Pieces in Gwen Norton’s exhibition, “A Different Light,” hang in Strohl Art Center’s Arnold and Jill Bellowe Family Gallery Friday.
JENELL TAYLOR
Staff writer
After nearly 30 years in banking and finance, Gwen Norton decided that her tides had finally shifted. Drawn to the mystery between silence and presence, Norton chose a life of uncertain possibility in the art of photography.
Now, a collection of Norton’s photos are on display in “A Different Light: Landscapes by Gwen Norton,” her solo exhibition that opens from 3 to 5 p.m. today in the Arnold and Jill Bellowe Family Gallery of Strohl Art Center. Curated by Susan and John Turben Director of Chautauqua Visual Arts Galleries Judy Barie, the exhibition will be open through Aug. 25.
Barie said her interest was piqued by Norton’s keenness in capturing “natural beauty and coloration.” From a curatorial perspective, Barie admires Norton’s wide range of photo genres, noting her series of portraits, self-portraits, landscapes and peoples.
The exhibition features Norton’s works from Antarctica to Cape Cod, which exist together in a cohesion that highlights her fine-tuned technique and “draws the viewer in to look more closely and experience the subtle details of each piece,” Barie said.
Though her career in photography has only blossomed in recent years, Norton recalled constantly taking photos of her surroundings as a child, enthralled with capturing the life she saw around her.
“There’s pictures of my father with cameras and pictures of my grandfather with cameras,” she said. “Maybe it’s something genetic. I’ve seemed to have always had cameras in and out of my life as I grew up.”
Through rediscovering the aspects of photography that intrigued her — the stillness, the glimpses into memory, the creative freedom that knew no parameters — she’s since reignited that childhood joy, turning a small spark of curiosity into an undying flame of creative passion.
“When I was fully in banking many years ago, I really never thought of myself as creative,” she said. “It’s allowed me a way to actually express myself that I — at some point in my life — never thought I had.”
Norton hasn’t abandoned banking completely, as it is still a foundational aspect of who she is. She said she continues to serve on banking boards when she has the time, but as a dedicated career, she found that she simply wasn’t fulfilled. In search of uncharted waters, she applied and was accepted into the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where she has just completed her thesis year.
“I was the oldest person in my class,” she said. “It was very cool to see how other people were making work and approaching what their thoughts are. I’m a lifelong learner, and I don’t think I’ve hit a peak yet.”
Norton’s practice revolves around her unwavering commitment to resilience, and “A Different Light” is a physical manifestation of that commitment. It represents her devotion to understanding the inner workings of her mind and heart.
“[Photography] allows me to express myself in a way that I wouldn’t or couldn’t in other venues of my profession in the finance world,” she said. “There is a certain way of having to be that I don’t have to do with my photography.”
The landscape photos in the exhibition showcase Norton’s travels and use light and color as a means to emphasize the presence — and importance — of stillness. Glimmering reflections of a bleeding sunset in water capture a single, fleeting moment in time, an unaltered memory pulled from Norton’s mind and memorialized through her digital camera lens.
“The colors are essential to the story and not just a byproduct of a story,” she said. “And it’s important, too. If someone looks at [a photo] and sees themselves in it, the color puts them in that photo.”
In capturing the quiet isolation of her landscapes, Norton said she takes time to practice her own inner stillness. While alone with the serenity of the outside world, she said she learns to trust her thoughts and instincts; this is a process that strengthens her relationship with herself, washing away any need she might feel to perform for others.
“This is my work. It’s what I want to say and how I want to say it,” she said. “It’s all of my own choosing.”
Norton said her practice brings her to a meditation-like space where she feels the most centered and like herself. The result is a series of photographs that hold fragments of where her mind was at the time of capture, and her only consideration for viewers is that they take a moment to pause.
“Everybody sees work differently, so I won’t dictate how people should see it,” she said. “But when I go to a show, I try to spend time and see the details. I hope they get close.”
