For years I have been seeing the name "Henrietta Sparkman" on art pieces at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts or in the Tracy Art League's Expressions! show. However, I had not met the artist until I contacted her for this project. Henrietta, who lives in Modesto, studied art and art history in college and became a high school art teacher, although she left public school teaching twelve years ago. She exhibits her work extensively and supports arts programming and other artists throughout the region. She is connected to the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters, the National League of Pen Women, and the Central California Art Association and the Mistlin Gallery among other organizations. Her artist CV must run for pages! Henrietta manages to make a prodigious amount of art despite her many commitments to curating gallery shows and volunteering with arts organizations. Many people likely know her as a landscape painter, but Henrietta also works in mixed media, printmaking, and sculpture. I was able to see examples of her many forms of work at her home recently. She works to capture the joy of nature as well as process painful experiences. There are sometimes political or moral aspects to her work, however, these themes are not necessarily obvious at first look. For example, in the painting below, Henrietta was exploring the concept of migration and the movement of people.
Henrietta has articulated her "visual voice" in a quote that hangs in her work area: "Art is my visual voice! Art is an expression of what cannot be said in words, it is my visual poetry, it is the creation of my humanity, my soul and the heart of who I am." Henrietta's studio is the stuff of dreams - a porch running the entire length of the house that she had enclosed. It has a sink, raised windows in the ceiling, and many specially designed spaces for storage. Henrietta is a problem-solver. When she needs her space adjusted to accommodate her work, she makes the change or hires someone to fix it to her specifications. Henrietta has a sense of humor that comes through in her space as well. Below is "Titty Titty Bang Bang," a found art sculpture that she created with some friends and has become a catch-all for items in her studio. In a previous post, I touched briefly on Henrietta's home and how it feels "curated" - as if she uses her home to artfully display her own works and the works of others. Henrietta carries that effort to her yard as well. She has added specially-designed metal shade structures and wire fencing to her backyard so that she could better host Open Studio tours with her friends. Because of her interest in plein air painting and because she maintains a beautiful garden, I chose to photograph her there.
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Virginia Segur has been part of the Tracy art community for many years. I first learned about her when I saw one of her painted chairs at the Tracy Art League's Expressions show. The chair was a favorite among the young students who visited the Expressions show on field trips. When I visited Virginia, I was awed by the attention to color and pattern in her home. From the vibrant blue accents at the front porch to the striking greens of her living room to the rich reds of her family room, Virginia's home is a feast for the eyes. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Her home reflects her artwork, which is filled with vibrant color and meticulous patterns created through "embellishment." Virginia has what I consider to be a "curated" home. You feel as if you are walking through a gallery designed to showcase her art. I have encountered this feeling with other artists in the community. Some other notable homes are those of Del Park and Henrietta Sparkman. Above: Del Park in his home. Below: Living room of Sparkman, which also features works by other artists
I'm not sure that Virginia would agree with this statement, but when I'm with her, I feel like everything and everyone is beautiful. She looks for beauty and seeks to embody it in her work and her home.
