Artist's Statement

I have some photographs of Stacy & Trent that will be published in Lake County Arts Magazine in March, for which I had to write this artist's statement.

I still have a hard time calling myself an “artist.” I take pictures. But I do the same thing with words like “teacher” or “instructor.” I tell people that I teach Humanities at a couple different local colleges. To me, it’s more important to focus on the verbs rather than the nouns. Certainly, what I DO defines who I AM. But to ascribe to myself these terms — to say “I am this” — means that I acquire all of the dimensions of what those words can mean. And even the same words can mean so many different things to every different person. I take pictures, but am I a “photographer?”

Because I am still finding my voice as a creative person, I find myself working over these questions. As part of the process of processing, I give you these photographs. I stopped shooting black and white in late 2002 and really haven’t looked back. But for this edition of the LCA magazine, I revisited some of my older work. I also stopped shooting figures as much in favor of interiors in recent years. Yet I still find thematic elements beginning to emerge as I go back through my work since 1998 when I took my first photography class. It tends to incorporate dramatic lighting, and in recent times more natural lighting. I also seek to balance opposites: interiors as exterior manifestations of internal mental states, or how representation can be made abstract, or how the organic becomes inorganic. These images here reflect how subtle manipulations of the human form merge into abstract geometric shapes. The human element is still evident, but the bodies are contorted or masked in ways that are highly formal — and also erotic though not sexualized.

I have learned that creativity is a quotidian venture. I do a little bit every day, and I make it a part of who I am. Only THEN do I become that which I do.