Dancing ’til Dusk in Seattle is a project I have been photographing for nine years, 2011-2019. Seattle Parks and Recreations produces and Dance for Joy organizes this free of charge public summer dance event in the parks around Seattle.
I happened upon this event while photographing the streets of Seattle and it brought back memories of my mothers love of dancing the polka. It is wonderful to see the interconnection take place between the partners as opposed to seeing solo interaction with technology. I feel such joy as I watch the learning and playful behavior that takes place among friends, spouses, and strangers that come for a night of social interaction, human touch and dance.
I think Martha Graham sums up my feelings about photographing these events in her quote “dance is the hidden language of the soul”.
We do not open ourselves up to the world if we stay more tuned into our gadgets than experiencing the activity surrounding us in the streets. The human touch is for healing, loving and the affirmation of living, playing and friendship.
One day while shooting in the streets of Paris, I saw a painted eye staring up from the back of a coat ahead of me. It was beautifully painted and the coat blended with the design of the Metro station opening. I was weak in the knees with the discovery and quickly shot the scene. That night after downloading and reviewing the days captures, I was obsessed with the "watchful eye". It was refreshing to catch a watchful eye that was not a surveillance eye attached to a building! We live in an era of building cameras recording our every move on the street, documenting our daily activity. These eyes have authority over us and watch to ensure there are no problems. I wanted more than electronic surveillance eyes on my walks! I started to see other watchful eyes as I walked the streets of Paris, London, Los Angeles and Seattle. These eyes give the illusion of watching for something and being alert to our surroundings! It has now become a game to find the eyes that escape the authority of the electronic eye of today!
Aging and the desire to remember and preserve the past has inspired this body of work for Notions of Home. I grew up in rural Iowa and wanted to focus on the influence of a rural childhood in the country and the impact of moving to town in my teens when my father passed away. I wanted to illustrate how travel has influenced my notion of home as my universe expanded; how moving nine times to different states in the last twenty years made me think small in possessions and photograph more memories.
I have used a variety of collected tchotchkes from my childhood and travels and paired my photographs as backdrops to create a layered and detailed collage that speaks to my history and the whimsy of my memories that shows an emotional connection to the past.
I used a 24” photo box and two halogen lights to contain and create the scenario. My goal was to pair a photo with a collectable in my house to tell a story of my past or a memory of a particular situation that impacted my present day life. Preservation of memories.
Perceptions of Pam
Behind every little sister is a big sister full of love, jealousy, laughter, advice and the keeper of stories as the big sister’s memory serves her.
I have taken my perceptions and created scenarios of my favorite attributes of her. The faces used in this series are of Pam and were extracted from photos of our many travels together and placed on photos I found in magazines and the internet that will tell the stories of my favorite memories of love and laughter.
Best friend for life and I will always be the teller of her stories and the keeper of her secrets. Wink Wink!
My Super Heroes
I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s with the Lone Ranger, Zorro, Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman. I was in awe how these superheroes protected the public and spread the goodness to those around them.
What I loved most was the heroes had masks, distinctive clothing and hats to create their identities while still being able to recognize facial features. They gave me a reason to dress up in disguise and create stories of epic adventures.
Today my friends and classmates are my superhero’s. They are always there when I need them or always showing kindness and love to those in need. They inspire and always ready to save the day. They have helped me be a better person by their actions.
I have created new identities for them and added hats, hair and eyes from my paper mask collection. They are dressed in the fashion I remember from the Sear’s catalogue, fashion pattern covers or magazines from the 50’s and 60’s. Their adventures begin in photos that I have taken in the last 10 years. All of them are waiting and observing for the right moment to help save the day.
I have always been fascinated by the miniature train collections at the fair when I was growing up. I loved to create stories of the happenings of the people set up by the tracks. So during the pandemic, I found some small treasures and paired them up with my personal street photography that I have taken over the years. I wanted to create a scene for the viewer to tell their own stories about the people in this small intimate setting. These images were made on a scanner to create a dream like context for these images. The series is called "What is their story."
