"Click!...and comments" is a wild and wonderful photo exhibit to showcase the work done by members of the North Coast Photographers' Group as well as other Gualala Art Center members.

The "Comment" sessions will not be available to the public, but are valued feedback for each photographer who wants to participate. Marion Patterson, Siegfried Matull and Kent Porter will be commenting and discussing the work with each photographer.

While stopping by the office of the Art Center, Barbara Pratt, was slowed down long enough to ask about the "comments" part of the show.

"As curator of the Click! exhibit, I have preferred to have a non-judged exhibit. I felt this would give people a chance to experiment and maybe show something different than if they were being judged. Showing photography as sculpture opens your mind, lets you go new places. Digital photography has opened many new doors. I loved working with film, but it was a bit too expensive to do the things I wanted to do. I'm sure many photographers now feel a freedom they haven't had in the past."

Marion Patterson worked extensively with Ansel Adams, and has taught photography at several California colleges. She continues to teach through the University of California Extension Program in Santa Cruz. She has had major solo exhibits of her work in the United States, Germany, The Netherlands, and Mexico. Her book, Grains of Sand, is well known.

Siegfried Matull is widely known in wildlife photography circles and is frequently invited to judge exhibitions and other international competitions. Widely traveled, Siegfried has become a top photographer across many subjects. Recently, he swept honors for photographs, with ten winners in the Outdoor California photo contests.

Kent Porter has been with the Press Democrat since 1987. For the past 18 years we have enjoyed his photographs of riots, earthquakes, Super Bowls, World Series, oil spills and many varied events that affect residents of the north coast. He's won numerous awards for his work. In his off time he pursues storm photography and you can view these images at www.stormimage.com.

When asked about how this show came to be, Barbara answered,

"This is the second year for the Click! exhibit. Last year C.E. Brown asked me if I would be interested in putting together a photography exhibit in the foyer. Looking back I'm sure she thought I would just find a few people to put up a few local landscape images. Well, I knew there was a wealth of really good photography being done locally, so we filled the foyer. It was exciting!"

The Click! exhibit shows everything that is being done with photography. Along with the traditional wall art the show will present photographers who are using their images for all types of projects and art from fabric to sculpture to self-published books, cards, stationery, and posters. As with last year, there are some very innovative sculpture pieces using photography.

Gualala Arts Center is located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, and is open from 9 am to 4 pm weekdays, and weekends from noon to 4 p.m. Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information.