The Gift

I put together this composition using photos I took with my iPhone. The occasion was a going away party for the Firehouse Art Center interim Executive Director, Joanna Young.  She’s going back home to England, so Stephanie and Greg hosted a party in their backyard.

From left to right are Vern, Jessica, Tony, Joanna (opening gift), Paul, John, Mary, Tom, Greg and Stephanie.

I’ve been working on this drawing for the last 2 weeks.  I began by making a series of snaps with my phone, panning from left to right as I shot.  I did this a few times.  Then I assembled the photos to create a panorama montage of the scene, altering both space and time in the process.  Even tho this is a fairly accurate representation of Steph & Greg’s backyard, I’ve compressed and expanded space as the composition needed.  And even tho all the figures are reacting to the same event, I’ve combined reactions over a time span and put them together as if they all exist in the same moment.

In this piece, I’m exploring bodies in context and how they interact.

The Gift (detail)