LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Glorious, Radiant and Larger than Life |
The Edward Carter Gallery in Lewes, announces the opening of its first fall photography exhibition: Amy Lamb, "The Art of the Flower." The public is invited to the opening reception for Amy Lamb on Saturday, September 2, from 4-7 p.m. Amy Lamb understands that the camera can see differently than the human eye. Most of us look at a flower and view it in its entirety. Lamb focuses her camera so closely that perhaps only a swirl of petal and a contrasting tip of stamen are seen. A single hydrangea blossom, the size of a pea, is singled out from its hundreds of mates, celebrating the uniqueness of this tiny posy. Lamb admires her carefully selected, perfect specimens from every angleup, down, sideways and behind. Her lens cleanly dissects her subjects, producing images that float towards abstraction but remain tethered to terra firma by the intensely saturated natural colors and our ultimate recognition of subject. Simply put, Lamb makes luscious photographs. It is hard to tear your eyes away because each picture summons your attention, minute inspection and deep enjoyment. Lamb knows her subjectflorawell. She earned a PhD in Biology from the University of Michigan and continued with post-graduate work at the National Institutes of Health. Lamb looks at the living world with a child's sense of wonder, never becoming bored, always with a touch of surprise. "I'm always amazed at how beautiful nature is. With flowers, you start with a seed and all this structure and color is encoded in that seed and it blossoms into this incredibly beautiful plant. It's endlessly fascinating to me." She learned the fundamentals of photography at a summer workshop taught at the Smithsonian in 1992. Adding studies at The Corcoran School of Art and Montgomery College, by 1995 she felt fluent enough in the craft to become a full-time artist. Her inquiring scientific mind brought her to the latest technology in making color photographsthe Iris print, computer-driven and digital. "I love the Iris printing because of the textures you can get from the papers and from the spray of ink. What that does to my art is bring out the softness and gentleness of nature. I compose the image in the camera. I don't manipulate the image using the computer. I work very hard to find perfect specimens to shoot. Once in a while there will be a blemish and I'll use the computer to clean that up." "One of the things I do when I make a very large print is create an environment where you're looking basically into the soul or eyes of the plant or fruit. You're face to face with another totally different organism, looking at it as you've never looked at it before." The Washington Post declared, "Countless artists churn out hackneyed depictions of the overflowing vase or the solitary blossom, but in this ocean of mediocrity, some, such as photographer Amy Lamb, create fresh captivating images of petals and perianths, making sense of the mania." The Edward Carter Gallery is located at The Inn at Canal Square, 122 Market Street in Lewes, 302-644-7513. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 12, Aug. 25, 2000. |