NOVEMBER 5, 2009 ISSUE
Nature Photography at Banner Elk’s Cheese House Gallery This Month
Gallery Reception Thursday
Constance Toops’ exhibit Seeing Through the Eye of a Hummingbird includes ultra-close views of flowers hummingbirds encounter in Western North Carolina.
By now, all the hummingbirds that spend summers in the mountains are long gone to points south. Over at the Avery Arts Council Cheese House Gallery, however, hummingbirds are everywhere to be seen on the large format photographs of Constance Toops, the featured artist for November.
Toops’ exhibit, Seeing Through the Eye of a Hummingbird, will be on display at the gallery through Monday, November 30. The Arts Council will host a reception on Thursday, November 5, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., and Toops will be on hand to answer questions. The public is welcome to attend.
Toops took her first pictures with a borrowed Argus film camera on a fourth grade school trip in 1961. Thus began her love affair with photography. While subsequently obtaining a natural resources degree at Ohio State University and working for the National Park Service, she honed her photographic skills, sharing images of wildlife and wild places with an ever-widening audience.
In 1978, Toops became a freelance photojournalist. She is the author/principal photographer of nine nature books and has published several thousand images—reflecting worldwide travels—in magazines, trade and textbooks, advertising, calendars and museum exhibits. She also appears widely as a speaker. Nearly a decade ago, Toops and husband Pat, a retired National Park Service biologist, purchased a mountainside farm in Madison County, where they now live.
The Toopses landscape with colorful native flower species that attract hummingbirds, songbirds and butterflies. In summer 2008, Toops wandered her garden with a small digital camera. On a whim, she mimicked hummingbird movements—targeting bright blossoms, zipping quickly between plants, exploring for secret nectar treasures. All images in this exhibit were captured within a few feet of Toops’ windows.
Seeing Through the Eye of a Hummingbird includesultra-close views of flowers hummingbirds encounter in Western North Carolina. Although Toops recorded the images digitally, she remained true to her principles of film photography. She did not use computer manipulation programs to alter, enhance or combine images. Prints and copies of Toops’ books are available for sale during the exhibition. Toops also has created a free flyer detailing how to attract hummingbirds to feeders.
The exhibit was funded in part by a Regional Artist Program Grant awarded in late 2008. These funds come from the Arts Councils of Avery, Buncombe, Madison and Toe River, with additional support from the North Carolina Arts Council. In thanks to the citizens of these counties, Toops’ exhibit has been touring the region for the past year.
The Cheese House Gallery is located at 630 Shawneehaw Avenue (Highway 184) in Banner Elk. The gallery is open from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Saturdays by appointment. For more information, call 828-898-4292 or click to www.averycountyartscouncil.org.
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