Ron Testa and Peter robert Thompson: On the Street, Off the Road

August 19, 2016 - November 6, 2016

On the Street, Off the Road

Going where the road takes them and recording what they see on their journey with a sense of wonder and curiosity – for these two artists the journey of discovery is more important than the destination. This unique look at the world from their individual perspectives is an inspiring journey presenting 36 works from over four decades worth of travel and explorations from behind the camera.

Ron Testa is a photographer from Wilmette, Illinois. Working in both black and white and color, Testa combines a sense of compassion with the keen eye of street photographers like Lee Friedlander and Gary Winogrand. He has been making photographs since 1962 receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the Cleveland Institute of Art. He served three tours of duty in Vietnam as a combat photographer stationed on an attack aircraft carrier in the Tonkin Gulf. In 1973 he received a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York. Later, as Head Photographer for the Field Museum, he taught photography at Columbia College in Chicago and was a consultant at the Chicago House archeological dig in Luxor, Egypt. He recently retired from a career as a crime scene photographer.

Peter robert Thompson is a photographer and instructor from Mineral Point, Wisconsin whose photographs of the western United States celebrate the poetry and simplicity of the vast, stark landscapes he explores in his travels. Thompson studied with Al Weber, Oliver Gagliani, Richard Burton, Walter Chappell, and Ansel Adams. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and as the artist in residence at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin. His images are part of the permanent collection of the Polaroid Corporation and the George Eastman House. Thompson has led workshops in the West and Southwest United States and regularly teaches photography workshops at colleges and art centers throughout this region.