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| Artplus features award-winning photographer |
| Local News - Friday, January 18, 2008 |
Michael J Brethour / The Shield
Gallery ArtPlus hosted their first exhibit dedicated to photography this past weekend.
The show featured the stunning photographic works of William Bickle, Lisa Kurtz, Wayne McNulty, Dick Kane, Peggy deWitt and Lola Reid Allin. The opening reception took place on Jan. 11 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The exhibit continues to show at the gallery until Jan. 27.
Brant Cowie, gallery curator and owner of ArtPlus, said the exhibit displays a wide range of photographic talent from the local area. Cowie referred to a recent honourable mention that Bickle received from a National Geographic photo competition. "We're very happy to have Bill's stuff here, him and all the other exhibitors are very talented."
Cowie explained that after the photography exhibit finishes, a select handful of pieces will be selected to hang for an additional six weeks in the gallery, along with the other upcoming feature artists works. "I suspect that Bill's heron piece will be one of them though I can't confirm that."
Bickle, a Roslin resident and Belleville business owner, was one of just four photographers selected as winners in the National Geographic contest. Speaking to The Shield Bickle described the morning that he captured the breathtaking image. "It was just around sunrise along the Moira River just east of Front Street, a spot I normally go because its near my business and I can spend a few hours there. The light is just right coming through the trees, and it's just a matter of waiting, and then I saw a heron flying towards me."
Bickle noted that the bird, which he is familiar with their habits, was acting a little out of character. "He was strutting, which is not normal for them," he said.
He had the bird lined up in his brand new 70-200mm Nikon lens, which he had out for its maiden test that morning. "Looking through the viewfinder of the camera, I just saw some fluffy bits as the heron was in flight, then I realized he had spotted some Mallard ducklings. He had made up his mind he was going to have a meal but the hen had other ideas," said Bickle. "She was pretty aggressive and defensive."
The end result was a visually brilliant image that captures the raw feeling of primal nature. Bickle added that he shot a sequence of images of the event, "The image I submitted was the best, but combining all the images for viewing really shows the whole view of what was happening that morning."
Bickle is a member of the Napanee Photo Club, which meets every second Tuesday of each month and he is also a member of the Photo-Nat Club, a Nature photography club within the Quinte area. "Both these clubs have had a strong influence in my Nature Photography," said Bickle.
Bickle and wife Ann have resided at their 100-acre farm near Roslin for over 27 years. They're the owners of Loyalist Management Systems Inc., a Belleville business selling and maintaining office equipment. From 1975 to 1980, Bickle and his wife ran a successful horse photography business. Bill traveled all over North America for the work. "I would ship the film home to Ann to process and ship the photos to our clients, you see that was before digital photography," he added with a laugh.
"People had suggested I enter the photo in the contest, so I did. The contest deadline had come and past and I had almost forgotten all about it until I received an e-mail saying my photo received an honourable mention. I was blown away to say the least," said Bickle.
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| Cameras captured winners |
| Local News - Saturday, January 12, 2008 |
Luke Hendry / The Intelligencer
They may not be gamblers, but maybe they should be.
When National Geographic magazine unveiled the results of its international photo contest, only a few dozen finalists were named from the 148,203 entrants.
And the Quinte region can claim two of them.
William (Bill) Bickle, a Roslin resident and Belleville business owner, and Aaron Vincent Elkaim, a Winnipeg native studying photojournalism at Loyalist College, were each selected for an honourable mention.
Just four photographers are selected as winners in the contest; a select few more were given honourable mentions in its three categories: animals, people, and landscapes.
Though the two local honourees come from different backgrounds and took vastly different photos, they said they're excited by their new status.
Bill Bickle
Early one morning, Bill Bickle was staked out along the Moira River just east of Front Street as he watched a great blue heron.
Bickle, 60, said he's always loved early mornings; fortunately for the nature photographer, so does wildlife such as the great blue herons. He's observed some so carefully he can identify individual birds and knows their schedules.
And on this morning, something was different.
"He was strutting, which is not normal for them," said Bickle, who was watching through a 70- to 200-millimetre telephoto zoom lens.
Then he spotted some mallard ducklings - and their very upset mother.
"She was pretty aggressive and defensive," said Bickle.
As the hen flew out of the water and startled the heron, Bickle's finger tightened on his camera's shutter button.
The result: a rarely-seen moment between the hen, heron, and ducklings captured against the barely-discernible flow of the nearby dam.
