(Photo provided)

KEENE – On Columbus Day weekend, Oct. 5-8, a new art gallery will open in the village of Keene. Lifelong photographers and career mountain guides, R.L. & Karen Stolz, established Vertical Perspectives Photography to share their artistic vision and the new Alpenhaus Gallery showcases their work in a unique viewing space.

Originally constructed in 1987 as a climbing gym for their mountain guiding service, Alpine Adventures, the new gallery space is twenty feet tall yet retains a very intimate feel. “The height of the gallery enhances the verticality of our rock and ice climbing photographs while providing unusual perspectives for our landscapes and abstract work. Looking up at the photos of cliffs and climbers gives the viewer the feeling of airiness typically experienced by climbers,” said R.L. Stolz.

For nearly four decades, the Stolzes have traveled extensively throughout the world as mountain guides and photographers. Their photographic subject matter is diverse, both geographically and in terms of the images themselves. Photos of steep-walled, desert canyons from the southwestern United States are placed alongside striking landscapes of lakes, rivers and mountains of the Adirondack Park. A selection of 45 framed and float-mounted fine art prints, ranging in size from 16-inch-to-20-inch to a panorama 12 feet in length, are displayed. Matted prints in smaller sizes, along with two Collector’s Edition coffee-table books of their photographs, are also available. These images represent a small sample of their body of work and future exhibits, emphasizing a variety of themes, are planned.

“In addition to making the photographs, we do all of our own printing, matting, mounting and framing to ensure our work remains as true to our intention as possible. We maintain large format giclée printers in our printing studio, and a separate studio dedicated to framing,” said Karen Stolz. Besides sharing their own images, the Stolzes share their knowledge and experience through workshops, tours, trips, presentations, and other photographic services.

The Alpenhaus Gallery is easily located on state Routes 73 and 9N at Vertical Perspectives Photography, 10873 state Route 9N, Keene, NY 12942, 518-576-9881

The Alpenhaus Gallery will be open from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

An opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday.