The Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts

Artist Statement

My photographic journey began when a professional photographer included one of my images in his book The Natural Garden, encouraging me to take my hobby seriously. Over several years I studied black and white darkroom techniques, emulsion transfer, a workshop in Montana with the Nature Conservancy, and a workshop in New Mexico in the pueblos of Native Americans. With no formal art training, my photography developed through practice and experimentation.
The earth has always been my subject and my passion. From large landscapes and flower studies, I concentrated on images of smaller and more subtle worlds within our large one. My focus became abstract as my images began dealing with texture, design, shape, repetition and pattern. My goal is to emphasize one aspect, up close, thinking “lean”.
With the computer I began enlarging an image, cropping out one internal area, and working it into a separate and very abstract piece, with no literal connection to the original image.
By turning a piece in a different direction or by mirror imaging two prints, zooming in on a reflection, I could realize an imaginative free form image.
My vocabulary most often originates from sand, bark, mesa walls, flowers, roots, bark, icebergs, all of which lend themselves to creative design and abstraction.
The challenge and joy of my art is to engage a viewer to look closely, perhaps to see things that could easily be passed by. As O’Keeffe says “it takes time to look....”
Whether I focus on the interior of a flower, or a canyon wall , I wish to communicate the music of our natural world. I feel strongly that visual art should refresh the soul, present beauty; be pleasing to the visual level and to the soul.
I have had many solo exhibits and several group shows. I have won first and second awards, and “Photographic Excellence”. I have been accepted to over twenty national juried exhibitions.
My images have been published in book and magazine formats and used as a cover for Ann Johnson page an artschool catalogue, a Sunday magazine and our local Land Trust brochure.

Contact

E Mail:  apalmerjohns@aol.com