Artist Commune: Portraits of Liberation

Portraiture is the art of creating portraits, whether of others or yourself, capturing the essence of a person through an artistic lens. At May’s Artist Commune, we’ll be focusing on photography portraiture and finding unique ways to approach this art form. Bring any camera you’d like, whether that’s your smartphone, DSLR camera, or a film camera—no photography experience required! Artist Commune is always free and open to all.

We’ll start the event at Urban Arts Space, where each participant will choose a piece from the two exhibitions on view—Freequency and A Love Letter to This Bridge Called My Back—to inspire new ways of considering how we portray people and personal expression. How can portraits liberate us and others? What is gained and lost from what is shown or not shown in a photograph?

After we choose our sources of inspiration, we’ll take a guided walk down High Street, finding interesting backdrops for portraits in downtown Columbus. We encourage attendees to collaborate with each other in taking photos and sharing ideas. Community is the essence of Artist Commune.

In the event of inclement weather, we will still host this program, but the photo portion will happen inside the gallery and the covered Lazarus building galleria and surrounding walkways. We can also get creative with props and lighting if we are limited to the indoors!