Middle-schoolers document Etowah’s summer in ‘My Community: My World’

A reception tonight, Oct. 20, in Etowah, Tenn., will honor the young photographers in the latest exhibition at the Etowah Arts Commission office, home to the Nancy Cantrell Dender Gallery.

“My Community: My World” reveals the summer of 2016 in Etowah as documented by area middle-school children.

The entire project spanned two years. The first year was dedicated to providing a series of photography workshops for adult learners. The second phase of the project brought together 16 teacher-selected, middle-school students from diverse neighborhoods in Etowah to work with five adult photography coaches to document daily life throughout the summer months.

Humanities consultant and guest curator Andee Rudloff of Bowling Green, Ky., provided the context for the overall narrative the children developed with their photographs. The goal of the multigenerational project was to promote an understanding of the diversity and commonalities in the Etowah area.

Each student was provided with a digital camera and memory card. Meetings of the students and adult coaches were held biweekly throughout the summer so the children could review each other’s work and the coaches could make suggestions or answer questions. Creative exercises were introduced to help the young photographers learn to discuss their work, positively critique each other’s work and feel empowered to capture what they felt was important, even though it might have seemed ordinary to others.

Three images from each student were chosen at the end of the summer by Rudloff and the coaches to be enlarged, matted and framed for the exhibit. Those images will also appear in a catalog produced to accompany the exhibit.

The submitted and chosen images include a wide variety of subject matter – from nature scenes to historic buildings, from storefronts to farms, from backyards to public spaces, from still lifes to people engaged in everyday activities.

“This exhibit truly represents how our children perceive the everyday in our community,” Pat Armstrong, director of the Etowah Arts Commission, says in a news release.

“My Community: My World” will remain on view through Friday, Jan. 6. Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.