Columbia College to Feature Works by Contemporary Female Photographers:  
Linda Lee . Rebecca Rhees . Ginnie Saunders .  Rebecca Stockham

February 15 - March 15, 2007
Reception:  Thursday, February 22, 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 pm
Goodall Gallery
Spears Music/Art Center

The Department of Art at Columbia College will feature works by four contemporary female photographers: Linda Lee, Rebecca Rhees, Ginnie Saunders, and Rebecca Stockham. The exhibit will show a diverse range of media from photograms and tintypes to digital and film photography.
 
Linda Lee applies the technique of photograms, a process in which she places found objects on photo paper and then exposes them to light.  For Lee, “after some experimentation with plastic bottles I decided the technique had been far underrated.”  Her current body of work “is an invitation to experience objects on a purely aesthetic level…an unapologetic celebration of wonder” and when “isolated from their familiar contexts, the objects must be understood on their own terms, irrespective of function, origin, or culturally designated worth.”  Lee is currently pursuing a master’s degree in plant biology at the University of Georgia and has received her undergraduate degree in studio art from Columbia College.
 
Rebecca Rhees’s series, HOME, consists of black and white photos taken of decaying structures throughout the southeastern region of the United States. Each of the fragments were printed as a dry plate tintype and then collaged together to create an overall image.  The tintype process “begins with a blackened metal plate that is applied with a light sensitive emulsion and then exposed with a black and white image in the darkroom, and subsequently chemically processed.”  Rhees received her master’s degree in fine art from the University of South Carolina in 2004 and currently lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
 
Ginnie Saunders’ large botanical and architectural photographs mark a return to “fine art” roots through digital photography. For Saunders, the color of the flower isn’t as important as the sculptural form combined “with the quality of light and how it interacts with the bloom.” Saunders’ architectural images combine form, light, and composition with “the ambiguity of space and scale that occurs in the presence of huge reflective facades.”  Saunders is currently the owner and chief designer of Ginnie.com and has received her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York and a master’s in fine arts from the University of South Carolina.
 
Rebecca Stockham’s colorful, yet minimal abstracts are achieved by getting very close to her subject, thereby abstracting the image but capturing the details then printing the photo large so that “all of the detail can be seen clearly… transform[ing] the subject into something else.”  By not altering the image in any way, Stockham believes the photo is “as pure as the experience.”  Currently Stockham teaches in the A.R.M.E.S program at the Greenville Fine Arts Center and has received her undergraduate degree in studio art from Lander University and her master’s in fine arts from Virginia Commonwealth University.
 
The Columbia College Goodall Gallery is located in the Spears Music in downtown Columbia on North Main Street, 1301 Columbia College Drive. Gallery hours are Monday through Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.  


artist:  Linda Lee
title:  untitled
size:  8x10
medium:  photogram
date:  2006
 

Artist: Linda Lee
title:  untitled
size:  8x10
medium:  photogram
date:  2006
 

artist: Ginny Saunders
title Shaded Magnolia, No. 3
size: 36x24.
Medium: digital printed on 100% rag watercolor paper
Date: 2003
 

artist: Ginny Saunders
title: The Peak Tram Station, ticket kiosk - Hong Kong, China
size: 36x24.
Medium: digital printed on 100% rag watercolor paper
Date: 2004