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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
If you had the opportunity to visit the Needham Free Public Library during the month of March, you probably noticed that spring arrived early at the Friends Gallery. Although the several nor'easters ensured that it still looked like winter outdoors, Kira Seamon's bright and colorful photography welcomed the new season inside.
Using a lens that attaches to her smart phone and produces a kaleidoscope effect on her photos, Kira creates unique prints filled with geometric designs and eye-catching colors. She was inspired by both Matisse and by the beautiful colors one can see in a kaleidoscope to begin this unparalled form of photography.
"People think it's color-corrected, but I have to tell people it's not,” she said. “You know how you don't see all of the colors in the color spectrum? The thing is that sunlight backlights the leaves, and the kaleidoscope [lens] brings the color out."
In her previous exhibits, Kira featured her “Stained Glass Sky” pieces (many of which were taken in and around Wellesley) and photos from her winter collection that included interesting patterns of snow-covered trees.
For Needham, however, Kira debuted her flower egg collection – photos of blooming flowers that were made shaped into ovals.
“I bend them in a program on the computer,” said Kira. “I actually stumbled upon it; I wasn't even trying to do that. But the very first time I did it, it was a rough kind of egg, and I said 'I bet I can a nice, polished egg.'”
Whereas many of the flowers are indistinguishable in her kaleidoscope prints, viewers can identify the flowers clearly in Kira’s egg prints, which helped library patrons get excited for springtime and for Easter.
Each of Kira’s prints are undoubtedly stunning, but viewing the gallery from afar allows one to see just how brilliantly colored each photo is. Although Kira normally takes it upon herself to arrange the pieces in her exhibits, this time, reference and programming librarian Gay Ellen Dennett tackled the task.
She perfectly arranged the prints by color and size to allow the more deeply colored and smaller prints to sandwich the brightest and largest yellow and pink prints that hung in the middle of the gallery.
For those who missed her amazing display, Kira’s work will be on display at the Weston Public library in April, the Dedham Public Library in May, and the Westwood Public Library in June.
