The History or Story Behind My Site
Conkey's Book Store is host to a private collection of over 3500 photographs documenting the construction work taking place this spring 2002 in Downtown Appleton, WI. In addition to albums of the photographs on display, hand-made, limited edition sets of postcards are available for purchase. The July exhibit, The Viewfinder: A New Avenue, features artful prints from the collection of photographs taken during April and May by Carol Beaver, an employee of Conkey's .
Since April 20th, artful subjects have appeared on the Avenue daily. These unintended products of interactions between mankind and nature, abstract yet beautiful, immediately lend themselves to the camera's viewing screen. Coincidentally, the resulting 4 x 6 inch photographic prints make nice post cards. The post cards are intended to humor downtown customers who might be inconvenienced during the construction project when street access is restricted. Hopefully, customers will find the exhibit entertaining as well. Prints, photo travel mugs, and other items featuring reconstruction elements, as well as some of the exhibit pieces themselves, will be available for purchase.
Carol Beaver is an amateur photographer with very little formal training; she has been using a 35mm, single lens reflex (SLR) camera for about one year. She has always enjoyed taking snapshots and giving them away but the close-up, telephoto, and wide angle lenses available with an SLR camera empowers her artistically. She has a great appreciation for still life and, at present, simply wants her pictures to look like the image she sees before putting the camera in front of her. Carol works in order entry and retail sales at Conkey's and likes the home grown environment. Books, cards, gifts, and gourmet coffee are great fun and the customers are happy.
Celebrate the exhibit with a visit to Conkey's at Between the Pages Cafe and Espresso Bar, located inside Conkey's Book Store, 226 East College Avenue, Downtown Appleton, WI, 920-735-6223, 800-279-4623. There are 2 easily accessible entrances at the rear of the store from Johnston Street.

Others
This is a review from a friend:
An onlooker wryly pronounced this project as "making a silk purse out of a sow's ear!" but that was merely the first day, April 20, that Carol Beaver began taking photos. What her eye sought out with that first look through her camera's viewfinder has upheavaled into a mountain of incredible tapestries woven of Carol's unique vision of the mundane & gritty world of street construction. The sheer number of images in their present 4 X 6" format placed next to each other would cover an a 20' X 60' area-- and this area continues to grow as Carol pursues her vision. Following her eye through the weeks, the days, the little visions that make up each individual day, the artists' psyche unfolds with amazing richness. One feels priviledged to be allowed to see this world through this artist's unique eye. Perhaps because we are an ordered image trained society--we like our films, our slide shows--we like seeing this work as a tale from end to end, image folllowing upon image, from start to end.

And then we want to see it all over again, from the beginning.

Check out the under-construction slide show teaser Coming Soon...

Email Me but you must be VERY patient
cbeaver60@hotmail.com

You can find Mister Carol's artwork here:
East End Gallery: Always Out Of The Ordinary (Since 2002)