Artist Statement

The Art Description

This is a fine art project with a conceptual portraiture emphasis. The subject matter is both illustrative and expressive as it tells a story and creates a feeling. The literal subject is a fantasy world where ballerinas appear to be naturally in a golf environment.

The intended outcome is experiential as it provides an aesthetic and visual experience. All the images were created in a golf environment and the models were shot on location. The assisted reality stories are all based on the real-life experiences of the artist.

The ideal viewers of this body of work are connoisseurs of either ballet or golf.

The Story

Combining golf, which I live and breathe every day, with the art of photography and ballet is a dream come true.

It started with an idea. “What if I juxtaposed a ballerina against the vast expanse of a golf course?” I asked my husband what he thought of the concept. His animated response surprised me, “Do you know how much ballerinas have in common with golfers? The hours and hours of work that no one sees, just for one event. The abuse their bodies take. They make the movements look easy and natural, but they aren’t, just like in golf.” I knew all that, I was just surprised he did.

The project has taken on a life of its own. The body of work as a whole has a modern art, edgy feel. It is uplifting and intriguing. I would have loved to have captured more and told more stories, but I ran out of time before winter arrived. 

Three Masters

There were three disciplines that required technical excellence in this project, photography, golf and ballet. By honoring the esthetic needs of all three the storytelling and art was able to shine through.

As a result, a photographer looks at this body of work and sees great story telling and lovely art, a ballerina sees a lovely performance in an unconventional local, a golfer sees an intriguing and magical version of everyday life.

The masters don’t always agree. The poses a ballerina admires may not appeal to an artist, a scene that conjures emotion to a golfer may seem mundane to a ballerina, and images that are beautiful to an artist may seem abstract to a golfer.

This body of work offers images that appeal to all three audiences, but some images may appeal more to one of the masters/viewer groups than another.