"Triptych Landscape" Opens at Joel McFadden Designs

Local Photographer Jenifer Rutherford is the featured artist at Joel McFadden Designs, in Red Bank. McFaddens is a custom design jewelry studio, but the namesake’s penchant for art and creativity encouraged him to clear the walls of his space to make room for beautiful things created by other local artist. Each month the jewelry designer hangs work of a different artist. The studio hosted an opening - Second Saturday Art Show - to invite the public to sip wine and share conversation with the artist and each other. 

“The studio is more a place for us to be creative than a location to sell our art,” McFadden said.  “So we figured we might as well use the space to give other exceptional artists a chance to share their work, ideas and creative notions with the public.”

Rutherford’s show, “Triptych Landscapes,” opened on March 12th. The show includes landscapes that were captured by panning the camera across an area that Rutherford picked as her focal point. The three photographs, framed together, create a triptych landscape. The work is sprawling and magnificent. It is an example of an artist allowing the majesty of an expansive view to simply be present in their work. The images whisper and yell at the same time.

From Maine to New Egypt, Rutherford choose landscapes in and out of New Jersey for her subjects. She noted that all but the Mainescape were shot mid-day, but it was Mainescape that got Rutherford started on this series. 

“It was around sunset,” she said. “I was camping. It was the start of the series, which has now continued for years.”

Rutherford said that photographing landscapes has become more rewarding to her since she created this “new template.” And though it is clear that Rutherford is a lover of clouds and shadows, she said the “intention is to eliminate most of the sky and foreground” when she feels it does not contribute to the scene. 

“I concentrate on what I find most intriguing,” she said. “This could be anything from a fence or part of a tree, to a field or the sky behind it. These simple, sometimes barren, landscapes are not always interesting to me as a photograph on their own. However, the simplicity and vastness that some places convey work well with this format by using more than one frame. Three frames encourage the viewer to pause and take notice of each frame on their own, while also experiencing the picture as a whole.”

Rutherford, currently of Jackson, holds a B.F.A. in photography from University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Upon graduation she began her career as a freelance photographer for several local studios and for the Asbury Park Press newspaper for three years. She worked as a custom black and white printer for a professional studio in Philadelphia and later for Foto Works Lab in Red Bank, NJ. She taught photography as an adjunct lecturer at Monmouth University for five years, amongst other photo courses in NJ. Rutherford currently runs her own photography business while pursuing her fine art work. Her photography has been exhibited locally in New York and Philadelphia.

Rutherford Photography was selected One of the Best Photographers in Ocean County in 2009 in the Asbury Park Press - Reader's Choice Awards. Rutherford has been published in Photographer’s Forum, Monmouth Health and Life, and M.A.R. magazine and worked as a freelance photographer for the Asbury Park Press newspaper for three years.

“Triptych Landscapes” is on view and will run through April 6. Studio hours are Sat 10-10, W-Th 10-6, F 10-8.  For more information go to: www.uniqueengagementringsnj.com and to see more of Rutherford’s work check her out at: Jenrutherford.com.