Fred Buell’s “Possible Worlds and Plausible Creatures” at Wisner Library

Fred Buell’s exhibit of photographs, “Possible Worlds and Plausible Creatures,” at Albert Wisner Library in September, gives nature photography an unusual angle.

During COVID lockdown, Buell saw nature differently in places usually overlooked because they are so commonplace, so small, so ordinary, so hidden in plain sight. COVID lockdown denied conversation with extended family and friends, and it made travel to scenic places difficult. He discovered other kinds of conversations and other sorts of nature to make lockdown endurable.

The outcome was a variety of small worlds, small pieces of nature--ice on streams and ponds reflecting sky; rocks as results of primeval forces, tumultuous and earth-shaping; photo contemplations of lichen, leaves and trees.

For Buell, the realism of even great nature painting and photography was too confining. He was drawn to the modern and postmodern.

Frederick Buell is a writer and photographer who lived in Warwick for over 30 years. As a writer, he has had two books of poetry and three on literary and cultural history published. As a photographer, he has had three one-person shows. His blog can be found at fhbimagery.com, and he can be reached at frederick.buell@gmail.com.

Story contributed by Peter Lyons Hall