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"Moroccan Montages" at Steep and Brew
Paul Baker, a local amateur photographer, has collaborated with Linda Endlich in a new show called "Moroccan Montages: Merging Muses." A reception, complete with Moroccan food and music (sorry, no camels) will take place 5-7 p.m. Sunday, July 20 at Steep and Brew, 544 State Street.
I talked with Paul, a communications specialist at the UW, about his work.
How did "Moroccan Montages" come about?
I took like 800 photographs in Morocco with my wife [for two weeks] back in October. I have done photo shows before, but I thought it would be fun to have a twist, instead of just vacation photos. I work with a woman here who produces a professional education newsletter for me. I asked her, would you be willing or interested in collaborating on an art exhibit? She knows Photoshop really well.
I asked her to go through the pictures and pick out some elements from them and put them into new things.
What kind of themes did you identify?
In Morocco, everything is decorated to within an inch of its life. Everything has tile, everything has mosaic. I said let's put together a series of photos that are all over the place but with one unifying element: each one has mosaic or tiles in it.
Linda started coming up with things that were a little more surrealistic. Then I asked, can you do something a little darker, more post-industrial with it? I planted one seed in her mind and she just kept going — now we have 50 images. We're picking the 30 best [for the show].
One of the reason we
subtitled this "Merging Muses" is this is a mind-meld, a
mind-merge: I could not have done this by myself and she could not
have done it by herself.
Paul Baker has had photo
exhibits around town for the past 10 years, including a show at the
now-defunct Sun Porch, the headquarters for the Wisconsin Arts
Board and the Lt. Governor's office.
Baker says this show includes
"three firsts — the first time I've collaborated with someone
else, the first time using a digital camera, and the first time
I've done anything in color. Everything before was black and
white."
Stop by Steep and Brew for the event on July 20. The art will be up until Sept. 29, when the show closes.
I love the cats. Enjoy! I will be out of town for the next few days at a wedding in Michigan — have a great weekend!
