Local Art Residency - MHS Senior, Max Myers

LC: Let’s start with some background. How did you get into photography and develop to the level of ability you have today? 

MM: Back in 2016 I started to get into drones, an up and coming trend that persists today. I started off with the smaller toy drones, learning as I crashed them. Eventually over the course of around a year I saved up and got a great prosumer DJI drone. On the drone was a high quality camera that I subsequently used to capture the first of my many photographs and videos. I firmly believe that having the ability to position a camera at any angle and height in the sky directly assisted my eye as a photographer today. I’ve been through four upgrades of cameras and lenses to get to where I am today, and I owe the level of ability I’ve developed to persistence, practice, and trial and error. I am proud of where I am today, being self taught, but I still have a lot of room to grow. 

LC: Your photographs capture a variety of subjects and scenes in a wide range of styles. How do you decide the what, when, and how of your pictures? 

MM: I definitely don’t have a central theme in this show, as I practice so many different styles and types of photography. I like to have some variety in my life, and my art exemplifies that. However with many of my projects, the process starts with an idea. Let's take the photograph of the Aston Martin in Chinatown as an example. That car is called the Dragon 88, and was created for the Chinese market. Only 88 of them were ever made, and the one I photographed is the only one in the United States. I thought it would be fitting to take it into Chinatown, an area I’ve always imagined photographing a car in. We traveled there with the car and captured it under the Chinese lanterns strung across the streets. It involved a long shutter speed and shining a light over the car to illuminate its deep maroon paint. I am very happy with how that photoshoot came out. 

LC: Clearly your life has included a fair bit of traveling. What are some places you’ve visited and do any stand out as favorites? 

MM: I’ve been extremely lucky to travel around the United States and to Europe. I spend a lot of time in Arizona, because I have family there. I have also visited Miami, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Yellowstone, and many more places. In Europe I’ve been to Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, Lisbon, and Barcelona. I really enjoy traveling, as it allows for an amazing new array of scenery and sights to photograph. Venice was my absolute favorite, and I was able to take my drone up there to photograph the Grand Canal, leading to one of my favorite photos of all time, which is in this show. 

LC: Can you tell us more about your service trip to the Dominican Republic, where some of these photos were taken? 

MM: I was able to go on a mission trip with my church to the Dominican Republic, where myself and a group were given the amazing opportunity to work with and assist a group of disabled orphans. Among the 50 or so children there, only 3 or so could even walk. The majority were strapped to wheel chairs, perhaps indefinitely. I still remember walking down the stairs and seeing them for the first time. I walked back up the same stairs for the last time at the end of my mission trip as a changed person, with a very new perspective on life. I was lucky to be able to document the experiences of me and my peers through my camera, and captured some moments of pure emotion that I think would be impossible to emulate in any other circumstance. The trip left a lasting effect on me, and I’ve decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from selling my photographs to the Mustard Seed Communities foundation which oversees the disabled children in the orphanage. They need it now more than ever as for the past few years they haven’t had their regular donations, of both money and supplies because Covid prevented travel to the orphanage. 

LC: What do you feel is your relationship to the stories being played out in your pictures? Are you preserving an existing narrative for memory or creating a new story within the image? 

MM: I feel as though the stories I tell in my photographs are created by myself, based on the way I have the subject positioned, combined with the lighting, editing, and many camera settings I hand pick. I feel as though I am creating a new story within the image. For example when shooting cars, most new photographers would merely capture the vehicle. I choose a scene and try to capture the car within the scene to tell a story. 

LC: For fellow photographers coming into the shop, what sorts of cameras do you use, and do you have a preferred go-to? 

MM: I’ve been through four upgrades of cameras since starting. I started with a Lumix G7, a great affordable camera for beginners. I moved to the Sony A7ii, which I highly recommend for mid range beginners. Then onto the Sony A7iii, which helped me delve more into videography, and now I’m using the Sony A7iv as my main camera and the Sony A6300 as a secondary. The A7iv is an excellent camera with 33 megapixels and many great video features, and will be my go-to for a while. 

LC: What’s your favorite coffee or tea beverage? 

MM: My girlfriend has been a huge factor in developing my love for the Chai tea latte, which is now my go-to whenever I’m out.

Visit Max’s website here: maxvuz.com

Local Art Residency - Todd Boressoff

LOCAL: I have to start out by saying how very grateful I am to have this particular work in the shop at this time. Our 5th anniversary as a business is on the horizon on 2.2.22 and having images of my beloved NYC in the shop is really fitting. 

