Faces of North Idaho

COEUR d'ALENE - A man and woman carrying books and folders walked quickly along the lower level hallway of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.

Full of purpose and heading for the stairs, they suddenly stopped, tilted their heads back in tandem, and smiled before bustling off to complete whatever mission had brought them to the library.

What caught their eyes was a photo on the wall, part of "Neighbors, Faces of North Idaho," an exhibit by local photojournalist Ralph Bartholdt. The collection will be on display in the library's Parkside Gallery through Thursday.

It is an array of images of Panhandle people captured by Bartholdt, and a reflection of his interest in the common, often uncelebrated citizens who are the backbone of the Gem State's northern reaches.

"I think anyone who looks at these photos recognizes some of their neighbors, even if just a resemblance, and they recognize some of themselves, their own experience, their own place, all of our place," Bartholdt said.

The library exhibit includes a photo of a grandmotherly-looking woman with white, curly hair under a red hunting cap. She's standing in a field outside Fernwood, holding her best elk rifle.

There's a smiling yoga instructor, standing with hands pressed together in front of her, as if in prayer. As she glances upward, the lighting in the yoga studio bathes her beaming face, transforming the ordinary into the divine.

In another photo, a man with work boots perches on a small step-stool, and leans into the engine compartment of an old truck on a dirt road on a farm along Hells Gulch Road in Benewah County.

Classical guitarist Leon Atkinson's face would be recognizable to some North Idahoans, but anyone who has spent a fair amount of time in the state can relate to Bartholdt's image of the Sandpoint resident.

Atkinson is wearing a denim coat with a blue woolen cap pulled down on his head. He is sitting under a gray-white North Idaho sky, on a chunk of concrete, playing what is obviously a custom, finely-carved, acoustic guitar. A barn-red building and a rusting, gray grain elevator loom behind Atkinson, who studied under Andres Segovia and has played Carnegie Hall and Broadway.

Bartholdt's photos often depict that aspect of North Idaho, those juxtapositions of rugged beauty, grit and grace frequently found in the landscape and the people.

"Eyes are the windows to the soul supposedly, and if that's true, the face is the siding. It is the old barn wood, the rusted hinges, the leaning structure in a field somewhere and it's not just the windows, it's the whole thing that appeals to passers by," Bartholdt said. "The environment here is North Idaho. The mountains and trees and rivers and pastures and sky and the people are all part of that."

There are those who grew up in North Idaho and stayed, Bartholdt said, or moved to the region because of the landscape, the politics, the nature or the economics. Whatever the reason, they became part of this place that we call home and are our neighbors, he said.

There are too many images in the collection to mention them all, and Bartholdt has many more not included in the exhibit.

"You can go anywhere and see faces and wonder what's behind them," Bartholdt said.

He mentions a regular at a local coffee shop who rarely speaks to anyone, but watches people.

"He's got an interesting face. Probably a story too. He might become part of a future 'Neighbors' exhibit," Bartholdt said.

Bartholdt isn't sure how everyone feels about his work, but it's what he is drawn to.

He says he didn't decide to become an artist, that he's a photojournalist who likes to document his surroundings, "especially things that aren't often documented or told.

"These people are so obviously part of the fabric of North Idaho but we seldom see anyone taking their photo or writing down their stories," Bartholdt said.

Bartholdt's writing and photography have earned him numerous awards from the Idaho Press Club, Society of Professional Journalists, and the National Newspaper Association. His work has appeared in magazines, newspapers and other publications throughout the Intermountain West.

More of his work can be viewed online, skookumfoto.blogspot.com.

The Parkside Gallery at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library is available for exhibits by area artists, photographers, and school projects, either as individuals or groups. Exhibits can be scheduled up to three months in advance and most exhibits are up for a month.