“The Beauty of Nature” by Gail Alexander will be featured at Booklovers’ Gourmet, located at 72 East Main Street, Webster from March 1-30 in the cafe gallery. The exhibit is free and open to the public during regular business hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. A meet the artist reception will take place on Saturday, March 9, 2 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information call 508-949-6232 or email [email protected].

About the artist:

Gail is a life long resident of Dudley. She graduated from Nichols College with a bachelor’s degree in business and has spent her career at a large local company.

She has always had a love of animals and enjoys spending time with and around them. She spent many years showing her Thoroughbred horse, AliBaba, in the dressage arena, even once qualifying and showing at the regional championships in New York.  She also spent time training and competing her two Olde English Bulldogges, Apple and Nikita, in the sport of Nosework (think police dogs trained to sniff out drugs, except instead of sniffing out drugs, her dogs sniffed out specific odors). Both she and her dogs have won many titles in the sport.

Upon the passing of her beloved horse, she found herself with lots of time on her hands and in need of a new hobby so she picked up a camera and has been hooked ever since. She would take her dogs hiking with the camera in tow. When the dogs became physically unable to hike with her, she would head out by herself whenever and wherever it struck her fancy. That is where she really learned to appreciate nature and all its beauty. She is drawn to water, so many of her photographs are around rivers or oceans or ponds and has a special spot in her heart for raptors; but loves photographing all kinds of birds and animals, and anything else that catches her eye.
Nowadays, it is not unusual to find her out and about with some friends or spending time with her two granddaughters on “adventures”, always with a camera in tow.

Her work has been displayed in a juried show titled “The F-Stops Here” at Hygienic Gallery in New London, CT. Most recently five pieces of her work were displayed at Workspace Gallery in Manchester, CT in their “Perspectives of Time” show. She has since become a member of the gallery and later in 2024, more of her work will be on display and for sale at the gallery as well.

“It wasn’t until I started taking pictures that I began to realize that there is great beauty in everything around us. Life gets so busy and we run from place to place or task to task, that we often don’t notice the little things right in front of us - like the quirkiness of the birds at the feeder or how majestic the eagle is soaring overhead. Photography has taught me to slow down and enjoy what is right in front of me.”