The history exhibition, juried by Kevin Tully, was in the online gallery from December 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026. The juror selected seventy-seven images from nineteen artists for the exhibition. Louise Sayers’ After the rains received the Juror’s Award. Vicki Reed’s image Spring Break Memories received the Director’s Award. Jeff Schewe’s Last Gas received the Visitors’ Award.
Juror’s Statement
Before the camera, paintings were the accepted graphic representation of society’s history. Then a camera obscura machine came along, capturing much more of the reality of a scene, but only a snippet of it, and the image could be manipulated. The truth of a photograph has been widely debated. With the advent of Photoshop and now, Ai, our history machines birth a representation of society that, like an infant, can be nurtured and dressed and informed. Interestingly, current photographs can and have become more like the paintings of old — creations and graphic interpretations of history by the photographer/artist. Photography has reached back in time into the time of the primacy of painting.
Louise Sayer’s image, After the rains, that received my Juror’s Award, is a beautiful example of what I am talking about above. Has that scene ever really looked like that? The image captures the heart and the soul of the place without the need to attempt exact duplication, not unlike a Turner or Monet cityscape.
Vicki Reed’s image, Spring Break Memories, that received the Director’s Award, has wonderfully juxtaposed the past with the present, which is also the past, exemplifying the enigmatic nature of the history machine. Jason Parent with his image, Truth, has created something that did not exist in front of the history machine, that now possibly reveals more truth than when the shutter clicked? Han Jiang’s image, Silence, instead of just telling us something, is asking something of us. John Michael Pelech’s image, Twin Towers Still Standing For Me, reveals something that is gone, but because of his history machine never will be.
I want to thank all who entered for the thoughtful images, making my task enlightening and thought provoking.
Kevin Tully
May, 2026
Director’s Statement
I grew up wanting to be a history teacher, inspired by my love of history and a family of educators. Although I ultimately became a CPA, that appreciation for history remains and naturally connects with my interest in photography. Each time the shutter clicks, a moment of history is preserved.
For the Director’s Award, I selected Spring Break Memories by Vicki Reed, a project in which she rephotographed her parents’ travel slides at the same locations nearly 40 years later.
Honey J. Walker’s Memory of Trees, from the series Children of the Flower Moon, portrays a member of the Ethiopian Suri Tribe. The painted face echoes local foliage, allowing the subject to appear and dissolve back into the landscape.
Jeff Schewe’s Last Gas captures an abandoned gas station—the final stop before an 80‑mile journey across Death Valley.
Thank you to Kevin for selecting the exhibition, and to all who shared their history with us.
Amanda Smith
May, 2026