Picture Perfect at the Jones House
Photo exhibits run throughout September

Two photographic exhibits are on display in the Watauga Arts Council galleries at the Jones House

Community & Cultural Center in downtown Boone during September.

In the downstairs Mazie Jones Gallery, Greg Williams melds his love of travel with a trained eye and finely honed sense of the whimsical to produce photographs, which document his  journeys, both the literal and the figurative. The result of all this synthesis is presented in a photographic exhibit titled, “What Is, Was, & Might Be.”

Although Williams has been shooting images since he was very young, he has only begun to share his work with the public in the last few years, he said. After a many-year hiatus from the classroom, he decided to finish his degree at Appalachian. There he was fortunate enough to find mentors in Jeff Fletcher, Mark Malloy and John Scarlata, all of whom shared their techniques and guiding  critiques, helping him to mold a strong visual style.

“Whether the subject is sweeping panoramic sunset vistas, macro studies of desert cactus, or multiple exposure black and white frames of ghostly figures shot in studio or on location, the theme is the same – the potential for beauty exists all around us,” Williams said.

Raising a family, going through a divorce, traveling around the country on his  motorcycle, or finding new love, the quest for “What Is, Was & Might Be...” has given him a firm foundation on which to build a body of work that he hopes the public will enjoy, he said.

In the upstairs open door gallery, Bea Bumgarner’s exhibit, “World Travel Photography” is on display. Representing thirty years of travel to more than seventy countries, the exhibit features people and places.

She began taking photos in earnest in the early 1960s as the company photographer for International Travel Agency.She has presented her pictures of her travels to schools, churches and clubs.

Bumgarner is also a painter, having earned numerous accolades for her art. She uses her photographs as inspiration for many of her paintings.

These exhibits are on display from Tuesday, Sept. 2 until Friday, Sept. 26 from noon to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays. The Arts Council galleries are also open Thursdays from 7:30 to 11 p.m. during the acoustic jams at the Jones House and Friday evenings during the Concerts on the Lawn.

The gallery reception to welcome these exhibits is Friday, Sept. 5 from 6:30-8 p.m. and is held in conjunction with downtown Boone’s First Friday Art Crawl. Free food and beverage will be served, and the public is invited and encouraged to attend.

Also featured at this month’s gallery reception will be Maggie Bishop signing copies of “Appalachian Adventures,” the fourth novel in her romantic suspense series, set in the High Country.

The Watauga Arts Council galleries are sponsored in part by Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff and Grassroots Funds of the North Carolina Arts Council. The WAC’s offices and galleries are located in downtown Boone at the Jones House Community & Cultural Center, owned by the town of Boone.