Peter Stern: Land Beyond The Water

PETER STERN: LAND BEYOND THE WATER

Rosenberg Gallery

Tidal Sinew Accomack County, Virginia, 2014 digital aerial photograph 18” x 24”

Shoreline Angel Accomack County, Virginia, 2014 digital aerial photograph 18� x 24�

As a photographer and pilot living in Baltimore, Peter Stern seeks out and photographs the most unusual and visually compelling landscapes in the Mid-Atlantic, from the coalmining regions of Pennsylvania, to the forests, marshlands, and coastal areas of the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. His aim is to interpret these landscapes with his photography as one would with painting, where the combination of light, color, texture, and form becomes as important as the factual information presented in the photograph.

Winter Marsh 2 Accomack County, Virginia, 2014 digital aerial photograph 18� x 24�

Flying low and slowly over landscapes, Stern is able to study and interpret them with an intimacy that reflects his personal connection with the varied geographies he photographs. In these images, there also appears spiritual, animal, and human symbolism. They convey a sense of mysticism, often revealing their significance in subtle ways. The meaning of his images does not always uncover itself quickly to the viewer, but rather creates more of a meditation that draws the eye and the mind deeper into the structure and complexity of each image.

Fukuryu Luckdragon Accomack County, Virginia, 2014 digital aerial photograph 18” x 24”

Stern works primarily as an artist and has shown his work in various universities, institutions, and galleries throughout the region. His images are also environmental documentaries, and he has done aerial photography for several environmental organizations. In this series of photographs—all taken on a two-day photography mission on December 26 and 27, 2014—he presents the diverse, beautiful, and sometimes beguiling geography of the lower Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is a rich and diverse ecological area that has suffered from development and exploitation for centuries. These images also show the strength and resilience of coastal ecosystems, and how both the forces of nature and the efforts of environmental preservation groups have sustained and improved the health and vitality of these unique areas.

NOVEMBER 20, 2015 – JANUARY 22, 2016 OPENING RECEPTION

Thursday, December 17, 6-8 p.m.

Rosenberg Gallery GALLERY HOURS

DIRECTIONS

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Monday – Friday 410-337-6477

Baltimore Beltway, I-695, to exit 27A. Make first left onto campus.

The exhibit is free and open to the public.

The Rosenberg Gallery program is funded with the assistance of grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the state of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Baltimore County Commission on the Arts and Sciences.

COVER IMAGE: Tidal Figure, Accomack County, Virginia, 2014, digital aerial photograph, 18” x 24”

goucher.edu/rosenberg