The years associated with these images are 1968 - 1972 and one can’t help but make the connection to current day in that there’s quite a bit going on as a city and as a still relatively young country. Did you fully feel the gravity of the moment as these images were captured?

TODD: For the majority of these photos I was simply trying to stay alert for something interesting – an expression, a design in the frame, a juxtaposition of details, etc – and to shoot spontaneously. However, for three I was very aware of the gravity of the moment. With the photo of the cop shooting I was intensely aware of him, though in the moment I never saw the innocent boy with the Impeach Nixon sign. The tickertape parade was of the returning Apollo 11 astronauts (the three waving at the bottom of the photo). I climbed up the facade of Grand Central to get the angle. The third was of the 1969 Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam.

LOCAL: We haven’t had vintage prints in the shop before. These images were captured and developed by you. I’ve worked in a dark room before and can say that the photographs take on a greater meaning when the photographer essentially takes care of the image from conception to birth. How do you feel about that invested development process vs. todays rather ubiquitous photography process?

TODD: I am ambivalent. Anti: I hate the proliferation of self-promoting selfies. I also regret that photojournalism suffers with news outlets slashing photo budgets in favor of photographs sent by the public.  Pro: The digital world enables me to take more risks, to better examine a subject from multiple perspectives. And digital photo development is a godsend. Lightroom and Photoshop enable me to work in color more effectively than chemical processes. I still take care of the photograph from conception till birth. I spend as much thought photographing and as much time “developing” as I did fifty years ago. The digital world lets me take online courses at the International Center for Photography with “classmates” from all over the world. We can screen-share our work and get feedback instantly, not just from the teacher but from everyone. Also, I can share work on Instagram, again with photographers worldwide. If you are interested, search on Instagram for todd_boressoff.

LOCAL: I appreciate that these photographs are not for sale demonstrating the value to you as the photographer and to some degree, historian. In this world where commerce is king and queen and nearly everything is for sale, how do you reconcile the artistic value vs. making some dollars? 

TODD: To concentrate on becoming a professional photographer, in 1970 I took a half-day position as an assistant teacher at a preschool in Park Slope. I learned two things. I hated the job of becoming a photo professional – taking pictures that others wanted, promoting myself, spending more time on selling than on taking and making photographs. I also learned that I loved early childhood education, which led to a forty year career in roles from assistant teacher to many years as a teacher, director, advocate, and policymaker on the local, state and national level. But I never stopped loving photography.

LOCAL: One of my favorite images is the mirrored reflection of the record store. So much going on inside the shop and there’s the one woman who paused to look up and you captured it! I can draw so many parallels to philosophy and the importance of taking a moment to stop and look up and around. Did you know how incredible this photo was in the moment you developed it?

TODD: Not when I took it, but yes, when I developed it I liked it a lot. But it has continued to grow on me. Those are real records, LPs. You could thumb through them to your hearts content and chat with the folks around you. I miss that.

LOCAL: NYC has gone through quite a bit in the 50 years since these images were captured. How do you use your craft to make a bit of sense of how things have changed but in many ways, stayed the same? 

TODD: I don’t. I don’t really use photographs to try to make sense of things. Just to capture for myself, and hopefully others, what I’ve seen.

LOCAL: Of these photos, which has the greatest meaning to you and why?

TODD: Sadly, I can no more answer this than I can which classical composer or which tenor saxophonist has the greatest meaning for me. Or even which piece by Beethoven or which solo by John Coltrane. In a way the photographs are like my children. How could I choose? But I can choose which has the most meaning for me at this moment. It is the little boy looking out the back window of that car. I identify with him these days, spending so much time trapped inside.

LOCAL: Anything else you would like to share about this powerful exhibit?

TODD: Just to thank Robert and Adele for again presenting my work on that beautiful, well-lit magnetic wall (with none of the expense and work of framing).

LOCAL: What’s your favorite coffee or tea beverage?

TODD: This is well known to everyone at Local Coffee: a small 2% latte.

Local Artist Residency - Ling Chen

Let's get right to it! Please tell us about the dark, seedy, underbelly of the world of watercolors!

Can’t tell ya because I kinda live under a rock (yes, in the world of watercolors as well). I am rather ignorant of the bubbly local art scenes and am really bad at remembering names. Thanks to the Internet, I got to admire the wonderful works of the watercolorists from around the world  and to drool over their work virtually. For me, the best watercolor is fluid, spontaneous, and captures the mood and atmosphere without spelling out every detail. Water and pigments interacting with the help of gravity can do wonders.

