The Michener Art Museum shines light on “an extraordinary series of photographs” for its newest exhibition, “Intrepid Alchemist: Diane Levell’s Bucks County.”
The collection of landscape images by master photographer Diane Levell, who grew up in Bucks County, is on view March 23 through July 28, at the museum located at 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown.
More than 20 photographs printed on Japanese rice paper will comprise the show, illuminating Levell’s “unique approach of transforming the familiar into the magical.”
Michener Executive Director Kathleen V. Jameson curated the never-before-seen show.
“Diane, a fearless adventurer and pioneer, continues to surprise, experiment, and push the boundaries of photography, and challenges viewers to slow down and look closely enough for an alchemical transformation of matter to take place before their eyes,” said Jameson. “Her works are marked by poetic beauty coupled with technical prowess ...”
Levell, who spent much of her career in Europe, said, “the beauty of Bucks County drives my passion to represent it as the special place it is.”
She attended Endicott College for architecture and interior design, studied fine arts at the University of Delaware and later received her master’s degree from George Washington University.
Levell began experimenting with alternative photographic processes as early as the 1970s. But it was while living in Germany that she began to master her art, culminating with eight one-person exhibitions at well-known museums and cultural institutions.
Nevertheless, she credits growing up in Bucks County as some of the greatest influences on her present work. At a young, formidable age, Levell befriended Pearl Buck’s daughter. She spent a lot of time with the family, who impressed a critical perspective on the Asian influence represented in her work today.
Exhibition and programming-related information can be found at MichenerArtMuseum.org.
