Melissa Kircher's bold photographs pick up a rarely trumpeted miracle of nature, the intricacy and subtle showmanship of its details. In "The Little Things," an exhibit of her photographs on display at New Canaan Nature Center from May 3-June 14, the thread is, she says, "the beauty in the often hidden and unexamined things. I love drawing attention to wonderful textures, colors, and often overlooked and usually very striking elements in nature."
Her arresting subjects have turned up both close to home, in flowers grown in her own Norwalk garden and the gardens of friends, as well as farther afield on hikes in and around Fairfield County, especially Bell Island, Weston and New Canaan and even on her travels to Hawaii, the Dominican Republic, Boston, and throughout New York State. While in some cases the sheer beauty of a flower is worthy of preserving in a photograph, for others, as with many in "The Little Things," she has a way to add dimension and depth and suggest the life cycle. "Many of the photographs in the exhibit have been processed using layers of the original flower photograph and photographs of weathered man-made elements," she says. "I've loved meshing the two to create a contrast between the beauty of natural creation and also the beauty to be found in the decay of man made objects."

Kircher is also a painter though many of her subjects in that medium are people. She admits that as with her photography, her bold style, in her color choices, lines and forms, is similar. "Nothing about my artwork is muted or quiet," she says. "I like to create things that catch the eye." Recently, an exhibit of her children's illustrations was on display at the New Canaan YMCA. Stop by New Canaan Nature Center to view her photographs from May 3 on and see how "The Little Things" have a big impact. For more information, visit the Center's website. To see more of Melissa Kircher's work, visit her website.

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