"BEALL HIGH" - Solo Exhibition by Photographer, Ed DeWitt (back)
We all remember our last days of high school-- and can dig up dozens of photos of them-caps & gowns, grins for the camera, proud parents looking on. But how many of us have ever imagined, let alone possess photos, of our high school's last days?
And what of the former student who happens upon his old school as it faces the wrecking ball? How does he feel as he watches his happy haunts reduced to rubble?
Photographer Ed Dewitt, whose solo exhibition "Beall High" opens at the Arteco Gallery this Saturday, has brilliantly captured on film a story of just what it feels like to slip into the dilapidated old school buildings just hours before the doors are chained shut and the "No Trespassing" signs are posted.
It is right and proper that the photographer who has captured these images is one who recalls his high school days with great fondness; one who remembers the now endless dark hallways when they were noisy and full of life; the classroom, gym and cafeteria windows now broken, electric cords dangling, walls ripped and torn-as the site of happy times.
For all the destruction and debris, the story DeWitt tells is not that of his alma mater coming to a tragic end, the victim of violence. No. His body of work as presented in this exhibition is his memorial to the old Beall High School, his eulogy spoken on behalf of a beloved friend who is now gone.
But just as the story DeWitt tells is both appealing and compelling, so too is the artwork he has created. These photographs are well-conceived and stunning in their composition, color, line and pattern. A rusted metal beam etched with the names of students from long ago, dramatically diagonal; a bulldozer looming large, a prehistoric beast, lying in wait; a hole ripped out of a classroom wall, the shape of the African continent. A school turned inside-out and upside-down.
Particularly striking is DeWitt's juxtaposition of dark and light; bright orange and aqua plastic chairs, upended in the grey-brown mountain of demolished concrete block; the tired white brick walls of the school's back entrance framing double doors painted a beautiful indigo blue.
As DeWitt himself says: "When I look at the images I am reminded , first, what it was like to be a student at Beall-and everything emotional that came with high school; and, second, the feeling of walking through the empty, gutted building. How quiet it was. How lonely. How calm. But it wasn't sad, scary or even strange. It was a feeling of completion, a job well done."
An Opening Reception for the "Beall High" exhibition, free and open to the public, will be held during the Arts Walk from 5-8 pm. Saturday, September 8, at the Arteco Gallery. The Arteco Gallery is located at 60 Pershing Street in downtown Cumberland (across from the District Court and next to Merchant's Alley). The exhibition will remain at the Arteco Gallery through September 23. Gallery will be open Friday-Sunday 11 to 5 p.m. For information, contact Jerri Dell, owner/director, Arteco Gallery, 301-777-8888.