MIDDLEBURY — Edgewater Gallery at The Falls in Middlebury has two solo exhibitions by Addison County residents on view for the month of July.  Vermont artist Homer Wells brings us a new collection of his etched aluminum wall pieces in his show titled “From the Foothills of the Mighty Hogbacks to Thompson Point” and renowned National Geographic photographer James P. Blair will display his most recent work — cloud images taken on a visit to the island of Barbados. An opening reception will be held on Friday, July 5, from 5-7 p.m. Guests are invited to join for a free evening of fine art, and an opportunity to meet and talk with the artists.
HOMER WELLS
In homage to the natural beauty of Vermont, Wells captures the essential and emotionally evocative qualities of the rural landscape within the stark medium of etched aluminum. Working from his studio in Monkton overlooking the hills of Addison County, the artist gains his inspiration from a local’s familiarity with the ever changing elements in the wild New England landscape.Wells has an intuitive feel for subtle variation in line, which allows the viewer to see familiar shapes emerge as the artist’s engraved mark making manipulates light refraction across the surface of his “canvas.”
Wells uses recycled metals and automotive paint to create his luminous and durable works which have the versatility to be displayed not only on the interior walls of the gallery but also in exterior settings. He has participated in the Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada and his work has been widely collected.
JAMES P. BLAIR 
For over 30 years National Geographic photographer James P. Blair helped readers understand and appreciate the people, cities, and landscapes of countries far away from our own. Well before the advent of the cell phone and the internet, he gave us a window into worlds that we would not have otherwise known. This month, Blair, a Middlebury resident, presents a new collection of work, a series of images of clouds taken during a visit to the island of Barbados. The images in this collection capture the ever changing nature of clouds. There are those that are threatening, those that are light and playful and those that are dramatic. These variations are skillfully and artfully chronicled through Blair’s lens. 
A retrospective of the photographer’s work is currently on display at the Middlebury College of Art in “Being There: Photographs by James P. Blair,” on display through Aug. 11. His work hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.,the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Portland Museum of Art in Maine and The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. 
For more info call the gallery at (802) 458-0098, email [email protected] or visit edgewatergallery-vt.com.