Photojournalist to be featured at UMPI’s Reed Art Gallery

    PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – The University of Maine at Presque Isle will bring Thoreau’s Wabanaki Trail to campus when it features the works of freelance photojournalist Bridget Besaw in October.     “Wildness Within, Wildness Without: Exploring Maine’s Thoreau – Wabanaki Trail” will be on display in the Reed Art Gallery from Oct. 7 to Nov. 28. Besaw will be on campus for the opening reception at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 7.
This exhibition is a photographic documentation of the routes traveled by Henry David Thoreau and his Penobscot guides a century and a half ago and of the ways which people retrace those paths and routes today.
According to Sandra Huck, director of the gallery, Besaw envisioned the importance of this project more than two years ago and convinced several individuals and organizations to support its development – including the publication of an accompanying text.
The project, Huck said, was the perfect opportunity for Besaw to combine her love of the outdoors with her desire to be an active member of her community, to use her art to tell a story she cares about deeply – the preservation and protection of our wild lands.
As Thoreau wrote 150 years ago, “there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which if we unconsciously yield to . . . will direct us aright.”
Besaw is a freelance photojournalist who has won numerous awards. Come to meet the artist and enjoy light refreshments.
The public is invited to view Besaw’s show and attend her reception. Light refreshments will be served. Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The gallery is closed Sundays and university holidays.