on July 9, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Art House at 320 North Columbia St.

The exhibition will remain in the gallery through Aug. 13.