Denver, CO
Spring is here! Well, it was. Today, it is snowing! However, in Colorado this time of year, it doesn't take long for the sun to come back out. It will be back in the 70s before we know it. I hope you’re doing well. I am excited to share new work and new developments since I last wrote:
New work - Fred the Egret
W Gallery – My 1st Solo Gallery Show in Steamboat Springs!
Modern in Denver – 9 Page feature on my story and art
Slate Real Estate HQ – My largest install to date
New Denver Showroom
Fred the Egret
First and foremost, I want to introduce you to Fred the Egret and share the story behind my time with this fascinating bird.
Are you familiar with the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? It is something we have all experienced. It happens when you stumble upon something ambiguous or random and soon afterwards encounter the same subject again and again. Maybe it’s a newly learned idea, or a series of numbers, a specific word, or an animal; but it’s suddenly there in front of you, all of the time. The phenomenon is somewhat like a coincidence – for example when someone you’re thinking about suddenly calls you – but a coincidence doesn’t last as long. That said, both invoke surprise and both smack of destiny. It can feel as if these events were supposed to occur as part of a larger sequence in our lives or even fated for reasons beyond our control.
Fred the Egret was it for me.
I was down in South West Florida visiting my parents after not seeing them for 13 long months due to the pandemic. I was excited to reunite with them because I missed them, and we are used to getting together several times a year. Before I left Colorado, in one of those countless phone calls that precedes a long trip, my Mom asked if I would bring my camera along. She wanted me to capture some photographs of the coastal birds to hang in their house. Of course, I said. I would be happy to photograph the birds.
When I arrived in Florida and settled into my parents' home, and with my bird photography assignment on my mind, I suddenly noticed all the bird paintings throughout their place. I had never noticed these paintings before. How have I missed this about my parents over all these years, I thought.
Over the next few days, I was on the lookout for possible bird subjects to complete my assignment as I walked the beach. And I saw nothing. No birds for three full days. I thought this is so strange. It was quite windy over those days, and I learned that many of the birds will stay away from the coast on windy days and venture inland.
On the 4th day I was walking the beach with Liz and we came across a single Snowy White Egret standing by himself. Perfect, I thought. I put the camera to my eye and began to photograph the Egret from a comfortable distance. He didn’t seem to mind that I was there, even though I knew he’d seen me. I slowly kneeled down on the sand with my camera, then down to my belly to get eye level, and then I started to edge closer and closer to him. Eventually, I was within only a few feet of him, stretched out on the sand looking right into his eyes through my long, portrait lens. He looks like an old man, I thought, as I watched him, snapping pictures quickly, worried he would dash off at any moment. An old man watching the horizon reflectively, all while he knowingly models for me.
I named him Fred.
I spent about 20 minutes with Fred. He never ran, scooted a few yards away from me, or flapped a wing to disengage. He knew I was there and yet he was staying in the same spot, shifting here and there, but never really leaving his original spot. And the more he modeled for me, the more I started to think we were connecting in an odd way. It wasn’t exactly like I knew him per se, but more that I knew I was supposed to have found him.
Some people see incidents of synchronicities like the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon as slightly spiritual in nature. It’s as if these experiences ask us to momentarily suspend our internal focus and then leaves us with the curious feeling that we should be paying attention to something beyond ourselves. A feeling that we should be seeing or noticing something just beyond our normal, day-to-day horizons. That’s what Fred started to feel like as I was laying there on the beach, snapping away. The encounter started to feel slightly spiritual to me.
I took several hundred photographs of Fred that morning. He eventually grew bored with his modeling and flew away, as birds eventually do. When he left, I got up and walked back to my folk's place equally excited about all the amazing portraits I had just captured of this wild bird as I was about the curious connection I had stumbled upon with Fred The Egret.
And guess what? Over the next few days all I could see were birds. I noticed them everywhere I went and all of the time. And I found myself continuing to photograph them. I recalled that in a lot of children’s fairytales, the characters who are transformed into birds often represent imagination, transcendence, and freedom from materialism. Perhaps that’s what Fred and I shared that day; the mutual reflection of a desire to be free from material things and a shared value that a life spent traveling from experience to experience is the preferred life.
I would never have photographed birds if it were not for my mom. By her simply asking me to take some pictures for her, it opened a whole new world of wildlife that I have had truly little knowledge and appreciation of before. So I decided to name my Fred the Egret series “Awareness.” The more we can find coincidences and synchronicities and the more “new” we expose ourselves too, the more we realize that we are all connected here on this planet together.
I absolutely love Fred the Egret series and want to dedicate the collection to my Mom, Kristy, who always inspires me and is whom I inherited my creative curiosities from.
I hope you enjoy this collection.
-JC
“Pan, who and what art thou?” he cried, huskily.
“I’m youth, I’m joy,” Peter answered at a venture. “I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg.””
1st Solo Show a W Gallery - Steamboat, CO
I am proud to announce I currently have a solo show at the W Gallery in Steamboat, Colorado. The gallery is a small, intimate contemporary gallery in the heart of downtown Steamboat and owned and curated by Katie Kiefer.
Katie and I met on Instagram. We connected by phone and quickly realized we have a lot in common from a love for Minnesota, architecture, sailing and of course, contemporary art. In addition to running the W Gallery, Katie is a residential architect with a very impressive portfolio of work throughout the county.
The show is featuring seven large format prints from the ICE Collection. This is my first opportunity to share my work with the Steamboat community. I am very honored to have my work at W Gallery and will plan on making it there a couple times over the next two months. If you are in Steamboat or have friends in the area, stop in and check out the work or pass on the show to your friends! The gallery is located at 115 9th Street.
“ICE” Exhibit - W Gallery, Steamboat, Colorado
Modern in Denver Feature
Modern in Denver Spring 2021 Feature
In other exciting news this month, Modern In Denver, the state’s leading architectural and design publication generously featured my story and work in a nine-page spread beautifully written by Liz Ellis. Over the years many of my architecture and interior photographs of client projects have been featured in the magazine, which is always a thrill to see your work published. But, this time it's even more special with the feature dedicated to my own story as an artist and my own fine art photography. If you are in the Denver area, grab a copy, it’s a wonderful publication, you won’t be disappointed! Here is the link to view it electronically.
Slate Real Estate HQ - Art Install
“Summit” 12’ x 8’ Triptych
Last week we installed my largest piece to date, a 12’ x 8’ ft triptych mural in the new Slate Real Estate HQ in Denver’s LoHi neighborhood. I am thrilled with how the art installation came together. The piece, “Summit” is a nine photograph, in-camera captured, multiple exposure of Peak 1 and 2 of the Tenmile Range in Summit County. It is part of my Alpine Collection.
Ron Landucci, my master printer partner did an exceptional job on the production and fellow artist and photographer, Brett Fox, is always a real pro to work with on difficult deliveries and installs. If you find yourself in LoHi, stop into the Central Street location to see the installation and say hello. They also have set up Denver’s smallest art gallery called Nook featuring a run and creative exhibit by friend and fellow photographer, Brandon Lopez.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Later this month I will be opening a Denver showroom and studio. I will announce the new location and plans for a small opening night get together! It’s a small space so will need to see how things are with the pandemic. Much more to come!
As always, thank you for the continued support of my work. If you know anyone that would appreciate my monthly letter and my black & white fine art photography, please pass on this letter so they can subscribe too!
Thank you!
JC