Landscapes: Real and Imagined
Richmond Area Arts Center
399 West Water Street
Richmond, KY 40475
May 14-July 13 July, 2026
This Web page contains the photographs in the Landscapes: Real and Imagined exhibition.
Homestead
Greenville, KY
Homestead, log cabin, Martin Acres, daffodilsIn the Rhodes Chapel Community of Greenville, Kentucky, sits an eighth generation black owned family farm called Martin Acres, and on this farm, sits this house. It was the home of Finis Martin, my great‐great grandfather. This home also housed other family members and is also known as the "well house."
And this photograph is used as the sample for the 60th Martin Family Reunion commemorative puzzles, and is also known as 60th Martin Family Reunion and Early Spring Revival.
Spring Reflections
Lexington, KY
spring, reflections, McConnell Springs, treesA companion to Reflections in Water that was taken in the Fall.
This photograph was taken of "The Blue Hole" at McConnell Springs in Lexington, KY. More importantly the reflections of the trees help me to think about my perceived actions and behavior, —i.e., Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson.
Surrounded By Love
Greenville, KY
Martin Acres, rise above, trees, cabin, protectedLourenza Dow Martin (my great‐great‐great grandfather) was born on 4 May 1833 (to unknown parents). In the 1850s he purchased his freedom & the freedom of his wife, Minnie Malvina "Vanie" Reynolds (born on 18 June 1838). Lourenza purchased 125 acres of land for $600 in 1866 and he passed on 7 April 1897. On 30 May 1898, the 125 acres was sold at a public auction. Herbert Leslie Martin, my great‐grandfather (born on 22 September 1896), acquired the land that had belonged to his grandfather.
Lourenza’s third child, Finis Martin, was born on 17 February 1859 in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. He began purchasing land at a young age. Finis married Willie Mathis (born on 9 September 1867) in 1886 and it is assumed that when he purchased land in the Rhodes Chapel Community to have profitable agricultural land, he also built the house seen in these two photographs. Homestead was taken in 2014 with a 35mm Kodak EasyShare C182 digital camera and Surrounded by Love was taken in 2017 with a Canon EOS Rebel T4i DSLR camera.
I talked with a friend who is a carpenter (among other things) about the Eastern Redcedar siding that shows little to no signs of deterioration on the Grandpap Finis House (or the Well House), and he told me that it could have been made with old growth Trees. He mentioned that the Trees may have been 200 or 300 years old, which is different than our current view on old growth.
