Photography exhibit at the Book Bower

From the Book Bower

The Book Bower, located in Main St. Market, Middletown, is displaying the photographic works of local resident, Dortha Willets. The public is invited to meet her on Friday, July 10, 2009 at the bookstore.

A native of Piqua, Ohio, Dortha Cool Willetts, has been a resident of Middletown for 39 years. She is an elementary education graduate of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and holds a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University.

Willetts began doing photography work while teaching in Dayton, Ohio, where she taught elementary students to express themselves in photography and poetry. After moving to Connecticut, she used photography in Middletown Public Schools where she had middle school students compose photos that were submitted to and printed in READ Magazine.

In 1975, she joined the staff of Weekly Reader and wrote materials and took photos for the fourth grade edition of the newspaper, and began doing art photography on her own. While at Weekly Reader, she authored and did the photography for a paperback book produced by Weekly Reader, entitled “Easy-to-Make Nature Crafts.”

In 1986, Willetts went back to teaching, this time, in Hartford Public Schools, and began that career with a 1987 Celebration of Excellence for her sixth grade class’s production of “A Neighborhood Album” in which the students used SLR cameras to produce a slideshow and 8”x10” prints of their Frog Hollow neighborhood.

In 1994, Willetts began writing and taking photos for the Middletown and Cromwell editions of The Chronicle, and continues in that work today. About the same time, she also began exhibiting as a member of NOMA, a North End art gallery, for about four years. She has continued her art photography throughout the years she has been working in her chosen professions.

The Book Bower is used book store in Middletown. Hours are 10 am-6 pm, Monday through Saturday. It features over sixteen thousand used books of all types; something for everyone. It is owned and operated by Linda Bowers, with the help of her husband John and daughter Jennifer.