Animal lover captures their essence in photography
By Michelle L. Quinn Post-Tribune correspondent February 1, 2012 4:00PM
This black-and-white image of two dogs is part of an exhibit by artist Sandy Turmail running through March 11 at the Towle Theater in Hammond, Ind. | Provided Photo
If you go
Sandy Turmail’s photography exhibit will be shown through March 11 in the Towle Theater main lobby, 5205 Hohman Ave., Hammond. Call 937-8780 to schedule a viewing or find out when the theater will be open to visitors.
Article Extras
Updated: March 4, 2012 8:02AM
Between co-owning a veterinary clinic and belonging to more dog rescues than a person can keep track, Sandy Starrett Turmail simply cannot get enough of animals great and small.
And now that she has the right instrument — a camera — with which to capture the beauty she sees, she can’t stop. She’s collected some of her favorite photographs and put them on display at the Towle Theater through March 11.
Turmail, of Munster, traces her love of animals to childhood, when she would chat with them as long-lost friends.
“As a child, I kept thinking they would talk back to me; in a way, they have,” she said. “When I look at them, something always melts inside of me. I read their eyes and they tell me things.
“Where some people see ugly, I see beauty.”
After treating countless pets alongside her husband, Doug Turmail, at Woodmar Animal Clinic, and joining rescue groups such as Old Dog Haven, she decided to start photographing the beauty where she saw it. She started taking photographs but could never get the exact moment she wanted to convey.
That’s when she turned to an expert.
“One day, I was writing my friend (award-winning Michigan painter) Michael Frase, and he told me he had a camera for sale,” she said. “I thought because he was such a great artist the camera would work for me, so I bought it.”
From the moment she took the camera out of the box, it was all over.
“I have always wanted to be able to get into the secret lives of birds and animals of all kinds,” she said. “When I look through the lens, I am one with nature. Those animals are mine for just a second, and that thrills me.”
Turmail had a show at the Hammond Public Library when she decided to put out feelers to the Towle to see if they might be interested. Managing director Jeff Casey jumped at the chance because he enjoys her broad perspective.
“The thing about a lot of artists is that their work is very much geared toward the abstract,” Casey said. “Sandy’s work is beautiful as well as straight-forward, so it makes it very accessible. The kids we have come in here for our children’s theater program, for example, are just mesmerized when they see it.”
Comments Click here to view or make a comment