Catamount Arts is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition Under the Surface, featuring work by photographer Rosie Prevost on view in Catamount Arts’ Main Gallery March 18 through April 29, 2017. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, March 18 from 5-7 pm, which is free and open to the public. All are welcome to attend.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION: Despite the growing popularity digital cameras and cell phones, many contemporary photographers remain interested in taking and printing pictures in ways that are far more exacting. In nearly thirty sepia/selenium toned, silver gelatin prints now on display in the Catamount Arts Main Gallery, artist Rosie Prevost explores the idea of visual metaphor by using historic techniques—not as a paean to the past, but as ways to create haunting images that encourage us to look beneath the surface. “Making images has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember,” she says. “I am intrigued by the implications of isolating moments in time, visual narrative, and in the magical process of hand-crafting prints in the darkroom.”
Prevost explores boundaries that confine and separate us, as well as the visual surprise of unexpected oddities and found objects. Presentation of even the most mundane objects is emotional and deeply felt. Tethered, a 2009 photograph of balloons tied to a post inspired much of the work that followed. The image of those tethered balloons was really “about wanting to be happy,” Prevost remarks, but finding that “something or someone is holding you down, always keeping you anchored.”
Yet, Prevost’s interest in historic process does not anchor her to the past. Instead, she is propelled forward. “When I am making photographs, I feel completely alive and connected with my true-self,” she remarks. “Framed in awareness, sights take on new meaning as shades of gray color my world. Light transforms simple objects into forms of enchantment. Scenes present themselves and I photograph them, gratefully losing myself within time. I appreciate each new subject and attempt to embrace its individual and unique characteristics, in an effort to let the essence of the story unfold.”
Prevost chose “Under the Surface” as the title for her exhibition in hopes that visitors will be compelled to stop and linger, searching for meaning beneath the beautifully crafted surface of her photographs. “Images are like people,” Prevost remarks. “We see them, take a quick glance, and form some opinions. Often however, when we start to question, or look a little deeper, we discover something very different.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST: Photographer Rosie Prevost studied photography at Endicott College before receiving her BA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. A professional photographer who began her career in the commercial field, Prevost owned and operated Woodside Photography from 1992-2001. She was a member of the 215 College Gallery in Burlington, VT. from its inception in 2005 until its closing in 2011. Since 2001 she has taught photography rooted in traditional silver based materials at St. Johnsbury Academy in St. Johnsbury, VT where she is Fine Arts Department Chair. She has also served on the board at Catamount Arts and is supportive of the arts in St. Johnsbury, where she lives with her husband and two sons.