Bill Peters

When Water Dreams Photography Exhibition - part of EXPOSURE 2010

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

Water is the focus of Bill Peter's photographic exhibition at our gallery during Exposure 2010. Bill Peters explores the abstractive power of new photographic techniques to appreciate and interpret water, and the water-land interface, an interface particularly striking in the shallow estuary at the south end of San Francisco Bay.

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

$975.00 CDN

When Water Dreams
Artist’s Statement by Bill Peters

I started visually exploring water in the landscape in 2006. My shift in emphasis from large format black and white photography to digital, combined with a growing appreciation for modern abstract painting, was a turning point.  Through both the technological possibilities of the digital medium as well as its promise in the realm of color, I found a means to express my views about water.  Finding my artistic voice when working on water was challenging; the excitement of initially promising images was quelled by subsequent disappointments.

A solution to the artistic challenge revealed itself on a commuter flight over South San Francisco Bay. I was surprised to look down and see a colourful landscape of meandering streams, salt-encrusted sloughs and salt evaporation ponds. At one time salt sloughs and tidal wetlands covered the entire south end of the Bay. Over the last 150 years vast salt harvesting operations and commercial and residential development have claimed 85% of the wetlands. Today, restoration of part of the area back to tidal wetlands is one of the largest projects of its kind in California’s history.

The issue of the ponds is complex and controversial, with Bay cities expanding on to the sloughs, Cargill Corporation planning to fill some of its salt ponds for development and environmental organizations and some governments working to restore wetlands.    As I researched the ponds, I learned their striking colors were the result of microorganisms, which change color with the water’s salinity. These algaes and microscopic shrimp dye the ponds and streams vivid magentas, oranges and yellows.  These colourful ponds and streams became the subject of my project.  To photograph this landscape, I took to the air.  From the open door of a helicopter I attempted to achieve artistic empathy with compositions unfolding 700 feet below.

Why have I photographed commercial salt ponds and development-threatened sloughs, knowing the complexities of the situation?   First I was seduced by the color and form laid out below me, then upon reflection I also saw an opportunity to offer up the issues for review and discussion, to ask questions.  I hope you do too.

 (Special thanks to Tom Willock & Susan Sax-Willock of the Willock & Sax Gallery, Banff,  Julian Ferreira and Peter Jeune of The Camera Store in Calgary, Cameron Rolfe of Bay Helicoptours , Joel Avila of Hawkeye Aerial Photography in Santa Clara, artists Will Peters,  Justin Bhatia, Todd Korol and Jack Blair, and my wife Celeste Peters.)

©Willock and Sax Ltd. Gallery 1999-2008. All rights reserved
This page was last edited February 15, 2010
The Willock and Sax Gallery website was designed and is maintained by Susan Sax Willock