Bogs may be Common but Can Make Beautiful Art At The Edge Center Gallery

The August Exhibit at the Edge Center Gallery in Bigfork shows beauty that’s right in front of your eyes, or more appropriately under your feet. The exhibit "Bog Tapestries: Elizabeth Blair Photography" shows the photographic results of shooting close up photos of the bogs in Itasca County’s black spruce, tamarack and cedar bogs along with samples of some of her other work. This exhibit can open your imagination to appreciate some of nature’s incredible beauty. And you don’t have to get your feet wet to appreciate it. The Opening Reception for the exhibit is Friday, July 31 from 5:00 to 7:00 with a chance to meet the artist along with a reading of their double-voiced bog poetry by Susan Hawkinson and Loree Miltich.  At 6:00PM a 30-minute documentary video, "Bogs, A Love Story", by Christine Baeumler, will be shown in the Edge Theatre. The exhibit will be in the Gallery, next to the Bigfork School, from July 30 until August 29. It is open from 10:00 to 4:00 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Elizabeth Blair (below) began shooting her Bog Tapestries series in 2009. Each of Elizabeth’s digital SLR macro photographs depicts just 3-5 square inches of surface water. In pools under the roots of cedar trees, the trees, bushes and plants that grow above cast reflections and contribute cones, needles, twigs and leaves to the colorful bog palette.  These images change continually, depending on the wind and weather, the season, the time of day, the temperature, the angle of the sun, and the color and texture of the sky and clouds above. Elizabeth's work might seem familiar to regular gallery visitors since she has exhibited in several Edge Juried shows in the past.

Where much of Elizabeth's photography work takes place, a sign at the Big Bog State Recreational Area (boardwalk below) Bogs are sometimes described as the last American wilderness. A bog is a wetland without forest cover dominated by living, peat-forming plants common in the northern counties of Minnesota. Big Bog State Recreation Area is located on Highway 72, just north of the town of Waskish in Northern Minnesota.

 

Blair explains, ”Most of my Bog Tapestry photographs were shot in one small cedar pool with a diameter of less than three feet.  The challenge with this photographic project is to depict the multi-layered effect of both reflections and the actual floating objects in the pool while rendering the composition as complex as nature intended and yet simple enough to be visually pleasing to viewers.”

Blair grew up in Roseau, MN, nine miles south of the Manitoba border. Her parents introduced her to Roseau County bogs at a young age.  Blair took up photography in 2009, and shortly thereafter, won a national nature photography fellowship.  In 2015, she was awarded a State Arts Board grant in photography for her Bog Tapestries body of work.

Elizabeth Blair is a SMSU (Southwest Minnesota State University) English Professor and has an interest for bogs and orchids (orchid wall at exhibit shown below).

According to an SMSU publication, she will tell you, that Minnesota has 43 different kinds of orchids (two shown below) and that the Big Bog State Recreation Area, in Koochiching County, is the largest bog area in the 48 contiguous states.

Her current projects are “…both my photography and on a book manuscript. The book is my memories about wild orchids, and my photography project is a series about bogs. It’s a great fit, as most of the orchids are in the bogs. I hope to illustrate the book when it’s finished with photographs from the bog series.”

Elizabeth Blair is a fiscal year 2015 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.  This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Above, from the exhibit show, some of Elizabeth's other work

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So for a very interesting and unique exhibit of photography visit the Edge Gallery in August. And for a “more than you might expect” try to see the exhibit opening reception of "Bog Tapestries: Elizabeth Blair Photography". The reception is from 5 to 7PM on Friday July 31st you will have a chance to meet the artist along with hearing a reading of double-voiced bog poetry by Susan Hawkinson and Loree Miltich.  Then at 6:00, a 30-minute documentary video, "Bogs, A Love Story", by Christine Baeumler, will be shown in the Edge Theatre. The Gallery, next to the Bigfork School, will have the Blair exhibit from July 30 until August 29 and it is open from 10:00 to 4:00 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The opening reception and gallery visits are at no charge.