EXHIBITION: AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL – Photographs by Stan Singer
Guest Curator: Leon Chudzinski
DATES: Through December 2026
TIMES: The gallery is open Monday thru Friday 10AM to 5PM. Sundays till 1:00pm.
“America the Beautiful,” a photo essay by photographer Stan Singer, is the third in the Temple Judea Museum’s year-long exhibition series celebrating America’s Semiquincentennial.
I consistently ask myself the question: “What is the Picture About?” Stan Singer
During his extensive travels across the United States, Stan Singer has captured a unique view of the people, landscapes and expressions of patriotic individualism that define the visual character of our country. In looking at these exquisite photographs one senses the photographer’s rapport with his subjects. He is not a detached observer. Stan has received numerous awards for his work and his images have appeared over thirty-five times in international magazines and periodicals. In addition to private collections, his images are in the permanent collection of Jefferson Abington Hospital and the Temple Judea Museum of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel. Singer’s work has been exhibited locally at Abington Art Center, Woodmere Art Museum, Penn State Abington and the Cosmopolitan Club. Also, at the Ringling College of Art & Design, Florida, and the State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg.
National Geographic Online selected his photograph “Stilted” as one of the twelve best submitted for a specific theme.
STATEMENTS: America the Beautiful: Photographs by Stan Singer
ARTIST: I am grateful to have been born in America and to have had the opportunity to benefit from the uplifting ideals that the best of our country embodies. My wife, Lois, and I have traveled across the country relishing breathtaking scenery, particularly the majestic landscapes of our national parks. During our travels, we have witnessed countless individuals savoring the simple pleasures of life. Whenever Lois identifies a subject that may be of photographic interest, she discretely signals my attention with a soft whistle. When capturing images, I am fully engrossed in the present moment, allowing all other thoughts to fade away.
When photographing a scene, I envision myself stepping into the frame, fully immersed in the beauty of nature, the tranquility of the moment, the wonder of a particular season, and the duration I intend to linger at that location. I have always been attracted to color, as it evokes a sense of nature’s joy and vibrancy, its incandescence, happiness, textures, climate, and adaptability to natural change. Color in inanimate subjects imbues an object with a sense of history and utility, highlighting its current significance within our world. Composition plays a pivotal role in interpreting the surroundings. Black and white photography boasts its own strengths.
Without the aid of color, black and white photography has its own set of challenges. All attention is directed towards the subject. If it’s a scene, then texture, the importance of “painting” with light, contrast, and rich tones become crucial elements. Whenever possible, I strive to engage an individual before attempting to photograph them. However, capturing candid shots of a person or a group of individuals engaged in an activity, particularly in public spaces, demands quick action on my part to preserve a telling glance, a fleeting emotion, or even a successful or unsuccessful action. I focus on the subject’s eyes, and the more I fill the frame with the individual, the more intimate the image becomes.
I consistently ask myself the question: “What is the Picture About?”
Stan Singer September 2026
This is the final 2026 Temple Judea Museum exhibition in a series of three that celebrated America 250. It is also the eighth one-person exhibition to feature, in-depth, the work of an artist of the Temple Judea Museum Artists’ Collaborative. It is the third exhibition to be totally curated by Collaborative artist, and TJM Installation Curator, Lee Chudzinski.
The TJM Artists’ Collaborative is a uniquely talented group of artists, all KI members. Stan Singer is an award winning photographer, and his stunningly beautiful vision of our America takes us on a rewarding cross-country journey. He brings to his viewfinder an aesthetic that is grounded in his life experiences, his and Lois’ love of travel and their love of the KI community.
Thank you Stan, Lee and all the members of the TJM Collaborative who enriched our 2026 year-long tribute to America.
Rita Rosen Poley, Director, Curator
“America the Beautiful” is at first a poem written by Katharine Lee Bates inspired by a cross-country train trip taken by her in 1891. As she stood atop Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains, she was inspired by the spacious skies that surrounded her remarking that she felt as if she could see from sea to sea. The poem would evolve to song and stands today as a documentation of her life-changing journey that has been adopted by the nation as a shared testament to the natural beauty of America and the ingenuity of its people.
Stan Singer’s travels afforded him and his wife Lois the opportunity to experience this inspirational America that is celebrated in prose, song and lore, and then captured for posterity by the momentary click of the shutter. The America the Beautiful exhibition is meant to remind us to celebrate the diverse majesty of this nation’s people, cultures and natural wonders that continue to define us as uniquely American.
I would like to thank Stan for traveling with me on this curatorial journey and to Rita Rosen Poley TJM Director for asking me to help create this closing America 250 exhibition for the Temple Judea Museum.
Leon Chudzinski, Guest Curator