Public Panel Discussion: Block Island Landscape Photography

5:30 p.m., August 27, 2026

Island Free Library, 9 Dodge Street

Four Block Island photographers will participate in a free, public panel discussion and Q+A about their landscape photography of the island. The panel will explore their artistic visions, what sets them apart—and what they have in common.

The panel is Thursday, August 27 at 5:30 p.m. at the Island Free Library.

The panel comprises:

Robin Bell and Tom Kalb, who have both exhibited at the Spring Street Gallery.

Malcolm Greenaway, a year-round island resident and gallery owner who has photographed the island professionally since 1974.

KC Perry, who spent summers on the island in his youth and photographed extensively on Block Island in the 1980s and ’90s.

The moderator, Jim Kent, has photographed the island since 1974. His latest work, a collaboration with Eric Baumgartner, “Block Island Winter: A 50-year Retrospective,” opens Saturday, August 29 at the Spring Street Gallery.

50 Years of Block Island Winter Photos Opens at Spring Street Gallery

August 28 to September 10, 2026

Spring Street Gallery, 105 Spring Street

Opening reception Saturday, August 29, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

A new photography exhibition, Block Island Winter: A 50-Year Retrospective, explores the stark beauty, shifting landscape, and enduring spirit of Block Island in its quietest season. Focusing on two periods — the early and late 1970s and the winter of 2025–26 — the exhibition presents a visual dialogue between past and present. Selected photographs taken roughly 50 years apart revisit the same locations, revealing both striking continuities and profound change.

Winter on Block Island offers a singular experience. The crystalline ocean light exposes textures and histories often softened or hidden in warmer seasons. This exhibition captures that intensity, drawing attention to a place defined by contrasts: a summer haven temporarily subdued, a landscape both enduring and in flux.

The black-and-white images invite viewers to reflect on the island’s past and present and explore the fragile balance between preservation and progress in one of New England’s most distinctive environments.

The photographers, James Kent and Eric Baumgartner, have been visiting the island for 50 years, usually in the off season. Their first essay on the island was exhibited at the Island Free Library, under the direction of Sandy Gaffett, in 1978. It later traveled to the Art Association of Newport (now the Newport Art Museum).

For more information, see BlockIslandWinter.com.