"I knew it was an exceptional photo because of the way I'd caught them," Bickle said, adding it was one of a series of five from the encounter.
The heron, he said, "looks almost prehistoric."
Bickle and wife Ann moved to their 100-acre farm near Roslin 27 years ago. They're the owners of Loyalist Management Systems Inc., a Belleville business selling and maintaining office equipment.
From 1975 to 1980, they had a successful horse photography business. Self-taught in the art, Bill travelled extensively to take the shots; Ann processed the negatives.
But as they started a family and a business, there was little time for photography.
In 2005, Bill started shooting regularly again, this time with digital gear.
He's since won several awards in area photo clubs, but said National Geographic's status is an extra thrill.
"Just to make the top 10 for me was a reward."
Bickle's images, meanwhile, are part of this month's exhibition at Gallery ArtPlus, 54 North Front St. at Earl St.
A reception for the show will be held from 6-8 p.m. today. For details call 613-961-1977 ext. 231 or visit www.galleryartplus.com. Aaron Vincent Elkaim
Aaron Vincent Elkaim was on a pilgrimage in Jerusalem's old city district when he spotted an image he couldn't ignore.
Though not overly religious, Vincent Elkaim was on a "birthright" pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was organized by his local Jewish community and funded by philanthropists as a way for Jewish youth to connect with their heritage.
"The more time you spend there, the more complicated it gets," he said, explaining he gained "a better understanding of the faith" as well as the region's people and the obstacles they face daily.
But the situation in which he made his photo contest entry was much more simple.
"This photo is one just honestly stumbled upon," said Vincent Elkaim.
He was among the many tourists passing through through the historic Church of the Holy Sepulchre in January 2007 when he found himself on the building's second level, which has a view of the first floor. "I looked down and there it was, this shot."
Unaware of Vincent Elkaim's presence, three Greek Orthodox priests sat immersed in prayer, bathed partially in the amber glow of a single light.
Balancing his digital camera and old manually-operated 50-millimetre lens on a ledge, he squeezed off a short series of photos.
"I shot maybe five or six frames. That was the only one that was probably sharp."
The photo's timeless look and solemn atmosphere was enhanced by the wizened men's long beards and their traditional dark robes which blend into the darkness around them.
Vincent Elkaim said he was lucky to find the scene, but acknowledged he was able to see a photo in the making.
"There really is a moment there between these three people," he said. "It's definitely one of my best."
He said he wasn't surprised when National Geographic sent him a link to a web page showing the contest winners, since he's on the magazine's mailing list.
Sitting in his classroom at Loyalist, he began looking at the content.
"I clicked through to the next page and it was a total shock. I was praying it was there, but I wasn't expecting it.
"It was a pretty cool moment.
"I have left it out (of my portfolio) in the past for some reason, but now it's in. There's no question."
The student said he hopes to secure a job at a daily newspaper while also pursuing documentary photography, and is encouraged by National Geographic's approval.
"This like this I take as signs that I'm on the right path," he said. "It's not the be-all and end-all. It's just the one photo.
"They say you're only as good as your last job or your last image, so I've got to keep producing."
To view the contest's winning images and finalists, visit the contest website here.
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| Unbridled exposing local artists |
| Local News - Saturday, October 13, 2007 |
Luke R. Corrigan / The Pioneer
Local artists will bare it all, despite dropped jaws or subtle resistance from some members of the community during this year's installment of the Unbridled gallery series.
Unbridled is an exhibition of 33 regional artists' exploration of the human form, running from Oct. 4 to 25.
Organized by the Quinte Arts Council, the show has previously been held at a single location in Belleville. This year the group has brought five local galleries into the fray, extending the series' reach as far as Bloomfield in an effort to highlight and support this somewhat risque avenue of artistic expression.
"Every form of art needs to be shown. Just because it's nudes doesn't mean it has to be buried somewhere," said Sarah Midlane-Jones, marketing and public relations officer for the Quinte Arts Council.
Originally undertaken as a venue for pieces considered too racy by some of the region's galleries, the show has been met with high attendance and general praise from the community since its inception three years ago.
"We were approached by a group of artists who were having trouble getting their work shown. (They) asked us if we were willing to put on a show for them and we did," said Midlane-Jones.
Despite starting as a showcase of work considered edgy in comparison with more widely accessible local art, the series has garnered a generally positive response.
"The first year we had probably 400 people at the opening and about 1,000 people through the show, the same with the second year," said Midlane-Jones.
