Verna Todd: Consider the Lilies

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 1, 5-7 p.m.
Conversation with the Artists: Thursday, June 20, 7 p.m.

All events are free and open to the public.

Choosing a lily as the subject for her series Consider the Lilies was tough for Verna Todd. She is forever on the artist’s quest to show people something they have never seen before. Something new. "A lily is just too common," she reasoned, "everyone has grown an amaryllis; or, at least seen boxes of them stacked in stores."

Yet she relates that a crimson amaryllis given her by a friend insisted on being photographed. “Morning, noon and night, it shamed me for not getting out my camera.”  Resentfully, she gave in.

That’s when the lily took Todd to another place, a quiet place where she could simply enjoy its presence. She relates that her tussle with the amaryllis is like ones she encounters often – doing versus being. "I’m a doer," she proclaims, "and it bugs me when I arrive at the end of a day with nothing to show for myself. Photography calls me to be, and helps me balance.”

In our information-heavy society, we can become disconnected from nature, and even perhaps from ourselves. It is Verna Todd's hope is that, through this exhibit, she can share with the public the respite of a quiet moment simply to be.

Image: Verna Todd