Bellaire artist raises money for Houston Food Bank

This is a portion of an article originally featured in the Jewish Herald Voice. Read more here.

Larry Garmezy loves being one of the 34 artists at Archway Gallery for the camaraderie and level of excellence. But he really loves the Houston-based gallery’s commitment to charity. “One of the great things about the Archway Gallery is we believe in supporting community,” said the 69-year-old Bellaire photographer. “We have big hearts. Art can be lonely, but at Archway, we have a community. There’s a civilization out there, and we have to support it. It makes me very proud to be part of Archway.” Archway Gallery, 2305 Dunlavy St., is partnering with the Houston Food Bank for the 18th annual Empty Bowls Houston (emptybowlshouston.org), from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, May 11, at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 4848 Main St. In addition, Archway Gallery will raise money for Empty Bowls Houston at its studio through Tuesday, April 30. Empty Bowls is one of several charity events that Archway does each year.

Archway opened in 1976, and Garmezy joined the gallery in 2011 – four years before he retired from a 32-year career as a geologist/global exploration advisor. Garmezy earned degrees in geology from both Amherst College (bachelor’s) and The Pennsylvania State University (master’s) before arriving in the Houston area in 1983 to work for Shell Oil. He has been interested in photography since childhood, when his father, the late renowned psychologist Norman Garmezy, allowed him to use his camera. Garmezy started with landscape photography but has come to embrace, and have a laser-like focus for, distortion photography. “I use my pool as my laboratory,” Garmezy said. “I have a photo of leaves floating in my pool. The surface tension totally distorts the shadows. The pool was built in 1970, and it has phenomenally intense shadows.” The Minneapolis native hosts art shows every other year. His next solo show will be in October.