electric city/diamond city’s bi-monthly gallery tour
BY ALICIA GREGA
Stories and truths at the Afa Gallery
A journalist, non-fiction author, and most recently novelist, as well as a fine art and commercial photographer, Sally Wiener Grotta finds each one of her pursuits can be traced back to a story asking to be told.
“I see stories everywhere, in small, intimate details: a nuanced gesture, a half smile, a tender touch. My abiding goal is to move slowly through the moment, so that I may discover and capture these visual narratives,” she writes in her artist’s statement, futher offering that the images take on greater truths as each viewer brings his or her own interpretation to play.
A colleciton of recent photographs by Grotta will be displayed this month at the Afa Gallery in Scranton as part of a two-person show entitled Visual Truths. Candid street shots by New York City-based freelance photojournalist Niko J. Kallianiotis will also be exhibited. An opening reception will be held Friday from 6 to 9 p.m.
Kallianiotis likewise sports an editorial background. He entered his career with an understanding that all contained in a documentary image was truth but has, with experience, come to understand that “the personal, social, and artistic worldview of the photographer” lies behind every photograph and often “determines, even in a flash, the visual outcome.” In a release for the exhibition, he offers a quote from Richard Avedon: “There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them are the truth.”
Visual Truths will remain on display through Jan. 28. Normal gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. The Afa Gallery is located at 514 Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton. Visit the artists online at www.grotta.net and www.nikokallianiotis.com or call the gallery at 969-1040 for more information.
Take time to see the small side
In our society that values “big picture” CEOs over the “detail-oriented” contributions of their secretaries, taking the time to take a closer look at things and reconsider our first impression can seem like a waste.
Swoyersville-based photographer Crystal Wightman hopes her macro-oriented scenes might lead viewers to reconsider such haste. An exhibition of landscape, wildlife and macro photographs by the artist is on display at the Widmann Gallery at King’s College Jan. 9 through Feb. 23 in “The Small Side of Life.”
“My passion is for photographing the small side of life,” Wightman offers via press release. “Through my eyes, I hope you will see the beauty that you may pass by every day.”
Although the show is the artist’s first solo outing, her work has previously been seen at Inner Peace Wellness Center in Wilkes-Barre, Wild Birds Unlimited of Dallas, and most recently at the new Art SEEN Gallery in Pittston. Visit www.crystalwightman.com to view an online portfolio of Wightman’s work.
The artist will visit the gallery to discuss her images in person on Friday, Jan. 20 during a special reception from 6 to 8 p.m. The Widmann Gallery is located in the Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center, between North Franklin and Main streets. Normal gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday or on Saturday and Sunday by appointment. Call 208-5900, x5328.
Opening reception for Mroz, Jan. 6
A varied collection of glass, metal and mixed-media sculpture by Keystone College alumnus Matthew Mroz, like “Tentacle” seen to the right, will be on display at New Visions Studio & Gallery on Vine Street in Scranton this month, along with an international traveling photography show, Art in an Instant: Death of Polaroid. His work has previously been seen as part of a graduate exhibition at Lizza Studios in Tunkhannock and at the Afa Gallery in Scranton. Although there is no official First Friday Scranton art walk this month, New Visions will hold an opening reception with many of the artists from 5 until 9 p.m. on Friday. Normal gallery hours are noon until 6 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. The exhibitions will remain on display through Jan. 27. Visit www.newvisionsstudio.com or call 878-3970.
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