exhibits

“Inside Lives” goes to Blue Sky Drawers /  by John Ritchie

I’m excited to announce that my Inside Lives project was juried into the 2024 Pacific NW Drawers in the Blue Sky Gallery in Portland Oregon. I’ll have 10 full-sized matted prints available for viewing in the gallery photo drawers from April 2024 to March 2025.

The juror was Aline Smithson, an artist and educator, as well as Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Lenscratch magazine.

There will be an opening reception Thursday, April 4 from 5-9PM as part of the Portland First Thursday Art Walk. I’ll be at the reception to meet other drawers artists and talk to people, as well as visiting it with friends throughout the course of the year.

If you’re in Portland, visit Blue Sky Gallery to see their excellent photography exhibitions and to view photography from the 60 artists’ work in the Drawers - including mine!

A Raven and a Turtle Meet in Redding /  by John Ritchie

Raven’s Eye

My image “Raven’s Eye” was accepted into the West Coast Biennial: Juried Art Exhibition at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding California. It was one of 34 pieces selected for the show.

The exhibit runs from January 28th to April 30th in the Exploration Hall. There is an opening reception from 4-8pm on Friday, January 27th with an awards ceremony at 6pm. Turtle Bay Exploration Park is located at 844 Sundial Bridge Drive in Redding. Hours are 9-4 W-F, 10-4 Weekends.

“Raven’s Eye” is part of my ongoing exploration of shaping and transforming light to create photographs.

I’m happy to be included in this exhibit because I hear it’s a good show. We’ll be going to Redding for the opening reception, giving me a chance to visit photography friends in Redding, many of whom I’ve only met via Zoom.

"Inside Lives" Exhibit at LightBox Photographic /  by John Ritchie

I’m pleased to announce that my “Inside Lives” work will be exhibited at LightBox Photographic Gallery in Astoria Oregon.

The exhibit of 12 photographs will open Saturday, March 12th and close on Saturday, April 2nd. I gave an artist talk on March 12th at 2 PM where I discussed the artistic themes, creation process, and told stories about each image. I recorded the talk, which can be streamed below.

LightBox is located at 1045 Marine Drive, Astoria Oregon

(503) 468-0238.

Hours are Wed-Sat 12-5pm, or by appointment.

"Finding The Light" Biennial PhotoArts Guild Exhibit /  by John Ritchie

It’s time once again for the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild’s Biennial Members exhibit. The theme for this year’s show is “Finding The Light,” inspired by Amanda Gorman’s Presidential Inauguration poem:

When day comes we ask ourselves
where can we find light in the never-ending shade?

The exhibit runs from October 1st through the 30th at the LaSells Stewart Center on the OSU campus. It is also viewable online on the PAG website.

I have four photos in the exhibit. Check it out (in person if possible)!

"Abandoned Stuffies" in Quartets Exhibit /  by John Ritchie

I have four photographs in the “Quartets” exhibit by the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild at the Benton County Museum in Philomath.

Quartets is an exhibition of 17 portfolios of four images each, selected from 88 portfolios submitted by PAG members. The project began as a PAG online display opportunity during the Covid 19 pandemic. This is its first “real life” showing.

My photographs are a set of “Abandoned Stuffies.” Here’s what I wrote about them:

I empathize with the little stuffed animals I find as I'm wandering the streets taking photographs. I wonder what their homes must have been like and whether their humans miss them or not. Sometimes they look happy to be free but most of them probably wish for something better.

The exhibit will be on display June 4 - September 4, 2021. The Philomath Museum is open 10 - 4:30, Wednesday through Saturday. It is located at 1101 Main Street.

"Friends' Houses (I cannot visit)" and Isolation /  by John Ritchie

I can’t begin to express the shock and upheaval we all feel at the onset of the Coronavirus and subsequent societal shutdown. Like every other artist on the face of the planet, this is impacting the work I’m doing and how I do it. As someone interested in photographing the life of people, my photographs will of course be affected by the changes in those people and our society, and we’re already seeing big changes. My methods will need to adapt to new constraints such as social distancing and the difficulty of socializing with the people I’d like to photograph. New topics will present themselves, too, as the crisis spawns artistic creativity around the world.

