Village Gallery features landscape photographer Grazina Wade

The Village Gallery of Local Artists will feature photographer Grazina Wade during the month of September. A reception will be held at the gallery in her honor on Sept. 1, 5-8 p.m.

For most of her career, Wade has covered topics related to nature. She has been a Village Gallery member artist since 2012, and has produced several landscape portfolios over the last three decades. Her work has been in gallery exhibitions in Sedona, Flagstaff, Scottsdale, Boston, Connecticut, New York, Chicago, and Lithuania. Grazina studied photography at Tufts/Boston Museum School in Boston where she was inspired by the works of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Stieglitz and Paul Strand.

Wade was born in Boston to Lithuanian parents who immigrated to the US after WWII, and grew up with stories and myths from that culture. The legend of the Fern Blossom made a particularly deep impression on her. The story goes; on the

night of the Summer Solstice, if you wander alone, deep into the woods seeking the fern flower and happen upon the rare sight of the fern in bloom (rare, because ferns don’t bloom) then you will be endowed with the ability to understand the language of birds and animals and with special insight and knowledge of the deeper workings of nature.

After earning a BFA in college, Wade made a quest to the Southwest. She went to Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, where Timothy O’Sullivan and Ansel Adams photographed the White House Ruins. She explored the desert, visiting Indian ruins and petroglyph sites. She was fortunate to be invited to a Hopi pueblo to experience a Kachina Dance.

This was an overwhelming experience, which made her grandparent’s stories come to life. Wade saw for herself the spiritual connections people have when they live within nature, rather than seeing their lives as separate from it.

At this pivotal point Wade’s photography grew beyond the technical and the artist in her blossomed. When Wade goes out on photo shoots, her purpose is to look for the moment in the environment where the light, color and atmosphere come together to reflect the power and the mystery of nature. Wade explains, “Nature is a doorway into another reality, an internal reality that we get to confront if we choose to step through.” Wade’s landscape photography captures many openings in rock cliffs, pathways, reflections and horizons that draw the eye and invite the viewer to come on in and experience the world beyond the mundane and ask what’s on the other side.

The Village Gallery will host a reception on Friday, September 1st from 5-8pm for Grazina Wade with refreshments. The public is invited to come and meet Wade and other member artists of the gallery. The gallery is always accepting membership applications for local artists to join the community.

The Village Gallery is located at 6512 State Route 179 in the Village of Oak Creek and is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, go to sedonalocalartists.com or phone 928-284-1416.

Information provided by Village Gallery of Local Artists.