statement
Artist Statement:
I grew up on my grandfather's farm in northern Ohio where I helped in the fields and with the livestock. My other grandfather took me into the woods to hunt and onto the lake to fish. Solitary hours in the fields, woods, and on the lake provided ample opportunity to ponder the beauty and power of nature. The ordered beauty of crop rows and the concentric ripples on water's surface made an impression on me. Coupled with a religious upbringing, my faith embraces the notion of a universe created and sustained by a supreme being. A degree in physics fuels my inquisitive nature and reinforces my astonishment at the intricacies of life and the physical processes that drive our universe.
Statement about the work:
These portraits of trees are photomontages, and by virtue of the process used to create them, can be considered "inverse panoramas." I have at times considered these images as from a divine perspective or vantage point. It is as if one crosses through a gate or threshold into another realm, spiritual perhaps, where time and space are collapsed. From the perspective of the tree, they also represent a passage of events and time.
When I select and emphasize the individual tree, my intention is to open a gate and allow the viewer to listen and explore; and perhaps relate to the central figure in ways not before understood or realized. Similar to us in its branching, arterial-like symmetry, is there another way to appreciate a tree? John Ernest Phythian reminds us that "It is not by pretending the trees to be human that we can become and continue keenly interested in them but by seeing and feeling both their likeness to us and their difference from us." Why are we so similar and why are we drawn so to the tree? In the making of these images, I am attracted to the tree by its form, size and setting. It is the potential for that next interesting and mysterious print that drives my ambition to collect more images. Another tree for the collection. Another window into creation.
Prints from this body of work, Inside the Gate, are part of the collection at:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Portland Art Museum
bio
born: 1955, Decatur, Indiana
education
Ohio Northern University, B.A., Physics, 1977
University of Cincinnati, M. S., Radiological Sciences, 1978
selected awards/honors
Critical Mass 2012 Finalist, Photolucida, Portland, Oregon, 2012
Jury Award of Merit, International Fine Art Photography Award, Grand Prix de la Decouverte, 2012
Best of Show, Carnegie Regional Photography Competition, Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center, Covington, Kentucky, 2012
Best of Show, Golden Ticket 3, Clifton Cultural Arts Center, 2012
selected publications
The Photo Review 2014 Competition issue; Stephen Perloff, Editor, Langhorne, PA, The Photo Review, 2014
Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center; INPHA 2, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2013
Diffusion - Unconventional Photography Annual, (volume IV, 2012), The Muse Showcase, One Twelve Publishing, P. 56-57, 2012
Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center; INPHA 1, Cincinnati, Ohio, p. 89-93, 2012
selected solo or two-person exhibits
Inside the Gate, Blue Sky Gallery, Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Portland, Oregon, 2014
Spectral, National Bank Art Gallery, University of Cincinnati-Clermont Campus, Batavia, Ohio, 2013
Parade, Ohio National Financial Services Gallery, The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center, Covington, Kentucky, 2012
Treeline, Fitton Center for Creative Arts, Hamilton, Ohio, 2011
selected group shows
HCP 32nd Juried Membership Exhibition, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, Texas, 2014
Natural World, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, Colorado, 2014
Through A Lens: Ten, Coastal Arts League Museum and the Calumet Photographic Gallery, San Franscisco, California, 2013
Zoomfest 2013, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Centro Colombo Americano, Medellin, Colombia, 2013 |
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