“Marriage Wisdom” exhibit at the Gmeiner

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“Marriage Wisdom” exhibit at the Gmeiner

February 1 @ 2:00 pm - February 23 @ 6:00 pm

Image: Portrait of the Erways by Caleb Williams
“MARRIAGE WISDOM” EXHIBIT AT THE GMEINER

The Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center is pleased to announce the Main Gallery exhibit for February 2025, “Marriage Wisdom” featuring photographic portraits of local couples by Caleb Williams.

The exhibit will open on Saturday, February 1st with a reception from 2-4PM. The reception is free and open to the public, who are invited to come enjoy light refreshments provided by the Friday Club and to meet the artists. These images originally appeared in the Anniversary Couple of the Week contest hosted by the Wellsboro Gazette and many are accompanied by the couples advice for a long and happy marriage. This exhibit will remain on display until Sunday, February 23rd .

Throughout the month of February, guests who come to the Gmeiner and fill out an entry form will have a chance to win a beautiful handmade quilt as well. Caleb Williams is a 4 th generation resident of Wellsboro, PA who lives on a farm above the village of Round Top. He married the love of his life, Billie, in 1977, and their daughter, Annika was born in 1982. Caleb has been taking pictures since his high school days and during his college years he thought he would become a professional photographic artist. But he got bit by the “agriculture bug,” and started a dairy farm producing the first widely available organic cheese on the East Coast. Sadly, in 1986, a fire swept through the cheese house and dairy barn, melting nearly a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of cheese and putting that operation out of business. The Williams family then joined Camphill Village, in Copake, NY home to about 250 souls living in twenty houses on a six hundred acre Bio-dynamic farm, where about half the people living in the community have some kind of developmental difference. This social work became Caleb’s second career.

After a decade in Camphill Village, Caleb and Billie returned to Wellsboro, and Caleb decided to finally master his photographic craft with a business named Heritage Portrait Studio. He passed the exam to become a “Certified Professional Photographer” with the Professional Photographers of America. Within 5 years, he was asked to take on the presidency of the Professional Photographers Association of Pennsylvania (PPAofPA.org), where he was the first person to hold that position for two consecutive years. His images entered into professional print competition won many awards, and he was named “Photographer of the Year” by the Northeastern PA Professional Photographer’s Association several times during his membership time there.

The Anniversary Couple of the Week contest ran in the Wellsboro Gazette newspaper from 2010 until 2014. Each week, the longest married couple was honored with an in-home photo session, a short write-up in the paper, and a collection of prizes from local businesses. The winners were interviewed for a short write-up that went with their portrait in the paper, and one of the questions asked was, “What advice would you have for younger couples to remain married as long as you have?” Hence, we gave the exhibit the title, “Marriage Wisdom.”

In deciding which month to hold this exhibit, it HAD to be the romantic month of February! In all, around two hundred Tioga County couples were honored during the course of the contest. Portraiture was once considered a “higher” art form but that, in recent decades, has been relegated to the world of “less than.” Maybe because cameras are so prevalent in our world today? There is a difference, though, between our everyday selfies and the way that an artist can capture the spirit of a person at a particular place and time in their lives. We hope that this exhibit will bring back happy memories for the featured couples and their families, and will give the rest of us some insight into lasting love.

The Gmeiner is open from 12-6PM Tuesdays through Sundays and is located at 134 Main Street in Wellsboro behind the Green Free Library. Admission to the gallery is free.

Credits:
Writing: Caleb Williams and Carrie Heath
Photos: Caleb Williams

Details

Start:
February 1 @ 2:00 pm
End:
February 23 @ 6:00 pm
Event Category:
Website:
https://gmeinerartculturalcenter.org/upcoming-events/

Organizer

Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center
Phone
570-724-1917
Email
director@gmeinerartculturalcenter.org
View Organizer Website

Venue

Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center
134 Main St
Wellsboro, PA 16901 United States
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Phone
570-724-1917
View Venue Website