Urban and rural beauty.
Inspiration for my photographs come from my urban up-bringing on Chicago’s South Side. Growing up in the industrial neighborhoods, surrounded by the shadows of the steel mills, I am clearly comfortable with the most often gritty and unkempt houses and buildings of my South Side neighborhood. My love of architecture grew from the concentration and architectural styles imagined and constructed thought Chicago’s history. Living with both the architecture of the known architects and the buildings of the inner-city neighborhoods, my love of the textures, styles, and shapes they brought to the cityscape, developed.
Studying these buildings, I see the wear of their age, standing because of the changes and rejuvenation over time and necessity of which the neighborhoods demand. These buildings that had a single purpose when built, had to change, and were made to keep up with their newfound functionality and purpose. They are often, at times, a portrait of ingenuity out of necessity. Many of my images are a sole building with only space around it. At times I would think of these buildings as alone or isolated. Far from that. These buildings are monuments to being independent and strong, able to stand alone and weather the world on their own. They are there to fulfill a needed purpose and to support. They are what you can lean on.
Using a documentary photographic style, my imagery often becomes fitting portraits of who/what these buildings were and have become. This imagery is often straight forward and simple with an eye on the blend of architectural shapes, texture, colors, and personality.
I am a proud, South Side of Chicago, native and studied Photography and Printmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) from 1976 to 1980. My teachers were a great influence on me personally, creatively and professionally. Photographers Harold Allen, Fred Endsley, Frank Barsotti and Printmakers Karen Savage and Doug Huston were inspirational teachers in visualization and execution of imagery while at SAIC. My straight forward documentary style and keen eye for crisp details, remains a big part of my imagery to this day.
After leaving SAIC, I spent many years in advertising both in Chicago and recently in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am currently rekindling my creative look at the architecture and feel of industrial and urban buildings in both small towns and big cities in Central Indiana and the Midwest.
I live in a small town in Central Indiana. I study and work independently and look for support from local Artistic Institutions and businesses in Central Indiana.
You can find information on my teachers at these links from the Art Institute on Chicago:
https://www.artic.edu/artists/528/harold-allen
https://www.artic.edu/artists/7741/fred-endsley
https://www.artic.edu/artists/1668/frank-barsotti
