An article about Grout’s critically acclaimed show appeared in the Carroll

Eagle on November 7, 2010

Phil Grout art exhibition ends at Birdie's Cafe Gallery in Westminster Maryland

By Kevin Dayhoff

January 4, 2011 http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/2011/01/phil-grout-art-exhibition-

ends-at.html

LABELS: Art Artists, Art Artists Grout Phil, Art Off Track Art, People Joseph Sherri Hosfeld,
Photography, Westminster Art Culture Artists, Westminster Bus Birdies's

Phil Grout’s exhibition at Birdie's Cafe

Gallery in Westminster ended on January
2, 2011 after a well-received two-month
showing.

Grout, an award-winning photojournalist,

fine art photographer appeared for the
opening of a retrospective show of his
work on November 5, 2010 at Birdie's
Café 233 East Main Street, Westminster,
MD 21157 -
http://www.birdiescoffee.com/

The show titled “44/40,” spanned over

four decades of Grout’s work, from
Vietnam to Africa, Plains Georgia, to
Carroll County; and includes almost 70 pieces of work. (See also:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/41131999/Phil-Grout-award-winning-photojournalist-to-appear-
at-Birdie%E2%80%99s-Cafe-Gallery-in-Westminster)

An article about Grout’s critically acclaimed show appeared in the Carroll Eagle on November
7, 2010. The article may be found at:
http://www.explorecarroll.com/community/4918/photojournalist-phil-grout-shows-decades-
work-birdies-caf/

At that time, Sherri Hosfeld Joseph, the owner of Birdie’s

and an artist herself, added, “Phil Grout is one of the
greatest photojournalists of his generation. We are truly
blessed as a community that he has chosen our stories to
document. Phil has an amazing ability to find the
extraordinary in everyday life - and this show, a
retrospective of forty-four years of his work, will leave you
awestruck.”

Photojournalist Phil Grout shows decades of work at Birdie's

Cafe in Westminster

Exhibit runs through Dec. 31

By Kevin Dayhoff, kevindayhoff@gmail.com

An article about Grout’s critically acclaimed show appeared in the Carroll Eagle on November 7, 2010 p#1
Posted 11/07/10 http://www.explorecarroll.com/community/4918/photojournalist-phil-
grout-shows-decades-work-birdies-caf/

(Enlarge) Phil Grout of Finksburg has worked throughout North, South and Central America,
Asia and Africa gathering images for newspapers, magazines, wire services, and book
publishers.

(Enlarge) Phil Grout works in blacksmithing. (Submitted photo)

Phil Grout, an award-winning photojournalist, fine art photographer appeared for the opening
of a retrospective show of his work at Birdie's Cafe Gallery in Westminster, this evening.

The show titled “44/40,” spans over four decades of

Grout's work, from Vietnam to Africa, Plains
Georgia, to Carroll County; and includes almost 70
pieces of work.

Since 1966 Grout has worked throughout North,

South and Central America, Asia and Africa
gathering images for newspapers, magazines, wire
services, and book publishers.

Through his Web site and via e-mail interview, Grout

said he “started to learn his craft as a photographer
in 1966 working as a photojournalist for the U.S.
Navy covering naval operations in Vietnam.

“But I quickly learned it wasn't the images of war I

was hunting, but more the face of humanity as I
roamed the back alleys of Saigon; Hong Kong;
Sasebo, Japan and Olongopo, Philippines.”

With pictures and words Grout, “became a gatherer

of the threads which bind us together as human beings.”

After the war, Grout “came home and settled in rural Maryland with his wife, Mary Lou, and
worked for nearly 10 years as a photographer, reporter, and editor for the Hanover Evening
Sun in Westminster.”

Since moving to Carroll County, Grout has authored three critically acclaimed photo essay
books. His work has been awarded by the Associated Press as well as various arts
organizations. It has also been featured in art galleries throughout the United States.”

According to Grout, “I fell in love with this land and its people who worked the land in my new
rural home. That love pulled me away to Plains, Ga., in the late 70s to complete my first book
as I lived in an abandoned sharecropper's home near President Jimmy Carter's farm, and
learned first hand the rigors of working the land and documenting the “tillers of the soil.”

His first venture into the book world won him national critical acclaim, including recognition
from Publisher's Weekly which called A Spell in Plains “a triumph.”

In the 1980's Grout took his camera throughout the developing world in Africa, Asia, Latin
America, and India documenting the work of various relief organizations.

