Saturday, June 15, 5-7p.m. —POULTNEY—Stone Valley Arts, 145 E. Main St., Poultney announces “Capturing Time: A Neil Rappaport Retrospective,” a major exhibition of the late Pawlet, Vermont based photographer. The show will cover Rappaport’s life’s work including portraits from the Pawlet Community Study, slate industry, farms, Vermont landscapes and rare photos from Comstock Prison where Rappaport taught photography. Additionally, hand-colored photos produced by Neil and his wife Suzanne will be on display. The show will be open until Sunday, Aug. 18. Curated by Chuck Helfer and Krista Rupe.
Rappaport was born in New York City in 1942. He graduated from Williams College with an English degree, but his life changed when he picked up a camera. Rappaport was a documentary photographer and he taught at Bennington College for 27 years from 1970-1997. He became obsessed with recording how life in the small rural town of Pawlet, where he was a long time resident, was changing. When he died suddenly in 1998, he left behind a treasure trove of images. He referred to his works as “biographies rather than essays.”
“Through Neil’s lens he tells the history of a community letting the photos paint personal stories,” said SVA Curator Krista Rupe.
“Neil’s rare ability to connect with people gives us a photographic time capsule into a Vermont community and way of life no longer present,” said Chuck Helfer, SVA curator.
SVA summer gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m.
For more information, contact: 646-526-6536 or krista.rupe@gmail.com.
