It is going on eight years that I have been in the Cooperstown area. The perspective of my work comes from being new here and not having a history of growing up here. This newness gives me a different viewpoint than someone who was born here and has seen the same things day after day. My first impression of Cooperstown was of how large the trees were and that there was so much green everywhere. Having been in cities for forty-five years or so, I was suffering from green deprivation. Shades of grey and browns were getting to me.
I had the small town experience in childhood, having spent some time in Sherburne and other parts of upstate New York. My early years were traumatic and though my attraction to art was there, my vision was tortured - not something a part of me thought the world needed. So I went out looking to find a better vision.
In my art I elected to use a camera and limit myself to two dimensions: length and width—a sheet of paper. The use of forms and colors adds the other dimensions and creates the illusion of what we call a picture, and in some cases,”reality.” For art to have real life or poetry we have to add heart and soul, or as some say heart and mind. The skills of art let us create poetry. It only evolves by living and questioning.
We see with eyes that are controlled by our thoughts and experiences. Also, our genetic makeup influences what we see. Our mind is filled with likes and dislikes and our personality controls our vision of the world. I try to drop all of these imputations in order to see with openness. With an empty mind that is totally in the moment, will we achieve a pure vision? What will the world look like then?
So my picture is not just a street scene. It is a record of the time I live in, where I am at a moment in time, which is an accumulation of the genetic structure of my eyes and mind and attachments of my being. The pictures reflect my spiritual journey.
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