(SPENCERTOWN, N.Y.) – Works by New Hampshire-based artists J. Ann Eldridge and Bill Duffy will be on display at Spencertown Academy Arts Center from May 17 through June 22, 2014. There will be an opening reception for “Off the Beaten Path: Prints by J. Ann Eldridge and Photographs by Bill Duffy” on Saturday, May 17, 2014, from 4 to 6 p.m. The reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.

Duffy and Eldridge are a husband-and-wife team whose captivating artworks focus on aspects of the natural and human world that are often hidden or overlooked. Eldridge’s drawings and etchings are inspired by her gardening and land conservation work. Photographer Duffy, who is also a cartographer, is influenced by the people and places he encounters during his map-making work. They frequently travel the same paths but with different and complementary creative results.

“My prints and drawings are all true stories,” said Eldridge. “My strongest impulse is as a reporter for what I witness in the course of my days – growing food, mucking about in swamps and volunteering for land conservation projects. For me, drawing is the most direct method of expression between thought, hand, and paper. Printmaking is an extension of drawing for me.”

Duffy’s inspirations include both the natural and manmade worlds and often capture the incongruous relationships between the two. His photographs record the odd hidden spaces and icons that are disappearing in the face of modern America’s mega-developments and strip malls.

“I am attracted to the dramatically lit and the subtly composed scene and in particular that which is misplaced and ironically juxtaposed,” he said. “My photographs are often records of the human condition: the people, the structures, the artifacts, and the detritus. I’m particularly drawn to small-town places and their people as well as the local landmarks that are disappearing in the face of our newly homogenized landscape of big-box stores, franchise-foods joints and self-storage facilities.”

Eldridge creates her prints using the traditional intaglio (etching) processes, which has remained largely unchanged since the 1400s. The process involves many stages, she said. “The blacks are slowly built up with fine lines drawn through a thin wax varnish that are then etched into the copper plate. Ink is rubbed into the indented lines and wiped off the surface of the plate. A sheet of slightly damp paper is placed on the inked plate and the roller of the hand-operated press is cranked over it, transferring the image to the paper. It is slow work,” she adds.

Eldridge’s credits include author and illustrator of “Cabbage or Cauliflower?” (David R. Godine); illustrator of “The French Menu Cookbook” by Richard Olney (David R. Godine) and “Home Bird” by Laura Wainright (Vineyard Stories); contributing illustrator of “Where the Mountain Stands Alone” (University Press of New England); and contributing illustrator for The Nature Conservancy, New Hampshire Audubon Society and The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

Duffy’s photographs are regularly exhibited at galleries in Maine and New Hampshire and have been published by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Quimby Family Foundation, and the National Park Service. His mapping company takes him to the back roads of New England where he collects geographic information for towns, land trusts and various state and federal agencies. During his travels, he documents the people, structures, artifacts and detritus he encounters with his camera.

Spencertown Academy Arts Center, housed in a beautifully restored 1847 landmark building located at 790 Route 203 in Spencertown, N.Y., presents high quality arts and cultural programs for the whole community, including the annual Festival of Books, family art days, gallery exhibitions, music and spoken word performances.