C h r i s H e d d e n
PATTERNS & SHADOWS

Born in Charleston, SC, Chris Hedden found his way, via George Mason University, to Gambier, Ohio. There, he teaches photography at the Kenyon College Craft Center and works in the transportation planning industry. Not surprisingly, his career in "transportation" requires travel. On those journeys he finds--in the most unlikely places--images that call out to be discovered, compositions and patterns made by nature, the passage of time, light, shadow, and man. His work reminds us that we can find order, beauty and a glimpse of wisdom in the fleeting and often chaotic moments of everyday life... that is, if we know how to look for it.

C h r i s H e d d e n
PATTERNS & SHADOWS

The bold distinction between positive and negative shapes in Hedden's photographs strike a balance and harmony between dark and light, linear and curvilinear, field and pattern. And then, in this untitled image, there is the brilliant appearance of "stars" and a glowing "arc" of light... these gems, all of them, found in the ceiling architecture of a commercial building.

C h r i s H e d d e n
PATTERNS & SHADOWS

We expect a pool to be blue. We anticipate the sparkling diamond-like reflection on the water's surface. But from where do Hedden's mysterious deep-sea blue canyons emerge, and from a backyard garden pool, no less? What are we to make of the textured, topographical waves, seen as if from space and flowing like the tide, first in one direction, then the other? Maybe it means that sometimes-- through the microscopic view of things--we "see" some part of the big picture we'd never seen before.

C h r i s H e d d e n
PATTERNS & SHADOWS

The eye can easily find a relationship between light and dark. But it is for the patient viewer only to discover the more soft-spoken nuances of light and shadow, texture and dimension. The same could be said about life; one full of meaning comes from being able to sit quietly and listen patiently.

C h r i s H e d d e n
PATTERNS & SHADOWS

Light can outline the bare essentials (as Hedden's image demonstrates), like the silhouette of a figure in its environment. This simple rendering provokes thoughts about how we see ourselves in today's world. With an overflowing schedule filled with a myriad of pressing details, when do we step back and look at the big issues, the outline of our lives? What "shape" is our existence taking, formed by which forces of influence?

C h r i s H e d d o n
PATTERNS & SHADOWS

Hedden's "Tar People" remind us that we can't always control things. Life often runs in a direction we hadn't planned, and sometimes it gets messy. But there's a kind of unexpected order in the energy that moves our life this way or that way. Perhaps what may seem like chaos is really a predictable movement toward some part of our life we've cast into the future?

C h r i s H e d d o n
PATTERNS & SHADOWS

It's old, it's broken, bent and discolored. But Hedden's "Stain" on the wall of a decaying building draws attention to the fact that sometimes colors, textures and shapes develop in a way that only nature and time can produce. In this case, "age" is beautiful--not in a superficial, new and flawless kind of way, but as a result of "weathering" the conditions of one season after another...

C h r i s H e d d o n
PATTERNS & SHADOWS

Everyone has their own idea about what's attractive. But there's no disputing that everything classic is inherently beautiful. What makes that so? Maybe it's the understated forms being brought to life when infused with spirit through artists' hands. Solid marble looks like it's rolling in motion because the inner life of the stone was found. And Hedden delivers evidence of all this by capturing a "golden mean" moment in the life of an architectural detail.

C h r i s H e d d o n
PATTERNS & SHADOWS

If you've ever stood nose-to-nose with a Henry Moore sculpture, you know it's made (most likely) of cast bronze. And yet, as Hedden's image reveals, it can--in the right light--reflect a mirror image of its surroundings. Here we see the bright blue sky of a clear day. Given the right angle and light, we'd see ourselves. And that begs the question, "What is behind the symbolism of seeing ourselves in another figure?"

Good art asks the hard questions.