People continue to debate the question: What is Art? One of the great things is that the question will likely never be answered. As art techniques, movements, and media change, the question will continue to be asked whether the works produced in these new styles and media are actually art. Although photography has existed for almost two hundred years, there is still some debate about whether photography is art. There is always the question of whether a particular image is "Art". However, I get frustrated when general art competitions exclude photography or when artists who work in other media make generalizations that photography is not art. My personal belief is that a work should be judged by the same artistic standards regardless of the medium used to create it. Things have become even more complicated with the growth of digital art. As someone who makes images in photoshop from composites of photographs and found images, I'm often not sure how to enter my work in competitions. I write all of this as an introduction to my post about Cash Bryan because it's important to me that he be seen as a natural part of my project photographing artists. Cash is an artist who uses photography to create portraits. I feel like I should include more photographers in my project. However, I haven't quite figured out how to make that work. Much of a photographer's time is spent in editing on a computer and that doesn't make for interesting photos - or I haven't figured out how to make that look interesting! Plus, I am intimidated by the idea of taking photographs of people who are experienced photographers themselves. I often don't get my photos right "in camera" and fix things later in photoshop. I chose to photograph Cash because he creates beautiful work and requires the use of other people in his photoshoots. I thought it would add interest to my photos to include the model. The challenge turned out to be my inability to use artificial lighting. I didn't want to introduce light into the setting because Cash was creating his own flash and natural light arrangements to make the proper lighting for his photos. In the end, I only got a couple good shots that included the model. However, the shoot was lots of fun. A challenge of portraiture is the relationship between the artist and the model. Those who create portraits through paint or other non-photographic media can either work from a photo or ask their models to stay still for long periods of time. That is kind of an expectation if you are sitting for a non-photographic portrait. An artist making a photographic portrait - especially if you are working with regular person and not a model - doesn't really get that time. People expect you to be able to move quickly to get the "shot." Plus, you are sometimes expected to talk with the subject, make them comfortable, build a relationship with them that allows their personality to come through in the photograph. Cash is really good at building rapport with his subjects and making them feel comfortable, which has enabled him to take photos of people living on the street or who aren't looking to be photographed. He's noted that his recent need to use a scooter may have helped him be seen as more approachable by people who would have otherwise steered clear of a tall man with a camera. He had a long career as a professional wedding and newspaper photographer. His fine art work tends to focus on people whom he considers "characters" - those who might not generally be the subject of portraits. His 2019 show, "Public Personalities," appeared at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts and featured portraits and street photography that Cash has created over his forty-year career. Part of the fun of this photoshoot with Cash was watching and hearing him interact with his model. Ron Pepperman is a long-time Tracy resident who has made helping older people his mission. Ron recruited Cash to assist people in need with heating and AC issues (another of Cash's talents), and that's how they became good friends. Ron definitely qualifies as a "character" and has a very expressive face. Unfortunately for our community, he is moving out-of-state to be with family. I think Cash also qualifies as a character and has an interesting face! I'm looking forward to another photo shoot where I can use the light I need and take more posed photos of him.
I was fortunate to be able to continue my work with Caleb Dowdell. He is a busy student who recently moved from Modesto Junior College to San Jose State to pursue his artistic training as a Studio Arts major. My goal was to get a more formal portrait of him that would do justice to his effort to bring light to people through his art. He was very gracious and brought several of his paintings to my house so we could experiment with my new studio lights. Somehow he had chosen the perfect color to wear - purple - for the photos without any direction from me. Above: Caleb Dowdell with Luke 4:18, oil on canvas, 36" x 48" Caleb created the painting above, called Enough to bring attention to the abuse of women. Below: Joy I think Caleb looks like a serious artist in these photos and his works show really well. However, Caleb is very nice and always smiling and laughing. He is a joy to work with and very patient. At the time I was photographing him and this painting, I didn't realize the title was Joy (although the painting does convey that emotion). I'm glad we made sure to get a version with him smiling! Above: The Cozy Ducks on Hidden Lake, oil on canvas, 36" x 48"
One of things that I find so interesting about The Cozy Ducks on Hidden Lake is how much the work changed over time. If you want to see an earlier version of it, you can go to my prior blog post about Caleb. I have to say that I couldn't see what Caleb was trying to achieve when I photographed him painting during that earlier outdoor shoot. He talked about his technique and the layering of colors, but I didn't really get it at the time. Now I can see why the earlier version looked the way it did. Caleb had to have a vision of what he wanted to achieve in the end to build up the various layers until he arrived at the wonderful painting above.