"This year with it being in different galleries, the first opening was Thursday evening at Gallery ArtPlus and it was packed. It's a well received show."
Excitement over the series is not restricted to its organizers and attendees. Many of the galleries and artists participating in the series have expressed great pleasure at the opportunity to take part.
"This is an outstanding show. I think it's the best we've ever put on," said Saga Sabin, current president of the Belleville Arts Association.
The association, a collective of local artists who regularly hold juried and non-juried showings at their downtown Belleville gallery, had the honour of being the final and largest opening in this year's events on Oct. 11.
Sabin was quick to point out this showing is not only beneficial to artists who are unable to find receptive galleries for their work. It also pushes some of the artists participating to extend the boundaries of their skill.
"It makes the artists stretch themselves a little. In a sense it encourages the better artists because it's one of the hardest things to do, to draw the human form. Only people that are quite skilled in art would usually attempt the subject," she said.
Former Belleville Art Association president Nadine Goulet reinforced Sabin's statement, stressing the daunting technical aspects of the exercise.
"We thought it was a good opportunity to expand our skills and interest a bit more. We traditionally do landscapes and more family oriented things or abstracts, not nudes," said Goulet.
"It's not easy. It's more difficult than painting a landscape or still-life really. The human form is so unique and has so many nuances to it."
According to Sabin, the divide between adventurous art capable of pushing both the artist's talents and the viewer's sensibilities, juxtaposed against less complicated or safer affairs, has an affect on the association's gallery programming.
"We always have a topic every time we have a show, but we often have something very (accessible) so that beginning artists can do it. The next one will be called Fall and Winter Splendor, for example," Sabin said.
"There's lots of people who do landscapes and flowers and a lesser number of people who do life drawing. (Those who do) tend to be thinking outside the box more, I guess you could say. They're not all realistic either. A lot of it is semi-abstract...they're all completely different."
Despite the high level of technical prowess required to delve into the subject matter, some attendees at the showings have been less than enthused with what they saw.
"There are two rather explicit male nudes and that actually shocked some women...the fact that it was all there," said Sabin.
Goulet feels that consideration given to patron's potential offense is less important than the greater artistic importance of the exercise.
"Artists since art began have studied the human form in various ways, down through the ages. It's a beautiful art form and artists have always done it. Any art gallery you walk into will tell you that," she said.
Sabin also considers shocked or disapproving reactions as somewhat unreasonable, given the historical significance of nudes in the canon of art history.
"If you go to Paris, its full of nude statues and nobody thinks about it. Italy is a Catholic country and they have statues of little boys peeing in fountains," she said.
For Anne Ireland, who wears two hats this year as both a contributing artist and owner of Unbridled's Bloomfield home the Iris Gallery, a different approach had to be taken to preserve the artistic integrity of the show.
"Some of the works that I'm showing are in the Red Room, which says Adult Content because some of the works were censored from Belleville galleries, so I've hung them in my room here," said Ireland, stressing that even pieces perceived as racy should be given equal exposure.
"There are some photographs in the Red Room that could be construed as somewhat erotic, but I still wouldn't call them pornographic. For me it's just another vision of humanity. In the other room it's more nudes sleeping, dreaming, lying in a field of dandelions. Most of the work is, I would say, quite painterly."
Ireland has considerable experience in this realm of art locally. After holding life painting workshops with live models from her home, she and regular participants had produced a number of gallery worthy pieces. Unable to find a home for them, she decided to hold her own successful showing entitled Nudes in the County. This garnered the attention of the Quinte Arts Council, subsequently asking her gallery to participate in Unbridled's third year.
Although Ireland has found people are increasingly receptive to this type of work locally, she highlighted the resistance some regional artists have encountered historically.
"(People) told me, when I had my first Nudes in the County show, that maybe 10 years ago when they tried to have life drawing sessions there were actually people protesting outside with placards and such," she said.
"It's not that there's anything pornographic or obscene about it. It's just displaying the body."
Standing resolute against some objections to showcasing a possibly controversial manner of art, Ireland hopes this type of show can create a sea change in a region she feels is at times restrictive.
"There is a Loyalist, Upper Canada, very conservative mentality. I suppose now there's an influx of new people moving in like artists, writers, photographers and they certainly have a more liberal approach," she said.
"To me it's a process of educating the older, not older in age, but (educating those with) the older county sensibility that this is art too. Art doesn't have to be a depiction of reality. Art can be your feelings. It can be thoughts. It can try to explain something you can't explain by painting a bowl of fruit."
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