close

Melega museum to open new photographic exhibit

3 min read

BROWNSVILLE – The Frank L. Melega Art Museum located in the historic Flatiron Building, 69 Market St., Brownsville, announces a new exhibition titled “Thirty Years of Light and Shadow: A Photographic Retrospective.” A “meet the artist” reception will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. The public is invited. The museum is also open by appointment by 724-785-9331.

Coming on the heels of his successful “2006 Artist of the Pike: People of the Pike” exhibition, this is the second installment of photographs by Salitrik. “People of the Pike” ended Wednesday.

“We were very pleased with the turnout and reaction to Dan’s ‘People of the Pike’ show,” said museum curator Patrick Daugherty. “This new show will reflect the photographer’s personal and artistic vision.

Salitrik’s interest in photography began with the images of World War II Italy taken by his father.

Around 1962, Salitrik began using his dad’s Polaroid camera to create his first photographs. By the time he was in high school, he had purchased his first “real camera,” and photography became a focus of his young life.

He spent hours in his darkroom, processing and printing, plus finding ways to pay for the film, paper and chemicals.

“This meant trips to any discount store, searching Gabriel’s and Farris’s for film and processing supplies; paying with funds earned from returning pop bottles and not eating lunch,” Salitrik said.

He studied the images of national magazines like “Life,” “Look,” “National Geographic and “Popular Photography.”

The biggest influences on Salitrik’s photographic vision have been Edward Weston and the entire “f64” movement, the Farm Security Administration photographers of the 1930s and ’40s; Walker Evans, W. Eugene Smith, Minor White and Ralph Eugene Meatyard.

Jack Gates, area photographer and owner of Photographit, a photography store on Gallatin Avenue in Uniontown, was a major influence regarding technical issues, as he was for most photographers during the 1960s and ’70s.

Salitrik’s passion for photography has generated thousands of images, creating an invaluable artistic and historical resource for generations to come. Salitrik’s photographic essay on the last days of the Shoaf Coke works may be the only collection of the coke process from start to finish.

He describes his style of photography as “fill the frame.”

“I very rarely crop an image,” he said. “All composition takes place in the viewfinder and in my mind. The snap is just the conclusion of a rather complex series of events taking place in the part of our brain that visually processes what takes place in time. Within a few milliseconds, it’s all over and committed to posterity.”

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today