Caleb is passionate about his art. He feels a physical need to paint and hasn't let anything stop him. A few years ago, his family home caught fire and many of his materials and earlier artworks were destroyed. He has been able to get back to painting, but has to schedule art-making in with his work and his job as a TA at MJC. Since he works with oils, he sometimes has to paint in a small section of his family's garage, and I was amazed at what he can accomplish in the tiny space he has. Other times, he has to paint outside. In fact, the first time we tried to get together for photos, we had to cancel because the Tracy wind made painting outside impossible. On the day I photographed him, Caleb was working on a painting of ducks near the lake in Hidden Lake. He brought crackers to toss on the ground to bring the ducks to him. Sometimes we had ducks around us. Sometimes we had neighbors stopping to watch him paint and pay him compliments. Caleb was grateful and courteous to everyone despite the distractions. He used an easel that he carted over to the lake in a wagon along with his painting supplies. When I first met him, Caleb told me that most of his clothes have paint on them. He often has to squeeze in time for painting between his other activities, and he doesn't have time to change clothes. I was hoping to catch him in his paint-covered clothing, and he didn't disappoint. His sweatpants basically match his palette paper. Caleb has an exuberant personality. He is excited and enthusiastic about his art and his purpose. He sees his talent as a gift from God that he wants to use to help others. Caleb loves using vibrant color in his work. Color is very important to him, but he also speaks in terms of light and dark. He said, "I want to give people hope and joy to pull back from darkness." He also talked about experiencing times of darkness himself, especially during the last year-and-a-half with covid restrictions. However, he doesn't express those dark feelings in his work. Instead, when he is in a dark place, Caleb paints joyful paintings with lots of color. He said, “I’m doing battle with paint.” Although I've photographed painter Vince Walsh in several settings a few years ago (see earlier blog posts), I recently asked him to sit for me for a more posed portrait as well as for a little bit of an experiment. For the portrait above, we met at Vince's classroom at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts. I asked him to bring some of the books he feels are important to him as well as a painting that represents his work. If you talk to Vince, you know that he is serious about learning and will tell you about the books he's read to improve his ability to paint and to teach other aspiring artists. I felt that including some of his books in the portrait would let the viewer know a little more about Vince.
The painting you see in the photo above is called, "Beauty Close to Home." It was painted at Klein Ranch. When I asked Vince why he chose that painting to bring to the photo shoot, he said, "The painting was done spontaneously and fearlessly...it was a meditative journey in observation." Vince reduced less important details to "capture the mood and essential elements of nature." He noted, "It was a painterly painting." (I should say that the photo above was intended to be a portrait of Vince, so I was not focused on getting an accurate representation of his painting. Since the photo has lots of shadow, the colors in the painting are not shown clearly.) The next day, Vince met me at my house where I was desperately trying to learn how to use my new studio lights to create a more dramatic photo of Vince's hands. At one of our previous outdoor photo shoots, Vince had forgotten his paintbrushes, but he didn't seem too concerned. He said something like, "I think I could paint with twigs as long as I have my spray bottle." I wanted to see if I could photograph him holding a paintbrush and twigs in a way that would be interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good arrangement for the twigs, and I thought the resulting images weren't that strong. However, I did like the photo below. I know that portraiture traditionally shows a person's face and usually includes the eyes. I feel though that portraiture can be broader so long as the image conveys something important about the subject and creates a psychological connection with the viewer. Vince has quite interesting hands, and I wanted to bring them to the attention of the viewer. I went to World Coffee a couple weeks ago to talk with Matt Farnsworth, who is a ceramics instructor at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts. Matt is younger than most of the artists I've worked with on this project. He said that his submissions to the 15th Anniversary Exhibition at the Grand Theatre were his first ceramic works to appear in a gallery show. Matt considered it