Three large-scale photographs celebrating the natural environmental wonders of Fayette County will be installed at the Lexington Senior Center on Friday.
Local artist Don Ament is the creator of the series of photographs titled “Nature’s Radiance.” Ament’s goal is to produce 12 pictures, one each month dating back to July, of natural areas. July’s photo is of the Cane Run watershed on the Legacy Trail, August is of West Hickman Creek in Veterans Park titled “The Greens of Summer,” and September is of the Goldenrod that grows in Hisle Farm Park.
“I wanted to show the natural areas of Fayette County,” Ament said. “Sometimes areas that we may know about or even areas that we don’t know about, to really kind of celebrate what I’m seeing as somewhat of a resurgence in nature and a better concern for protecting our environment. I’m seeing a lot of evidence of that from the government. The other part is doing this for the seniors. I found out when I started this that I qualify as a senior now. As we get older, we aren’t necessarily able to get out into nature as much. We’re physically limited. I wanted to bring nature to the seniors.”
Funding for the first three photographs came from a $1,500 grant from LexArts’ Community Arts Development Project. The pictures are 40 x 60 inches and are mounted on Dibond aluminum, which can be costly. Ament hopes to receive $5,000 in total to cover the costs to complete the project.
If completed, the final display will measure 200 square feet in the multi-purpose room on the first floor.
“I’m really excited about this project,” Ament said. “I’ve spent a lot of my life traveling and photographing areas around the country and outside of the country. Now, suddenly, it’s all right here in our home county. I don’t have to galivant all over the planet. I want to help lead this effort of trying to help preserve and protect our local environment. Good images of our natural world will maybe help encourage people to say we need to protect this.”
The photographs will be installed at 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6.
