VOCATION*TOOL*HOBBY*ART:
4 GENERATIONS EXPLORE PHOTOGRAPHY

December 1-31, 2013
Opening: Friday, Dec 6, 6-9pm

VOCATION*TOOL*HOBBY*ART: 4 GENERATIONS EXPLORE PHOTOGRAPHY
Featuring: John C. Thompson, Arthur Allie, Glennon Argenbright, John D. Allie, Renee Allie

John C. Thompson, my great-grandfather was an early commercial photographer; his friend, Arthur Allie was a landscape painter who had studied in the “Ash Can” school along with Edward Hopper. Arthur Allie eventually married John Thompson’s daughter, Marjorie Thompson and started taking pictures of his family life and as studies for his paintings. His son, my father, John D. Allie (born 1920) also took photos of his family and life and as a tool in his commercial artwork. My mother’s father, Glennon Argenbright dabbled in documentary photography and even took some interesting shots while in boot camp during WW1.

When I was 14 my father built a darkroom at home and taught me what he knew about photography. Over the years I collected what was left of the negatives from all of the photographers that came before me; they are all sizes, some are large, some medium-format, some are 3mm and some are glass-plates. Four generations of my family used photography as a vocation, a tool, a hobby and as an art form, some of us used it in multiple ways switching from one use to another over the years. All prints in the show will be black & white; when possible I will print silver gelatin from the negatives, others will be scanned and digitally printed. Photographers will be identified and put in historic and genealogical context. – Renee Allie