One example of that is the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild’s “Socially Distanced Photo Excursions” project, which challenges PAG members to find ways to create photographs under the constraints of social distancing, bans on travel, and shelter in place measures. This project has resulted in hundreds of photographs and gained local press attention.

“Friends’ Houses (I cannot visit)” is a photo collection I created as part of the PAG’s Excursions project. In this collection I portray the sense of loss and isolation felt when I go by friends’ houses but cannot visit them.

Isolation In the Age of Pandemic

Although art galleries are closed world-wide, many of them are hosting limited viewing or online exhibits, and Coronavirus-inspired themes such as “Isolation” and “Social Distancing” are hot topics right now. Such is the case with LightBox Photographic’s “Isolation In the Age of Pandemic” exhibit. This is a “jury of peers” exhibit, where people submitting photos vote on which pictures are included in the show. My photograph was one of 20 images selected for the physical exhibit.

“Isolation” opened May 15 and can be viewed online. Access to the physical show in the gallery, located at 1045 Marine Drive in Astoria, will depend on the evolving status of the state’s social-distancing rules. The gallery hopes to be able to hold a reception in June or July. The exhibit runs through July 11.

Solitary Outlook

Dreaming In Color at LightBox Photographic /  by John Ritchie

I’ve long been a supporter of LightBox Photographic in Astoria and have been in several Member’s Shows, but for the first time I’ve actually been juried into a show there! And not one, but two pieces! The juror is Jody Miller, whose beautiful work you can see here: www.jodymillerphoto.com.

Jody says this about the show (full description here): “Color is a very personal issue for most of us photographers. It’s also a completely individual experience, since not one of us sees color exactly the same way as anyone else. Our perception of color informs our choices as photographers and creates our emotional language. “Dreaming in Color” is about much more than our dreams. It is an invitation to explore your own uses of color in your photography and tell us how it influences your decisions in image making. I look forward to seeing what you have to say, (in color).”

“Yard Car” is very colorful as one would hope. I love the color, texture and light of this photograph and have worked hard on the print to make it especially tasty. IMO, that doesn’t mean pushing saturation over the top. I have both a mental and technical struggle with oversaturation, a feature of many photographs these days. But I also want it to pop, so instead of relying on saturation I’ve worked on local contrast all throughout the image. I think it came out really well, but I’m biased. :)

Yard Car

“Night Geometry” really hits the mark of the exhibit prospectus: it illustrates the beauty and use of color in my personal photographic space, night photography. This is one of the best examples I’ve shot of the way multiple different colors of light cast overlapping shadows at night, and how those overlaps combine to make new forms, shapes and colors that you’d never see during daylight hours. A technical description of this photograph would be: shadows cast by (I think) three light sources as they combine under a stairway. The artistic description could be: an explosion of geometric shapes in varying shades of pastel colors. This is one of my favorite photographs and I’m delighted to be able to share it.

Night Geometry

I hope you get a chance to see the Dreaming In Color exhibit, it should be an extraordinary and beautiful show. I plan to be at the opening, maybe I’ll see you there!

Exhibit Dates: November 09, 2019 through December 10, 2019 with an opening reception Saturday, November 9th from 5-8PM

LightBox Photographic

1045 Marine Drive, Astoria Oregon

The Critical Eye /  by John Ritchie

Street Party

In 2010 I and a group of fellow PhotoArts Guild members formed an independent critique group to critique each other’s work and help improve it. We have been meeting monthly ever since and have developed a common critical language based on composition, intent, technique and artistic impact in order to strengthen each member's photography without inhibiting his or her individual creative identity. We all owe a lot of our maturation as artists to the help of this group.

The group, consisting of Rich Bergeman, Phil Coleman, Marjorie Kinch, Bill Laing, Jack Larson, John Morris, Jim Magruder, Dave McIntire (deceased), and myself will be exhibiting in the Corrine Woodman Gallery in the Corvallis Arts Center. The exhibit highlights how artists can benefit from the useful critique of their peers, even when the artistic styles are completely dissimilar.

The Critical Eye

Corrine Woodman Gallery, Corvallis Arts Center

July 2 – 27, 2019

Conversations from the CWG Thursday, July 11th, 12 noon