Jeff Feldmann loves to golf, but he gets distracted.
“I hear a red-tailed hawk and I start looking for it. I see a deer on the fairway, I forget to hit the ball,” says Feldmann, 73, of West Hartford.
He’s happier on lakes and rivers, in his kayak, silently gliding past beautiful views of nature. He brings a camera to record the flora and fauna he sees. A collection of his photographs is on exhibit at the Clare Gallery in Hartford.
Two loons flank a loon chick, a young bald eagle spreads its wings in the sun, a male deer takes care of its fawn, a green egret grabs a fish with its beak. “They’re God’s creatures. God sets the scene and I push the shutter,” Feldmann said. “I always feel there is a spirit with me all the time.”
Feldmann’s work is paired with silkscreen prints by Dan Russell of Glastonbury. Russell, 83, is enchanted by the sight of barns and farms, informed by his career as an architect.
“A lot of houses are alike, but no two farms are alike. They are built more helter-skelter,” he says. “They change over time, so I capture them as I want to show them.” His peaceful scenes depict farms in Burlington, Waterford, Glastonbury, Essex and Preston in pastel colors, their roofs overlapping in a jumble.
The Clare emphasizes artworks with spiritual or social-justice themes. Nancy Wynn, the chair of the gallery and curator of the show, says the two men’s work, though different, demonstrate a mutual “reverence, care and sacredness of the Earth.”
Feldmann agrees with Wynn’s spiritual assessment. “I always feel there is a spirit with me all the time,” he said. “I like to feel St. Francis is with me.”
TWO SACRED VIEWS is at the Clare Gallery, in the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry at St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church, 285 Church St. in Hartford, until Oct. 23. An artist talk will be held on Sept. 18 from 1 to 3 p.m. spsact.org/clare2.
