PATTERNS AND TONES

After much preparation, organization and scheduling, the first phase of the project took shape and a photo shoot with the dancers in costume was set. What better location than a dance studio used by the ballerina to stage the shoot! We all met at Suzie's Studio in San Rafael. I had driven up with a car so packed with paper portfolios, that I could barely see out the back window! The excitement of actually seeing this project take flight filled my heart with joy. The two dancers for the project, Mymuna Demora and Grier Cooper, were there when we arrived already warming up. Coming from very different backgrounds in dance, one a classically trained ballerina - the other coming from the inspirations of the great 20th century modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham , I had a feeling the tension created by these varying approaches to dance would further my exploration of balance and instability within the image. They did not disappoint! The talented Gwen Allen documente...

The Contortionist I feel at home in the world of archetypes and hidden messages. I love puzzles and late night Mystery Theater .  Perhaps this explains why I am drawn to and photograph certain motifs over and over again. Art from as early as 3,000 BC has been imbued with symbols and allegories that helped pass down stories and customs. Romans, as seen in my earlier blog "Of Gods and Goddesses" , perfected the use of secular allegorical symbols. And even during the height of the Renaissance through the 18th century, allegorical paintings were the modus operandi. Modern Art discarded the use of iconographic objects, except in the case of my very favorite periods of creativity: Dada, Cubism and Pop Art which employed the use of modern culture to stand in for the ancient symbols that had been utilized for centuries. The Clown As a photographer, amusement parks, circuses and local carnivals are such a hot bed of cultural archetypes, its hard not to captur...