“Improbable Beauty - the Art of Neglect and Decay” by artist Jim Ballard

“Vase with Flower” by Jim Ballard is one of the photographic images on metal being exhibited at the Edmonds Arts Festival Museum from August 1 – September 13, 2013.

The Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation is pleased to present the work of Edmonds artist and photographer Jim Ballard. The exhibit will open on Thursday, August 1st and continue through Friday, September 13th at the EAF Museum in the Frances Anderson Center.

The artist states, “By photographing subjects that aren't immediately recognizable, I hope the viewer will spend time just looking at the colors, lines, textures and shapes within each photograph. Each image is a kind of microcosm --a miniature world -- that when carefully viewed can offer multiple interpretations. There is no one, singular, unambiguous way of seeing the world. It is always the magical interplay between what our mind interprets and what our eyes take in.”

Ballard has written and published over a hundred articles and photo-essays that have appeared in Popular Photography, Petersen’s Photographic, Popular Mechanics, Field / Stream and many other national magazines and newspapers. In 1988, his book “Handbook for Star Trackers – Making and Using Star Tracking Camera Platforms” was published by Sky Publishing Corporation. For over twenty years Ballard has been a professional stock photographer for numerous stock agencies and is presently supplying photos to Getty Image.

Retired from 26 years teaching college level photography classes, Ballard has found a variety of ways to continue enriching the art community. In November 1992, he and Richard Hestekind were commissioned to create the granite stage and monolithic granite figures at the Meadowdale Playfield. That work was dedicated in August of 1993. Ballard also created a Braille and embossing book for the students of the Louis Braille School and this summer provided stone carving instruction for the Vision Loss Connections group of eight adults who are blind or visually impaired at the Cascadian Center of Camp Brotherhood near Arlington, Washington. Both the Braille and embossing book and the stone carving instruction received funding assistance from the Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation Community Grant Program.

The EAF Museum is located in the Frances Anderson Center, Main Entrance - 700 Main St, Edmonds. Gallery Hours: Mon – Fri 9 to 7, Sat – 10 to 1. For information call 425-771-1984.

More information about the programs of the EAF Foundation.