Exhibitions

Dimbola Museum, Isle of Wight http://www.dimbola.co.uk/

Dimbola was the home of photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. I was intrigued to read that at the time Cameron was criticised in some quarters for a lack of focus in her images. Cameron apparently implied that it was creative use of soft focus – although she later admitted that some of the blur was due to errors on her part. Creative experimentation I guess! I expect the established world of photography at the time was somewhat put out by a mere woman muscling in on their profession. A pre-Raphaelite influence very evident -strong but not necessarily beautiful faces.

Also hosting ‘Portrait of an Island’ by Steve Blamire & Julian Winslow http://www.julianwinslow.com/portrait-of-an-island/
I loved this exhibition – a series of portraits of the cultural community on the Isle of Wight  eg artists, musicians, writers, sculptors etc. They are very staged portraits that use context and props to convey the various individuals’ creativity. Interestingly, I have also recently seen a book which presents a series of portraits of craftspeople here in Herefordshire. The images in the book are very much active portraits of the artists doing what they do – decent, informative photographs but with little aesthetic beauty in themselves. ‘Portrait of an Island’, however, is undoubtedly a fine art exhibition – would I not love one of those images on my wall!