So you're saying that WYSIWYG? I have to believe that there's more in that image than a beautiful representation of a person, place or thing?

Luckily what you get is more than what you see sometimes, although I cannot claim credit for that. When people look at the sketches of Local Coffee, they’re reminded of the cappuccino and the amazing owner who-shall-not-be-named. And people reacted warmly to my sketch of American Royal Hardware because they just love that place. I captured the moments and places as I see it, and viewers enrich it with their own fond memories. 

OK, I tease you because you have this wonderful sense of humor and your work is obviously beautiful and moving AND everyone loves it. How did you get started?

Whew! I’d be devastated if you had neglected to notice or praise my wonderful sense of humor. 

I learned how to draw in middle school. In an after-school drawing club I became really good at cross hatching while drawing still life with graphic pencils. Fast forward 30 years, I started to draw again since my life was overwhelmed with work and kids. I did Saturday classes for a few months and attended a few weeklong watercolor workshops. It was a surprise that I improved quickly. I took on sketching because that’s something I can squeeze during the little free time I had - waiting at the airport during work trips, or hanging out at the playground with kids. The type of city sketches you see here actually started in May 2018.  A  friend of mine and I attended our first Jersey City Artist and Makers Fair where I had a total of 3 sketches of Jersey City downtown. A couple of prints were sold and people asked for more. And that started my journey documenting my neighborhood. The more I sketched, the more to sketch to capture the changing face of the places.  

Perhaps a silly question but how did you get SO good? I mean, c'mon - this work is masterful.

I wish I could agree with you, but I appreciate you believing so. Drawing from direct observations on location helps, I believe. It forces you to capture what you see and how you feel instead of every little detail that a photograph captures. Showing how people interact with a place brings a piece to life. 

I had the pleasure of meeting your 84 year old mom who is adorable and has quite a bit of spunk. How influential was mom in your life and while developing your craft?

My daughter recently commented on how strong grandma was rolling the dough when she demonstrated how to make scallion pancakes, unimpressed with the wimpy attempts by the youngsters. She used to run an editorial department in a rolling stock (trains, that is) research institute publishing periodicals and books. And she dedicated her entire self taking care of the family. She hand-made dumplings, noodles, sewed clothes, knitted sweaters, and made hats and shoes - not as a hobby but often as a necessity. After she retired, she took on Chinese painting and shocked all of us with her art talents. But then she readily gave that up and came to take care of her grandkids - my babies could win the cleanest bottoms contest and the fervor in feeding her grandchildren is unmatched. I have half of her talents and a quarter of her drive. I taunt my kids that my mother is better than their mother.

I noted how fast you are when creating each of these works. Was that a need based skill OR was there another reason you are so expeditious?

Yes and yes. It certainly started as need-based. I was sketching while watching my kids at the playground, and as any parents have well practiced, I was prepared to jump into action at any time. I also really like to capture the moments, such as music performance on stage, and those moments are fleeting. Some of the work I personally like most are those created within 5 minutes.

Aside from your Local storefront watercolor being your favorite (obv), what comes in as a close second for your favorite work (Montclair or otherwise)?

You forgot I have two sketches of Local, that make my two favorite works. Of Local.

I like Dem Two Hands. I like the color and felt I captured the spirit of that beautiful place. 

I also like a few sketches of murals - Jersey City has plenty of them. It’s like picture-in-picture.  

This question is for my sister, an aspiring watercolor enthusiast - what tips can you offer someone seeking to up their approach to this discipline?

First, learn from the best, I mean, the very best, even from the beginning. My first watercolor workshop was with David Taylor, a watercolor master from Australia. I was such a newbie that I was identifying basic colors such as Ultramarine Blue and Raw Ciena in the evening after day 1 of the workshop. By the end of the week, I produced some of the best work among the workshop attendees, partially because I didn’t need to unlearn anything. Joseph Zbukvic, another Australian artist, is an absolute master in watercolor. He has an amazing process that makes painting landscapes seem effortless. I also learnt from Eudes Correia, a Brazillian artist in Portugal. I love how he paints people. 

Second, do what feels natural to you. I learned how to paint watercolor from those masters mentioned above, but I sketch in my own style. I use a calligraphy pen filled with permanent ink to sketch first, and use watercolor on top of it. Scribbling the lines feels natural to me.

