Nature Through Women's Eyes
EXHIBIT - April 2, 2024 to April 30, 2024
9:00am to 4:30pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays)
RECEPTION - Saturday, April 6, 1:00-3:00pm
Meet the artists and enjoy light refreshments!
Jane Gamble organized her friends and fellow photographers to participate in April’s group show. She describes herself as a passionate birder whose new focus is “ethical” wildlife photography enjoining – even well-meaning people with cameras – to consider first the well-being of wild creatures and never disrupt their lives for a shot. Gamble and her husband worked for the State Department for many years. Home now is a neighborhood in Alexandria where her ecofriendly (personally created) backyard and local parks, like Greenspring Gardens, provide perfect venues. The winner of numerous awards including Fairfax County’s Ellie Doyle award, she has donated her professional quality photographs to the Park Authority’s Public Information and Resource Office. Although birds may be her favorite subjects, a squirrel photo won the Washington Post’s squirrel week contest in 2020 – Gamble caught him reaching for crepe myrtle blossoms.
Elaine Starr is based in northern Virginia. She was a part-time photographer when her day job was at the Department of Defense. Retirement opened a new chapter of her life, "capturing the beauty of nature in local parks, from the Potomac River to the Shenandoah. She wants to “tell a story” with her photos that remind us how important it is to protect the natural world. Some of her work has been published in local magazines and websites – images of parks in Maryland and D.C.
Rena Schild describes photography as “a reflection of how she sees the world” and her “love of nature.” However, having a camera in hand opened up a wide variety of experiences for her – which she describes a “must” as enjoyable for her and the subjects. Originally from New York, Schild has flourished here with her sensitive and lively work. Wildlife on the East Coast will be her contribution to April’s exhibit.
Kathrin Swoboda makes her home in Vienna, Virginia where she started photographing hummingbirds, bluebirds, woodpeckers and a great variety of birds in her backyard about 8 years ago. Prowling nearby Huntley Park in midwinter, she snapped a Red-winged Blackbird making all kinds of noise. This image won the Grand Prize of the 2019 Audubon Photography Awards. Afterwards she started her flourishing photography business. Swoboda develops her own prints and mats and frames those images herself. Her work has been widely exhibited in the Art League and the Torpedo Factory. An amazing group with amazing images.
Beth Howell, an engineer turned artist, a photographer and editor, is a native of northeastern Pennsylvania. She attributes her deep love of and respect for nature to her father. Camping across the country as a child in the outdoors – visiting national parks as an adult for vacations only reinforced that love. In retirement photography has enabled her to share images of nature and she hopes appreciation and determination to protect our land’s natural world.
Jane Marsh is a self-described “ancient Brit” who has lived in the U.S. Since 1988 – Texas, Michigan, Maryland, and presently, next door to Shenandoah National Park in Front Royal, Virginia. Visiting friends from the U.K. asked to visit beautiful locales with “abundant feathered friends.” Shenandoah National Park nearby provided the challenge for viewing and photographing them. Her favorites are Cedar Waxwings and Eastern Bluebirds, but her proximity to the park provides “ample opportunity” to catch its other inhabitants and its gorgeous landscapes.
