October & November at the Bandon Library Art Gallery

“Translations” Photographs by Michael Miller; sculpture by Ken Ayers

Photographer Michael Miller begins with things like coral, a tomato, or even an ordinary screen door, and goes in close. The macro photograph is then manipulated to find a new and dynamic image that realizes his vision; he strives to find the beauty in unremarkable objects. The process is mysterious but surprising in its clarity. He seems to see what’s latent there, before he makes the photograph, and experiments with a wonderful freedom. His images are filled with light. Some compositions beg to be called surrealism, such as “Green Sphere.” I am so pleased to have Michael at Bandon Library Art Gallery for the first time.

The work in the cases harmonizes with Michael’s photograph. A selection of Ken Ayers’ sculptures return to the gallery. These bronzes all started with plant parts, but are not copies of them. Instead, Ken put disparate elements together—a leaf from this plant, a stem from another, seaweed, a pod, some twine, a bulb—to create otherworldly flowers and plants; plants that have more than a touch of the surreal about them. They are unnatural yet graceful, strange yet intriguing, and both familiar and unfamiliar simultaneously. They are beautiful.

The gallery is open during regular library hours, 1204 11th St. SW, in Bandon City Park. For more information about the gallery, visit the Bandon Library Friends and Foundation website, Bandonlff.org.

Article courtesy of Tracy Hodson, photo by Michael Miller.