October 2009: "Italian Spaces" - Photographs by Holly Smith Pedlosky

An exhibition of photographs titled “Italian Spaces” by West Falmouth resident Holly Smith Pedlosky is on display at the Maser Gallery at FCTV Community Television, 310 Dillingham Avenue, from October 4-29. RECEPTION: Sunday, October 11, 3 to 5 p.m.

A darkroom photographer for 35 years, Ms. Pedlosky formerly taught photography classes at Falmouth Academy. A convert to digital, she currently teaches all levels of digital photography at the Lesley Seminars at Lesley University in Venice, Italy for Northeastern University, and on Lake Como, Italy for the International Center of Photography.

“I embraced digital printing in its infancy as a solution to the tough problem of making accurate photographic prints from my color slides,” said Ms. Pedlosky. And a few years ago, she made the switch to shooting digitally as well.

Ms. Pedlosky’s panoramic images of “Italian Spaces” are a collection of her most recent work taken in Venice, the hills of Rome and on Lake Como. The images are making their debut at the Maser Gallery.

“I shoot multiple shots of each space that I want to interpret. Then using a software program, I stitch the shots together,” explains Ms. Pedlosky. “Panoramic photographs powerfully convey feelings about a space that are otherwise hard to describe. They invite the viewer to enter into the space and explore it.”

Venice is a second home for Ms. Pedlosky, husband Joe, a retired senior scientist at WHOI and their two daughters, Anna and Dove, who attended Venetian schools when the family lived in Venice.

In the fall of 2008, Ms. Pedlosky visited Frascati, a hill town near Rome, in search of the Villa Tortolonia. Over one hundred years ago at the Villa, portraits were painted of her great-great aunt, painter Jane Emmet and husband Wilfred DeGlehn, by their friend, American artist John Singer Sargent. Ms. Pedlosky eventually found the location where Villa once stood, after an afternoon search of hiking and crawling under fences. She photographed the spot from different camera angles; then, using her computer software, she created her panorama “Villa Torlonia, Frascati, 2008,” which is included in the exhibition.

Ms. Pedlosky’s work has been exhibited in Falmouth at the Cataumet Arts Center, Falmouth Academy, and Bellezza in Falmouth, among other venues. She has an international exhibition record. Ms. Pedlosky is a graduate of Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts; also, she holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from University of Colorado and a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibit Hours:
Sunday & Monday, 2-10 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10 – 10 p.m.
Friday, 10 – 6 p.m.