Learn more about Ling Chen here

Local Art Residency - Lauren Vroegindewey

We met each other some time ago and even before learning of your incredible dedication to your craft, I immediately felt the spark that indicates for me that you are one very special individual. So where do we start? Hmmmmmmm....ok let’s start with early years. Where did you grow up and how did you get to the Garden State?

It is such a joy to live in a community where the arts are highly valued. I first thank you and the Local team for always facilitating an atmosphere of warmth and love and for this opportunity to exhibit my work. I started in Sonora, California located in the foothills of Sierra Nevada close to the Yosemite National Park. I loved being close to the caves, lakes, and being present with nature. I moved to the Garden State, close to Warwick, NY after fleeing my father where my grandmother and uncle raised me along with my siblings. As I got older, I moved around quite a bit, living in different states, traveling; but found myself circling back to New Jersey now based in Montclair. I love this gem of a place. People look out for one another just as the local bike shop here saves discarded tires and bike scraps for me, knowing I can use them in future installations or set designs.

I previously asked about nature vs. nurture relative to your work. Provided how much depth and storytelling is in your work - do you know how you arrived at this medium? 

Oh yes, arguably the oldest controversial debates by psychologists or even when elucidated by Prospero in The Tempest. There are a multitude of forces where I don’t feel there’s an easy way to disentangle the two. They are not inconsistent; but rather complementary to each other. Often working intuitively drawing inspiration from my past and the environment around me, the subject matter and theme of each body of work determines the materials and the forms of the work. During research new areas of interest arise where my creative impulses lead to the next body of work resulting in the manifestation of my emotional expression.

 A running joke was that I came out of the womb painting imagery with my own shit. As a kid, art and storytelling was a way of escape from family dysfunction. One piece I held onto was from the age of five where I had my sister pose in our jungle-like backyard and incorporated pieces of nature into the piece. Growing up with very little, I was consistently creating with discarded objects or materials accessible. That element of being resourceful has carried over into my current art practice as a way to remind the public how much waste is generated by humans. I don’t like to limit myself to one medium as I’ll add another element, but keep the energy running through it. Further, my work is a product of interdisciplinary collaboration involving various mediums as I believe they all relate to each other when exploring notions of sustainability and vulnerability, pieces of my personal ethos.

Your work has some powerful messages and arguably some controversial themes but yet I never feel like it’s pedantic or your dictating a POV. How do you achieve this so effortlessly?

I attempt to empathize with the human experience; parsing the relationship between organisms and bodily structures and what it might mean to bridge the gap between the natural and manmade. I tap into the language around the human psyche as my work explores perhaps taboo topics, asks questions, evokes emotion, and provokes a psychological response in the viewer. I want viewers to question the choices we make daily. I think the questions can find their own answers and offer solutions, rather than tackling an extremist point of view.

Please share an overview of the work you graciously shared here at Local.

My work can be seen as a narrative of personal trauma and the trauma of the earth due to human intervention. There is a deep pain that is attached with being misunderstood, forgotten, and taken advantage of, and a sense of jarring awareness when we are stripped of our personhood or our identity. This could also be true of the very place we call home; our ecosystems. I am an advocate for using recycled materials, at times using up-cycled trash in my art to raise awareness of pollution and the human mark on the environment. My work encourages giving a voice to those who are often unheard and how the fragmentation of the mind can be pieced back together.

The Unspoken Series emerged out of a performance piece while in Scotland where I positioned myself in a discarded bathtub reciting poetry filled with dirt sourced from various landmarks, pomegranates, and the ‘five senses’ which were 3-D printed using biodegradable materials. These are stills from the performance turned into waterless lithography prints. The performance piece entitled, The Dirt Still Remains, tells the story of a traumatic event where the five senses were taken as the fruit is marked and heavily bruised. Through the process of cleansing they are slowly being returned; however the damage never fully goes away. There’s something so empowering and healing when using my body as a tool for an endurance performance. I am interested in the psychological aspect of training the body and mind to leave a state of comfort and complacency. I find it to be a  freeing experience as within my performances there’s a recurring theme of spontaneity.  

Begin to Heal emerged from my Five Senses Series originally drawn and printed in 2019. In 2020, I revisited this work and hand printed the drawings on homemade paper using abaca and gambi fiber. Begin to Heal suggests the potential for inner healing in the midst of social isolation due to COVID-19.

