Beth Nardella Photographs on Display

The exhibition of work by photographer Beth Nardella titled "No End" will be on view in the Brooks Gallery of Fairmont State University's Wallman Hall from Sept. 5-28. An opening reception will be held from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5, in the gallery. The event is free and open to the public.

Regular gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For special arrangements, please call or e-mail gallery Curator Marian J. Hollinger at (304) 367-4300 or mhollinger@fairmontstate.edu.

Beth Nardella is both a writer and an artist, who has attained both undergraduate and graduate degrees in art and English. Her M.F.A. in photography is from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her master's degree in English is from West Virginia University. She currently teaches writing in the School of Health Sciences at WVU.

Nardella is not a "Sunday artist," for she works equally at her photography and her writing. Among her projects are book-length studies of scientists and photographic series. Her own words express best her themes and subject matter.

"My current work revolves around the theme of place," Nardella says. "As a native Appalachian, I, like many other locals, have an almost magnetic pull to home and the landscape nestled within these small mountains. At the same time, I am drawn to travel. Whenever I can, I leave West Virginia to photograph the empty courts and grubby streets of other places. The juxtaposition of palm trees or seascapes next to a grid of power lines or a simple white house emphasizes a sense of liminality while reinforcing the familiar, the safe. The images seem placid, but with misgiving.

"As an artist, I am interested in how people interact with their environment. In my photographs, I search for similarity in difference and beauty within a dirty streetscape. The piece, 'Papel Picado,' was inspired by the intricately cut paper banners that hang from the ceilings of homes and shops in Mexico. I wanted to recreate that overwhelming and welcoming feeling by stitching hundreds of smaller images together in the same informal hanging style. The photographs juxtapose local scenes from my personal life and common landscapes against foreign locations. I want to emphasize the contrasts and the connections.

"My photographs often depict empty spaces. I want this emptiness to resonate with a sense of something having been there, of someone, somewhere, having made an impression in the landscape. From stark and urban to lush and tropical, there is evidence of our having stepped into the scene."