Black and White World Photography
Carol Harrison, Who's Who in the World

Austria    Cambodia    China    Czech Republic    France    Germany    Great Britain   
Hungary    Ireland    Italy    Key West    Lawrence, Kansas, USA    Los Angeles, California, USA    Mexico    Peru    Portugal    Richmond, Virginia, USA    Russian Federation    Scandinavia    Spain    Thailand    Turkey    Venezuela     Washington, D.C. USA  

Art Review  Richmond Times-Dispatch, September, 1987
'Summer Portfolio of Richmond' 
shows city bathed in natural light
By Robert Merritt

Photographer Carol Harrison, who was recently featured in the Virginia Museum's "Portrait: Faces of the 80's" exhibition, has spent most of her summer in Richmond, in her darkroom, or on Interstate 95 driving from one to the other.

The result is "A Summer Portfolio of Richmond," an extensive series of black and white photographs on view at Reynolds/Minor Gallery.  These are not the traditional Richmond monument and famous building images, each of the photographs is a singular image with a unique flavor.

The common link is the light.  Ms. Harrison has united these images with a sunny light that reflects off the worn wood of restaurant floors and glow through the lace curtains of Monument Avenue homes.  It flows over delicate still-life arrangements and it filters through the shading trees and shrubs arranged around porches and patios.

This is a selective view of the city.  It is a calm, elegant view of grand foyers and spiraling staircases, of interiors with rich inlaid floors and decorated ceilings, all bathed in natural light.

Ms. Harrison has not so much limited her range of subjects- she includes Hollywood Cemetery overlooking the James and the Bird in Hand nightspot in Shockoe Bottom- but the mood throughout is one of an unchanging South, a place with lasting values that will never disappear.

ARTS:  ART REVIEW 1987
Outsider views Richmond with
refreshing difference
By Roy Proctor,  News Leader arts editor

In "A Summer Portfolio of Richmond," photographer Carol Harrison takes a relatively unsentimental view of Richmond quaintness.  This is not a vision of Richmond that most of know in our day-to-day lives.  It contains no skyscrapers, no traffic jams, no shopping malls, no street people.  Indeed, except for three elegant portraits of children that are on view but not part of the portfolio, "A Summer Portfolio of Richmond" contains no people at all.

This array - mostly silver bromide prints developed by the artist, a few laboratory blow-ups  - does reflect what one might term their eternal presence, however.  That presence can be sense in floral still lifes, tree-shaded back porches, a barber  shop, old hallways caught in soft evening light.  The show is refreshing in
its ability to capture the spirit of "old Richmond" without resorting to "old  Richmond" cliches... Close-up shots of baskets filled with peaches and lima beans, presumably taken at the Farmer's Market, speak of basic sustenance that  transcends the physical.

Ms. Harrison's work also has great integrity.  This is classical black-and-white photography.  The artist composes her images with infinite care, shows great concern with capturing just the right setting in just the right light and is not about pollute the result through darkroom manipulation.  
As a seeker of peace and quiet, I found her work appealing.

Key West, Acquired for the permanent collection of The Corcoran Gallery of Art

On the James River, Richmond, Virginia

The Journal Newspapers Present
ARTISTS IN THE ATRIUM:
Current Themes in Photography in The Washington Metropolitan Area
1987

Carol Harrison ... 
Recent exhibitions include the "Three Rivers Arts Festival" at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA. (1986), and "The Beijing Exchange Exhibition" at the Cultural Palace, Beijing, China (1985). 
The pieces in this show are part of her 
"Soderkoping Portfolio."  
Her work is represented by The Martin Gallery, Washington, D.C.