The following article is written by Diana Bolander, Assistant Director and Curator at the Rahr-West Art Museum.
A new exhibit at the Rahr-West art Museum. Ann Barbeau: Photography features the digital photographs of local resident Ann Barbeau and her love of Manitowoc. Although Barbeau has traveled all along the shores of Lake Michigan, she finds the beaches and wildlife here in Manitowoc to be superior, especially the views along Mariner’s Trail. Ann says of her work, “It is important to me that Manitowoc is seen in a different, unusual way, more than it has ever been before. The history of Manitowoc and the businesses that moved all different people is amazing. To be a small part of the new vision of Manitowoc and watch our future grow is absolutely an honor.”
Growing up, Ann’s father and eldest brother both engaged in creative pursuits which introduced her to finding beauty in the natural world early on. Her father tied intricate fly-fishing ties and her brother was a wildlife painter featured on postage stamps. Ann lives an artful life with her husband and two boys, including daily expeditions to the beach to take photographs at sunrise, making jewelry out of beach glass and driftwood, gardening, and creating garden art.
One of the first things visitors will encounter in this exhibit is the saturation of deep color against the museum’s neutral beige walls. Viewers won’t be surprised that Ann Barbeau’s passion for photography is rooted in capturing the sunrise. Almost every day she ventures from her home in Manitowoc at dawn to capture the amazing color effects produced by the sunrise over Lake Michigan. She notes the lake’s “many beautiful sides and interesting weather phenomena,” in capturing her attention and speaks of capturing how the “waves paint the beach with colorful reflections.”
Curator Diana Bolander believes “this exhibit is a wonderful opportunity to feature photography… something we don’t have lots of examples of within the museum’s collections. Photography is quite appealing and accessible to people who might otherwise not see themselves as connecting with the visual arts on a daily basis.” People today are often inspired to capture a moment of time in a photograph. “I think the impulse to trap and capture the fleeting beauty of nature is one many people can understand,” says Bolander.
The subject matter will also be familiar to residents of Manitowoc, as most of Ann’s photographs are taken at public parks like Mariner’s Trail, Red Arrow Park, and Lower Schuette Park. Her images in this exhibit focus on four subjects: a walk along the shore, details from the forest, beach ice, and the sunrise. For visitors outside the area, the Museum has developed a specialized interactive map of the locations where Ann frequently goes to photograph the beauty of Manitowoc. This allows visitors to the exhibit to easily access the sites after they enjoy the photography.
google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1TPCzAWRFH_PcMwrzm2pYhlSIFJ7-bRPc&usp=sharing
Art historians tend to sort photographers into a few camps, such as straight, abstract, documentary, and street photograph. Straight photograph refers to direct photography devoid of trickery (for examples, the sharp focus and full tonal range of a mountain scene by Ansel Adams) while abstract photography places a greater emphasis on the formal elements of the photograph rather than the subject (such as Paul Strand’s photographic studies of shadows and wheel spokes). Barbeau’s photography lives in a space between straight and abstract photography. Her subjects are all recognizable though she manipulates the images in some ways to enhance her message.
Ann Barbeau: Photography will be on exhibit at the Rahr-West Art Museum through July 3, 2021. Admission is free and the museum is open from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Tuesday through Fridays and 11:00 am – 4:00 pm on weekends. See www.rahrwestartmuseum.org for more information.