Photography Exhibit at Kentlands Mansion

Through October 2, 2011, the Kentlands Mansion is hosting a photography show, including the work of Gwen Lewis, Elysa Barron and Andrew Wohl. Each photographer takes a different approach to documenting his/her surroundings and sharing these observations with the public.

Lewis is a documentary photographer who specializes in black and white photography. She captures the patterns and changes of rural America through its people, architecture, signage and landscape. The series of her photographs in the show tells the story of several rural communities Lewis has visited, including Kingsbury Orchard locally. She knows the owners and workers there by name.

"Most of us come from a country that was much more rural," said Lewis at the opening reception of the Kentlands Mansion show on Monday, Aug. 29. "We still feel an allegiance to it but don't live there anymore."

Lewis, of Chevy Chase, grew up in a rural area herself.

"I'm interested in the life and death of rural communities. I've traveled across many of them, and what has struck me, is that they do not only have difficulty and poverty, but also a vitality. It shows in the resilience of the people."

Barron currently lives in Colorado but returns often to her former home base in Montgomery County. Her large panoramic landscapes in the show capture dramatic views of mountains, lakes and valleys in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Zealand.

Rather than framing her work behind glass, Barron mounts it on black PVC achieving a borderless effect, which enunciates the breadth of the horizon lines she shoots in the outdoors.

She has also developed a series of background-free floral motifs mounted on aluminum, and sometimes gets creative with the way she cuts the frame around her compositions.

"I take pictures of things that would make me smile," said Barron, who is busy this year running 51 marathons in 52 weeks for First Descents, a national therapeutic outdoors program for young adults who have experienced cancer.

Wohl works at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Goddard, Maryland, and several of his photos in the show are close-up snapshots of details that have caught his eye on the campus. Wohl's work includes architectural and structural details, landscapes and unusual views of urban artifacts shot in Chicago and New York. With an eye for color and composition, Wohl locates the center in his subjects, presenting them as found objects or interesting instances in a larger pattern.

"I shoot whatever catches my eye," said the artist. "I use a good point-and-shoot camera and have been doing it casually for the past four years."

The photography show at Kentlands Mansion is on view by appointment only. Call the Mansion to set up a time to see the exhibit: 301-258-6428.

Earlier in August, a show of oil painter and his opened at the Arts Barn across the street from Kentlands Mansion.