The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Reed Art Gallery will present View from the Bus, featuring photographs by Stephen Boody, from Oct. 6 to Nov. 24, 2023. The public is invited to view the exhibition throughout the show’s run and attend the Opening Reception on Friday, Oct. 6, from 6-8 p.m. The artist will be on hand to discuss his work. This reception is being held in conjunction with the Presque Isle First Friday Art Walk. The Reed Gallery is located on the second floor of the University’s Center for Innovative Learning.

Boody, of New Sweden, was born in Melrose, MA in 1953 and grew up in Wakefield, MA. He studied English Literature and Music at Marlboro College in Vermont where a friend who was a darkroom expert taught him the art of black and white photo printing. Boody moved to his old family farm in New Sweden in 1974 and continued his education at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

In addition to being a prolific photographer, Boody is a skilled violinist and violin teacher. He lived in Gloucester, MA from 1976 to 1983, where he worked for a pipe organ designer and builder while performing regularly with the Cape Ann Symphony. Upon returning to Northern Maine in 1983, he continued to make pipe organ parts until 2017, was a member of the Northern Maine Chamber Orchestra, active in local government as a selectperson, member of the planning board, and town cemetery committee in New Sweden, and continues to teach violin to several students. Boody also spent 32 years driving a school bus in New Sweden, and usually had his camera on hand. Some of the images in the exhibition are culled from the many photos that he took during this period.

“The goal of many artists is to use visual form to show us the world through their eyes,” Reed Gallery Director Frank Sullivan said. “Stephen Boody is a skilled photographer who develops his own prints by hand using traditional darkroom techniques. His rich, sometimes understated, black and white photo prints are filled with the often-overlooked details that are the essence of the human condition and they offer a unique perspective of the world through the eyes of a sensitive artist.”

View From the Bus will be on display at the Reed Art Gallery through November 24, 2023.

Gallery hours are:
Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Sunday, 2-10 p.m.

The Reed Art Gallery is located on the second floor of the Center for Innovative Learning.

For more information, please contact Reed Art Gallery Director, Frank Sullivan, at frank.sullivan@maine.edu or (207) 694-1920.