Gateway Gallery: July 2009

How long have you been an artist? Since the day I could scribble with a pencil or a crayon. I have photos of myself with a Kodak Brownie hanging around my neck when I was six. I took my camera everywhere. When I was in high school I illustrated a student literary book, VIGNETTES, with my drawings. I really liked being a student school photographer. It gave me the opportunity to get out of class to take photos of other students and activities for the yearbook. I discovered a camera in my hands was like wearing a protective coat of armor. Photography helped me to overcome my shyness, approach other students, especially girls, and develop relationship skills that many students don’t learn until later in life.

Photography also helped me to develop a life-long love for the outdoors, nature and the Missouri/Arkansas Ozarks in particular. Today the Ozark landscape is an integral part of my pastel art. Our clear running streams and green-forested hills are a treasure to behold.

What is your “day job” if you have one? I have been an editorial and commercial photographer all of my life. I have worked as a freelancer for numerous national publications such as NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, TIME, NEWSWEEK, FORBES, BICYCLING, and dozens of others. Today most of my work is for commercial clients creating annual report photography, brochures and catalogs. Computers and digital photography has flipped the commercial photography market on its head. Instead of just doing photography I find myself taking a commercial project from concept through the graphic design stage, directly to the printer and delivering the completed project to the client. I also find myself developing websites and e-mail marketing for clients. Today commercial photographers need to have full range of computer skills, need to know how to do graphic design, create a website and work with printers.

What kind of art do you make? I create fine art photography, charcoals and pastels. I find my fine art today is really a counter balance to my high tech day work, and pastels have become my medium of choice. Drawing and scumbling a rich pigment of color across a paper is such an opposite (and relief) from working on a computer as an editorial and commercial photographer my vision has always been grounded in reality. Pastels allow me release a lot of pent up emotions and work more from my imagination reality. My pastels have become much more impressionistic.

How long have you been involved with The Gateway Gallery? I joined Gateway Gallery about a year and half ago. It is everything a gallery should be. We offer original, high-quality, regional art at a fair price. There are no middlemen between the artist and collector making our art a great value for our patrons. Art patrons that visit gateway gallery have the opportunity to develop relationships with the artists thus giving our art even more value on a personal level.

There is a unique benefit to being part of an artist owned gallery. There is a special relationship developed with my sixteen co-owner artists. We are constantly sharing ideas, critiquing each other and pushing ourselves to improve our art. Gateway Gallery is a great incubator for new ideas and techniques. I am totality impressed with the originality of all of our artists. Everyone brings his or her unique vision to the gallery.

What is your proudest artistic accomplishment? Why my next one, of course. I don’t live in the past. I want to keep learning, experimenting, playing and pushing my art and myself.

Where do you get your inspiration? When I was young my artistic inspiration came from nature and living in the heart of the Ozarks. But now, much of my inspiration comes from my family, friends and fellow artists. I’m coming to realize there is as much beauty in my back yard as there is in a thousand acres of hill-covered forests.

Why do you make art? I often tell friends I make art because it’s cheaper than seeing a psychiatrist every week. There is lot of truth in that statement. All day I work for my commercial clients and I feel my stress level rise as the day progresses. Every evening I go into my studio, turn the music up and start painting. The next thing I know, three, four or more hours have disappeared and my stress level has returned to near zero.

Who are your greatest artistic influences? When I was a young photographer I was greatly influenced by the nature photography of Eliot Porter. I would spend hours studying his work in a series of Sierra Club books like In Wilderness is The Preservation of the World and Summer Island. Today, the Hudson River School artists still heavily influence me. I would dearly love to have experienced the forested Ozarks back in the early to mid-1800’s like the Hudson School Painters experienced New England and upper New York. The works of George Inness and Asher B. Durand especially impress me. When it comes to capturing the color of the American West few artists surpass Thomas Moran. I’ll never forget the first time I saw one of his original western sunsets at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. I was stunned by its beauty. I couldn’t make myself leave the gallery; I stared at it for hours. Among contemporary painters I’m particularly influenced by the highly original pastel techniques of Bill Creevy and I greatly admire the originality of Richard McKinley. The way he allows the under painting to influence the mood of his landscapes is very effective.

Garry has a strong web presence. If you would like find out more about him please visit the following web sites:

http://www.garrymcmichael.com/

http://www.imaginagrapher.com/

http://www.gatewaypastelartists.com/

http://www.gslaa.org/

http://www.myslart.com/