“Woodruff Print Shop” by Bonnie Alberts, 2021, photographic illustration.
ABOUT THIS PIECE:
“One of my earliest photographic illustrations, it took several passes of the trolley before I got the exact composition I was looking for. I love how the trolley is just approaching the building leaving us a full view of the facade and porch, the lamp post, the trolley tracks and the overhead power lines, and I love how the shadows are dancing across the tracks and the street.
“Also important to this work is what the building represents. A modern-day replica of the Woodruff Print Shop that was built here in the 1820s, this is where the territory’s first newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette, was printed. It is an important part of Little Rock’s early history that is being kept alive by the Historic Arkansas Museum.”
ARTIST BIO:
An Arkansas transplant, Bonnie Alberts brings a unique perspective and a painterly eye to her photographic illustrations. Created with a digital camera and photo editing software, her designs are neither hand drawn, nor hand painted, but are evocative of urban sketches. Focusing on the built environment, she uses a very 21st century approach to create images that recall a simpler place and time.
Alberts has had a passion for photography since childhood when the gift of a box camera first exposed her to the beauty of solitary seascapes, rural landscapes, stark winter scenes, black and white photography and the joy of the dark room. Pulling a print out of the solution to hang dry and seeing it come to life was transformative.
A Navy veteran who built a 20-year career in high tech, Alberts’s passion for photography remained her faithful companion. After earning her degree in historic preservation, Alberts landed in Naples, Italy, where photography became an essential part of her new work as a travel writer and blogger. Capturing images that helped convey and promote the city’s 2,500 year storied history became increasingly important to her. Alberts’s writing and photography soon found their way into travel guides, magazines, blogs and websites, including the travel guide she designed, co-wrote and published, the “Napoli Unplugged Guide to Naples.”
Arriving back in the States shortly before COVID, Alberts began looking for a new form of expression. Over time she developed a process that is a fusion of photography and technology, is grounded in history and that is aimed at promoting cultural heritage. Today, her Arkansas Heritage Collection comprises more than 200 designs from around The Natural State.
See Alberts’s work on display at Blackberry Market through July 17, locally at Painted Tree, online at she-studios.com, on Facebook as She Studios and on Instagram at @shestudiosart.
View this post on Instagram