'What nature has given us':

The Blackstone River is study in contrasts all along its approximately 46-mile course from Worcester to its merger with the tidal currents of the Seekonk River just north of Providence. “There’s great beauty, and there’s trash,” says photographer James Hunt, who has captured both aspects, often in the same image.

The river, in all its glory, grace and gunk, is the star of Hunt’s upcoming solo exhibition, “Under the Highway: Blackstone River Landscapes.” The show, presented by ArtsWorcester, reveals how the long-suffering Blackstone has somehow retained a semblance of the natural treasure it was before the Industrial Revolution channeled, dammed, rerouted, polluted and otherwise subjugated it.

The show focuses on a roughly 2½-mile stretch of the river mainly in Millbury, but briefly touching Worcester, that has recently been reclaimed as a bikeway. Here, the Blackstone flows along as it has for ages while cars stream overhead on the many bridges that crisscross back and forth along busy, revamped Route 146, the latest challenge humans have imposed on the river.

The show opening will be from 6 to 8 p.m. June 27 at the Franklin Square Salon Gallery of the Hanover Theatre, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester. At 6:15 p.m., Hunt will give an artist’s talk. Live music will be provided by Carlos Odria. The event is open free to the public.

Hunt’s river focus area, interestingly, is within walking distance of where the photographs will be shown, Juliet Feibel, ArtsWorcester’s executive director, has noted. “This exhibition is so provocative in its use of landscape, which is usually a depiction of the untouched beauties of nature,” Feibel said. “But in these photographs, Hunt frames classical landscapes out of ugly infrastructure or industrial detritus, and the results are, yes, beautiful, but eerie and haunting all at the same time.”

Hunt, an associate professor of management at Babson College, has shown his photographs in shows at locations ranging from the Jewish Community Center in Worcester and the Brush Gallery in Lowell, to the Northern Valley Art League in California. He lives in Grafton and maintains a photography studio in Westboro.

“I was aware of the bike path because I had driven down 146 a thousand times and really wanted to go down there,” he said. “I finally did, and I was pretty quickly entranced by the area.”

He was not, however, aware of the river’s industrial past at that point so the professor became a student, learning all he could about the river’s history. “I should have been (aware of it) because at Babson one of our claims to fame is entrepreneurship and the Blackstone River was the engine of entrepreneurship in the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s and early 1800s.”

The river continued as the source of an enormous amount of business activity and the employment and wealth creation that resulted. There was a price for all of that, of course: massive pollution. It is now a region in transition, however, thanks to the efforts of many individuals and environmentally conscious groups. Hunt’s initial artistic interest in the area has grown to include joining one of those groups in an extensive volunteer science-based project: He regularly samples river water and reports the results to the Blackstone River Coalition.

“The river is actually getting cleaner,” he said. “The water is, anyway, but it’s the sediment. That’s where the heavy metals are and who knows what else. It wasn’t just industrial pollution. It was also municipal pollution.” Some pockets of that pollution remain, and Hunt said there are postings from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation behind the Walmart on Route 146 that say, in effect, “This is polluted. Don’t go in here.”

“I always have a soft spot in my heart for water,” Hunt said. “Water is fascinating to photograph but this was tough because there is so much vegetation around the river. I suspect the folks who built the bike path didn’t want to get too close to it in some places.”

One doesn’t need to rely on science alone to surmise that the health of the river is on the upswing. Fish are increasingly abundant in the Blackstone, as are the herons who feed on them. Along the bike path there is an assortment of other wildlife. “There is an amazingly active group of beavers who are doing what they do,” Hunt said. “There are deer, a wide variety of birds, muskrats. I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t some of the more nocturnal critters like bobcats and that sort of thing in there. It’s certainly a lot healthier than it was.”

But the river’s struggle continues. In one photo, Hunt shows a lovely natural shoreline that would seem idyllic if it weren’t for the legs of an inverted chair sticking up as it floats down the middle of the river. “The river was flowing quite heavily that day and we were just out walking and there goes this chair,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you look at it and say, ‘Really?’ But this is the life of an urban park.”

In another photograph, Hunt’s talent for capturing breathtaking reflections in water is evident, but so is a white plastic trash bag sitting near the shore. “That river picks up color very nicely and you get some really tremendous reflections,” he said. “It’s stunningly beautiful and yet somebody threw some trash in it. It’s a heartbreaking shot — that and the chair — although the chair is, at least, somewhat humorous.”

All the cleanup efforts are helping, but Hunt’s photos show there is still a long way to go. “It’s a story, ultimately, about ‘Are we going to take places like this for granted?’ ” he said. “And even if the government pumps money into them that’s not enough because this is really about us and are we going to care for what nature has given us.”

After the reception, free viewings are by appointment through Oct. 30. To make an appointment, contact ArtsWorcester at info@artsworcester.org or (508) 755-5142.