Richard Orton and Mary Fogel

Poem Images and Other Work: a retrospective exhibit of photographs by Richard Orton with poet Mary Fogel exploring the synchronicity between the art forms of photography and poetry.

Nacogdoches photographer Richard Orton will present images he made over several decades during his travels nationally and internationally. Ten of the images in the exhibit inspired Mary Fogel to write poems, and the poem is printed with the image that inspired it. The Falling Star Gallery @ Nacogdoches Arts Collaborative, 415 Fredonia Street, Suite 306, will mount the exhibit. An opening reception will occur on Saturday, March 22nd, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The ten “poem images” include a photograph of a spiral staircase designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in a Chicago building, a float of the Virgin Mary in a procession in Cardoba, Spain carried by a dozen or more men, and two images from Hué, the old imperial capital of Viet Nam.

Orton views the world as a “document” to be recorded in all its diversity, whether it be the ruins of an abandoned arms manufacturing plant near Caddo Lake in northeast Texas, traditional processions in Spain during Holy Week, or heritage sites in Viet Nam. Photographs are in both color and black and white, including several made with an infrared camera.

After Orton met Mary Fogel about a year ago, she took an interest in his photography and started writing short poems inspired by them. According to Fogel, “they just ‘fly in’ and I write them down.” Their collaboration will continue with the creation of a book of poem images.

Previously Orton spent 25 years documenting the freedom colony of County Line in northwest Nacogdoches County. This resulted in the publication of his award-winning book, The Upshaws of County Line: An American Family, by the University of North Texas Press in 2014. The book led to a traveling exhibit created by the School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University. Orton is nearing completion of a documentary film featuring several freedom colonies in East Texas.

Mary Fogel has lived in Austin, Texas since 1982. She is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and worked many years for Travis County as a guardian ad litem representing children in contested divorce cases before retiring. She began writing poetry about 20 years ago as a form of self-therapy and only in the last year has she been sharing her work.

Poem Images and Other Work by Richard Orton with poems by Mary Fogel, opening reception from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Falling Star Gallery @ Nacogdoches Arts Collaborative, 415 North Fredonia Street inside Williamsburg Plaza. Gallery open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. through April 26th.

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For more information contact Richard Orton at rorton.mac@mac.com.Write your text here...