Red Dot Project

Through his fine art photography, Bradley Hart captures nature in all its moods: the exuberance of a newly blooming water lily, the complexity of clouds tumbling across a wide-open sky, and the majesty of a mountain seated at the far end of a plain.

“Art, for me, connects momentary existence to a larger whole of humanity and history. Art is the constant to which I can always return,” says Hart, who has been part of the art and photography community around Kent for more than two decades.

Hart is one of 14 artists whose work adorns the PNC SmartHome as part of an exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Commercial photography anchors his livelihood, but Hart says his personal work “offers a more creative and introspective outlet for ideas, emotions and dreams.”

In 2008, Hart began a collaboration with painter Nancy Richards-Davis in an environmentally focused exhibit called “1 Degree of Change.” The show consisted of six black and white photographs by Hart and six mixed-media encaustic paintings by Richards-Davis. Each piece dealt with effects of climate change.

“Lifelines,” his black-and-white print in the SmartHome, stems from that project.

As an artist, Hart regards sustainability as an obvious focus and source of inspiration. Issues surrounding the health of the planet “suggest concepts and content for my work,” he says.

Because photography is both a conceptual and documentary medium, he adds, “I have the opportunity to express those considerations or ideas, and also show the actual effects of humanity’s disregard or acceptance of sustainable living.”

Hart is also just a big fan of the power of art to “allow us to step back, even if briefly, from the struggle of existence and enjoy something meaningful in a world of temporary entertainments. Art’s place in humanity’s pantheon of endeavors is as old as history itself. In fact, art is part of what it means to be human.”

Artwork shown: Lifelines, Bradley Hart