The Town of Barnstable announces the latest installment of its Artist Spotlight program, featuring the works of photographer Rachel Jones. From October 14 through December 31, 2024, Jones’ photography will be on display in the James H. Crocker, Jr. Hearing Room and the Selectmen’s Conference Room at Barnstable Town Hall. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Town Hall is open Monday through Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm (except State and Federal holidays) and is located at 367 Main Street, Hyannis. Free parking is available in the Town Hall public parking lot. Visitors are invited to enter through the front doors on the Hyannis Village Green entrance.
Artwork may be viewed virtually on the artsbarnstable.com website:
https://artsbarnstable.com/interests/galleries/town-hall-hearing-room-gallery/
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Rachel Jones is a fine art landscape photographer located on Cape Cod. Her photography shows the haunting beauty of Cape Cod, as well as its fragility. The area’s ecosystems are currently under heightened threat from over development and effects of the heating planet. These photos are a tribute to what we have now, and an invitation to do what we can to preserve it.
The camera allows Rachel to explore photographic art in creative ways to emphasize movement and continual change. Guided by the concept of equivalence her photography attempts to communicate the emotion of the experience. Through this gateway she is discovering a sense of quiet contentment that helps retrieve clarity amidst turbulence.
Rachel Jones was born in Utica, N.Y. to a small immigrant family of holocaust survivors, tilting her sensibility toward social justice. She lived most of her life in the NYC area, then moved to New England, residing on Cape Cod. With decades of experience as a nurse particularly during the AIDS pandemic and obtaining a doctorate in nursing to engage in research and practice of HIV prevention among women, her return to photography was like meeting a long-lost friend. Rachel is a juried fine art photographer at the Cape Cod Art Center and has exhibited there as well as in other locations.
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT:
- Moving Toward Insight: By the Sea of Cape Cod
For nearly a year, I observed and photographed the changing tides and moods at one setting along the sea of Cape Cod near where I live. The sea has traversed her ancient path through weather, changing tides, influence of the sun, the moon, the environment, to reach this setting at any point in time. These photos reflect a parallel to my emerging understanding of both the nature and complexity of change. Living four years with the effects of Long Covid, I have had to let go and experience change.
Photographs of turbulent waves during wind and storm, mirror the momentary anger and resistance I felt as my own relationship to Long Covid can be as stormy as hurricane winds. In contrast, images of momentary stillness of the water at sunrise and sunset, or quiet tides touching the shore, reflect moments of acceptance, even contentment and attunement with what is.
These images were created by long exposures and intentional camera movement to emphasize the light, movement, contrast, and shapes offered by the vivid color palate of the sea. These elements heightened a sense of vibrancy, strength, even agitation under conditions of stormy weather, or enriched a feeling of flowing stillness under a serenely quiet sea.
By the sea, I experience the yin and yang of dispiritedness alongside spirit, strength, and vibrancy, learning to be open to both, recognizing things never stay the same and witness to the endless tides of change.
- Dunes: Protectors of the Land
The dunes of Sandy Neck on Cape Cod are a panorama of textures, contrasts, and tonalities that emerge from white sands, sea grasses, and low-lying forests. As sand on the coastal margins is blown inland, vegetative species that have adapted to hot, dry, salty conditions protect and stabilize this mature barrier island. But, along the Cape coastline, the coastal erosion of sand cliffs has become more commonplace as they are battered by increasingly violent storms and rising seas. In their protection of the land, the dunes stand as glorious monuments. In creating this work, I was struck that such evocative otherworldly beauty can survive in the face of such harsh conditions.
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Each photo is an archival pigment print on Canson Infinity paper with archival matting and conservation clear glass. Please contact Rachel if interested in a photograph.
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ABOUT THE ARTWORK SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM:
Artist Spotlight is an initiative that showcases the talents of local artists by featuring their work on the meeting room walls, specifically the James H. Crocker, Jr. Hearing Room and the Selectmen’s Conference Room, 2nd floor in Barnstable Town Hall, 367 Main Street, Hyannis.
For more information on this program email melissa.chartrand@town.barnstable.ma.us
508-862-4767 l www.ArtsBarnstable.com
