The glow of gallery lights met sweeping vistas of mountains, forests, and waterfalls Tuesday evening as visitors stepped into a journey across the continent — framed by the patient eye of Iola photographer Dee Sell.
“The American Landscape: Photographs by Dee,” opened with an artist’s reception Tuesday at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
Showcased in the Bowlus’s Mary L. Martin Art Gallery, the exhibit invites viewers to experience a collection decades in the making — though, as Sell is quick to point out, what’s on the walls represents only a fraction of his work.
“This is just a portion,” Sell said. “I gave the Bowlus staff a couple dozen to choose from and they chose these.”
Sell’s interest in photography spans roughly half a century.
“It was a way that I could get a little bit of a creative outlet,” he said.
Sell retired in 2019 from Tramec, where he was senior vice president for engineering.
That curiosity has taken Sell and his wife, Paula, across the country. The selected works, organized around a loose theme of accessible landscapes, reflect places across North America that can be reached by car, with a bit of effort on foot.
FROM THE misty coastline of Northern California to the steep, waterfall-lined paths of Watkins Glen in upstate New York, the exhibit captures a range of environments shaped by timing and changing light. Sell described photography as a balance between preparation and chance.
“There’s a lot of luck,” Sell said of his process. “If you have the luxury of being able to stay in an area for a long time, you can plan ahead, but it’s not easy. And the light changes during the day.”
Among his favorite places to photograph is Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, where he has spent significant time exploring trails and alpine terrain.
One featured image, taken along Glacier Gorge Trail, showcases bristlecone pines seemingly clinging to life.
“They grow out of basically rock,” Sell said. “They live up in high altitudes and withstand all those high winds and sub-zero winters, and they just stay there and march on.”
Another standout image, captured along the Northern California coast near the Redwood Forest, conveys a moody stillness as fog rolls in over the ocean.
Sell recalled the moment vividly. “As the fog and the tide were coming in, I was sitting out on the front porch and thought, ‘Oh, fun — that would be a good photo.’”
His work often carries a narrative quality, whether through natural composition or the stories tied to a place.
