Showing the Work - And Then Some

September Setting
Chesterfield, NH

Orchard Wall
Dublin, NH

From the moment that I started trying to take my photography seriously, I have believed and taught the central importance of “Showing the Work”.  Over the years I have hung my pictures in churches, banks, offices, government buildings, art fairs, galleries, coffee shops, furniture stores and almost every restaurant in the area.  Basically, if there is a public wall within the Monadnock region, my work, at some point, has, almost certainly been nailed to the plaster.

Bellows Walpole Inn

My shameless self-promotion became especially clear to me this week as I was hanging pictures, at our local Chamber of Commerce, for the Annual Keene Art Walk.  Every year the businesses along Keene’s wide main street open their windows to local artists.  For ten days in the late spring, the downtown becomes an expansive, open-air, art gallery.  It is great fun, with the chance to meet lots of new people who may not have seen my work in other venues.  Over the years I have had the opportunity to grace the windows of several downtown establishments, but I am happy to be back at the Chamber on Keene’s historic Central Square.

Sunset Lake : Bellows Walpole Inn

I had room for eight of my pictures in the Chamber’s windows, but what struck me was that I had to do a bit of scrapping to collect these images for display.  Normally this is not a problem.  Because I do my own printing, matting and framing, I have the luxury of keeping a substantial inventory of works for my shows.  I could never afford to have so many if they needed to be printed commercially, and framed by one of our local shops.  The issue is that I am currently taking the command to “show the work” to extremes. With the addition of Art Walk I now have my pictures in four different venues.  Over forty of them!  I am at serious risk of going from “show the work” to drowning the community in the work.

I guess I shouldn’t complain about the exposure, but if you want to escape my pictures, here are the places to avoid .

Bellows Walpole Inn

This is, by far, my biggest show at present.  The Inn’s restaurant and bar are lovely classics of New England ambiance and I am thrilled to have 27 of my images on their walls. I have many old favorites and five newly framed pictures.  

Reflected Spire,

 My show was set for May but has been temporarily held over.  Restaurants are favorite places to display my work, especially when I like the food.  At the Bellows Walpole Inn, I like the food.

Syd’s Furniture

Syd’s Carpet and Snooze Room is a great store near Keene’s Main Street, and behind the Keene Sentinel building.  For several years they have generously allowed the artist of

Pemiquid Light
Maine

the Monadnock Area Artist Association to hang their work on their walls. They get a beautiful and varied selection of artistic decoration and we get place to show our work surrounded by comfy chairs and couches.  I have a few pieces in the showroom on more or less permanent display, one of which won a Best in Show prize.

Keene Family YMCA

The YMCA is a great facility, offering a wide variety of programs for kids and adults.  I try to flog myself around the weight machines and aerobic equipment several times per week, but the Y has many more options including racquetball courts, a large pool and an extensive menu of classes.  Perhaps its most important asset is the friendly staff who create a relaxed family atmosphere. A few months ago, I was excited to be asked to hang some of my larger pictures on walls in the main stairwell and the exercise area.  I get annoyed when I see perfectly good blank walls in public locations.  I was please to fill a couple these spaces, that I am regularly forced to look at through sweat clouded eyes.

The Keene Art Walk

Finally. I return to the Art Walk.  Despite my thinning reserves, I am happy with the selection that I was able to assemble for the Chamber. They include one of my favorite covered bridges in the idyllic New England village of Green River Vermont, a glowing Sunflower, an evening view of the classic hill-top town center of Washington and the

Green River, Guilford Vt
Keene Chamber

Whaleback Lighthouse at dawn.  I also have a new picture of peak fall colors along the road to Roads End Farm in Chesterfield, New Hampshire.   This is one of my favorite autumn foliage images and, for the first time, I tried rendering it as a canvas gallery wrap.  I still prefer to do my own printing, but I liked the results from this lab and will be trying more on appropriate images.

Roads End Farm, Chesterfield NH
Bellow Walpole Inn

So that is my current exhibition menagerie.  From a practical perspective, I am often asked if I sell much from these shows, and

Multnomah Falls
YMCA

my answer is always the same.  I do sell occasional pieces, but that is not the primary goal of showing the work.  My most important result is to stay in the minds of my regional neighbors.  I think I have become known as a good source for quality New England images, with a special emphasis on the Monadnock Region and southern Vermont.  The hope is that, at some time in the future, when they need a gift for a friend or some images to give local flavor to a web site or brochure, my pictures will come to mind.  Also, as I have been focusing more on teaching these shows serve as graphic advertisements for my photography classes.  

Of course, beyond all the coldly practical reasons, it is just nice to release my work to the world and enjoy the moments when people seem to share the joy that I experienced when I captured these brief glimpses of the unique beauty of New England.  

I hope to see you at some of my current “venues”, but, if you can’t make it, don’t worry.  If you live in the Monadnock region you can be assured that my pictures will remain annoyingly hard to avoid.

Jeffrey Newcomer

partridgebrookreflections.com