January Issue 2000
Photographs by Donna and Martin Stearns at Beaufort, SC, Library
Photo by Donna
Stearns
Donna and Martin Stearns are the featured artists at the Art Among the Books Gallery at the Beaufort County Library in Beaufort, SC. The exhibit of photographic works entitled Carnival of Venice will be on view through Feb. 7.
Donna and Martin Stearns are freelance photographers based on St. Helena Island, SC. Areas of specialty include travel photography and nature photography, and their work incorporates a variety of photo printing and framing techniques. Their style captures the essence of their subjects and venues and puts the viewer almost on location, at the scene of the event. Through photography, the Stearns recreate and share the powerful emotions they experience through their subjects and travels and creatively bring them to life for their audience.
While an interest in photography has spanned their lifetime, it is only within the recent six years that they have focused their passion on travel and nature photography. A most recent photographic excursion took them to the Carnival of Venice, which intrigued and captured the attention of this photographer duo. The exhibit blends the vibrant colors and brilliant reflections of Venice at its most festive time during Carnival. The Stearns' creations lean toward the mystery and magic in the masks and incorporate a variety of unique photographic and printings techniques including Polaroid emulsion transfers, enlarged Polaroid image transfers as well as fine art Giclée prints of their photographs.
While much of their work is printed on traditional photographic paper, they have embraced these photographic and printing techniques to blend photography with art to create elegant, poetic and unique images of their subjects. One of these alternative techniques includes Polaroid emulsion transfers which lifts the emulsion off Polaroid film and places it on watercolor paper, producing a translucent, floating, one-of-a-kind image. Another method of displaying their creations is through enlarged Polaroid image transfers which lifts the Polaroid image and transfers it to paper, creating a soft image of a highly focused photograph. Lastly, the Giclée printing process digitally prints the photograph in an archival fashion on watercolor paper. The extremely high resolution involved in Giclée printing offers a soft continuous tone and recreates a photograph in a painterly fashion.
The Stearns' artistry extends into the frame design for each piece of their work, including assembling the frames, designing the mat boarding, and mounting of many of their photos.
They have participated in many photo workshops and courses nationally and internationally, and have published and won prizes for their work. Workshops and courses taken on location include those at The Santa Fe Workshops, The Rocky Mountain School of Photography, Arizona Highways, and The Maine Photographic Workshops as well as direct training with professional photographers. An intense interest in photography was inspired through classes taught by Tom Vargo at the Creative Retirement Center at USCB in Beaufort. The Stearns' photographs have been published in several publications including The Beaufort Magazine, Town and Country and The Michigan Mining Journal, and they have won prizes for their work including a fourth prize in the Beaufort Art Association Spring Show in 1998. The are members of the Carolina Nature Photographers Association and the Hilton Head Camera Club. Travels have taken them to exotic places such as the Seychelle Islands, Kenya, Tanzania, Turkey, the islands of Greece and Venice as well as extensive locations in the United States including Hawaii, Alaska and the Pribiloff Islands, A collection of their local photographs are on display at The Salt Marsh Grill at the Dataw Island Marina on Dataw Island.
As early as the 1970s, the Stearns began their pursuit of photography as a hobby shooting the subjects they loved in the places they've been, Donna holds a BA degree in Economics from Wellesley College and Martin earned a BS degree in Economics from Trinity College. They are married and have two daughters.
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings or call the gallery at 843/525-4000.
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
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