Welcome to Alphabetical Order!          May 10 - June 8, 2025

As an educator, I came across a picture book of paintings called Alphabet City, (Viking Press, 1995) by Stephen T. Johnson. My students enjoyed finding the letters that were in each painting, and talking about the context in which they were found. As a fine art photographer, I thought that if Mr. Johnson could paint them, I could photograph them! That’s when I began my search. It took several years to find at least one version of each letter, while following my simple, self-imposed rules: They had to be upper-case, and they had to be as found (in situ). I maybe changed my perspective, or picked up cigarette butts (eww!), or pulled some grass that was in the way, but none of them were flipped. The first images, which I found in about 2007, were gradually replaced with better representations. Now, the earliest dates back to 2009. After determining that I’d stick to the landscape format, I sometimes went back to reshoot those that were in portrait format. That was a good excuse to revisit the wharf in Meteghan, Nova Scotia, to get the “F”!

While Stephen Johnson confined his search to urban settings, I went further afield. Basically, wherever I went with a camera was fair game. All of my images were made in Canada, with some being from right here in Southern Alberta, and others being from as far away as the East Coast. They are all from film, which was processed in my traditional darkroom, and later made into prints on resin-coated (RC) paper. There’s a bonus “X” because, well, I live in Lethbridge, the home of the famous railway bridge!

My hope is that viewing my work will trigger your curiosity, and you’ll look for letters in your everyday lives.

Please enjoy! Rhonda Kupsch, B.Ed., M.A.

I would like to acknowledge the following people for the assistance they gave me while I was completing this project: Donna Kroeger; Morton Molyneux; Mike Paterson; and Cindy Schaaf.

I would also like to dedicate this exhibition to the memory of my parents, Benno and Laura Kupsch, and my late friends, Morry Katz, and Andy Krajewski.