Recent Works by Stephen Blackwell and Rachel Deutmeyer
February 2-24, 2024
Recent Works by Stephen Blackwell and Rachel Deutmeyer
Opening reception: Friday, February 2, 5:00-9:00 PM
Gallery hours: Monday-Thursday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Friday, 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM; and Saturday, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Erosion and Decay by Stephen Blackwell
The photographs in this show were all shot on film with 35mm or medium-format cameras and explore what one can find at two opposed intersections of time, energy, and matter on Planet Earth, mostly gathered near the two ends of the Appalachian Mountain chain.
I’ve long been interested in the decay of plant material, and in everything to do with trees. The “Decay” images in this series are from various leaf-skeletons, found around East Tennessee and perhaps western North Carolina. As skeletons, the leaves are at a point of near-total decay… I became excited by their difference from living leaves—the way they push towards three-dimensionality, the way we can see through them, the way piles of them capture and tangle with first and last rays of sunlight—the same light they previously used for photosynthesis, and the light that produces the silver-emulsion image. Similarly, rock formations at Acadia National Park—the “Erosion” images—represent a frozen moment of nature-in-change; nature is changing so slowly we can barely notice it even across weeks or many months, though as the sunlight hits the rocks at different angles or diffusions, these changes can occur faster than a leaf’s decay. The ages-long process of erosion is what gives us the forms we see in cliffs and boulders and rock-tumbles. I try to explore the way they come to rest in fascinating patterns. The Appalachian Mountains were once massive and then became completely flat and then they rose again. From the perspective of Earth’s lifespan, there is little difference between the decay of leaves and the erosion of rocky shores. They can both make us wonder.
Stephen Blackwell began working in film photography as a child. He is drawn to the discovery of beauty in unexpected places and forms, especially in decay, and he enjoys exploring chance patterns and hidden narratives in the spaces of everyday life (often through street photography). His work has appeared in Knoxville Photo, Arts in the Airport, in an East Tennessee Historical Society exhibition, and in a group show at the Knoxville Community Darkroom’s gallery. A literature professor by day, he also volunteers at the Community Darkroom.
Everything Fades by Rachel Deutmeyer
Rachel Deutmeyer’s series of photographs reflects landscape and life seasons in constant change. Images include quiet details and empty spaces alongside multiple exposures of the exteriors of houses across the Midwest.
I am interested in reflections on one’s childhood memories through adult eyes. At the start of this photography project my instinct was to explore the small Midwest town that was my childhood home. Without access to the house, I found the surrounding town and landscape felt foreign. Inspired by Nancy Rexroth’s photography project Iowa, I let impulses of memory guide me… Change is often slow and unnoticed until it suddenly feels permanent and inevitable. Reflecting on this idea, I found beauty in things that were changing, as we all are changing. Everything Fades presents a poetic narrative that references a bygone time in my own life. I enjoy how photographs abstractly tied to my own childhood memories may also address collective ideas of change, home, and loss.
Raised in eastern Iowa, Rachel Deutmeyer graduated with a B.A. in Graphic Design from Ashford University and an M.F.A. in Integrated Visual Arts from Iowa State University. Her artwork has been regionally and nationally exhibited with a recent solo exhibition of Everything Fades at the Dubuque Museum of Art in Dubuque, Iowa. Deutmeyer currently works at Practical Farmers of Iowa in Ames, Iowa as senior video coordinator.
https://www.rldeutmeyer.com and Instagram @rachel_deutmeyer