“The act of doing art is a wonderful freedom – to choose a path that no one can interfere with is a glorious and painful journey!” – Stan Smokler

I graduated from Delaware College of Art and Design in 2003. Although I majored in Photography, my first year was filled with a variety of different courses and mediums. I was immersed in charcoal, paint, hours of model studies and still lifes, emulating famous artists, more hours of slide shows, countless nights memorizing the dates and names of some of the great masterpieces of our time and on and on and on…

During those years I was constantly creating. Constantly inspired and learning new things everyday. Then when I finished school: nothing. It all stopped. I played guitar in a band and got wasted… for years.

Fast forward to today; I’m married, I’ve cleaned up my act and over the last several years I’ve gotten myself back to the point of constantly taking photographs, of creating and remembering. Remembering the artists and teachers that inspired me and pushed me and molded my work to what you see today.

Several months ago I was invited to speak to a class at the University of Delaware about mobile photography and display some of my current and past work. During the opening as I talked with guests, I was surprised and humbly pleased to see a familiar face from my art school days, Stan Smokler. Stan is an accomplished sculptor hailing from the Bronx, NY. He lives and breathes art. He welds and forms found objects from past lives into smart, flowing, vibrant new life. He’s a master of form and design, yet his work is still obviously from the heart and the gut. Stan was my teacher for one short period of 3D Design. In the short time spent in his class, I learned about art from a man who was living it. Stories, advice and his “realness” intrigued me and stuck with me over the years.

So on this night, here we are, face to face again. I’m greeted with a hug and a mutual excitement. As we stand in a room of my photographs, his compliments and positivity were more than I could have ever asked for. It was a sweet reunion, leaving me feeling that I was on the right track. Stan invited me to his studio, so we set a date to further catch up and for me to take his portrait.

It’s a Sunday morning and I’m driving through a thick fog into the outskirts of civilization. As I come down the last stretch of road, I can see an old barn and silo standing alone in the fog and I know I have arrived. The studio is a sprawling property of old farm structures along a rolling creek, an ideal setting for the large-scale sculptures he builds and welds.
Stan greets me and gives me the grand tour. Scattered across the grounds are old tractor parts, farm equipment, even old cables from the Brooklyn Bridge, all neatly stacked and organized in their respected waiting areas, waiting to be given new life. It is an awe inspiring place and I didn’t want to leave.

We talked a lot about art. About creativity, being honest with yourself and the world around you and creating from within. About really thinking about what you are doing and whether the art speaks to you, the artist.

Even in taking his portraits we looked through a book of famous artist portraits together, to get motivation, to create. As I started shooting we were commenting on capturing the smoke from his cigar and how beautiful it looked. He told me about an artist friend of his, Frank Stella, who photographed smoke rings to use the photos as an inspiration to build new sculptures.
Every moment was creative and inspiring and this morning really stuck with me and made me think.

It’s so easy to get lost in the modern era of facebook and instagram, of likes and comments and self promotion and worrying what others think. I really had to take a look at what I was doing. As I thought of my beginnings as an artist, I had to go back to that creative state. I had to remember why I do what I do. I have a need to create and it transcends all social media.
Ironically, I will share this blog on all the social media outlets… but may I never forget why I am an artist.

So whether we are covered in paint and linseed oil, developer, fixer, metal shavings, wood chips or mastering the Hipstamatic app on our iPhones, we must remember why and ask ourselves does the art we make speak to us as artists. If you answer yes then nothing else really matters.

I wanted to provide a list of non-photographer artists that are some of my favorites and some music selections that are my major inspirations as of late.

I hope that it may speak to you and help you create art.

Egon Scheile
Odd Nerdrum
Salvador Dali
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Frida Khalo
Ralph Steadman

Tom Waits – all recordings
Three Mile Pilot – Another Desert, Another Sea
The Rachel’s -The Sea and The Bells and Handwriting

Visit Stan Smokler’s Site!