Sideway Gallery

post #348
         Last week's post had words about my visit to Hiroshima almost 50 years ago. I expressed my total conviction that nuclear weapons should never, ever be used again. And the very next day I read about some loose talk and threats by the person elected to be an American president. He seemed to be shooting off his mouth without really knowing what he was talking about. By the weekend he was doing the same thing about a far right rally in Virginia that turned to actual violence. Not at all an encouraging week. I write this for the folks in other countries who regularly read my posts; please know more and more of us will continue to persist in calling these actions out for what they are -- in addition to being obviously dangerous. The dream of democracy includes being determined.

       I do want to share some photos of my gallery -- called Sideway Gallery because I'm located on Sideway Road. I'm away from there at the moment, without the cord to plug in my eight year old laptop, so I'll go directly to photos.  That way at least there's something to show today! I'm fortunate to be able to keep my gallery and still have room to live there as well. At least I am going to give it a try!

the view of my place along Sideway Road, on the left driving in

the mail box for Sideway Gallery

gallery atmospheric, from across Sideway Road

atmospheric, looking down the driveway from the deck

inside the front door, the living room half of the front room, and some of the kitchen

part of the gallery half of the front room

my photos on the "living room" wall

 News on the ridge:

a colt's first day, before the barn is ready, but all seems well

peace on the pond

More details next week, with my sincere thanks to all who work for peace in our world.

an artist's statement as part of my photo class

post #337
        My semester long photo class ended two weeks ago. It was just the class I wanted to take, since I wanted to learn how to use a printer AND how to explain better the things that I do that I have known how to do but I couldn't explain it to anyone because I didn't know have the vocabulary to do that.  I experienced a great deal of frustration in what I thought would be easy, like registering and figuring out what was required, but in the end I survived and thrived. 
       Since I showed photos last week of local students and artists speaking up about the value of art, I thought it only fair that I share some of my own passion and appreciation for art.  One way to do this would be to share the Artist's Statement that I had to prepare for my final "exam" in the class -- a portfolio containing 10 prints I had done from start to finish, and including in addition an Artist's Statement AND a self-assessment AND an inventory of the prints with some technical information about each one.  I had never taken a studio art class in college or since college. I hadn't even taken a quiz in forever! I had a lot of catching up to do on multiple aspects of this class. 
      Anyway, I have pretty much already this spring shared many photos from the class assignments, and now here's the Artist's Statement (i.e. my version of such a common part of the process.) I will end with two photos of my Gallery from the outside. I hope to reopen it after my move there is finished, in about 3 weeks.  

Artist Statement, by Ann W. Olson, May 2017, for ART 399

            I see myself as a street photographer without any streets. Instead I mainly do photos in the region where I live, which is in general northeastern Kentucky and specifically Elliott County. I came here first as a VISTA Volunteer with the Appalachian Volunteers in the early days of the War on Poverty, and I returned here in 1974. For 40 years I lived on 100 acres across the road from where I lived as a VISTA. (For years I’d write that I lived ten miles from white bread and seventeen from whole wheat.) Now, however, that’s where my daughter and her family live, and I have moved 4 miles closer to Morehead, to the house I have been using as my Gallery. I tell all this because it definitely informs my work. I love where I live.

            I never went through a black and white photography stage. I got headaches from strong smells, like in a darkroom, and anyway we didn’t have city water for years, which meant not enough of it to consider setting up a darkroom. I got serious about photography when I did two books with George Ella Lyon, recently Kentucky’s poet laureate. Luckily I needed to do slides then and work in color, which I prefer anyway. Digital was in its early days. I’m a better photographer now than I was then, in the late 1990s, but I held my own. I learn best by doing, and it was pretty intense. I would be covered in sweat alone in the woods with my tripod looking for the items I needed to show in the book, exclaiming to the birds how amazing it was that someone was paying me an advance to do this wonderful work. And I continue to take photos here, of my neighbors, their special funerals, the barns, hay, tobacco, spring flowers, cattle and cats, and always the changes that happen over the years in this rural place. Quite simply, my art is about seeing, noticing, and caring for this place and the people I feel such a strong connection to. I don’t want to show this area as it is not. (I grew up in Connecticut and New Hampshire. I have two cousins who are artists, but it took me forever to realize that was possible for me as well. My college major was French, for goodness sake, even though my favorite class ever in my whole life was the history of art, in college. It was thrilling. (That doesn’t mean I haven’t gotten a lot out of this class as well! My first ever studio art class!)

            I have no clear idea whether [the following photos in this portfolio] are “good” or “bad.” I chose them because they made me happy and I know they spoke to me when I was making them. I’m pretty straight forward, and they are as well. I don’t usually have anyone else living nearby who does the kind of work I do -- some are probably off making more money than I do – so I’ve appreciated sharing my photography fascination with my classmates. In the meantime, I am working on a picture book about place with George Ella, to go with our Counting on the Woods, but it’s a slow go. I once had another children’s book accepted, that I had written, using photos from a moving train, but the editor who accepted the book didn’t think photos would work for a fiction story! So, since I didn’t agree at all with that, I turned them down. Doing that was certainly not my best decision ever although it was an honest one.

            I think my photography should be part of how I live, what I think about -- a manifestation of all that I hold important in my life. I joke that I am like a goose in that I wake up every morning in a brand new world, and photography gives me an excuse to be seeing it all more thoroughly. Maybe I just like to be living more than one life at the same time -- going for layers of life instead of a single plane. I may be a late bloomer with my art, but it’s a joy not to be missing it altogether.

 Two views of Sideway Gallery:

foliage sharing

post #254
       Fall seems to peak around here for 4 or 5 days every year, and NOW IS WHEN, for 2015.  I love the glory of it all.  For all blog visitors who live where there is not much fall, I hope today's post will give a taste of this place at this time. I might link the post from a year ago, as well, and compare the time and the type to this year.  

