DAVID BAHR
Fine Art and Nature Photography

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The Kayaker's Companion to Glacier Bay: Annotated Chart

New 2023 map!

Check out my nautical chart for Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, updated for 2023! I've included over 256 campsites as well as reliable water sources, revised coastlines (from receding glaciers), paddling tips, new tidal flats, revised glacier positions, notable hazards, rip tides, and a host of historical and scientific tidbits including original Tlingit names. It's large sized at 36 by 24.7 inches, waterproof, and perfect for any park visitor but especially sea kayakers.

Purchase here!

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At the Bus Stop Gallery!

March 3-26, 2023

Opening Reception: March 3 from 6-9 PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays 1-6 PM

Celebrate the 2023 Month of Photography by visiting the Bus Stop Gallery in North Boulder. The exhibit features four Boulder photographers — Dan Baumbach, Karen Dombrowski-Sobel, David Silver, and myself. My contribution is a selection of bears from Glacier Bay National Park, including the Dancing Bears to the right.

The Dancing Bears and several others in the show are featured in my recently finished book The Kayaker's Companion to Glacier Bay.

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At the Museum of Boulder

October 2020

As part of the 2020 Boulder Open Studios exhibit, I have a large and beautifully framed print on display at the Museum of Boulder. Highly rated by the art jury, I was invited to include an especially large work that highlights all the wonderful details of a calm evening in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska.

This quiet evening is one of the many landscapes included in my recently finished book The Kayaker's Companion to Glacier Bay.

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National Arts Drive

2-5pm, June 22, 2020

I'm participating in the National Arts Drive, a covid safe, "drive-by," arts event where you can walk, bike, or motor past artwork in an outside environment. It's very informal, and I'll literally have my photographic artwork pinned up on an outdoor fence, all or mostly unframed (sort of "in the nude," as landscape photography goes). I'm featuring prints from Glacier Bay National Park. If you'd like to purchase my artwork, I have a touchless card reader, or you can use paypal from your phone while a nice six- or 10- or even 100-feet away.

As a bonus, I'll be joining Lonny Granston, a fantastic, award-winning, pastel artist, famous for his plein air work in the desert southwest. You definitely want to see his colorful art! I personally own several of his pieces.

You can get a map of participating locations here, including ours in Boulder, CO.

Hope to see you there!

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Nature's Resilience

High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon, Nov. 23, 2019–Feb. 2020

Opening on November 23, two of my very large works will be featured in a museum exhibit about nature's recovery from floods and fire. If you are in Bend, Oregon, stop by the High Desert Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate.

From the museum's exhibit description: "Disturbances in the natural world can feel unsettling. But some, such as fires and floods, can be crucial to healthy High Desert ecosystems. In pine forests, rivers and sagebrush steppe, destruction can be a form of creation. How can a seemingly devastating event support new growth and diversity? Learn more about disturbances—and the human role in them—through this visually stunning exhibition."

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One End of the Forest

Hand-Rudy Gallery at The Dairy in Boulder, May 11–June 17, 2018

After many years of challenging smoke-filled work, my fire portfolio will be coming to The Dairy Arts Center.

A burning forest is contradictions: horrifying but beautiful, preventable but an ecological necessity. After evacuating my Front Range home and fighting wildfires in New Mexico, I understand both the strange allure and the gut-wrenching fear. This portfolio focuses on the disconcerting art found in the smoke and flames of Front Range fires, both controlled burns in the winter and wild in the summer; but the photographs do not shy away from the destruction.

Viewers might be in awe of the firefighters’ dangerous and romantic job or upset about the clearcutting that aggravates wind-driven fires. My own reaction is one of confusion, torn between abstracted beauty, dread of the next big fire, and resentment of federal policies that promise fire mitigation but always fail to deliver. Despite the confusion, or perhaps because of it, photographing fires has been an artistic path to relief, helping me (and perhaps viewers) to understand the flames and the compelling work done by wildland firefighters.

The show opens May 11, 5-7 pm, and I'll be giving a brief informal presentation during a walk-through at the beginning of the evening. Hope to see you there! 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder CO.

