Two exhibitions showcasing photography by regional artists are now open at the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art. Featured are more than 70 works of art on loan from artists’ studios, private and public collections in Kentucky, and the Permanent Collection of the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art.
The solo exhibition “Soft Focus” is by Owensboro native William Russell “Bud” Young, III, now a resident of Floyd County, Virginia. It features 33 works created in the past 3 years to document the rural landscape surrounding Young’s home.
The other exhibition “Photography Masters” — an installation of works by five of the Commonwealth’s leading photographers — also has an Owensboro connection with Wendell Thompson. He has been involved in photography for 53 years, including 15 years operating a portrait and commercial studio, and 3 years teaching photography at Brescia University.
The other four photographers featured in that exhibition are:
- Fred D. Reaves, Hazel, an accomplished fine arts photographer and digital illustrator with complementary backgrounds in painting and printmaking,
- Carlos Gamez de Francisco, a Cuban-American contemporary painter and fine art photographer based in Prospect.
- Ted Wathen, Louisville, who founded the Kentucky Documentary Photographic Project in the 1970s and was a principal photographer for the President’s Commission on Coal.
- C. J. Pressma, Louisville, who founded the Center for Photographic Studies in 1970 that has attracted students both nationally and internationally.
The exhibitions will be open through July 16 during regular museum hours of 12-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 1-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Admission to the museum is free but donations are appreciated.
