October marks the start of the Halloween season with costumes, props and decorations visible in many area homes, shops and professional offices.

In that vein, Ripe Art Gallery in Greenlawn hosted a 'spooktacular' show called "Till Death Do Us Part," a collaboration of the work of two Long Island photographers: JoAnne Dumas and Kimberly Glutz. The common theme: cemeteries.

JoAnne Dumas is a digital photography professor at Suffolk County Community College's Eastern Campus. She started her cemetery series by coming across Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont, a place that utilized the craftsmanship of local granite sculptors to memorialize the lives of those buried there, therefore adding a personal touch to their final resting place.

"When I got out of the car with my camera I felt like I had entered a very strange place, but as I walked around the personalities, passions, hopes and desires of the people they commemorated came alive through these stones," Dumas said. "I could imagine them and their lives. More than just their names, these people wanted others to know and remember who they were and what they cared about, and the message was clear. My images are just another way of passing on their memory."

One of her photos shows a headstone that represents more of a headboard with a man and wife sitting up in bed holding hands, another adds a personal touch as well with old fashioned photos of two people illuminated over the graves.

Kimberly Glutz, a photographer and digital artist, added another element to the show, while not photographing adult graves but baby graves instead. Glutz normally photographs nature, real estate, and rock bands, but when she met gallery owner Cherie Via, Via asked her to shoot baby graves and, hence,  she took on a new venture.

"It was exciting to shoot a new series of work," Glutz said. "My nature photography had been on exhibit all year at various restaurants, cafes, libraries, yoga studios, and even tattoo parlors across Long Island so it was refreshing to get out there and shoot something new."

"When you tell someone that you are photographing baby graves they have the typical instant reaction that you would expect as it is a sensitive subject that is saddening but poetic at the same time," Glutz said. "To see items left by their name markers that are so full of life like colorful, playful toys that they can never play with is quite haunting. That is why I designed my show as an instillation and created a little baby memorial underneath my display to draw the viewer in even more to experience what I saw firsthand while researching these graves. To actually see the toys sitting there can be quite chilling. I have also included a music button on the wall that plays a lullaby."

Her show is based around a main headstone inscribed with the word "Babyland." Surrounding that lies photos of baby gravesites, some just showing the items that are left behind by the family members in memoriam, another shows a grave with the last name of Young with the inscription "Our Little Angel." Another shows a marble headstone with the engraved phrase, "Nitey Nite." Another, a cherub left in the grass with text she captioned with the words, "Waiting in the Wings."

"A baby represents the beginning of life and not the finalization of death and yet there they lay," Glutz said. "It is the ironic unfairness of life in its purest form. The photos shown are undisturbed, and not posed, but photographed as found for respect of the gravesites. The newer graves do not show the infant's names, the older graves date back to the 1700's."

As a result of  researching this project, Glutz became volunteer for a website called Findagrave.com where she photographs graves at the request of family members who have never seen nor have met the ancestors on their list. "I am honored and humbled to share with them this part of their family history and am overwhelmed by the kind words of thanks received from the recipients. I will keep up my volunteer work with this organization long after this show is over."

Gallery owner Cherie Via said she wans interested in the subject because it forces the viewer to dig deep in to themselves."I feel that this show is important to challenge my audience to examine how they feel about death, and dying," Via said. "This show highlights people's final resting places, and brings a rather peaceful feeling to a subject many people have a hard time with. We are remembering those who have passed before us."

Also at the opening performance dancer, Robyn Bellospirito, ghoulishly danced around unsuspecting guests in a white flowing dress with pale white makeup. Her dance intrigued the onlookers as her lyrical movement resembled a trance that channeled the spirits.

Refreshments included "spirited" sodas labeled "Red Blood," "Spider Venom," and "Sulfuric Elixir" to name a few. Guests at the opening reception all had a good time and responded favorably to the show. One guest even commented, "It was eerie, but respectfully done. Death is a part of life and therefore an art form of its own right."

The show runs through Saturday, Oct. 30. Ripe Art Gallery is located at 67A Broadway in Greenlawn. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Thursday 11am-6pm, Friday 2pm-8pm, Saturday 11am-5pm. The gallery is closed Sundays and Mondays.

For more information visit www.ripeartgal.com or go to www.dumasphoto.com for JoAnne Dumas, and www.kimberlyglutz.com or www.dominiquesdungeon.info for Kimberly Glutz.