an honor and was very happy to be included. (I later learned that his work as a comic book artist has appeared in other venues, so he has shown other work in public before.) His comments led me to reflect on my first experiences having work accepted to a show and the time a judge ignored one of my best works. I tried to give Matt the impression that I had come to understood and accept that the judging of art can be subjective. Yet, I know that I've spent a lot of time and money entering shows in an effort to demonstrate that I take my work seriously and with the hope that people will consider me an artist. Is that a contradiction in my thinking? A little later in the conversation, Matt said that one of his favorite artists is Frank Frazetta, a fantasy and science fiction painter who is known for illustrating comic books. Matt said that he wanted to achieve the freeness of Frazetta, who didn't care whether others thought he was an artist. He only cared that he was able to make the art he loved. These comments made me think about how I have made this project about living an artistic life and exploring how the artists around me engage with the world in ways that tell the world that they are artists (entering shows, having their work judged). Yet, here was Matt pointing out that maybe it was better to not even care about whether others consider you to be an artist. What does that mean for my project? Matt and I met again recently for a photoshoot in the Ceramics Lab at the Grand Theatre. He brought the beginning of a bust made with non-dry wax-based clay. The clay is melted in a crock pot and then sculpted. He set up his tools and then asked if it was okay if he listened to music with his earphones. Having him tune out from what I was doing created a different dynamic than other photoshoots. It was almost like I wasn't there, so felt I had a chance to witness a more intimate connection between the artist and his work. Matt has a fascination with horror stories and movies. He also used to create illustrations for comic books. Since he has transitioned to ceramics, his interest is in creating fantastical and scary creatures with clay. Matt originally intended to create the bust of a fantasy creature for this shoot. As we ended the session, he told me that his original intention was to sculpt a Frankenstein-like face, but as he worked, he began to see that the bust resembled his grandfather and he planned to continue in that direction. I asked him what the next step would be if he finished sculpting a bust that satisfied him. Matt responded that, normally, the bust would be used to create a mold - it would not be considered complete in it's current clay form. However, regardless of whether he thought the design was good, he planned to cut up the clay and return it to the crock pot to be reused! I was a little shocked. If I could actually sculpt a bust that looked remotely like I had intended, I don't think I could just discard it. It makes me think I'm too much in a hurry to create things to display whereas Matt seems to be willing to go slowly and practice - and, hopefully, enjoy the creative process. This discussion was the second time Matt had said something that made me think I'm missing something in my understanding of what it means to be an artist. As part of the 15th Anniversary Salon Exhibition at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts, David Casterson (see photo above) gave a painting demonstration. He talked about how he spends much of his "painting" time actually standing back from his painting and thinking about solutions to the problems he encounters as he paints. He pointed out that the time spent standing back, looking, and thinking is the real creative process while the part where the artist puts the brush (or hand) to the work is the technical aspect of the work. While I understood what David was talking about, I wondered how I, as a photographer, could capture that creative moment in a way that would be interesting. Then I realized that I had recently created several photos that I felt achieved that goal. Matt Farnsworth (below) is a ceramics teacher at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts. I recently photographed him while he sculpted a bust. He was the only one of my artist subjects - so far - who worked quietly on his art and ignored me completely as I photographed him. I think the photos from that shoot reflect the kind of intimacy he creates with his work and the image below depicts the artistic gaze - the moments spent in creative problem-solving. I also had the opportunity to take pictures of Ingrid Canton as she created scenic paintings for the set of Kimball High's upcoming production of Elf the Musical. She would often step back and think about what needed to be added to a painting to create the desired effect. I feel it was the pose and lighting that made this moment work as a photo.
