VSU Welcomes NYC Artist to Fine Arts Gallery

VALDOSTA --Valdosta State University will welcome New York City artist Susan Bowen to its Fine Arts Gallery at 7 p.m. today (Monday, Oct. 17).

Bowen will give a brief talk during a reception for the opening of her exhibit, “Susan Bowen: Rippled Realities, Overlapping Multiple Exposure Images Shot with a Plastic Camera.” Her collection of photographs -- 26 framed pieces, nine large-scale works -- will hang in the Fine Arts Gallery through Friday, Nov. 4.

According to a Susan Bowen Photography biography (www.susanbowenphoto.com), Bowen is known for her overlapping multiple exposure panoramas, which she shoots with a plastic camera. She has been profiled in “Photo Techniques” and “Light Leaks” magazines, published in “Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age,” and received an award in the Pilsner Urquell International Photographer/Lucie 2007 Awards. She also had four images published in “Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity,” a book by Michelle Bates. Her shows have been in New York City; Las Vegas, Nev.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Reno, Nev.; Dayton, Ohio; Lubbock, Texas -- and now Valdosta.

“The long, overlapping images are created by only partially advancing the film between exposures; the overlapping occurs in the film itself,” shared Bowen, who is a computer programmer by trade, in an online statement. “It delights me how these mostly unplanned juxtapositions capture my experience of a particular time and place and at the same time have an identity all their own.”

Julie Bowland, Fine Arts Gallery director and associate professor in the Department of Art, said it was photography professor Dominick Gheesling’s interest in Bowen that led to her having a show at VSU. Her saw her work online.

“The images themselves are complex and powerfully dynamic,” Bowland said. “We were also captivated with her technique, which makes use of old fashioned technology -- Holga plastic camera -- and new digital technology as well. We thought her work would have a lot to teach our students.”

Located in the Fine Arts Building on the corner of East Brookwood Drive and North Oak Street, VSU’s Fine Arts Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. This show is open to the public.

For more information, please contact Julie Bowland, VSU Fine Arts Gallery director and associate professor in the Department of Art, at (229) 333-5835 or jabowlan@valdosta.edu. For more information about Susan Bowen and to view some of her work, visit www.susanbowenphoto.com.