The Perspective Gallery in Evanston opened its new exhibit Thursday, featuring works by local artists. “Drops” by Peter Nussbaum and “People/Places” by Howard Hart will be on display at the gallery through July 29 and a reception will be held on July 14.
Perspective Gallery is a not-for-profit co-op of 18 artists that helps bring the work of local artists to the public. The members rotate their work throughout the year – approximately once a month – with two artists featured at a time. In addition to the featured exhibits, works by other members are also displaywed, as well special exhibitions.
“We’re dedicated to promoting fine art photography,” Nussbaum said.
Nussbaum’s “Drops” is a 16-photo collection of hanging water droplets and the reflections in those droplets. All of the droplets are hanging, as opposed to falling through the air.
“Essentially, I would call it microphotography,” Nussbaum said. “You come very close to your subject. Then you have the challenges that I shot all of them outside. You’re exposed to the wind and weather, and when you have wind, the water droplet tends to drop off very fast.”
Nussbaum’s inspiration for his project came from observing the water droplets and their reflections in nature. He said he was walking last fall “on a misty day, ” when he noticed branches with water droplets.
“I looked at it on a close-up and I could see some reflections in the water drops,” Nussbaum said. “I took some picture of it at the time and that led me to a series of photographic studies of water drops.”
Hart’s “People/Places” exhibit is a set of pictures of people interacting in different places around the world.
“I like to travel,” he said. “Most of these places are all over the world. I don’t like making a travel log, per se, of one place, so I go to different cities, I hang out, photograph interesting things, and maybe get five or six photos from each place.”
Hart said his inspiration comes from photographing the “human experience.”
“I tried to take pictures of people interacting with other people in the environment they’re set in,” he said. “I like the way they interact with their environment. I like to take photos that tell a story. With the photos I have (in the exhibit) I try to tell a story with each individual person.”
In addition to serving as a place for local artists to share their work, Perspective Gallery is also invested in making art a bigger part of the Evanston community. Suzanne Metzel, a member of Perspective’s board of directors, said “there has always been a pretty high interest in Evanston,” but acknowledged the gallery would still like to improve community interest in the gallery and art in general.
Nussbaum said that “there is still work to be done” in that area, especially since Perspective Gallery is only beginning its third year in Evanston.
“You have to penetrate in the community and into the community that is interested in art and make them conscious of the fact that we are there,” Nussbaum said. “It’s just like the ice cream store on the street and nobody goes there until they know there’s an ice cream store there.”
Once people become more aware of Perspective, Metzel said she hopes people give the gallery a chance to share the artists’ work with the community. “I think sometimes people get intimidated to walk into gallery spaces,” she said. “They shouldn’t be intimidated. We’re not here to sell our work; we’re here because we want a place to show our work and we want it to be seen.”
