“Just People,” featuring work by George Francis “Jay” Stock Jr., will open with a reception from 6-8 p.m. Friday and run through Jan. 31. The exhibition and reception are free.
Stock was born in 1923 and died in July of 2019, at 96. Jay was a graduate of Dillonvale High School and served in World War II as a medic in the Aleutian Islands.
In the Army, he was introduced to photography, eventually becoming his lifelong career. After completing his time in the service, Jay married, had a family and worked in coal mines in Ohio and for the Nickel Plate Railroad. He studied at The Progressive School of Photography in New Haven, Conn.
After using a converted kitchen for a darkroom and a living room for his camera room he and his wife, Julia Mae, established Jay’s Studio in Bridgeport and then Martins Ferry, Ohio. They also owned Portrait Essay’s Gallery in Washington, Pa.
Stock’s prolific career included Master of Photography and Photographic Craftsman degrees from the Professional Photographers of America. He held fellowships in the American Society of Photographers, the British Institute of Professional Photographers and Britain’s Royal Society of the Arts.
He received the Warren Motts Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ohio Professional Photographers and was the premier recipient of the ASP’s International Award; Eastman Kodak’s Steuben Crystal Apple Award and the Professional Photographer’s of California’s Award of Excellence. He was also a member of the International Photography Hall of Fame, which holds a body of his work.
Stock taught hundreds of professional photographers nationally and internationally. He was the author of articles and fine art publications.
His work has been exhibited at venues around the world, including the U.S. Capitol Building, Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University, the International Photography Hall of Fame and at Chalon sur Soane (the European Headquarters of Professional Photography) and his portraiture was recently included in the first U.S. museum exhibition dedicated to portrait photography at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art.
Locally, Stock was proud of his 2011 induction to the Martins Ferry Hall of Honor.
