BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Monroe Bank presents new photographs by the Bloomington Experimental Photographers: Patty Cole, Juliet Frey, Mary Hambly, and Trudy Kaufman. Their work will be exhibited from April 3, 2006 to July 8, 2006 in the Bank’s gallery space in the main branch at 210 East Kirkwood. Members of the public are invited to the opening reception on Thursday, April 6 from 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm in the Monroe Bank Art Gallery located in the Bank’s Main Office banking center at 210 East Kirkwood Avenue. Visitors can meet the artists and enjoy the live music, hors d’ouvres and refreshments.

The photographers have come together in the last several years to explore and exhibit new approaches and methods of expressing themselves on film. Each one has had an extensive and varied career in the arts and it is this multi-disciplinary view of their work that generates exciting new imagery.

Juliet Frey works primarily in the medium of digital photomontage, combining photographs, other artwork, and objects that are scanned into the computer to create complex images. She teaches digital photography in the Indiana University Division of Continuing Studies and is a board member of the Bloomington Photography Club. Her work has been exhibited in many venues including the John Waldron Arts Center and the Indiana University School of Fine Arts Gallery in Bloomington, ArtColumbus, and the Indianapolis Art Center. Frey explains her work in a deeply psychological way; “I'm interested in the ways we perceive and remember, and the effects of time on memory. Memories collect our original impressions, changing them and pressing them together over the years. Many of my images are attempts to reflect this process.”

Patty Cole is a graphic designer at Sunrise Greetings and has been taking photographs since the 1980's. She has exhibited in several galleries throughout Monroe and Brown County and been a long time member of the BPC. Her work in this exhibit will be mostly black and white images, some hand colored, of rural scenes taken in southern Monroe county, northern Lawrence county where she lives. She has stated her reasons for the subject: “The older barns are disappearing rapidly from the landscape. I see beauty in the weathered boards and rusted hinges, and am intrigued by the history of these old buildings. Infrared film tends to create a kind of glow or mystic feel around the old structures.”

Mary Hambly’s lifelong interest in photography began with a Brownie box camera given to her as a Christmas gift at age 11. She completed a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Studio Art at Indiana University in 1991. She has been an active member of the BPC since 1998. Professionally she has taught art history and studio art at Ivy Tech State College, Vincennes University and IUPUI and served as Gallery Director at the John Waldron Arts Center (2001-2004). She has said this of her need to create: ”The creation of visual images is most recently a means of expressing a personal statement in a world that is increasingly noisy and crowded with words.”

Trudy Kaufman came to photography by way of watercolor and oil painting. Her primary fascination has been with “transferring a subject from the eye to a piece of paper”. She often works like a photojournalist looking for the unexpected moment and the candid occurrence. Her travels with her camera have been extensive ranging from Indiana to the American Southwest all the way to Greece. She is also a member of the BPC and has exhibited widely with them. She tells us her work is motivated by in much the way a storyteller approaches their subject, “I see each individual as unique and it is my desire to capture a story of that individual in the image.”

The Opening reception on Thursday, April 6 at 5:30 pm is free and open to the public. Those wishing to attend the reception can call (812) 353-7705 or email matticka@monroebank.com to RSVP, or simply stop by!

Monroe Bancorp, headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, is an Indiana bank holding company with Monroe Bank as its wholly owned subsidiary. Monroe Bank was established in Bloomington in 1892 and offers a full range of financial, trust and investment services through its 17 offices in Central and South Central Indiana. The Company's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ® National Stock Market under the symbol MROE.

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