HCC professor to exhibit photography at school’s library

Sept. 2, 2016 |

One of Frank Ward's photographs from the exhibit: Shoe Tree, 2015.
Remidner Publications submitted photo

HOLYOKE – The Taber Art Gallery at Holyoke Community College will present “HeyLook Holyoke: 46 years of photographing Holyoke” by HCC professor Frank Ward Sept. 6 to 29.

Ward, a resident of Ashfield, is an award-winning photographer and professor of art at HCC, where he teaches photography.

“In 1970, I first learned how to make pictures in Holyoke,” Ward said in his artist’s statement. “Twenty years later, I exchanged my 35mm camera for an 8-by-10 inch view camera. My 1990 assignment was to make portraits for The Holyoke Project. Over those first 20 years of photography, I realized that I loved Holyoke and I wanted to photograph Holyoke one person at a time. Now, over 15 years later, I’ve expanded my pictures from one portrait at a time to one street at a time.”

There will be a reception Sept. 14, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a gallery talk beginning at noon and an evening reception Sept. 15, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Ward received a sabbatical for the spring 2016 semester to continue photographing and develop this show for HCC and Holyoke community. The title of the exhibit, “HeyLook,” is an anagram of Holyoke.

“I have seen that Holyoke offers a microcosm of the world,” Ward said. “With its historic architecture, Holyoke is my time machine. With its canals, Holyoke is my Venice. With its abandoned factories, Holyoke is my Detroit. With its people, Holyoke is my San Juan. And, after visiting Russia, Holyoke in the winter is my Siberia.”

Ward received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts and his master’s degree in fine arts from Bard College. He has received several awards for his photography of Holyoke and central Asia, including Tibet and Russia. In 1991, he received the National Endowment for the Arts/New England Foundation for the Arts Photography Grant for his work on El Proyecto Holyoke/The Holyoke Project. He has also won the ViewCamera Magazine first place award and a Polaroid Foundation grant for his pictures of Tibet. He was awarded a Rotary Foundation grant for photography in India. In 2011, Ward received a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist fellowship for his photography in the former Soviet Union.

The Taber Art Gallery is open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., during regular school sessions. It is free and open to the public and located through the HCC Campus Library lobby on the second floor of the HCC Donahue Building, 303 Homestead Ave., Holyoke.

For more information, please contact Amy Johnquest, director, Taber Art Gallery, at 552-2614.

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