FIRST, over at my Gallery, just a flavor, to get us started:

This building is not my gallery. It used to be a horse barn, as seen from my gallery!

 SECOND, near the house:

looking toward the house, with my back to the next photo

our nearest neighbors, on the "main" road

the path to the pond, with the barn behind me

 

the barn roof

THIRD, along the ridge road, from a single pull-the-car-over-to-the-side point:

 

 

Well, I will have to do a second post next Sunday instead of more today. This gets to be a bit much all at one time. The season presents the special challenge of keeping one's photography gear in good shape - batteries charged, camera well oiled (so to speak), etc. -  and the photographer well hydrated and well fed, in order to keep up with the beauty.  One must also, if at all possible, leave extra time during any drive to anywhere, and bring the camera if that is how you see things better, which is what happens to me.  Enjoy!

our front steps as seen yesterday from inside the house

 

three popular posts during the third year of my blog, and regional seasonal art venues

post #217
        My weekly posts have readers from all over the world, but the most come from the USA.  As I start on my 5th year of doing these posts -- every Sunday -- I have been sharing a few of the ones most viewed during each of the first four years.  Today is for year three, starting with post #122 on 1/27/13, titled "with a wood stove in our kitchen."
       Appropriately for our unusually early cold weather it shows our wood cook stove in action.  Indeed the stove is providing heat here today.  I don't know if visitors to this post were researching wood cook stoves and my post came up or whether they were experiencing cold weather and needed to think warm and toasty!

ash holder drawer, on the bottom

       That post also includes some winter photos by photographer John Flavell, so perhaps that could also be the reason for the high viewing numbers of this post....

        A second popular post is #148, from 7/28/13, titled "the country way of making room for the stuff of photography -- Sideway Gallery."  I am so fortunate to be able to have had this space for my work for almost four years now.  Living in the country makes this place both possible and necessary.

        One of the most popular posts ever is #114, on 12/2/12, featuring more of the photos Chris Garris had recently made in Indonesia.  Three of them are below.  The official title is "photos of Indonesia, part 3."  It also has photos by Carolyn Franzini, from her visit to Borobudur.  Thanks again to you both.
        

Ashley and Carolyn at Borobudur

        Before signing off, I want to share information about an art venue that has reopened this month -- in the Kentucky Market Pavillion along Interstate 64 near Owingsville, KY, off exit #123.   The displays look great, and they have great food.  The best info is on their Facebook page -- basically they are open daily 10 - 6, and noon - 5 on Sunday.  I have some notecards there, a selection of 12 x 16 matted prints, and copies of Counting on the Woods, signed by both myself and George Ella Lyon.  (Phone: 606/674-6688)
       I also sell photo note cards at CoffeeTree Books and at the Kentucky Folk Art Center, both in Morehead, KY, and at the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, KY, right off exit 77 on Intersate 75.
        Enjoy!!  And stay warm!!  Buy local, wherever you are and whenever you can!!

a country way to make room for the stuff of photography -- Sideway Gallery

post #148
      Since I am still away from home this day, I am dedicating this post to my gallery in rural northeastern Kentucky as a way to remind myself that I do have a place for my work -- all because three years ago it was the only way I could find to have room for my photo stuff!  It is located 4 miles from our home.  It is very much part of the photo life I have been sharing on these posts over the last few weeks.

      Here is the inside of the gallery, first floor.  What was once someone's living room is now my display area.  I show my cards and some of my framed photos.  I don't keep regular hours, so It has become mostly a work space where I can see what I have.

     The kitchen area is painted to match the rooster photo on the left.  I took the doors off the counter cabinets to make room for color and design.  If I can't see something, I often forget I have it.  So far I get by with a hot plate and a fridge, with no oven or stove.

      Next is the outside view.  Since this building is distinctive for this region, it is easier to locate the place by knowing what it looks like!

       This spring, the wisteria that was already established turned out particularly showy.  I grew up with some wisteria, in Connecticut, so it has been fun to have this amazing plant just appear on my deck.

      There is also a small pond, .  Please note it is NOT SAFE for swimming.  The first view is a winter shot, and the second is from summer, with the redwing blackbird population enjoying the collection of bullrushes here and there. 

    
      I'm now including a few of the early shots, showing my helpers -- my husband, Frank, my neighbor and friend Sandy (whose garden I have shared in post #146), and three loyal painting friends - Carolyn, Molly and Ann.  I had hurt my arm that spring in a fall, and I actually did hardly any painting.  THANKS AGAIN TO ALL OF YOU!!

I particularly like this photo of Sandy's granddaughter MaKayla, who was checking out some of the books I wanted to find homes for.

evidence of another visitor!

evidence of another season!

This photo was taken by a friend visiting from France, three years ago.  Today I happen to be wearing that very same fleece jacket.... 

.

    Time constraints had helped me think of a new way to do a post in parts.  Photos first, then, today, Tuesday, THE WORDS THAT GO WITH THE PHOTOS!  I hope this has not been confusing.  This last photo is an early one, featuring the gallery and my shadow.  I have felt so grateful to have this place for my work.  If you ever want to come by, though, give me a call ahead of time, so I can be sure to be there.  606 - 738 - 6119.  I have copies of Counting on the Woods, photo note cards and some framed photos and some other books for sale and show.  I have a bunch of photo magazines to give away. We have countywide fiber optic wi-fi -- though cell phones don't yet reach everywhere yet, including Sideway Gallery!  ( I love our hills even so. )  This has been the post for Views from Sideway on this weekly blog, which is called Sideway Views....