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Press Release for August, 2008 Exhibit
Addison Woolley Gallery


Portland, ME., July 19, 2008 -- From the urbane, to the beautiful, to the edge, five photographers, each with a unique vision, present their views of cities around the world in The Urban Eye during August at the Addison Woolley Gallery and Center for Photographic Inquiry. Some of the artists work in silver gelatin, some cibachrome, some digital and various combinations thereof.

Edwin Martin of Bangor has been a teacher of photography as well as a photojournalist and a collections curator. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Lilly Endowment. Since 2001 he has been working with the Bangor Museum of History making a collective portrait of Maine. His work is held in the collections of University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill library “Southern Collections”; the Museum of the City of New York and the New York Historical Society; and his photographs made while traveling with tent circuses have been widely published.

David Wade, who lived in Japan for twelve years before settling in Portland, is a man of many talents. He is a successful commercial photographer as well as a fine artist whose works reveal his wry eye and warm heart. His curiosity about life and the world around him knows no bounds. His published work includes two books; The World of Louisa May Alcott and The World of the Trapp Family; numerous travel articles, and magazine covers. He has had solo and group exhibitions in cities such as Tokyo, Boston and Portland. Wade’s knowledge of music and poetry is evident to Portland audiences each week when he hosts WMPG’s “Juke, Jive and Jazz”, as well as one Thursday night a month at Addison Woolley’s Jazz and Poetry Jam.

Ruth Sylmor, whose work has also been frequently published, is a member of the Bakery Photographic Collective. She lives half the year in Cape Elizabeth, Maine and the other half in Paris, France. Her training includes study at both The University of Southern Maine and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland. A traditional photographer, whose skill both with the camera and in the darkroom informs her silver gelatin prints, Sylmor is fond of saying that there are only two colors in photography, black and white. Her work, much of it featuring European cities, has been exhibited throughout Maine and in Paris and most recently seen at Addison Woolley, Daniel Kany Gallery and the University of New England Art Gallery. At present she is working on a comprehensive look at Venice.

Rene Braun, born in the Czech Republic, now lives in Windham with his family. When not working at his full time day job, he splits his time between family and photography. His passion for life compels the viewer in his powerful and evocative photographs that perfectly balance light and shadow with the immediacy of the moment. Ranging from tender compassion to raw emotion, he is not afraid to portray some of the edgiest sides of city life.

A native of the Netherlands, Jan Pieter van Voorst van Beest has resided in Maine since 1970 and began making photographs shortly thereafter. He studied at the, then, Portland College of Art, and with both Joyce Tenneson and Arnold Newman at the (former) Maine Photographic Workshops. He has exhibited in his native Netherlands and throughout Maine including the Bowdoin College Art Museum, The Art Gallery at the University of Southern Maine, The Art Gallery at the University of New England (where his work is included in the permanent collection) and at the Portland Museum of Art. He has published three books and been included in other published collections.

Addison Woolley is pleased to be exhibiting such a wealth of talent during August.

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