My images are metaphors for the “in-between” places in our lives. The ones where we must be mindful to appreciate the subtle beauty and richness that quietly resides there.
Mile Marker 276, 16x22
This piece is currently available. If you would like to add this or another to your collection please contact me.
Since I wrote to you last week about the lessons learned in my booth, I have written a proposal for a public art project, a response to my nomination to be included in the Kansas City Collection, re-worked a presentation about my work and given it, and written a new artist statement. So right now there is a paint brush in the other room that desperately needs my attention, and I really need to go make stuff! (besides I think I have run out of words, ie. visual artist!) So here’s some of what I wrote:
Presentation slide of Edward Curtis orotones
I approach 21st century photography with the sensibility and aesthetic of a 19th century photographer. By employing the best characteristics of both eras, I create anachronistic images of “in-between” spaces. Just as the earliest photographers, the practitioners of daguerreotype and tintype, I treat metal plates by hand, preparing each to receive its own unique photograph. I capitalize on the smooth surface of steel, a finely textured under painting, and the translucent qualities of digital pigments to create each luminous piece. My images are metaphors for the “in-between” places in our lives. The ones where we must be mindful to appreciate the subtle beauty and richness that quietly resides there.
Presentation slide of image transformation
…My photographs stand in sharp opposition to the relentless inundation of visual imagery in our daily life, which is used in the service of delivering a sales message, an advertisement, a call for consumption, and consequently a call for speed and action. I use the same delivery method, photography, but to counteract and convey the opposite message: slow down, enjoy the subtle beauty that is lost by traveling too fast. Notice and consider where you are and the impact of your actions…
This weekend had its challenges: a 5:00 a.m. set-up following the hour lost to “springing-forward” plus another hour lost due to travel eastward, location challenges including a restaurant encroaching into our space, and temperatures and humidity that seriously challenged the wardrobe in the luggage I packed almost a month prior. Combine these temporal challenges with some unwittingly insulting comments, and sometimes I question why I have chosen to share my artwork in this way. Easily forgotten are the importance of accessibility and the democratization that the art fairs provide, the richness of watching people interact with my work, and all the lessons I can learn when I am paying attention.
Mile Marker 262, 35" x 51"
If you are interested in adding this or another piece to your collection please contact me.
It is a beautiful spring day here in Kansas City. I hope you are enjoying one too!
Mile Marker 261, 16x22
This piece is currently available. If you are interested in it or another please contact me.
First artist statement - written in phonetic Texan
As a 7 year old drawling Texan (who was learning phonetically) I knew I was going to be a photographer when I grew up. In fact, I was going to go on “fantasstick trips so I could tack pitchers of fames tings”. And to an animal loving second grader that laid on the rec room floor looking at the exotic pictures in the famously yellow magazine, I knew this could mean only one thing – I would be Jane Goodall with a camera. I would work for National Geographic!
And despite my path changing a bit over the last thirty years (although surprising little for someone that couldn’t even write in cursive yet!), I had the incredible experience of hearing an amazing woman that my seven year-old self thought that I was going to become.
Annie Griffiths Belt
Annie Griffiths
Annie (sure, first names, why not?) was one of the first female photographers to work for National Geographic, and Griffiths has photographed in more than a hundred countries during her illustrious career. She has worked on dozens of magazine and book projects for the National Geographic Society, including stories on Lawrence of Arabia, Baja California, Galilee, Petra, Sydney, New Zealand, and Jerusalem. Her photographs are gorgeous, she is warm and dynamic, she is humble, she is a mother that has managed to balance a family and a wonderful career. She is even close friends with one of my favorite authors – Barbara Kingsolver.
I have been to see a lot of photographers speak, the Nelson-Atkins Museum hosts many, and I have been to many more at galleries, and have given a few presentations myself. I even sat for an hour trying desperately to understand three photographers as they talked about pinhole photographs – in Spanish. But this one was different!
I don’t think I can actually express what this meant to me. The little girl in me that grew up without knowing a single example of a woman photographer was awe struck to have this woman behind the lens celebrated in this grand hall. The adult in me got teary when a girl of about ten climbed across our legs to make her way to the microphone in the aisle to ask the first question of the Q&A.
She is truly an inspiration!
Be sure to check out her amazing images and her books!
And on behalf of the little girl that dreamed of being a phtographer – thank you Annie! Thank you Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts! Thank you National Geographic!
Mile Marker 223, 35x51
We cousins would climb onto a copious seat
worn slick by rain and sun,
the trousers of men both thick and spare.
We made a kind of game: Each setting of the giant tines
could chart your life. High for smooth,
hardship low, and tragic on the ground.
An overbuilt machine, no amount of hay
could need that bulk. The elms
would whisper secrets in the yard.
Lilacs by the road pushed against the drive
and hid approaching cars from view.
The tires hissed on tar as they sped by.
Only three or four, I knew enough to open wide the door
before ascending to the beds above
to let the breezy nighttime secrets through.
In the side lot under moon and stars
the rake would arc the metal tines like years
and shape the wind in rows.
Jeff Boyer (collector)
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Thanks Jeff for sharing your poem with us!
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Mile Marker 225, 23x35
The show Warming Up to Spring closes tomorrow. This image seems to be the stand-out, selling in three of the four sizes. Is it your favorite? If not, please tell me in the comments which one is.
While making a long journey, we concentrate on the steps needed along the way, careful to keep our footing. It often isn’t until we reach our destination and raise our view that we can appreciate the surprising distances we travelled.
These last few days in the studio before leaving for a show are always my favorites, especially when it’s the first show of the season. This is the first time I get to physically see the artwork all together, when it’s finally realized, and not just how I’ve been picturing it in my mind for months.
I began planning this series and making work for this moment last October. Because of the all the steps needed and the drying time (especially of the largest pieces), I work with images that I won’t see trimmed and framed for months. Not to mention that the source photograph was likely taken at least a full year before that. That is a long time to wait!
There is a fleeting moment when I have arrived at the destination I have been traveling towards all winter, when I can bask in the accomplishment of the journey for a few days. After these sweet moments of reflection, I lower my head and begin to push toward the next destination. Away we go again!
This year I have figured out a way to share the view from here! (but the view is fleeting, only until February 28th, details)