The Mary Bishop Memorial Gallery at the Crawfordsville District Public Library would like to invite the public to view the work of regional artist, Jeff Jeffries. This exhibit is currently open and will be on display through July 7.
Jeffries is an interesting and down-to-earth person with many talents. He was interested in photography at an early age.
“The first picture I remember looking at was a Polaroid my dad had taken of a tornado that had just passed our neighborhood,” he said. “I was about four years old. I often asked my dad to pull out the picture so I could look at it.”
Jeffries began taking his own pictures in high school but becoming a full-time commercial photographer was not his original career path. During those years, he studied photography and publishing at school, and spent most of his time exploring black and white film.
“I learned all the basics, but I also learned about some of the most iconic pictures ever taken; Robert Capa’s D-day photos, Steve McCurry’s Afghan Girl, and Ansel Adams’ Winter Storm Clearing. They’re images are hard to look away from, and that’s the criteria I try to follow when I hang one of my images. I’m hoping the viewer has a hard time looking away,” he said.
After high school, Jeffries joined the United States Army and that is when he feels that the art of photography took a grip.
“The bug really bit me while I was in the Army,” he said. “I was on a tank stationed in West Germany when the Wall was torn down and then went to Desert Storm with a unit from El Paso — my Minolta always in tow.”
He wanted to capture these valuable moments in history and share them with the world.
He was presented with an opportunity to work as an assistant for several commercial photographers in Indianapolis. At that time, most commercial photographs were shot on medium format film and these photographers outsourced the printing process. Jeff also learned the professional uses of artificial and natural light sources, and how to properly install lighting equipment for the best results in these early days of his career.
In 2016, Jeffries was a photographer and participant in an exhibit at the Indianapolis Arts Center called “The Things They Brought Home: Military Tattoos.” After World War I, military men started getting patriotic tattoos that encompassed their personal experiences, and it has become a standard tradition. The exhibit highlighted Hoosier veterans and the stories their inked bodies told. A portion of these artworks are on display in the CDPL gallery along other fascinating images that Jeffries caught in the moment, such as the heart shaped implosion of Market Square Arena.
If you are interested in hiring Jeffries for a one-on-one photo shoot or to capture your event, visit his website at jeffjeffries.net. You can follow him on Instagram@jeffries_jeff.
A variety of his works are available for purchase through the circulation department.
For more information about CDPL’s hours of operation, visit www.cdpl.lib.in.us. If you are an artist or a member of an artists’ group and are interested in displaying your work at the Mary Bishop Memorial Gallery in 2025, contact the gallery coordinator at 765-362-2242.
