Florence and Anthony Rodale, a husband and wife team of photographers, have formed FloreAnt Projects and will open a gallery Oct. 15 at 215 Main Street in Emmaus, they said recently.
"We both have passions for the environment and photography," Florence said on Oct. 13. "We decided to put them together."
FloreAnt -- a combination of their first names -- will be the Lehigh Valley’s first photo gallery to approach “Sustainability through the Art of Photography," she said.
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What exactly is sustainability? It helps to be an environmentalist….
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends -- either directly or indirectly -- on our natural environment.
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"Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations," the EPA said on its web site.
Anthony is a board member at Emmaus-based .
He is part of a third generation of Rodale leaders. His grandfather was company founder JI Rodale and his dad was Robert Rodale, who developed the company world-wide.
Under Anthony’s leadership, the Rodale Institute near Kutztown renewed its commitment to the founding theme of Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People.
As far as photography background, Anthony studied at the Brooks Institute of Photography with special interest in people working and living with land.
Florence is a French transplant with a background in design, cooking, gardening and photography.
The new gallery is "a platform to combine their passion for the art of photography and their experience as advocates for sustainable ideas," according to a recent press release.
FloreAnt Projects' first exhibit will feature photo collages by artist Douglas Gayeton, an award-winning photographer, film maker and writer. His work will come from the "pop-up" series, "SLOW: Life in a Tuscan Town and The Lexicon of Sustainability."
The gallery will also be a partner of and a venue for the Lehigh Valley Month of Photography held in November, part of InVision Photo Festival presented by Artsquest. It will also hold special events throughout the month with local guest photographers David W. Haas and internationally-acclaimed Lydia Panas.
Seasonal photography exhibits and events on sustainability will be held throughout the year. A contest for amateur, emerging and professional photographers will be announced in 2012.
FloreAnt Projects will extend their reach though online galleries at www.floreantprojects.com.