ARTIST’S STATEMENT
(Prepared for Cabrillo Exhibition (August 2005 - September 2005)

(Page 3 of 3)

Recently I have renewed contact with Jane Porter, who in a former life was the cutest little sister of my high school girlfriend you ever did see. Jane’s part in this pilgrim’s progress is that she is a professional framer and has been extraordinarily generous in teaching me the basics of this craft. Learning how to properly mount and frame my work helps complete my vision of having artistic control over the entire process of my work from capturing the image to putting it up for display.

Finally I must give credit to another Cabrillo art course: Gallery Viewing 50L which is run by Tobin Keller and Rose Sellery. This required course, which I initially thought an annoyance, forced me to go about campus and local galleries to view and write up mini-critiques of a selected piece. Since I could find no acceptable way around it, I went out and did the work and handed in the write-ups. Being the persistent and curious person I am, I would go by the Gallery to ask Rose if they actually read my reports. Rose insisted that she and Tobin actually read the reports. This viewing process actually inspired me to keep working at my art, helped me to come to appreciate the quality of the Cabrillo Gallery and the “ Administration Building” exhibits, and most importantly to get to know Rose.

So at the end of last spring’s semester I brought my finals portfolio from Victoria May’s course to ask Rose for her reaction to the work and, “How do you get to exhibit in the Administration Building?”

I now know the answer to these questions. Rose now tells me I must learn to market myself. Will it never end?

All of the pieces you see in this exhibit have been created since I enrolled at Cabrillo in the fall of 2004. As I have indicated above, the life experience and motivation go back a long way, but if what I am displaying here shows any promise, I owe a great deal to those mentioned above. But the person to whom I owe the most is my wife Suzanne who has put enormous effort into making my work both financially and emotionally possible while trying to teach a truly difficult person what partnership is about. I could not have done this without her help and encouragement.

I feel truly honored to have the opportunity to display my first exhibit in the newly renamed John D. Hurd Building, Student Enrollment Service Center. I hope you enjoy what you see and it encourages you to look more closely both at my photographs and in your life for the beauty that is all around.

This exhibit is dedicated in loving memory to my mother, Martha Ellen Kemmer Mann.