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Positive Manipulation

Rembrandt Yard Gallery, February 15–May 8, 2017

I just finished hanging Positive Manipulation, a very fun show featuring 25 contemporary Boulder County talents who are pushing the boundaries of artistically-manipulated photography. Following in a long and beautiful tradition of altered imagery (think 1920's Man Ray, and 1940's Carlotta Corpon), this show focuses on obviously manipulated photographs. Along with Chris Brown and Paula Gillen, it was real treat to envision, plan, and be one of three jurors for this unique exhibit. I'm excited by the collection of artwork that we have assembled and hung with the assistance of Cindy Sepucha the Executive Director of Boulder Open Studios. And by request from the gallery manager, I have a small photograph and statement hanging in the show.

Positive Manipulation is part of the Month of Photography, a biennial celebration of photographic arts in the Denver-Boulder region.

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Open Studios

12-6 pm on the weekends of October 1-2 and 8-9, 2016

Come visit my studio! I have been selected for Boulder Open Studios again in 2016. This year I'll have several collections on display, including new wall-sized work from Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, and a few from recent fires in our area—part of my new Fire Portfolio. As in the past I'll have a number of prints from my Lawnmower Subversive series, a whimsical collection of wild grass photographs taken in the Colorado mountains.

Save the date on your calendar: 12-6 pm, Oct 1-2 and 8-9. Drive up beautiful Magnolia to see the stunning fall colors as well as some artwork!

I am Studio #5... Find your way up Magnolia out of Boulder Canyon and then follow the signs to Studio #5. And don't forget to visit some of the other wonderful Open Studios' artists who are nearby on Magnolia!

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Wilderness Forever

Smithsonian Museum, September 2014 - August 2015

I’m excited to have another photograph in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History! A 40 by 30 inch print of the eagle and salmon shown to the right will be part the show Wilderness Forever. The exhibit opens September 2014 and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. This show is a perfect match for me -- there is nothing that I like to celebrate more than wilderness!

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A Lawnmower Subversive

Rembrandt Yard Gallery, May 14 - Aug 9, Mon - Sat, 11:00 - 5:00pm

This could be one of my favorite shows of the year and features a collection of playful wild grass photographs from my Lawnmower Subversive series. I love how our preconceived notions of green lawns are completely upturned by the amazing natural colors found in autumn’s wild grass. As part of the “subversive” fun, I’ll have a number of huge 6 foot and 4 foot prints that play with our sense of scale and highlight the beautiful shapes found in wild grass.

Open Studios Gallery @ Rembrandt Yard, 1301 Spruce St, Boulder, CO 80302

p.s., I’m also sharing the gallery space with wonderful oil paintings by Theresa Beck and encaustics by Charli Ornette, so you can fill your visit with all kinds of great art!

Open Studios Gallery at the Rembrandt Yard
Entrance to the Rembrandt Yard with my artwork “Skinny Dancers” on the left, and Charli Ornette’s encaustic on the right.

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A Taste of Art

Dairy Center for the Arts, June 18 - July 12

It's a celebration of all things food at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder! I have a couple of (very affordable) pieces juried into the show (see Shadows of a Tomato to the right). Join the fun at the opening of the exhibit on June 20, 4:00-7:00. In addition to great art on the walls, there's live music, live food painting, poets reading food-related poetry, and decorated cake art.

All of my other recent exhibition openings have been free and open to the public, but ticket sales for this special event benefit the Dairy and support its fantastic art programs.

Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St, Boulder, CO 80302

A Taste of Art

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Color and Line

Dairy Center for the Arts, May 8 - June 11

I’m super excited about this exhibit featuring a collection from my wild grass portfolio in one of Boulder’s premier art venues. If you haven’t seen my grass photographs, the 14 pieces in this show reflect the amazing variety of natural colors and shapes seen in wild grass. If you think grass is always green, it’s time to visit this show! If you can make the opening (May 8, 5:00pm), I’ll be giving a fun and accessible presentation about these unique photographs.

Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St, Boulder, CO 80302

p.s. The Rembrandt Yard exhibit (May 14 - Aug 9) also has a number of my wild grass photographs, including some larger 40 by 60 inch images that are great for Yoga Studios and other businesses!

