Visions of Block Island, A Twenty-five Year Retrospective

Beginning with an opening on Saturday, August 1st from 5-7 pm at the Spring Street Gallery on High Street, Keith Lang will be celebrating twenty-five years of the Visions of Block Island in Photographs and Words calendar with a retrospective of photos from over the years. The show will run until August 13th.

Keith grew up spending summers on Block Island, a place his ancestors first visited in 1908 after arriving in America from Scotland. He has spent considerable time on the island in all seasons and has lived here full time since retiring in 2018.

For many years, he traveled back and forth to the mainland where he worked as State Director for The Nature Conservancy of Rhode Island, as a senior aide to United States Senator John H. Chafee, and, as Executive Director of The Champlin Foundation.

In 2001, he co-authored with Scott Comings, On This Island: The Block Island Trail and Nature Guide. In 2002, with the help of Kristen Kiley and James Lindquist, he created the Visions of Block Island calendar, a collection of images accompanied by quotations from literature depicting the island throughout the year.

Of the three hundred photographs displayed over that time, he has selected fourteen that either appeared on the cover or within since the first edition for the year 2003. He would like to thank IO Labs from East Providence, Rhode Island who printed the photos, Big Picture Framing, an employee owned shop based in Newton, Massachusetts for framing them, Flagship Press in Andover, Massachusetts who prints the calendar, and, the Spring Street Gallery and its members for sponsoring this show. 

Of this effort, Keith says, “Block Island is the focus of the calendar and the exhibit. If I have done anything, it is to get out of the way and let the island speak for itself”.

All are welcome.