By Vicki Gilhula
A picture tells 1,000 words. Some photographs say much more and
others challenge the viewer to think outside the picture frame.
Photographs by Kathy Browning and Nick Dubecki, currently on
exhibit at the Stopciati Gallery in Sudbury, are not what they
seem. Re:Image is an exhibition of wide-format Giclee prints of
digital photographs.
Dubecki's image, Big, of the all too familiar Vale Inco
superstack, is not one photograph but more than a dozen. The
artist used Photoshop to manipulate images to create one with a
detailed view of the city icon. It captures more than the human
eye could ever see.
"I went to the chosen sites and took a series of panning shots,
photographing the scene in one set of sections. These shots
were then pieced together in Photoshop, not like tiles, but
like a jigsaw puzzle, with small sections of each shot
assembled to form the image that best matched my memory of the
place," he says.
His images are printed on a 44-inch Ultrachrome printer on
various papers to achieve final prints.
After completing his bachelor of fine art at York University in
1979, Dubecki worked as a commercial artist, first in
serography and then in the new industry of computer graphics.
Although his first interests were sculpture and drawing, his
work as a commercial photo retoucher for the past 22 years has
drawn him to explore photo-based artwork as his principal
medium of expression. He currently runs a fine art printing
business.
While Dubecki is inspired by landcapes, natural and urban, his
partner, Browning, takes her inspiration from icebergs.Her
iceberg images are a series of digital photographs of rocks,
water, trees, and icebergs in Newfoundland.
Browning, who teaches art education at Laurentian University's
Faculty of Education, superimposes images to create interesting
and beautiful effects.
"Digital media has the power to translate information into new
forms. This project involved research and exploration while
developing a body of work that makes inner connections with
people and places through the art that I create," she says in
her artist's statement for the exhibit.
She specializes in finding ways to combine computer technology
with art, and is showing the next generation of teachers how to
teach it to their computer-savvy students.
Browning, who taught previously at Memorial University in
Newfoundland, is now working on an exhibition for next winter
at the Art Gallery of Sudbury. This show will have a northern
focus, and will feature digital collages on rock cuts.
Browning's and Dubecki's exhibit at Stopciati Gallery continues
until July 18. The gallery is located at 153 Applegrove St.,
and open from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or by
appointment.
Vicki Gilhula is managing editor of Laurentian Media Magazine Group.