Blended Catastrophe, Breathless, and Reflection are prints of original oil paintings adhered to up-cycled wood panels reflecting upon our environmental crisis; bringing awareness and empowerment in order to minimize the carbon, plastic, and trash footprint and make strides to become more sustainable.

Your creative gifts are shared visually and audibly - but they also are applied to your professional career. Can you tell us what Art Therapy means to you?

It’s facilitating an environment to foster emotional, mental well being, and healing. People have been relying on the arts to communicate, express themselves, and heal for thousands of years. Art is a way of therapy where I am processing things I struggle to verbalize, perhaps a form of communication between my unconscious and conscious mind so working with adults with severe brain trauma I feel as though has aided in the continuation of my own healing. There’s something magical that happens when we broaden our perspective and jump over the hurdles of imposed discrimination, seeing human for human. The possibilities are endless in how art can create a safe space for growth, change, and inner healing.

 Before my uncle's death, a father figure in my life, he suffered from a traumatic brain injury. My fondness memory with him was excursions to the maple trees and making homemade syrup together. This experience in nature was the first time I related human trauma to the earth’s trauma. Perhaps this is why I’m so captivated and drawn to the work I do.

Learn more about Lauren here:

Website: www.laurenvroegindewey.com

Email: laurenvroegindewey@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laur.vroegs/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauren.vroegindewey/

Local Talk: Q+A with iconic Montclair artist: Fern Bass

Fern! So happy to have your work @ Local. Your work is well known 'round these parts. Tell us how and where you began your artistic journey.

I started out at The Brooklyn Museum Art School when I was 11ish. I would ride the Flatbush Avenue bus excitedly clutching the wooden paint box my uncle Herbie gave me. I remember the first time I walked into the art school I was euphoric. It was like, “Wow! I’m allowed to do all of this cool stuff? For the whole day?!?

We spoke (and laughed a bit) together while hanging your work speaking to the art scene in Greenwich Village in the 70s and 80s. What elements of that environment influenced your current state of art?

Well, I was at Pratt in the late 70’s early 80’s and deep into the study of graphic design and working as a waitress in the West Village. I was working so hard I didn’t get out much, so I wasn’t that aware of the art scene at the time. Anyway I’m more of an old schooler-I love the art of the Italian Renaissance, the Post Impressionists, the German Expressionists, Edward Hopper and Fairfield Porter.

How did Bass Arts Studio come to be? What is your proudest thought provided its existence?

After working as a graphic designer for 15 years I quit to stay home and raise my girls. That’s when I started painting again. Then I got divorced and began teaching at a studio in town and found that I really loved teaching. When my ex exited he took his fleet of Porsches with him and I found myself with an empty garage and then...light bulb! I renovated the garage and bought easels and started a school. That was 15 years ago.  Such a better use of a garage, dontcha think?

 (yes, indeed)

You have a wonderful focus for artistic direction for teens. Not to get too deep, but on a scale of 1 to 10, how important is artistic development for children at this stage?

 I think it’s totally important. 10 of 10. I don’t know how I would have gotten through high school without spending 95% of my time making art. It was a lifeline for me.  I super identify with my teen students. They badly need an outlet for their angst, the intensity of their emotions, and their hopping hormones. They need to feel seen and acknowledged. I try to connect with them, see where their talents lie and reflect that back to them.  Developing technical skills grows their confidence and gives them the tools to communicate their ideas.

For yourself, how can you balance teaching with maintaining a high degree of personal creative inspiration?

 I prioritize! I am a very good time manager and a benign neglector. I only do what is absolutely necessary and let the rest go to maximize my time in the studio. I rarely shop with the exception of groceries.  I guard my time like it’s the most precious resource I have (because it is). There’s a lot of parallel process and cross-pollination between my personal work and my teaching, one discipline feeds the other. And I drink a lot of coffee! I am lucky my husband is extremely organized and does a lot of household stuff. (I have the fun job-I cook)

Tell us about the work you chose to share with our local community.

I have a thing for Parisian waiters. I love the graphic pattern of their long white aprons against their black vests and pants. And the graceful way they hold their trays and acrobatically move through space. A while back I did a series on dancers. These waiters are serving but their gestural movement feels very related to dance. 

 What plans do you have around new creative projects?

I am probably not done with the cafe series, but I am planning to do a whole series on dogs.

Since you started, is there one experience that confirmed you did a beautiful thing?

