Rich Bergeman and Kurt Norlin, From Fire and Light

June 24 through Aug. 5, 2022
Artists reception Friday July 15, 5:30-8pm

The Rogue Gallery & Art Center
40 S. Bartlett St., Medford, OR
541-772-8118
www.roguegallery.org
Open 10am-5pm Tuesday through Friday; 11am-3pm Saturday

Long-time Oregon photographers Rich Bergeman and Kurt Norlin are teaming up for an exhibit at the Rogue Gallery in downtown Medford called “From Fire and Light” from June 24 to Aug. 5.

A reception is planned for Friday, July 15, from 5:30 to 8pm.

The two photographers have been friends and colleagues for more than 30 years, although their photographic styles have evolved in different directions over time. Both taught photography at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, OR, from the 1980s until each retired about 15 years ago.

Norlin, a resident of Albany, will be showing a collection of abstract black-and-white and color images created over the past five years that evoke a spiritual connection with the land. Norlin photographs with his iPhone, skillfully employing a technique called ICM, or intentional camera movement, to create impressionistic images. “This has allowed me to use the camera in a fluid way to create images that have more to do with incorporating time, movement and impressions rather than descriptive fact,” Norlin explains.

Bergeman, who lives in nearby Corvallis, is showing a body of work begun during the pandemic that explores the expressionistic patterns created by clouds when photographed with an infrared camera.

“While my so-called ‘travels’ were restricted to walking around the neighborhood, I began to admire the high, feathery cirrus clouds overhead,” Bergeman recalls. “I discovered that when photographed in infrared, I could isolate these sometimes faint patterns against a pitch-black sky and dramatize their shapes, lines and movement.”

Photographer Kurt Norlin grew up in a family of artists. He earned a Master of Arts degree from Central Washington University in 1974, and a second Masters at the University of Oregon. He has served as a photography instructor for Oregon State University, Linn-Benton Community College and the University of Oregon Malheur Workshops, and for several years curated the art galleries at LBCC.

A retired instructor of photography and journalism at LBCC, Bergeman has been exhibiting his photography throughout the Northwest since the 1980s. Originally a large-format film photographer and darkroom printer in silver and platinum, he currently works primarily with digital infrared cameras and archival pigment printers.