IN FRIDAYS POUGHKEEPSIE JOURNAL: What Inspires Me is a regular feature in Enjoy! that asks visual and performing artists and writers about the passions that motivate them to create or perform. poughkeepsiejournal I grew up in the hamlet of Katonah, Westchester County, in a neighborhood of split ranch houses that were built during a drought. When the drought ended every home had to be surrounded by drainage ditches. Behind my house, swamps abounded. I spent my childhood bog hopping, building forts and drawing. The exhibition on my work at the Rosendale Cafe features my recent return to the swamp. As a landscape artist, I explore a topic deeply, allowing the images to cull my mediums. These photographs of swamp spaces explore how the phenomena of reflection, transparency and perspective collide to create intrigue. These close-up views remove the landscape’s orientation and allow the abstract qualities and gestures to shine. Light reflects from surfaces of duck weed, pond scum and certain symmetries occur between objects and their reflection. What inspires me is the process of looking closely at nature, it is a form of mediation to me. I am amazed at how the swamps change throughout the seasons and how different swamps have different personalities and plant life. In photographing the swamps, I am immersed in the moment and my surroundings. I wear waders and trudge gingerly on squishy surfaces. I am often thigh-high in the water and sometimes slowly sinking. Beavers, frogs and ducks are my company. From lower points of view than my normal height, I see more of an animal’s perspective. I notice so many beautiful perplexing views. The photographs at the Rosendale Cafe trigger rumination, questioning and narrative as the viewer ponders recognizable elements in spatially perplexing arrangements. The scenes’ emotive cues speak of loss, hope, whimsy, foreboding and other incongruities. Swamps as ever-changing ecosystems are each unique combinations of land and water that reflect the weather in daily and long-term trends. This examination of swamps contrasts with the idea of landscape as romantic, benign scenes of familiar beauty. Moreover, it highlights the ugly as I find it to be beautiful. I envision continuing to take pictures for many years. Yet I miss painting. My next group of works will be photographic constructions that use photographs and painting. After 20 years of painting, printmaking and drawing, Ruth Wetzel is using photography to create images of swamps. She studied design at SUNY College at Buffalo and designed textiles before receiving her master of fine arts from Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work is on view at the Rosendale Cafe through June 30 and ongoing at the office of Dr. David Ness in New Paltz. Visit swampphotos and ruthwetzel.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 02:47:30 +0000
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