To these of us among the many nice unwashed, the rarified world of advantageous artwork images might seem to be one thing solely present in New York Metropolis and different cultural meccas. Nonetheless, a pair of Bay Space photographers has determined Alameda could be part of the sepia tone scene as nicely.
Since July of this 12 months, the duo of Jeff Heyman and Sharonda Grant (who goes by “Westeigh”) have operated Frame1A Gallery and Photographic Salon, a tiny one-room area that additionally spills out right into a hallway, simply east of downtown Alameda in an previous home that’s additionally residence to medical and different workplaces on Central Avenue. It ain’t the precisely The Whitney (whitney.org), nevertheless it’s a begin.
The 2 photographers met via an exhibit they each had images in at San Francisco’s de Younger Museum in 2023 and hit it off.From there they began doing picture workshops collectively at Alameda’s Frank Bette Middle for the Arts and realized they each “cared about the photo community and how we wanted to make something for people who are not getting their work on the walls,” says Frame1A gallery co-owner Heyman.
In different phrases, they wished a photograph gallery. Initially, they had been contemplating opening up in Carmel, also known as the birthplace of West Coast images and one of many world’s advantageous artwork images meccas the place Ansel Adams prints could be had for hundreds of {dollars}.
Nonetheless, the pair’s grand plan was derailed after a tour of the realm the place they each returned feeling the work accessible was devoted soley to “old masterwork. It’s all Ansel Adams and (Edward) Weston. And the photos cost a lot. So it probably wouldn’t be a space for new, upcoming emerging photographers,” says Heyman. “Photographs printed on surfboards isn’t our idea of photography.”
That’s when the pair determined to develop a small area for rising Bay Space photographers.
“We were feeling if we had the opportunity to have a small space to show emerging photographers that are local to the Bay Area, we would love to do that,” says Heyman.
Then serendipitdously, the Central Avenue area turned accessible. Westeigh, who works as a monetary fraud investigator, describes it as an “intimate viewing space.” An Oakland native, she is a self-taught photographer and San Francisco State molecular biology graduate who bought her first digital camera within the form of Spiderman at age 6 and has been snapping away ever since.
Contemplating that most individuals at present solely take images on their telephones and by no means print them out, she says “a lot of people don’t take photos seriously until it’s the last remembrance of a loved one.”
Below the present circumstances advantageous artwork images might seem to be a misplaced artwork, however to not Westeigh. Currently, she has even been stepping into to her darkroom to print out images taken on movie.
“It’s very tactile. I’ve been printing in the dark room lately, and it takes me about 30 minutes to develop a roll of film. And then after I develop it, it has to dry, and then I can go and print it. It’s a process. It might take you an hour to get a photo,” says Westeigh. “It’s a magical experience to see it appear. It’s like something that was in your mind on film.”
Heyman comes from a extra conventional artwork images background. He additionally studied at San Francisco State, incomes his bachelor of advantageous arts diploma in 1981 in advantageous artwork images. A retired U.N. and Peralta Group Faculty District public info officer, Heyman took images in far-off locales like Bosnia whereas with the United Nations.
Frame1A welcomes all images strategies for exhibition consideration, however their upcoming present is just for “shot-on-film” images, which has hit a nerve.
“The next show in February is an all-film show,’ says Heyman. “Thirty people entered, and the only criteria was you had to shoot it on film in the last year. You could print it any way you want in the dark room, but it had to be shot on film.”
One other feather within the cap for the small however mighty gallery is their upcoming participation in subsequent 12 months’s Carmel Middle for Photographic Arts “PhotoCarmel 2026” collection of occasions begining in April. Body 1A shall be considered one of three Bay Space galleries to offer photographic applications to the East Bay in the course of the celebration.
“PhotoCarmel 2026 is an opportuniry for locals to see to the same caliber of photographic discourse and artistry happening in Carmel,” says Heyman.
At 2500 Central Ave. in Alameda, Body 1A Gallery and Photographic Salon is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment. For extra info on-line, go to frame1a.com.
