Familiar Foliage
photographer adventures to capture local trees, landscapes
After being in Los Angeles working as a graphic designer post-graduation, something about the daily grind left Christopher Bartlett feeling drained. The fast-paced blur – and probably the smog, too – made him crave the Midwest with its gushing rivers, dynamic seasons, and packs of trees.
Somewhat directionless, the UW-Stout grad moved back to the Chippewa Valley where he and his buddy RT Vrieze, an old classmate and designer, started laying the groundwork for what would become Knorth Studios, their branding and design company. But it was early on, and Bartlett was sleeping on Vrieze’s couch.
“When I go out, I don’t like to even put in a location. I’ll just drive and find roads I’ve never been down. So many dead ends I’ve been down, there’s a path at the end that no one ever explores.” – Christopher Bartlett went into unfamiliar wooded areas to capture “Thicket”
“For my own sanity, I’d get up and leave during the day and I just went out and took photos of the area, and I got to know it,” Bartlett said.
And that’s kinda when Bartlett started the process of putting together “Thicket,” a collection of photographs of trees, forests, and real characteristic Wisconsin landscapes. The show goes up at Knorth Studios’ sister company, Ambient Inks, in their new space on Water Street in Eau Claire, on March 12, and it’ll be up through mid-April.
Bartlett would routinely go on these short adventures into the woods, where, with little more than a camera and some essentials, he’d park his car and hike around.
“Most of the time I go out alone and it’s really therapeutic. There’s the sense of adventure when you’re alone,” he said. “When I go out, I don’t like to even put in a location. I’ll just drive and find roads I’ve never been down. So many dead ends I’ve been down, there’s a path at the end that no one ever explores.”
“Thicket” is the end result of two years of hiking through woods and wilderness, following coyote paths, tip-toeing through nature to find scenery so photogenic you might not realize its in our collective backyard. The show features 11 photographs Bartlett took over the course of the last eight seasons in the Chippewa Valley.
Sure, Bartlett’s gotten lost a couple of times and he said some of his gear smells like “dirty pond,” but all in all, stumbling upon idyllic scenery in what seemed like the middle of nowhere was a reward like no other. “Thicket” celebrates the often-hidden allure of Northwestern Wisconsin landscapes.
“There’s beauty everywhere that you are. It’s just a matter of finding it,” Bartlett said. “It’s leaving your house, going on adventures, and not necessarily going to a place that has a review. It’s finding a dead end and exploring your surroundings.”
An opening reception for “Thicket” will be at 6:30pm on March 12 at Ambient Inks/Knorth Studios, 524 Water St., Eau Claire. In April, Bartlett will have another collection of photos on display at The Raw Deal, 603 Broadway St. S, Menomonie.