I happened to read about artist Alice Neel online today. I didn't know anything about her until I looked at the information about the current exhibition of her work. https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2021/alice-neel As someone interested in environmental portraiture, I was amazed by the photo of Neel taken by photographer Sam Brody. I want my environmental portraits of artists to say something about the nature of their work. (Arnold Newman is an inspiration to me.) Having read about Neel's connection to the people of New York City and her desire to portray them realistically and with respect for their dignity, I feel Brody's portrait did an amazing job of representing her. She is seated among the people, not above them. The pieces are arranged at various angles and almost overwhelm the image. I can almost see this as a representation of the people living their various busy lives in a New York apartment building. Neel becomes a part of the community she painted. As I try to learn about art, I have taught myself to ask - how might this work have been done differently - in order to understand why something works or doesn't work in a piece of art. If Neel had been pictured standing in front of a few pieces of her work placed on easels, it would have made a different impression of her in my mind. I'm not surprised that this photo has been used multiple times in marketing materials and exhibitions. Another interesting aspect of this portrait is that Neel is not posed or dressed to accentuate any sort of feminine ideal. I struggle with representing women in my photos. Sometimes it's because they want to look attractive, which I totally understand. Or, I want to portray them as powerful, which ties into my political desires to counter images of women as powerless or objects. The problem is that I then create images where my subject is still defined by another (me). Understanding my own motivations in creating portraits has made me reject the idea of a portrait as having the ability to capture someone's essence. While my subject can make whatever expression they choose, I ultimately am the creator of the image - through choice of setting, lighting, editing, etc. The image of painter Gayle Knize is one of my favorites. Gayle's work is very connected to her family. One of the paintings in the background is of Gayle painted by her mother, the other is of her mother painted by Gayle. The repetition of hands, tilted heads, bent knees creates a circle of connection and intimacy. Since Gayle is a private person, I'm not sure she was comfortable with this part of our photo shoot. But, I'm glad that I pushed for the arrangement because I believe the final image reflects something that I feel exists in Gayle's work. In both of these photos, I had in the back of my mind a concern about beauty. I wanted to make beautiful photos, but I was also thinking about making the women appear attractive. I'm trying to figure out how to move beyond that concern in my future work. At ninety-three years old, Michael Rizza is the oldest artist I've worked with on this project. However, Michael's connection to the arts began when he was a child. His older brother was taking an art class in New York City, so Michael was sent along because it was safer with two young boys taking the subway together. He went on to take a drafting class in high school and then applied to be a draftsman after graduating because he couldn't afford college. Some of his adult life was spent designing ornamental work for high rises in New York. He did not necessarily consider his work "art" but took opportunities to be creative when they came along - for example, when he worked on a project with sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Michael later owned a business creating seismic seals and has a number of patents in his name for products he designed. Over the years, Michael has studied art through various programs and community college classes. Michael credits one of his junior college professors with helping him recognize the need to develop his own vision for his work. Michael had created a portrait of a women in bronze and attached it to a teak bowl. The professor gave him an A for the finish but asked Michael when he was "going to do something from within." After that, Michael's work became about expressing his own ideas about form instead of copying what already existed.
About thirteen years ago, Michael developed macular degeneration and is now considered legally blind. However, his generous spirit and willingness to mentor younger sculptors has resulted in his having a number of artist friends who help him continue his work. Above and below: Sculptor Rick Elpers helps Michael to achieve his artistic vision. The first time I heard Michael Rizza speak at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts, I was overwhelmed by his understanding of himself as an artist. He did not doubt that he had a vision for his work and the ability to make that vision a reality. When I met with him, he talked about his work and goals as the most important things in his life. He wants to have one of his pieces in a museum and wants to create a public sculpture. If I have understood him correctly, the most important thing about him is that he is a sculptor.
On a personal level, Michael's declaration caused me to be uncomfortable - although Michael has a warm personality and is generous with his support of other artists, his single-mindedness of purpose seemed almost selfish to me. I'm not saying this because I want to be critical, but rather because it has caused me to examine my thoughts about what it means to be an artist. I know that most artists struggle with the constraints of real life and making a living, etc, but I feel like Michael's identification as artist is more than him saying, "I've chosen to put my art before other obligations in my life." It's almost like he doesn't have a choice. His life is to create and everything else is in relation to that purpose. And, he seems confident that that's how it should be. It's a pretty overwhelming idea to me and given me much food for thought. |
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April 2022
AuthorTiffanie Heben is a photographer who has been inspired by the artists in her community |