“Ay Ay CRUCIANS: Twin City Historical Photography” opens at Cane Roots Art Gallery in downtown Christiansted Friday, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. St Croix-born and bred Eddy White will share his passion for the photographic lens with his solo exploration of 15 images in color and black and white. The show is open until Feb. 28.
White was attracted to art as a youth and it was during a high school summer art class during his senior year that he was exposed to the tutelage of art teacher Anselm Richards, who invited White to the class. It was an advanced class.
“The other students were really good,” White observed. He was not allowed to use a pencil or an eraser,” he said. It was his first time using charcoal and his first encounter in the class was a 30-second gesture drawing.
“It looked like scribbling to me. The next thing I knew, I was listening to ‘Deep Forest’ and ‘Enya’ [Richard’s playlist] and playing with charcoal, watercolor, ink, silver — every medium.”
Richards queried White about going to college. “Not really,” White said.
White had plans to become a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer. Richards gave White a 1995 brochure for Ringling College in Sarasota, Florida and encouraged him to apply.
“I applied. It was the only college I applied to. I got into Ringling! The day I got in, I didn’t tell my mother. The following week, I got into the Coast Guard. I was going Coast Guard all the way.”
When White could not be guaranteed that he would be in the Caribbean after training, he opted for college, 1997-2001, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design with a minor in photography from Ringling College of Art and Design. He regrets not being able to thank Richards for his support and encouragement before Richards passed.
White has a rich and diverse background in the graphic design field.
While awaiting the answer for a job opening, White became bored and designed the company’s logo, the mock-up and the layout and sent it to the owner with a note, “I know you’re still deciding on hiring a designer. Let me know if you like this. Maybe you can use it with one of your other designers.”
Monday morning at 6 a.m., the owner called White and gave him the job.
“If you hadn’t done all of that, I may have gone with one of the other designers who is older and has more experience than you. You showed me that you have the passion for this work,” the owner told White.
White has multiple stories of his successes in the graphic design field and how his work has been recognized and appreciated by different companies on the mainland. His resume boasts such positions as package designer; graphic manager; creative/art director; art director; graphic designer; and production artists. His freelance work covers a wide variety of experience.
It was when he came back home to be a caregiver for his mother that White turned toward his Canon, the first digital camera, he said. He sees the “virtually limitless creative possibilities that photography offers,” and he has picked up where he left off in 2001, “capturing the island’s historical energy.”
Cane Roots Art Gallery owner Sonia Deane is very excited about the upcoming exhibit, she said. It’s a very different perspective of how she envisions St. Croix and how he [White] envisions St. Croix.
“The Contentment Historic Site” is one that I might wonder what was there before when driving on the bypass — it’s there — and takes you to a path — whatever that path was,” Deane said.
“These structures, like “Finkergade St. & King St.,” still exist in some shape or form, although a roof is gone – a door is gone. You still see steps. You wonder, did people look out of the windows? It allows you to look inside, or to have an imagination, or to draw back to the past from the ruins — from the wooden structures.”
“Bugby Hole Rd.” is in a place or time where you know someone lived in these structures — someone’s great-grandparents lived there and may have had a farm there and raised laying-chickens and sheep, and had eggs they sold at the corner. Each house has a history behind it. What was left behind — be it wooden or of bricks — allows you to use your imagination,” Deane added.
“Point Udall” draws you into its modern structure and the magic of the ‘Milky Way,” Deane shared.
She reflected on the number of pieces in the show and their size. The exhibit boasts 15 pieces: five in color and 10 black and white. The dimensions are huge. The “Aloy Wenty Nielsen BYPASS” piece is 84 inches long; the size may be White’s replication of the 84 square miles of St. Croix.
“The gallery is always in support of the community and what it wants to bring forth. I was acutely aware of Eddy’s professionalism. He has a lot of drive and he’s very organized. He’s in command of his direction, yet he was open to my professional mentorship. His work gives the viewer slices of the historic in a very breathtaking way,” Deane said.
For more information:
canerootsartgallery.com
eddywhitephotography.com
941-587-2223
