New Bigrow exhibit on local industry opens at Tupper Arts Center; reception on May 7
Dan McClelland
By Rich Rosentreter
The latest exhibit at the Tupper Arts Center is a new showcase of Kathleen Bigrow’s photography that will include not just her work depicting local history but will also feature memorabilia from the Tupper Lake Historical Society’s collection with a focus on the area’s logging industry and the Oval Wood Dish Company, both former mainstays of the town.
The exhibit, titled Mostly Spruce & Hemlock; Tupper Lake’s Logging Heritage,” started this week and will run through May 29. There will be an opening reception from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 7 and will feature music by The Rustic Riders. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public, it is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
The Free Press was given an advance tour of the exhibit and discussed it with Jim “Cookie” Lanthier, who helped construct the exhibit along with Tupper Arts' Ed Donnelly.
Mr. Lanthier explained that the exhibit will display 119 of Bigrow’s photos and a dozen by other photographers along with old issues of the Free Press, each having something to do with logging or the OWD plan and some covering local businesses in the hospitality industry such as hotels and eateries. He pointed out that although there will be mostly photographs featured, there will be many historical items on display. Although Kathleen's photos cover both logging and the OWD, she did not cover all of it, hence the additional displays courtesy of the local historical organization, Mr. Lanthier added.
“She wasn’t here around 1900; she did cover fifty years worth,” Jim told the Free Press as he took a break from his work setting up the exhibit.
Mr. Lanthier said with the help of Amanda Lizotte, the Woodsmen Association and Historical Society, a booklet was produced that will contain all of the images in the exhibit and be available for purchase at the Arts Center. Both Jim and Amanda edited the publication, which is chocked full of local history.
The booklet features images such as aerial views of Tupper Lake and the OWD, the baseball teams that played for OWD, logging-related companies such as the Drapers Corporation and Woodsmen’s Field Days of the past.
The booklet also mentions many local hospitality businesses such as the Hotel Altamont, Wood’s Laundry, LaFave’s Grill, Mason’s Drive-In, Roy’s Restaurant, Elite Restaurant, Bob’s Grill and the Miss Tupper Diner, among others.
Jim Lanthier has been the mainstay of the Kathleen Bigrow collection and he recently donated it to Tupper Arts. It includes thousands of photos taken during the famous local photographer's half-century long career here.
Tupper Arts has begun cataloging and archiving her wonderful images, under Mr. Lanthier's direction.
His goal and the goal of the Tupper Arts leaders is to digitize every photo in the collection that was given to Jim by Kathleen, as well as the written descriptions of some of her photos. The film conservation project involves the permanent storage of all images and information connected to them. As well as the prints, all of Kathleen's thousands of negatives will be preserved and archived for the enjoyment of future generations.
Tupper Lake High School students have been assisting with this ongoing project.