Columbia art students meet with local artist Ellen Lynch at her gallery in Chatham.
On the blustery cold Sunday over Thanksgiving Break, nearly a dozen upper level art students from Columbia High School met their teachers Valerie Gordon and Andrea Neiman at the Ellen Lynch Gallery to meet the artist and tour her gallery.
Located on Main Street in Chatham, Ms. Lynch’s stunning photographs of trees, wildlife and equines lined the walls of the gallery for her “Touched by Light” photography exhibition.
Students toured the gallery and asked Ms. Lynch questions about her work. She enthusiastically shared anecdotes about her photographs and was impressed to hear that the students are learning darkroom skills and going through the arduous process of developing their own film and prints.
Ms. Lynch reviewed photographs that the students had taken, and was very complimentary of their work and the creative process behind it.
“This was a great learning experience!,” said sophomore Zedekiah Fermon. “Ms. Lynch shared her whole process with us. She described photographing an object multiple times, how she manipulates her photographs digitally, prints her own work, curates and advertises for her own shows. I enjoyed talking to her about composition and the differences between the digital process and film photography.”
After the event, Ms. Lynch sent an email to Mrs. Neiman and said: “Many, many thanks to you and your students for visiting the gallery yesterday. I loved the energy, openness and curiosity! You are all very fortunate to have each other in your lives, and I am grateful you all touched mine.”
The Art Department has made it a goal to strengthen community ties with district residents, colleges, business owners and artists.
“We hope opportunities like this will encourage our students to seek out and attend art show openings and exhibits,” said Mrs. Neiman. “We are fortunate to live in an area with such a thriving art community.”