Pond Reflections
 
In his 1978 essay introducing the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition
Mirrors and Windows: American Photography since 1960 John Szarkowski
posed this question “...what a photograph is: is it a mirror,
reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, or a window, through
which one might better know the world?”

Pond Reflections transcends Szarkowski’s dichotomy because it is both
an objective view of the world and presents a playful, personal
reality. This series of images is a factual representation
encouraging the viewer to closely re-examine landscape. This playful
look at reality offers insight into my vision and personality.

Look closely at these images and you will see that there is confusion
between sky and ground, land and water, reflection and reality,
mirror and window. This play on perception is caused by a simple
sleight of hand. The images are shown upside down. When the
photograph is taken the up/down orientation is the opposite of the
way the image is displayed. When I take the photograph, I am not
thinking of the way the image looks in the viewfinder, but rather how
the image will look rotated 180 degrees on my computer screen or
rotated 180 degrees after it has been printed on paper. This sleight
of hand creates the dissonance that causes both artist and viewer to
see the world anew, see what was missed.

Professional Awards
• Dodge Foundation Mini Grants, 1997 and 1998
• New Jersey Transit Light Rail Public Art Commission, 1997
• New Jersey Best Practice Award, Public Art in a Public School, 1995
• Ridgewood Public Education Foundation Grants, 1998, 1995 and 1993
• Dodge Foundation, Artist-Educator Grant, 1993
• New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship, 1986-7 and 1991-2
• Franklin Furnace Performance Grant, 1990
• Wisconsin Arts Board Grant, 1990
• Painted Bride's Grant for Interdisciplinary Artists, Phila., PA, 1989