You Are Here’s ‘Portraits of Jeannette’ pays tribute to familiar city faces
Share this post:
Photographer John Howard is a familiar face around Jeannette, as he documents people, places and events for the local historical society and various publications.
Now, Howard will pay tribute to some other familiar Jeannette residents in an exhibit opening Feb. 20 at You Are Here.
“Portraits of Jeannette” will run through March 27 in the local gallery at 406 Clay Ave.
The idea for the project came to Howard about two years ago as he shared counter space with a local man named Willie Hall at Nancy’s Grill downtown. At almost 90, Howard’s fellow coffee-drinker had a face laced with a network of wrinkles.
“It reminded me of a picture I had seen from (noted photographer and ethnologist) Edward Curtis of a Native American woman,” Howard said. “She was extremely wrinkled, and I thought, every wrinkle holds a story. As a Native American woman growing up in the 1800s, what has she seen? What has Willie seen?”
He arranged to take Hall’s photo, and then decided to photograph other faces that told stories.
“The project started with people in their 80s and 90s,” he said. “I took pictures of them they way they were, in their homes, in their natural settings.”
Eventually, he dropped the age range and added portraits of local business people.
Of the final group of 29 black-and-white portraits, he said, “The youngest is 60ish. They’re people, I’m going to say confidently, that everyone knows.”
Nice tribute
“This is something (Howard) has always wanted to do,” said Mary Briggs, co-founder of You Are Here. “He’s been kind of the documentarian of Jeannette. Anything that was going on in Jeannette, John was there.
“The people of Jeannette love their community, and it’s been through some hard times, so this is kind of a nice tribute to the community,” she said. “Winter seemed like a good time to do it, to give people something to do to stop in and see it. It’s a nice little body of work.”
Howard collaborated with Greensburg photographer Savannah Butler, owner of Savvy Shots Photography, on some of the portraits.
“You can tell whose photos are whose,” Briggs said. “John has a more traditional portrait style, and Savannah likes to shoot people more in their environments, so her work is more contextualized.”
“Savannah is a photographer who captures the person better than anyone else, including myself,” Howard said. “My pictures look like mug shots, so I asked her to take a few to add some personality.
“Her method of setting things up, getting people to relax, sort of rubbed off on me,” he said. “My shots turned out better by working with her.”
Hours for the Feb. 20 opening will be noon-6 p.m. While there will not be a formal reception due to current gathering restrictions, the gallery will offer prepackaged snacks.
“John should be here most of the day, and we’re hoping some of the people whose portraits are included will stop by,” Briggs said.
Regular hours at You Are Here are noon-6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and noon-3 p.m. Sundays. Any changes due to inclement weather are posted on the gallery’s Facebook page.
The gallery adheres to state covid-19 state guidelines. All visitors and staff must wear face masks. The number of visitors allowed at any given time is monitored, and social distancing is enforced. Hand sanitizer is available.
Details: 724-578-3332 or yah406clay.org