East Bay Artist's Orinda Oak Tree Photos On Exhibit At De Young Museum

LAMORINDA, CA — A series of images by East Bay photographer Jeff Heyman was selected to hang in The de Young Open 2023, an exhibit showcasing Bay Area artists at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.

Heyman's series of nine black and white photographs, "Oak Scars No. 3, Orinda, California, 2023," is presented together in a single, 20-inch by 20-inch print. The series consists of close-up images of the "scars" left on oak trees after their limbs have been removed. Each photograph captures the many unique scars left on old-growth oak trees from decades of serial delimbing.

"A tree endures many scars during its lifetime and I have documented a number of the sometimes strange markings on oak trees in Orinda where I live," Heyman said. "These oak scars, in many ways, mirror the scars we acquire over the course of our own lives."

Heyman first took photography classes at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, California, during which time he learned Ansel Adams’s Zone System and met noted photographers, including Ruth Bernhard. He went on to earn a degree from San Francisco State University in fine art photography, studying under photographers Catherine Wagner, Melanie Walker, Jack Welpott and Don Worth, as well as painters Paul Pratchenko and Robert Bechtle.

Heyman's photographs are regularly featured in the Lamorinda Weekly, The Orinda News and other publications. See his work, including "Oak Scars No. 3," at Heymanfoto.smugmug.com.

This is Heyman's first piece to hang at the de Young Museum, a place he visited frequently with his parents while growing up in San Francisco. His work has been exhibited in a number of solo and group shows.

The exhibit opened Sept. 30 and runs through Jan. 7. For exhibit hours and ticket information, go to Famsf.org/exhibitions/de-young-open-2023.