Tom Owens & Marianne Woodside: Capturing People, Recording Environments
September 2 – October 1, 2022
Tom Owens & Marianne Woodside: Capturing People, Recording Environments – A Decade of Recent Work
Opening reception: Friday, September 2, 5:00-9:00 PM
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM and Saturday, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
Inspiration for this new show emanates from a conversation around the ease of creating photographic images. Images are easy to capture and cost only the time it takes to view the image, snap the phone or point and shoot, review and save or delete. Even carefully constructed images can result in tens or maybe hundreds of pictures to later consider. In this exhibition of 50 images, Tom Owens and Marianne Woodside share many of their favorite photographs which represent a variety of photographic styles that create images to highlight subjects, establish mood, and offer alternate views of traditional subjects. The artists show images from global and local environments, including pre-pandemic and pandemic times, as well as solo photographic works and images they created in tandem during joint photo shoots.
Owens and Woodside have collaborated and supported one another’s photographic pursuits for over a decade. About twelve years ago, they met at the Golden Roast Coffee Shop where they shared coffee and conversation with a group of mutual friends. They expanded their own conversations to include photography as they critiqued images, discussed equipment, and planned photographic outings. Owens, a professional photographer and videographer, has encouraged Woodside’s interest in photography and served as a mentor for her.
Tom Owens began capturing still images in the late 1960s, and for the next 50 years he worked in film and video production, equipment sales, advertising, industrial training, public relations, and higher education management while always utilizing audiovisual technology in some form. He worked at the University of Tennessee for 32 years, eighteen of those as Director of the Video & Photography Center. While at UT, he worked with actor James Earl Jones, author Alex Haley, Peyton Manning, Pat Summitt, and the FBI profilers featured in the film Silence of the Lambs. He traveled to Ireland, London, Costa Rica, many major US cities, and every county in Tennessee. He filmed the Lady Vols at the White House Rose Garden after they won a national championship. While at UT he won many awards including from the New York Festivals, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, and the International Television Association.
A still photograph puts a frame around a moment frozen in time. It sits still and allows and perhaps commands the viewer to look at something real. One definition of realism is a “rejection of visionary.” Yet photography done well is transcendent, “extending the limits of ordinary experience.” So, when done well it can become realism transcendent. Henri Cartier-Bresson, the French humanist photographer coined the term “the decisive moment.” In many of my photographs I’m looking for that moment. My still photography is influenced by a diversity of photographers, including Cartier-Bresson, Ansel Adams, Minor White, and Diane Arbus.
www.tomowensphotography.com
Marianne Woodside is a professor emerita from the University of Tennessee where she integrated responsibilities of teaching, administration, research and writing in human services and counselor education. During the last ten years, she expanded her interest in photography and her ideas of artistic expression. Travel to Central America, South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Iceland have offered time to capture exotic photographs beyond her daily experiences, although she still finds intriguing subjects close to home. Her subjects include still life images within a natural context, landscapes, and flora and fauna. Woodside’s art has exhibited in McGhee Tyson’s Arts in the Airport, National Juried Exhibition and Knoxville Photo exhibitions at the Emporium, and the Oak Ridge Art Center. She has also shown her work locally at the Golden Roast Coffee Shop, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Gallery, Westminster Presbyterian Art Gallery, Awaken Coffee Shop, and Maryville’s Asbury Place. She also spends time writing, playing the guitar, hiking, and traveling.
I believe in the magical qualities of photography. Technical knowledge and skills support the creation of lovely, interesting, and whimsical images. At times, the outcome is beyond the expectation of the artist. To create these exceptional photographic moments, I look for ways to combine colors, lights, shapes, and textures to evoke a viewer’s mood or emotion. It is in nature that I find many of my favorite subjects.
www.mariannewoodsidephotography.com