Long and McPhail photographs to be featured exhibit at the CAC
The Cultural Arts Center, 402 W. Main St. will feature the photographs of two Whitewater Arts Alliance board members from Aug. 10 to Sept. 8. The exhibit includes landscape, nature, and abstract photographs by Everett Long and Mark Lawrence McPhail.
The exhibit is free and open to the public each Thursday through Sunday from Aug. 10 to Sept. 8 from noon-5 p.m. An opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Saturday, Aug. 17 from 1-4 p.m.
Long is a Whitewater resident whose award-winning photographs have been featured regularly in exhibitions and competitions at the CAC, and McPhail is dean of the College of Arts and Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
“Our work is all about nature, and I believe that visitors will enjoy our two very different perspectives via our photographs as we each interpret and express the beauty and colors of nature,” said McPhail.
Mark Lawrence McPhail was born and raised in Cambridge, Mass., where he became interested in photography as a teenager. As an undergraduate he studied photography at Emerson College, in Boston, where two of his photographs were published in the Emerson Review.
During graduate school he worked part time as a photojournalist for the Campus Connection in Amherst, Mass., and later as a photographer and editorial consultant for Digital Equipment Corporation.
His photography has been featured in the academic journal Critical Studies in Mass Communication, and his work has been exhibited at the Mac Worthington Gallery, Columbus, Ohio, the Blue Heron Gallery, Liberty, Ind., at the Cerulean Gallery, Dallas, Texas, the McKinney Avenue Contemporary Gallery, Café Izmir, and the African American Museum, and at the Crossman Gallery, Roberta’s Gallery, Studio 84, First Citizen’s Bank, the SweetSpot, and the Cultural Arts Center in Whitewater.
Everett Long earned his undergraduate degree at a college in Arkansas, his master’s degree at the University of Arkansas, and his Ph.D. at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He and his wife Ellen met in Missouri when they were both teachers. Long taught at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for 31 years, and was chair of the history department for 22 years.
Having retired in 1996, he has travelled to many Elderhostel events, his camera in hand. In fact, his interest in photography really grew during an Elderhostel in northern Wisconsin, where he was with a group of people who had done photography most of their lives. They liked his work so very much and this encouraged him to pursue his talent.
The photograph, “Pond Scum on a Twig” was one of the photographs that the other Elderhostel photographers really enjoyed (the only thing his colleagues wanted changed was its title). The photo is a beautiful depiction, with the fall colors reflecting on the water.
Long has had two one person shows at Young Auditorium, a show at Double Dip Deli and at the SweetSpot, First Citizens Bank Gallery, Hoard Museum with other WAA members, and at the state WRAP show in Madison. Twice his individual photos have won prizes in the former Milwaukee Journal photo competitions.
Long enjoys being in the company of other photographers in nature. He has attended several photography workshops with professional photographers from Florida to New Brunswick, the Oregon coast, San Juan Mountains of Colorado, and the UP of Michigan. He says, “I work best when I’m with a group of photographers.” Photographs are not rushed, and he can spend hours in one area pursuing the best shots. It can take one frame or many frames to find that perfect shot.
For more information, call (262) 472-0204 or visit www.whitewaterarts.org.
