The photo by James McAnallen that won the media award from UPSW.
James McAnallen is a U.P.-based photographer and artist.
Photographer James McAnallen draws his creative inspiration from his surrounding environment. His gift for finding extraordinary beauty in the ordinary made his photograph titled "Window Frost" the winner of two Media Awards at the 2013 Northern Exposure juried art exhibit in Escanaba.
It takes an artist's eye to see beauty in familiar, everyday sights; it takes an artist's skill to capture that beauty in a photograph. Photographer James McAnallen has both the eye and the skill, earning him two Media Awards at Northern Exposure XX, an annual juried exhibition of artworks hosted by the Bonifas Fine Arts Center in Escanaba. McAnallen's photo, titled "Winter Frost," was honored with awards by U.P. Second Wave Media and by the Escanaba Daily Press. The exhibit was on display Nov. 7 through Dec. 31.
According to the Bonifas Center website, the Northern Exposure exhibit is offered "expressly as a means of both encouraging Upper Peninsula residents to create new artworks and of showcasing a comprehensive look at the contemporary artwork being created in the Upper Peninsula."
Although he is not a native "Yooper," McAnallen has a native's appreciation for the many ways nature has of creating its own masterpieces. He captured a sight common to anyone who's experienced the bitter cold of a U.P. winter--frost on a window
"My entry in the Northern Exposure show was a close-up view of ice crystals on our storm door at 12 below zero. The dark blues and purples are from the sunrise reflecting off the Escanaba River," he says of the winning photograph. Captured by McAnallen's lens, however, the frost's pattern takes on an ethereal beauty. Feathery designs etched in silvery frost on an ice cold glass are offset by a richly glowing purple and dark blue background.
McAnallen's love of photography is a natural outgrowth of his lifelong devotion to art. Originally from downstate Midland, he graduated as an art major from Western Michigan University. After graduating he served as the studio art director at the Midland Center for the Arts, where he also taught ceramics and watercolor classes.
A vacation trip to the Upper Peninsula in the mid-1970s was a life changing experience for McAnallen. "I'd never been up this way; then I drove up to the Keweenaw on vacation and fell in love with the area. I bought a cabin on Lake Superior and built a studio behind it." He opened a studio gallery in Calumet and traveled from the U.P. to Key West, Florida, exhibiting his work at art shows. He has since relocated to Cornell, where he has lived for 20-some years.
In addition to producing his own works, McAnallen shared his enthusiasm, knowledge and love of creating art with students in the U.P., teaching classes in several area schools, including the Mid-Peninsula Schools, Escanaba's Bay College, and Bay Middle College (formerly known as James R. Fitzharris Alternative High School).
His work is featured in permanent art collections throughout Michigan, including the Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art and the Northwoods Institute, both in Midland, the Saginaw Art Museum, and Bay College.
While creating pottery had been McAnallen's primary artistic outlet, he says, "My passion for photography has been my focus since retiring from teaching. My greatest interest is my surrounding environment, the simple forms and objects in nature seen through my eyes."
Deb Pascoe of Marquette is a freelance writer and a peer recovery coach for Child and Family Services of the U.P. A former columnist for The Mining Journal, her book, "Life With a View ," a collection of her past columns, is available in area bookstores.
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