Photographs, quotes, thoughts and trees by Julie Walton Shaver, a lifestyle photographer based in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut


Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 01 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    She’s got the whole world, obviously, in her hands, but what I see is, “She’s got a whole world of opportunity ahead of her as she leaves the middle ground and heads off to high school.” To me, this piece represents the transition from childhood to young adulthood, as displayed at the Edgar Art Gallery last Sunday.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 05 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    The organizers of the gallery insured that every student displayed a work of art. Everything on the long display in the middle of the gallery was interesting, but I love the bright colors in the featured art in my photograph.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 06 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    I’m not quite sure, functionally, what the blue sculpture is, but I like the colors and the shapes. It reminds me of Charlie Brown’s shirt, and I love Charlie Brown.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 07 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    I love music too, so of course I was drawn to this piece. Notice the big screen in the background of this shot. Included in the gallery was a slide show with a constant stream of photographs of art pieces the students had created. I love that!

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 08 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    “Let there be peace.” That one is really beautiful. I like how the artist incorporated letters, symbols, shapes and colors, all pieces of the puzzle in the complicated concept of world peace.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 09 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    My goal when I ducked into the gallery after it had closed was to take a few snapshots of items that were created by students the same age as my son, Brad. But I liked how the art was all mixed up with 5th grade art on the same boards as the 8th grade students’ work. That was a nice display because it was interesting to note how far the older students have come.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 10 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    Awesome!

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 12 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    “Let it rain!” Love the rain drops atop the mushroom.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 13 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    Being a bit of a tree fan, I rather like this painting.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 14 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    I’m not, however, a big fan of mice. I have a mousetrap on my desk at the Times because a mouse actually walked up to my hand once. Ew. But that’s a totally fun sculpture! Well done! It looks like you caught the bugger!

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 15 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    Corner shelves. I think somebody REALLY liked the one that was once displayed at the top left.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 16 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    The layers of shapes and colors drew me in, and I wanted to capture that feeling with my photograph. See how the straight lines lead to the colorful round balloons?

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 17 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    This piece was called “Roller Coaster.” I did this crazy motion blur thing in Photoshop because the background had a trash can in it. I hate trash cans. What do you think of my crazy photo illustration? Love it? Hate it? See, if I’d been REALLY smart, I would have just walked over and moved the trash can. Lesson learned. Probably would have been a lot faster than the layer masking and motion blurring, that’s for sure. As a photographic artist, I am always learning.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 18 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    I am drawn to the sculpture tables. I think it has something to do with the sparklies. I really like sparkly things.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 22 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    I was drawn by the sun, and then I thought, what is that red thing? I LOVE the color! I love the display of blue, red and yellow on the table too. This is the “Table of Unfinished Art.”

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 25 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    Obviously, I studied this red thing quite a lot. I was trying to figure out what it was, or what it was going to be once it was finished.

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 27 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    So I asked my husband, Mike, “What is that?”

    Instantly, he replied, “Sputnik!”

    Then he looked at it closely again, picked up the red balloon and said, . . .

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 30 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    . . . “Hmmmm.”

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 32 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    “Aha!”

City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography 053109 edgarart ss 35 Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery

    Hot air balloon!  

    It was at this point that I took note of the name on the little tag: “Bradley Shaver.”

    :D

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9 Responses to “Learning and Discovery at the Edgar Art Gallery”

  1. Joyce Browning says:

    The photographs of the students and their artwork is absolutely breath-taking. I was moved by their very beauty and what one can do with photographing images.
    Joyce Browning

  2. Frank Jones says:

    The photo’s are fabulous they really brought out the best in the kids work. Thank You! It is a joy to see.

  3. Jennifer Enchura says:

    I thought the kids works looked fabulous while they were creating them, then even better when displayed in the art show….but really…these Images are AMAZING! You not only captured but enhanced the beauty of the work! I love the roller coaster picture! And I have to tell you I actually saw Bradley strike the same pose as your husband in class!!!

  4. margie thomas says:

    I also loved what you did with the roller coaster, especially after seeing it in person. It is is a great effect. Did you get any shots of the shoes? They were awesome

    • Awww man, I didn’t shoot any of the shoes. They were all so cool that I figured the whole blog post would have been nothing but cool-looking arty shoes, so I didn’t shoot ANY of them. I now regret that decision because I agree — the shoes were awesome!

  5. Carolina Girl says:

    Just so you know…on the Roller Coaster photo…I LOVE IT!! The motion sets the mood and is sooo appropriate for a roller coaster. Great work here! :o ))

  6. Mary says:

    I’m very impressed with the creativity shown in these projects. The mouse one is great! And I’m also glad to see that art is encouraged and supported in the Metuchen school system.

  7. brad says:

    lol! u found my project! thts funny cuz i was using the basket as sputnik during art class one day.

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