Dairy Center for the Arts

A young visitor asks questions about some of the artwork in my exhibit at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder.

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I've Never Seen That Before!

Canyon Gallery, Boulder Public Library, March 7 through April 12, 2015

It's the "Month of Photography" in Colorado, and in addition to my solo show in Nederland (see below), I have several of my wild grass photos in a wonderfully eclectic show at the Canyon Gallery (Main Library, in downtown Boulder). I'm excited by my new wild grass collection, which features unaltered mountain meadow grasses in amazing true-to-life colors, all printed on beautiful cotton-rag papers that give each work a painterly quality. Here's a chance to see a few of these new pieces hanging alongside works by a number of friends and colleagues, all talented Boulder-area photographers. Do stop by!

1001 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder, CO 80302

p.s. If you miss this show, then stay-tuned for another upcoming exhibit that will feature many more of my grass photographs!

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Winter Escape

Solo show at Nederland Public Library, Jan 2 - March 26, 2015

If you are on your way through Nederland to ski, stop by the public library. Living in Colorado pretty much guarantees that you enjoy snow (that's me!), or tolerate snow, or grit your teeth sufficiently to survive the snow (that's my wife). Regardless, an occasional escape from the cold is nice too. In this small show, I'll have around 20 pieces on the library wall, all of them warm weather escapist photographs -- jungles of Dominica, deserts of Namibia, cacti of the Sonoran Desert, blue waters of the Bahamas... You get the idea. It's a photographic antidote for sub-zero 800 mph winter winds.

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Voices of the Wilderness

Exhibit at Anchorage Museum, AK, through Feb 8, 2015

Stop by and look at a beautiful collection of paintings and photographs from artists who have been inspired by and spent extensive time in the Alaskan wilderness. My work is a photograph selected by the National Park Service showing the beautiful blue waters and lupines of the Glacier Bay Wilderness Area. I spent a month kayaking this wilderness and photographing the amazing landscape, wildlife and abstract pattermns in the glaciers and icebergs. My photograph of an eagle on display in the Smithsonian is from this same collection.

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Boulder County Artist-in-Residence

In residence at Caribou Ranch July 28 - Aug 1, 2014

If you are hiking at the gorgeous Caribou Ranch Open Space, stop by and say hello. I'll be staying in the historic DeLonde Barn and doing artwork on the premises for the week of July 28 - Aug 1, 2014. It's part of the Boulder County Artist-in-Residence program, and I'm excited to be staying at my favorite Boulder County Open Space property. If you haven't visited Caribou Ranch, it has beautiful hiking trails, aspen groves, mountain meadows, waterfalls, historic mining structures, and of course, the historic barn (my temporary home!) and ranch house featured in the Bing Crosby and Slim Pickens movie "Stagecoach." Hope to see you!

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Voices of the Wilderness

The Canvas Gallery, Juneau, AK, June, 2014

Stop by and look at a beautiful collection of paintings and photographs from artists who have been inspired by and spent extensive time in the Alaskan wilderness. My work is a photograph selected by the National Park Service showing the beautiful blue waters and lupines of the Glacier Bay Wilderness Area. I spent a month kayaking this wilderness and photographing the amazing landscape, wildlife and abstract pattermns in the glaciers and icebergs. My photograph of an eagle going on display in the Smithsonian in September is from this same collection.

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Louisville National Juried Photography Show

Louisville Center for the Arts, May 31 - June 8, 2014

Drop by and see my artwork at this wonderful show in downtown Louisville. There is a lot of superb photography in this exhibit, and I'm pleased that the jury selected one of my limited edition abstracts. The Louisville Center for the Arts is located at 801 Grant Avenue (it's easier to park a block south on Spruce Street).

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Voices of the Wilderness

Sitka National Historic Park, March, 2014

As an artistic celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, I'm excited to be part of a traveling exhibition that starts at the Sitka National Historic Park and finishes at the Anchorage Museum almost a year later. If you happen to be in Sitka this March, stop by the National Park Visitor Center and take a look! The photographs and paintings were all inspired by extended trips into the wilderness sponsored by the Voices of the Wilderness Artist in Residence program. Stay tuned as the show travels throughout the state (Fairbanks, Juneau, Homer...).

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