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BIDDEFORD, Maine

William Betcher's "Stained Light" landscape photography on exhibit at Campus Center in Biddeford

 The University of New England is hosting an exhibition of natural landscape photography entitled "Stained Light" by William Betcher.

Betcher is a fine art photographer who works with both film and digital cameras.  His subject matter is primarily natural landscapes, with many of his images captured on a lily pond in Fortunes Rocks, Maine.

Betcher received a Master of Fine Arts Degree in writing from Vermont College, and he also holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.  His day job is in Needham, Mass, where he has a private practice in adult psychiatry.  Betcher has published four nonfiction books and is presently working on a novel.  For more info, go to: www.FortunesRocksPhotography.com.

This exhibit brings together images of sunlight, of 13th century stained glass windows from European cathedrals, and close-in portraits of lily pond leaves in Fortunes Rocks, Maine.  While photographing church windows, Betcher tried to create not what he saw, but what he felt.  In moving close in to decaying leaves, he found colors and shapes that reminded him of stained glass fragments.  And by pointing his camera at the day's first light glancing off water, he tried to capture how the sun's rays might look.

Were not stained glass windows an earlier form of photography, of representing light and spiritual relationships? Is not the natural world equally a source of wonder, as fragile and enduring as glass?

This exhibit will run from Thursday, July 2 through Friday, July 31 in the Campus Center at the University of New England in Biddeford.  An "Opening" is scheduled for Tuesday, July 7 from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m.  The "Opening" and exhibit are free and open to the public. The Campus Center summer hours are: Monday through Friday, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., Saturday, 5:00 - noon, and Sunday, 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.  The Campus Center will be closed July 3 and 4.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.