Text & Texture

October 20- December 1, 2013

Cedarburg Cultural Center
Cedarburg, WI 53012

Opening Reception: October 20, 1-4pm

Blurb Book available. Click here for full preview.

In early 2012 I won a Best of Show Award that entitled me to a solo show in 2013. I had had several recent solo shows centered around the many processes that I use to create my images. For this show I wanted to consider a different approach to presenting my work, something that would offer a new perspective for the viewer and would prove challenging for me. I decided to attempt a collaboration with other artists I admire. Deb and Claudette are both abstract painters who use a lot of color and I am primarily a black and white photographer. The initial challenge for me was to figure out a way to tie our diverse work together. 

Both Deb and Claudette incorporate texture into their pieces, and I had begun working in encaustic that allowed me to experiment with textured papers and surfaces. Texture seemed like common ground that would provide a good starting point for all of us but I wanted something more, a common thread that would take the viewer through a journey when seeing our show.

My husband, Buz, has been writing poetry since his teenage years. When he began writing he had no idea he was the third generation poet in his family. Only later did he discover the work of his great- grandfather, a photographer in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and his grandfather who composed in the trenches during WWI. I do not remember a time when he has not written, and it has served us both well that we share a common passion for creating. We respect and are inspired by each other's process and work. 

Both of our crafts help us to move through difficult times like Buz's recent fight with prostate cancer (Spring was written shortly after his successful surgery). During our travels he is often sitting patiently nearby, notebook and pencil in hand as I take an hour to photograph a tree, a rock or a street scene, and now in retirement we share a studio. It was natural to incorporate his words into the exhibit and see where they would take us.

Those words took me to places I had never gone before in my work, including a series of 3D encaustic origami boats (not finished in time to include in this book). The poems also acted as a catalyst for Deb and Claudette. The amazing body of work they have created is beyond my dreams. To discover what poems inspired each of us and to see how differently or similarly we interpreted the words has been great fun.

Over the years I have received beautiful gifts of poetry from Buz (such as untitled for a birthday) and this exhibit is my love letter and thank you to him for his many years of support of my passion for photography. To see him deeply moved, rendered speechless by this beautiful body of visual art, fills me with joy.  ~ Vicki