The View From Here Opening Reception

The McLean County Arts Center presents the art exhibition The View from Here featuring photography by four McLean County residents in the Brandt Gallery June 16 – August 6, 2016. The Opening Reception will be on Thursday, June 16 from 5 - 7 pm.

Marty Gerwick, Mabel Lux, Tim Stone, and Britten Traughber show distinct perspectives of McLean County through their camera lenses in the exhibition The View from Here. Each artist has developed a series of photographs highlighting a significant facet of our community.

Marty Gerwick of Lexington has been interested in rural landscape and social documentary photography for many years. He focuses on the urban details of our towns highlighting the iconic, like the old McLean County Courthouse now McLean County History Museum, as well as the forgotten, like the demolished foundation of an old Lexington storefront. Shooting photographs in night as well as day, Gerwick captures the mood of places revealing their deep history as well as their bright future.
Mabel Lux is an avid nature and rural landscape photographer living in the country near Downs. Her seasonal photographs of wildlife, plants, woodland and prairie views are inspired by her love of creation and nature preservation. Photographing since she was a teenager, it was later in life through taking workshops and classes and an affiliation with camera clubs like the KodaRoamers, We Click, and the State Farm Camera Club that Lux developed her skills and keen eye. Her photographs offer a wonderland of color and an insight into the often hidden narratives of our natural environment.
Tim Stone has studied the night skies of McLean County since a child and picked up black and white photography in high school. Bringing these two lifelong passions together, he began an interest in astrophotography supported by the digitally advanced equipment of our local astronomy club, the Twin City Amateur Astronomers at the Sugar Grove Nature Center in Funks Grove. Stone presents startlingly detailed images of the stars, constellations, and galaxies light years away. Printed on large scale sheets of aluminum metal, the images glow and reflect light while drawing you into the darkness.
Britten Traughber, born and raised in Central Illinois, has travel and lived in many “exotic places” but has a particular love for home focusing much of her work on the people and places of the Midwest. In her series TEN, Traughber has interviewed and photographed portraits of ten year old youth in McLean County asking them to share their interests, creativity, and thoughts. Each portrait is a window into a fresh ten year old perspective on life.

This exhibition was generously sponsored by Barbara & Bill Taft.