There have been so many, it’s hard to pick. Many of my students have gone on to art school and art careers. That’s very gratifying. Last week an eleven year old in my Drawing Bootcamp was marveling over a large figure drawing she did and said, “Wow, I never thought I could do this!” That was a beautiful thing.

What is your favorite coffee or tea beverage?

I like a nice cappuccino. Whole milk please.

Learn more about the one and only Fern Bass by visiting her website @ https://www.bassartsstudio.com/

Local Talk - Q+A with Local West Coast Artist Dolores Lusitana

We're so thrilled to have you post at the shop and thank you for being so accommodating in shipping the images!  West Coast images in an East Coast space brings me happiness as we're all California dreamin' to some degree. How do you think about one coast vs. the other from an artistic perspective? 

I was first drawn to photography while living in New York City from 1981-1997. I’ve always thought of the city as a people laboratory - everyone combating the pressures of city life, the weather, the fierce professional competition, yet somehow all interdependent in those struggles. There’s an underlying humanity that I don’t experience in the same way on the west coast. California offers a more idealized lifestyle; grand, expansive landscapes, lots of sunshine with a cultural slant towards leisure. They’re completely different ways of life. Despite being a native Californian and grateful for the relative ease here (sans the earthquakes and fires..) I’ve always felt more at home on the east coast, more alive and inspired. Perhaps ironically, I think now of New York as a periodic B12 shot, my place for ideas and inspiration, and California the place where I can hunker down without distraction and get the work done.

Your prints, 'A deeper look at the Venice Beach Canals' provides us with a glimpse into a special place in southern California. Why did you select this area as your focus? 

I’d stopped shooting for a time and started my business, Situation Book. I was spending a lot of time behind the computer, and starting to feel a little hollow for abandoning my own creativity. The Venice Beach Canals were within walking distance from my home and I decided to take my camera for an outing - shooting for the first time in a couple of years. I had no objectives, no real intention of making images, I just let myself walk and shoot anything and everything that caught my eye. I found the reflections in the canal waters really beautiful and started making photographs - mostly figurative images, watery reversals of the many white bridges that intersect the walkways, the towering palm trees, the people walking by. They appeared like impressionistic watercolors and it made me happy to be outside in that quiet little enclave of peace and nature hidden inside Silicon Beach. I liked those images enough to continue going back.  

It wasn’t until I starting noticing the full-frame abstractions on my computer screen that the WATERCOLORS project began. I saw things that I hadn’t in my viewfinder, and discovered that by shooting more instinctually I was creating work I found more interesting. That’s when I began to see my photographs more like abstract paintings - and I focused on that approach going forward.

Do you often work with reflections or was this approach inspired by the environment?

I’ve always been more fascinated with people in social situations, how they each inhabit a given space together, than abstract or landscape driven photography. This work came out of my need to reconnect with the natural world and not think too much. What I saw in the water was just an unexpected gift.

The reflections on the Canals are created by wind and tides and ambient light, so you never really know what you’re going to encounter, and that reinforced my inability to control the situation. The source of all the reflections are inherently the same since they’re from the homes, buildings, gardens that line the walkways. But, they’re constantly morphing in shape and color given environmental factors. The lesson for me was to stay open. There was one day when the wind was so high that I thought nothing was achievable. But that day ended up yielding a number of interesting frames, including the image I call WINGS which is at LOCAL now.

How have these images provided you with a deeper understanding and appreciation of this landscape? 

I think good landscape photography is incredibly difficult. Taking a photo of a sunset is relatively easy, but in most cases I believe the viewer is reacting to the splendor of nature rather than the artistry of the photographer. To capture how a landscape makes the artist feel, to imbue the absolute beauty of nature with an individual human emotion, that’s not easy. At least not for me. The appreciation and understanding I’ve gleaned from this work is more about the origins of perception - how and why we all see things differently. I perceive very distinct scenes or images within these photos - rather than strictly water reflections. Other people often see very different things - which makes me happy.  I try and leave them open to interpretation - and encourage people to reposition them vertically and horizontally to their liking.

As a self-taught artist, what can you tell other individuals who would like to pursue an artistic endeavor OR career?

I do believe that everyone should have some kind of creative pursuit - no matter what it is - something that can never be mastered but always improved upon and made more and more your own. You learn a tremendous amount about yourself in the process, and it will always provide you with something to work at, hopefully share with others, and get joy from. I hope I’m still working at something creative when I’m old and blind.