An article about Grout’s critically acclaimed show appeared in the Carroll Eagle on November 7, 2010 p#2
A second book of photography, “Seeds of Hope,” “grew from the splinters left in the wake of a
hurricane which cut a path through Nicaragua
in 1988,” recalled Grout.
Grout then went on to live in Ghana, West
Africa in 2002, with an extended family of
cocoa farmers to create his latest book,
“Harvest of Hope,” a portrait of those who toil
to bring us chocolate.

Grout, who is also an avid gardener, is

constantly pushing the artistic envelope in
search of new and innovative ways to tell a
story, over the past four decades he has
explored drawing, blacksmithing,
woodworking, papermaking, and new
photographic processes in photography.

In a May 21, 1995 article in the Baltimore

Sun, he credited his father, Gerald C. Grout, for his interest in art and photography.

“He's the one who really got me into photography. He was a physician and a fine photographer.
He had his own darkroom, and I used to watch him,” Grout told Sun writer, Ellie Baublitz.

At the time, the article in 1995 described Grout's show at the Carroll County Arts Center, also
a retrospective, “Jubilee: A Photographic Retrospective.”

“Like his father, Mr. Grout has a studio and darkroom in his Westminster home, where he
develops prints, standard photos as well as what he calls 'photoglyphs' and an even newer
image using handmade paper,” wrote Baublitz in 1995.

“His photographs capture people, animals, and nature, mostly in black and white, few in color,
some as photoglyphs.

The photoglyphs are a relatively new

method of developing prints that Mr.
Grout discovered while experimenting
with chemicals,” observed Baublitz.

“For those who have the time, Mr.

Grout can tell the story behind (each
of) his photographs.”

Indeed, his photographs all tell a short

philosophical story about Grout's
worldwide travels in the four decades of
a life rich in storytelling and
experiences.

Grout is “Good picture shooter and a colleague in journalism… (We worked together) starting in
the Navy and then at the Hanover Evening Sun… I have three or four walls covered with his
work in my home…. (I) recommend you stop by and see his stuff,” said Carroll County
Commissioner and fellow Vietnam veteran, Dean Minnich

Sherri Hosfeld Joseph, the owner of Birdie's and an artist and critically acclaimed
photographer herself, added, “Phil Grout is one of the greatest photojournalists of his

An article about Grout’s critically acclaimed show appeared in the Carroll Eagle on November 7, 2010 p#3
generation. We are truly blessed as a
community that he has chosen our
stories to document. Phil has an amazing
ability to find the extraordinary in
everyday life - and this show, a
retrospective of forty-four years of his
work, will leave you awestruck.”

After his work in Africa, Phil returned to

his first love, photojournalism, and
newspapers in 2006, freelancing for
Patuxent Publishing and its string of
papers in central Maryland. His photo
illustrations regularly appear in Carroll
Magazine as well.

Phil's photography and reporting have

been awarded by the Associated Press,
Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press
Association as well as various arts
organizations.

An opening reception for the artist was

held at Birdie's Cafe, 233 E. Main St., Westminster, Nov. 5. The exhibition will remain through
Friday, December 31.

For more information and to see an extensive collection of Grout's work go to

www.philgrout.com or Birdie's Café at http://www.birdiescoffee.com/.

Follow explorecarroll.com on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/explorecarroll

On November 6th, 2010, Grout published the following notes and anecdotes about his show,
the art exhibited and his four-decade journey as an artist: “Phil Grout 44/40 in Light.”
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46301381/Phil-Grout-art-exhibition-ends-at-Birdie-s-Cafe-
Gallery-in-Westminster-Maryland

An extensive collection of Phil's work can be viewed at www.philgrout.com

See also: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/2010/11/phil-grout-

award-winning.html

For additional information: “Birdie's Cafe; has Westminster's Main

Street percolating once again - New cafe opens in place of former Pour
House,” By Kevin Dayhoff Posted 8/08/10 http://t.co/aZ8XWbe

Phil Grout, photographer, Vietnam, veteran, Birdie’s Cage, art, culture,

Carroll County, Westminster, Maryland, photojournalist, Dayhoff

[20101107 SCE Photojournalist Phil Grout shows sceked] [20110104

Grout art show ends at Birdie's Cafe Gallery] [20101106 Phil Grout
Bio With 44-40 Notes Short] [20110104 Grout art show ends at Birdie's Cafe Gallery]
[20101101 sdosmKEDprBrief Grout]
http://kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/post/2604949711/phil-grout-art-exhibition-ends-at-birdies-
cafe-gallery

An article about Grout’s critically acclaimed show appeared in the Carroll Eagle on November 7, 2010 p#4