GARY BLACKBURN

WITH CONTRAST

Nov 1 - Jan 17

“My art has always been about contrast, be it the play of light and dark in my photography, the elements of folk art and academic art in my early sculptural work or the organic and architectural forms in my later sculptures, I think it is fitting that this exhibition is also about the contrast of where I have been and where I am going artistically.

The photographs in this exhibition are the result of a sabbatical taken during the fall of 2018. For over twenty years I have been photographing the barrier islands and waterways of the Georgia coast. The early work was done using medium and large format cameras and black and white film. My goal for this sabbatical was to take a fresh look at these places in color using digital media. The majority of my time was spent on Wassaw Island, Ossabaw Island, the Savannah River and the Ogeechee River. After looking at the many image files produced during the early fall, I realized that in color my attention was drawn to the interplay where sky, land and water meet. After I realized the importance of this land, water, sky relationship in my color work, I also photographed an area of the coast on the Florida panhandle. The images in sculptural frames are an attempt to include one more set of contrasts. Placing color images in these frames draws on work done during a sabbatical in the fall of 2007. In that body of work, I contrasted formal architectural elements with the organic elements of tree limbs. I believe that these photographs, when exhibited as a group, convey the light quality and visual power that I find in the coasts of the Georgia and Florida.

The turned wooden forms are more about where I am going with my art. For many years, I have enjoyed turning wood on the lathe. I see the contrast of asymmetrical natural edges with the ridged circle produced by the lathe as a continuance of the work from my 2007 sabbatical. With my retirement from Mercer this coming spring, I will no longer be tethered to my teaching areas of sculpture and photography. This will allow me to move more towards the challenge and craft of wood-turning.”

Gary Blackburn