West Plains Council on the Arts (WPCA) will host an exhibition of works by local photographer Sally Robinson, entitled “Everyday Sights: Seeing God’s Word in Daily Life.” The exhibit will be displayed at the Gallery at the Center, West Plains Civic Center from July 27 through August 30, 2020. The Gallery, on the mezzanine, is open to the public during regular Civic Center hours.
Sally Robinson started photographing in her late teens when her brother gave her his old half frame Yashica camera. Since she was quite inept at drawing, she loved having a way to capture moments in time and freeze a memory. Being especially attracted to nature and landscape subjects, moving to the Ozarks in 1996 was a huge inspiration and really encouraged her to start working at becoming a better photographer. Over the years she has set up darkrooms in the bathroom, studied known and unknown photographers’ images, taught herself how to hand color black and white photos, and finally made the switch from film to digital. While the magic of waiting for photos to be developed and learn if she captured what she hoped for is no longer happening, the joy of seeing the vision imaged or, even better, something totally unexpected, is still there.
Robinson says, “Everyday Sights: Seeing God’s Word in Daily Life”, is a collection of photographs with scripture illustrating that God’s Word is alive and visible in our everyday lives. Each photograph is accompanied by a Bible verse that showcases the beauty and truth in landscapes, nature, animals, buildings and people from daily life. The idea for using Bible verses with photographs started when I looked at a print of light shining through the trees in my backyard and it made me think, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” Most of the pictures are scenes I just came upon and snapped; none of the images were taken with a Bible verse in mind though specific verses came to me soon after seeing the printed image. Once I had the idea for this project, I started looking at my images to see if a verse came to mind and also looking for images that went well with favorite verses. For this series, I chose to use art photo paper and display each photograph identically to maintain the simplicity and beauty of everyday life.”
WPCA will host a Meet the Artist event on Saturday, August 8, from 2-4 p.m., in the Gallery at the Center. All are invited to attend, meet the artist and discuss the pieces. The exhibit is co-sponsored by the West Plains Civic Center and West Plains Council on the Arts, with partial funding provided by Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
