Grace and Grandeur by Sam Stapleton and John Vavruska
May 3-31, 2019
Grace and Grandeur by Sam Stapleton and John Vavruska
Opening reception: Friday, May 3, 5:00-9:00 PM
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium is closed on Monday, May 27, for the holiday.
Two photographers born in 1951, Sam Stapleton and John Vavruska, grew up in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains: Sam, on the western side in the town of Kingsport, TN and John, on the eastern slopes in Waynesville, NC. Both were heavily influenced by the culture and natural beauty of the southern Appalachians, both subsequently obtained professional degrees from the University of Tennessee (Sam in accounting and John in engineering) and both began their serious pursuit of photography in the early 1970’s.
When they met in 1976, it was their shared love of photography that provided the foundation for their friendship and for two years they shared a house and a darkroom that they built themselves. If one were to examine their photos from that time, one would find them to be quite similar with a strong emphasis on the natural landscape, influenced heavily by photographers such as Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Brett Weston, and David Muench.
But time separated them as John was drawn to the American west in the early 1980’s and then served in the Peace Corps in Nepal before settling in Santa Fe where he now resides with his wife of 30+ years. Sam remained close to his roots in Knoxville, Tennessee where he too resides with his wife of 30+ years.
Yet with all of their similarities, the two have drifted apart in their photographic vision and now occupy virtual opposite ends of the photographic spectrum. John has remained primarily in the analog (film) world and has grown in the direction of large (4 x 5 inch) format black and white photography, capturing the grandeur of the natural landscape through hand-crafted gelatin silver prints. Conversely, Sam remained with small (35mm) format photography but converted whole-heartedly to digital technology where he continues to focus on the intimate color imagery of the East Tennessee landscape.
While John’s images convey a high level of detail and tonal gradation , Sam has used the spontaneity of the smaller format to explore the abstract and impressionistic capabilities of the medium. Hence the exhibit, Grace and Grandeur, is presented to share their story – the story of two men with a common photographic grounding that has matured into expressions of widely divergent visions. Please follow their journeys, John’s to the left and Sam’s to the right, as they seek to fulfill the calling of their own inner voices.
Sam Stapleton: Biography
Sam Stapleton has been an active photographer for 40+ years during which time he has studied with such notable photographers as John Netherton, Pat O’Hara, Angelo Lomeo and Sonja Bullaty. He has seen his illustrative photography published in magazines and books, yet today considers himself primarily an art photographer. The opportunity to share his creative efforts through public gallery showings provides a live audience response that he finds particularly rewarding.
Sam Stapleton: Vision Statement
Karl Lagerfeld, the German photographer and artist, once said “There is no beauty without strangeness” and Edgar Allen Poe echoed that sentiment with his own statement “There is no exquisite beauty…without some strangeness in the proportion.”
Following their advice, it has become my intention to include an element of the strange in all my images. If the viewer does not ask how, what or why, then I have failed to arouse their curiosity and to convey a new and compelling aspect of beauty.
www.samstapletonphotography.com
www.facebook.com/Sam.Stapleton51
John Vavruska: Biography
John Vavruska has photographed nature with a view camera for more than three decades, making hand-crafted black and white gelatin silver prints from 4×5 inch negatives in a traditional darkroom. His early inspiration was the work of Ansel Adams, Edward and Brett Weston, Wynn Bullock, and Paul Caponigro, all photographers of the “west coast” tradition. Mountains have been his love and the main focus of his photography, beginning with the Southern Appalachians, then the American West and the Himalayas of Nepal, all places he has lived. He finds nature’s intimacy and grandeur an infinite source of photographic inspiration. John resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife Laura. His images have been published in books and calendars and his prints have been exhibited in galleries.
John Vavruska: Artist Statement
To me, the natural world represents health and balance in its purest form. We have much to learn from nature: foremost, that we are part of it! Nature’s grace, beauty and grandeur are what I seek to record with my camera. Making a photograph may be my way of expressing reverence for nature. In the field I respond to the interplay of light and subject that reflects my emotions right then and there. The large ground glass of the view camera helps me isolate a composition. The response is intuitive, the execution technical, and both are critical to the final result. I would be pleased if my photographs instill in others a reverence for the natural world.
www.johnvavruska.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009238198439
Instagram @john.vavruska