Hopwood photographer to showcase work in Brownsville exhibit
BROWNSVILLE – Hopwood photographer Pat Thomas blends a painter’s eye for natural beauty and a keen sense of photographic composition to evoke pleasant memories of life’s happier moments in her exhibit entitled “Texture and Light.” The exhibit opens at Brownsville’s 64 Crayons Cultural Center on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. The show will run through Sunday, May 26.
“When people look at my pictures, I always ask ‘Which was your favorite?’ to see how successful I’ve been in my goal to remind them of some pleasant moment of their lives they may have forgotten,” Thomas said. “That gets them talking or, quite often, it leads to a story about some epiphany, a sudden sense of happiness or understanding triggered by a realization of nature’s beauty.”
For her first showing since her highly acclaimed exhibit, “Captured Moments,” at the Greensburg Civic and Garden Center last August, Thomas brings to 64 Crayons an array of nature images that ranges from colorful flower close-ups to ice-coated trees sparkling in the morning light.
“I always carry a camera,” Thomas said, “and when I’m driving my car, the first thing that will make me brake is the play of light. That’s when I jump out and start exploring.”
Thomas’s show features objects rather than people.
“I don’t like posed pictures,” she explained. “Adults tend to pose for a camera. Children at play, especially with dirty clothes and faces, make good subjects. Sometimes, I’ll see a strong possibility in an old man sitting on a bench outside an old fashioned store in West Virginia, but mostly I shoot natural scenes. Flowers never pose. The way the light strikes them makes the picture.”
When “Texture and Light” opens at 2 p.m. Sunday at 64 Crayons Cultural Center in the ballroom on the third floor of Thompson House, 815 Water St., Brownsville, Thomas will be there with her camera and her questions that help trigger nostalgic answers from her audience. She will also serve light refreshments.
Admission to the opening costs $5, but seniors and students pay $3.50 and Geezers’ Book Shop members pay just $2.50. After that, for the run of the show from Sunday through Sunday, May 26, there will be a $1 admission charge which will be deducted from the price of any book bought at Geezers’.
For more information about Pat Thomas’ exhibit or any of the upcoming events at Geezers’ or 64 Crayons, call 724-785-9010 during regular book shop hours or send an e-mail message to geezersbks@worldnet.att.net.