Photo images from the heart
By Lele Galer, Columnist, The Times
Sara Bleemer is a local Chester County art photographer who has been taking photographic images for as long as she can remember, but as her children have grown older, she has been able to spend more time focusing on this artistic passion. For the past four years Sara has shown regularly in most of the local art shows and she has a very loyal following of collectors.
Sara enjoys digital photography because she knows that she “will take dozens or hundreds of shots and then get one that is just right.” How does she know which one is just right? Sara says “I don’t know what the right thing to photograph is, I try to see with my eyes and my heart. I look for the story.” You can see Sara’s sensitive heartfelt emotional response to each of her chosen subjects.
Drawn primarily to interesting natural phenomena, Sara always goes straight for the heart. Sara see hearts everywhere she goes, whether it be a formation of clouds in the sky or a small mound of sand washed by the waves. Sara recounts, “I have seen hearts on the beach, pressed into metal strips on doorways in Copenhagen, in the sky, in shadows, and carved into clay floor tiles in Poland. Some hearts are old and natural, revealed in stones as they wear down.
Some hearts are created by people, cut into metal birdhouses or formed out of clay, blown into glass, painted on walls. They are there to remind me (us) to love.” For such a sentimental storyteller, there is no better week to have a show than Valentine’s week.
Sara will be showing her work at Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery this Thursday February 6th from 5-9pm. These Thursday shows are open to the public and free admission. Proceeds from Galer Winery Pop-up shows benefit Chester County Art Associations new building Fund, but you certainly feel free to donate to this worthy cause directly at www.chestercountyarts.org.
This series of articles highight one local artist every week. Lele Galer is an artist who has chaired numerous art shows, taught art history and studio art, public art and has chaired, written and taught the Art in Action Art Appreciation series for the UCFD schools for the past 12 years. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and wrote for the Asociated Press in Rome. She has been dedicated to Art History and art education for most of her adult life. Lele and her husband Brad own Galer Estate Winery in Kennett Square and she is President of the Education Foundation and co-Chairs the CCAA’s New Building Campaign.