Growing up in Europe, Eva Koleva Timothy was surrounded by stories of the great explorers, artists, and inventors, which resulted in a fascination with history for as long as she can remember.

She says modern education has built walls between art and science, and condensed them into a series of facts and correct answers. And in doing so, she says, “we have lost much of what makes learning appetizing to begin with.”

A series of Timothy’s photographs, Lost in Learning: The Art of Discovery, is featured in The Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA, January 10 through March 20. An opening reception with the artist is January 13, 6-7:30 p.m. The exhibit runs parallel to the theater’s productions of The Winter Young Company Festival and Sunfish.

Timothy says her photographs “seek to break down the walls (between art and science) by revisiting a world long before they were ever built.”

She says that as a photographer, she is “particularly fascinated by the developments which led to the early optical innovations. The Age of Discovery was an era when people first took a lens and pointed it across the sea in search of new worlds. Or turned it heavenward, exploring worlds beyond our own. Or focused on something as simple as a blade of grass, revealing worlds within worlds. ”

Timothy says that by turning her lens on the relics of centuries past “I have sought to recapture the spirit of the explorers and the wanderers, the creators, scientists and the seekers who have left us with a legacy of what it means to lose ourselves in the grand voyage of learning.”

And, she explains that by “introducing new angles to iconic images from centuries ago, history comes unfrozen for a moment and merges with the present.enticing us to look deeper into the passions that inspired these luminaries in their journeys.Lost in Learning is about inspiring the inner explorer, creator, and dreamer within each of us.” Timothy, who lives near Boston, has a degree in communications, with an emphasis on film and photography, from the University of Utah. She studied at The Oxford School of Photography while living in the UK, and has a Licentiateship Certification from the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is included in the collections of the US Library of Congress, The Smithsonian, the George Eastman House Library, and elsewhere. The opening reception includes a gallery talk and book signing by Timothy.