Home and Away

New exhibit of works by Kevin Scanlon at Arts on Main

Wellington photographer and artist Kevin Scanlon has a new exhibit of his work in the Back Room at Arts on Main Gallery in Picton. Showcasing his photography and woodworking creations, the exhibit features scenes from his annual sojourns in Paris as well as images taken in the County. Mr. Scanlon is an avid photographer who was a journalist, reporter and editor of Canadian newspapers and magazines over a career spanning 42 years. He received his first camera at age seven, and by age 10 had his own darkroom, developing his negatives and making prints. He did some professional photography early in his career, but was assigned to writing and editing for the most part. However, he continued to pursue photography as an enthusiastic amateur. After his early retirement he fully embraced photography again, and has had exhibits at the Toronto CONTACT Photography Festival, as well as here in the County at Maison Depoivre in Base31 and the Group of Sevenish show in Wellington.

His show at Arts on Main is called Home and Away, in reference to his images from Paris as well as around the County. It is comprised of both photographic prints and woodworking pieces. For the latter, he used his images of passersby taken from his favourite café Paris to create framed silhouettes that capture the dynamic motion and translate it into three dimensions using layers of wood and pops of colour.

Mr. Scanlon has fully embraced digital photography and appreciates the additional scope and freedom that it provides over its analogue cousin. “I can take many more pictures in digital, even after I think that ‘I’ve got it!’. There’s also much more control in digital. You can bring out more detail. In the old days you’d get your prints back and the details would be washed out. You could get that back in the darkroom, but you can do all of that in digital now, and see the results right away.” He takes a considered and deliberate approach in his photography. “If I see a scene in daylight, I might think ‘It would be really great to catch that right at dawn,’ so for my Pont Neuf bridge image I went there early and as soon as the sun crept up and caught the bridge, when everything else was dark, and that just made for a great photograph.”

He has melded his woodworking skills with photography to create some unique pieces. He said he learned his skills from his father, who was a carpenter, but did not seriously start woodworking until he was in his forties. “Creating these wooden pieces frees you from the two-dimensional quality of photography,” he said. “Most of the figures have two parts, so for example one leg will be in front of the other leg, so when the light is shining on it, that gives it an interesting take.” Mr. Scanlon has also been creating rural tableaux that represent Prince Edward County, and has been using pieces of lath retrieved from century-old County homes to make small streetscapes with multi-coloured buildings.

At the opening reception last Wednesday, Mr. Scanlon was pleasantly surprised when several of his pieces were sold. “I don’t regard this as a money thing, I’m more pleased that someone has seen something that they like and they want to hang it on their wall. Even just having people come in and admire the pictures is fine too.” The exhibit runs until September 8. Arts on Main Gallery is located at 223 Main Street in Picton.