The Highlands: Tactual Dreamscape Photographs

Richard McWherter’s unique inspiration is clearly demonstrated through the images he creates with his camera in the Laurel Highlands and Chestnut Ridge areas near his home in Western Pennsylvania. But his landscapes reveal more than just a record of a particular time or place; they speak to much more universal themes. The Highlands is a new series of Tactual Dreamscape photographs by Richard S. McWherter that blurs the lines between photography, drawing, and painting. These expressionistic images offer a unique way of seeing deep into the nature of this artist’s intimate passion, as well as bringing a visceral response from others. People are often curious about what part of the image is photographic and what part is painted. But this interaction between what is physical and what is imagination is exactly why these photographs have that dream-like quality, as if from a memory of a familiar place we haven’t visited yet.