Photography on display for June at FMAAA

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Taiwan native to bring homeland to life in photos

BY BRIAN RIGGS
Fort Madison Area Arts Assocation

FORT MADISON - Ft. Madison Area Arts Association brings a fan favorite to new heights this month with Annual Photography Exhibition at 825 Avenue G. Connections Bank is the sponsor for this month’s feature. A reception will occur June 26thfrom 5-7pm. Also, an additional program will feature Ya-yun Cheng on Tuesday 30thfrom 5-7pm with a discussion regarding her Taiwan homeland. This gives folks the option of spreading out more for the program segment for the feature. New hours for FMAAA are Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 12-7pm.

Grace Bell of California has been photographing musicians for over 40 years. Her photos have been featured in newspapers, magazines, album covers and textbooks. She has documented numerous music festivals and concerts including the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, the Kool Jazz Festival, and the Long Beach Blues Festival. She served as still photographer with KPBS Television on their Jazz Clubdate series (1989-1992) and two specials: Three Generations of the Blues (women in 1983 and men in 1985). The photos in this exhibition are taken from some of the venues listed above.

Albert Fraune was born in March 1914 and died in October 1999.  After his return as a radar repairman in the Army, he returned to Ft. Madison.  He worked at Gleasons, Ajax Fence Company, Sante Fe Railroad, and Sheaffer Pen Company.  He never owned an automobile and was known for walking the town with camera in hand.  His portrait photography was spot on and the photos in the show are Ft. Madison circa 1952-1960.  The owner of the collection has 600 photos but they are on slides and must be converted.  Special thanks to Dodd’s Printing for helping reproduce the photos from Richard Bohenkamp’s collection.  Richard describes Albert, “If he liked you, he really liked you.  If not, he never would.”  This is kind of a “Who’s Waldo” as we hope community members can help identify the people depicted in the portraits.

“My name is Ya-yun Cheng, and I am from Taiwan. I went to school in Wisconsin in 1993 and received a MA degree in UW-Madison majoring in Applied Linguistics. After returning to Taiwan, I worked for an international trading company for about 19 years, during which I had opportunities to learn and deal with the business world. Now I have my own English classroom where I teach students mostly from 13 to 18. In the past decade, I grew very fond of the city New Orleans, and have been going back there whenever I have the chance. It was when I was accompanying and helping my friend Jerry Granaman take photos there that I developed an interest in photography myself. I know for sure I will take up photography now as it has given me a purpose in life. I am eager to show the world what a beautiful island my homeland is. We have not only all the amazing nature scenery to offer, we also have our own unique culture. I would very much like to introduce Taiwan to the world through the photos I take, via my eyes.”

exhibit, Fort Madison Area Arts Association, June exhibit, Pen City Current, photography, reception

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