Lorraine Richey, Quarantine City Art

Sept. 27 – Nov. 5, 2021

Reception: October 14th 6-7 (calendar) via Zoom
The public is invited to join at this link: https://linnbenton.zoom.us/j/97161088209

South Santiam Hall Gallery
Linn-Benton Community College
6500 Pacific Blvd SW, Albany, Oregon
Mon-Fri 8-5
artgallery@linnbenton.eduMasks and COVID protocols enforced.

“Quarantine City Art” represents a personal journey for Portland artist Lorraine Richey, a creative journey she undertook in the midst of the pandemic to “think how all the photographs I made would all come together and tell a tale of my COVID-dodging life.”

Among the approximately 20 images in the show are the mystical multi-layered abstractions she is best known for, as well as several overlaid with documentary depictions of the tribulations of 2020, including the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland and the wild fires in the Cascades near Detroit.

Over the past 20 months she “could not stop making images,” she said. “I was driven by what I saw around me–the beautiful, ugly and in between–seeing people help those in need during a demonstration in Portland, to speaking with others about what was going on and photographing the paintings and graffiti that exploded in the city and environs.”

Richey grew up in Detroit, Mich., and moved to Oregon in 1982– “best move I ever made,” she said. Despite eye problems since childhood that continue to limit her vision to this day, she discovered that photography helped her to see the world on her own terms. After she bought a camera in her late teens, “my art life truly began,” she said. “People would ask: ‘With those eyes how can you be a photographer?’ You only need one eye to focus, I would reply.”

She earned a BFA in photography from Oregon State University, studying under Prof. Harrison Branch, and a Masters in photography from Indiana University before moving back to Portland. Over the past several years Richey has exhibited her work in the greater Portland area, as well as in Corvallis. She is a member of the Inner Light Society of Portland and the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild.

For further information, contact artgallery.linnbenton.edu.