If I can offer any advice (and I’m not sure that I or any other artist is really qualified) it’s that we all experience the world differently, uniquely - and that’s what you want your art to reflect. And I believe that can only be achieved by process, time, and personal honesty, not strictly technical savvy. Craft - as applied to digital photography - can be crucial to expanding your visual vocabulary, but if you don’t dig into your own creative process it can override your vision. I try not to seek validation from others, which is hard. I look for something that speaks to me, perhaps even for me, and keep at it. If I’m really onto something, and keep at it, it will evolve. And hopefully it will eventually start to disappoint me. That discomfort is the challenge you need to move forward. I like to think of this period as “growing pains” - both in the creative process and in life in general.

What other artists within or outside your primary discipline do you look to for inspiration?

In my earliest days my photographic muses were people like Helen Levitt, Louis Faurer, Robert Frank, Bruce Davidson, Bresson…the usual street art suspects. Later, I discovered the magic of color documentary when I found a book by William Albert Allard in a bookshop in NYC near Houston. Blew my mind. I then sought out the work of the great National Geographic shooters:, Sam Abell, James Nachtwey, Gerd Ludwig, Eugene Richards, Alex Webb. Now I’m more drawn to the artists, mostly painters, of an earlier time. The European Impressionists and Beat Contemporaries. Odilon Redon always take my breath away.  As does Erik Satie.  And kids. Watch for how little children see the world - and look for that perspective.

What's next? What other projects are you currently working on?

Right now I’m focused mostly on getting this work out into the world a bit more. I’ve really just started showing it.

I’ve also started playing around with some light abstractions taken from the windows of my mother’s bedroom. She’s 92 now, and sleeps a great deal; her room is often dark but for the light creeping through the windows. It’s a tricky subject, but it feels like there’s something there.  Maybe not.  We’ll see.

Any other thoughts to share?

There is beauty all around us in every day things. Spend some quiet time in nature; it can nourish you in ways that nothing else can.  And, thank you for this opportunity. I hope your customers find some pleasure in the work.

Thank you!

See more of Dolores’ work at https://www.doloreslusitana.com/about/

Local Talk - Q+A with artist Cathy LeCleire

We're so thrilled to have you post at the shop - both as a friend and accomplished artist. At what age did you first know that you had the interest and desire to take your thoughts and create something?

I’m probably showing my age but the first time I realized that art could be anything you wanted it to be was going to the World’s Fair in Queens and seeing Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup cans and Claus Oldenburg’s huge fan made out of vinyl. I really felt I could be an artist too.

What were the first projects that you worked on?

I’m not sure of my first project because there are probably so many. I’m a printmaker so that means I work in multiples. I first went to college and studied Political Science and went back to Art School after I graduated. I feel my first projects tended to be political in nature. Printmaking has always had a political background because it was always about protest and bringing information to the masses.

How did you take this interest and apply to greater learnings at the educational level?

I have always enjoyed teaching and found I was good at it. Educational institutions are the greatest place for pollination and stimulation. I find my students are my greatest inspiration and I hope my mentoring and encouragement leads to greater creativity of ideas.

So, you now teach  printmaking and book art techniques  at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Given that the world has become more and more digital - how has your craft evolved?

Printmaking is always evolving and taking on contemporary mediums. We embrace the digital age with dot screens, filmmaking, zines, etc. Students are always looking for the printed word as social media. They print large editions many times that are mass-produced and can have an immediate response. I think many printmakers are at the forefront of the digital age but also enjoy traditional methods such as etching, lithography and screenprinting.

As a teacher, what is the most interesting thing you have learned from your students?

It took me a while to trust my students and allow them to make mistakes. I once received the best evaluation from a student. She said I did too much for the student and I should let them fail because failing is the best way of learning. So now I always say “have fun and make mistakes!”

Please tell us about the work you have so graciously offered here at Local - Endangered Species.

I have recently been interested in the dangers of plastic and the fact that it cannot decompose. By using it as a printing surface I created a mural of animals that I feel are in danger of disappearing. With the use of contemporary, unmistakable and repeated images combined with global awareness, I have created statements of the ecological consequences in our daily lives.

What's next? What other projects are you currently working on?

I shouldn’t say but I’m back to political art in these dangerous times. I’ve been making sashes like what the suffragettes wore in pink with slogans for issues such as gun control, women’s rights, me too movement, etc. And as with printmaking they are controversial!

Learn more about Cathy here