Artist's Statement

My work is a of study time and place through visual imagery and written dialogue of the past in comparison to the present. My grandfather was an amateur photographer who happened to invest in great cameras and only use Ektrachrome slide film. He died in 1963 and his slides were stored in a cardboard box in the basement of several houses over the years. Several years ago, I inherited "the box". In it are hundreds of Ektrachrome slides that have not been viewed in 50+ years - that is until I began sorting, cataloging, and digitally scanning the images. And, as I do so, I have been developing topics around the slides – such as Halloween, the Fourth of July, graveyards, farms, etc. I am currently planning go to the same locations (many of the slides are marked with adresses) or find similar locations to study. Although my grandfather resided in Pennsylvania, many of the slides are from the Blue Ridge Parkway and landscapes in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Further, there are images of amusement parks that no longer exist or American traditions that have long been forgotten – such as caravanning in costume on Halloween.

I plan to incorporate my grandfather’s images into my paintings and create works of art using the following methods:
1) The slides will be scanned at a high resolution and developed into large prints (16 x 20 and larger) that will be matted and framed,
2) I will create large paintings of some of the slides (my current painting is 54” x 60”),
3) I plan to develop themes based on the found images (my current themes are tobacco fields and gardens),
4) I will travel to original locations (many are noted on the slides) or find new locations (such as existing tobacco fields in NC) to create plein air paintings to create a visual contrast and study of time and place from the past to the present,
5) I will take digital photographs that I will frame to further contrast time and place, and
6) I will take black and white photographs to develop in the darkroom with processes appropriate to creating the visual contrast of time and place. These photographs will also be framed and part of the installation.
7) Finally, I plan to create several large mixed media works of image transfers of my own photographs, my grandfather’s photographs, and my paintings into one composition.

Although my grandfather and my grandmother are not alive, I have been reviewing the slides with my father and am in the process of writing stories of the images to post with the work. The goal is to create a dialogue with the viewer that tells a story of the past and draws the viewer into places long forgotten. Even an image as simple as a garden can have a story behind it that captivates and brings the viewer into the artwork through imagination and personal, shared experiences.