Photography will be the focal point of the August 5 First Thursday Grand Re-Opening of the downtown Brownwood Art Center, honoring 2020 Photographer of the Year Jim Blake, and 2021 Artist of the Year Craig Seger.

            The COVID pandemic and a disastrous flood at the Art Center had shut down almost all activities for the Brownwood Art Association since March 2020, but the Center is again open and will resume “First Thursday” festivities August 5, from 5 to 8 pm.

            Craig Seger has been a member of the BAA since 2015 in the photography medium, and currently serves as president of the BAA. He was a founding member of the BAA Photo Group.

            “Photography is my favorite medium to express myself,” he said. “I look through a camera lens and see the world as only I can see it. Two people can never be in exactly the same place at the same time to see beyond the lens.”

            For Jim Blake, photography is many things. “It is seeing the reality of the world around me in different ways, recording things that most people overlook, and capturing an image in time of places and things that will never again be exactly the same after that particular moment. Ultimately, it is my means of self-expression.”

            The Grand-Reopening of the Art Center at 215 Fisk Ave. will feature an extensive exhibit of both artists’ works through the month of August.

            The First Thursday Grand Re-Opening of the Art Center is open to the public. 10 Mile Productions Tasting Room will provide wine-tasting at the event, featuring  their 2020 Blanc Du Bois.

            For further information about the Brownwood Art Association, BAA Photo Group or the downtown Art Center, call Sharon Cook at (325) 998-5052.