“Aux Arcs: Black & White Photography of the Ozarks Region” will be presented by the Willow Springs Arts Council at the historic Ferguson Building beginning Saturday, September 3rd and running through the 16th. This exhibit is a collection of works by professional photographer, artist, and author, Carl James. Translated loosely, Aux Arcs means a place of hills or bows. One interpretation is that the name came from a French pioneer expression Aux Arkansas, literally meaning To the Arkansas Mountains. The region was part of what became the Louisiana Purchase, settled by other Europeans, and the name slowly changed to the Ozarks. Geologically the Ozarks is a broad dome of eroded limestone roughly 47,000 square miles consisting of the St. Francois Mountains, the Salem Plateau, the Springfield Plateau and the Boston Mountains. It covers around one third to one half of Missouri, the upper western region of Arkansas and extends into the northeast corner of Oklahoma. It is a region well watered with clear spring-fed streams with many grist mills, hardwood oak and hickory forests intermixed with yellow pine groves. Due to its karst geology, it has many caves.
Carl James is a retired architect who embraced photography and writing interests after retiring. In his own words, “One of my goals is to bring people out into and help them develop a strong love and sense of responsibility for nature and the natural environment through photography and poetry. My current goal is to publish poetry and complete vintage photograph collections of Ozark and Douglas Counties, MO.” Mr. James specializes in fine art photography, photograph restoration, and architectural photography, He also enjoys creative writing, poetry, Japanese landscape design, Ozarks history and genealogy. James states, “I am somewhat a maverick in the area of fine art photography. I am quite pleased to know that my work is distinctive enough that my “style” is recognizable without identification. My photography is an expression of myself, not necessarily the subject. An interesting phenomenon is that my volume of sales seems to be an inverse to my scores in the camera club contests. I don’t do this for the money, but as a creative outlet. If it pleases me, that’s good. If it conveys something so worthwhile that a client is willing to give me a couple hundred for it, then I am humbled and very grateful, not only for the money but that we have had a mystical communication experience through art. I thoroughly enjoy walking around a show listening to a piece being discussed because it is quite enough payment to have elicited a discussion.”
The Arts Council will hold a reception for Mr. James and open the exhibit on September 3rd beginning at 5PM. Everyone is welcome to attend this event and have an opportunity to meet the artist and enjoy light refreshments.