shadow of flower

This shot for my “Game Day” was inspired by an assignment I wrote for my class at the Academy of Art University. In addition to my commercial and fine art work, I also teach.

The notion of the assignment – “The Fugitive Flower” – was to introduce a non-linear, word-association exercise in an attempt to get students to think more abstractly and more conceptually about their images. I picked up this idea after seeing Mark Tansey’s work, an amazing artist. He created a word-association-wheel that just blew my mind (see inset).

So while I conjured this word-pairing for the assignment and my students, I had never actually created an image to see where I might take the assignment. Today was my opportunity.

I am fond of plywood for backgrounds. I love the whorls and grain patterns that present themselves in the material. I happened to have a piece in my studio and it suited my desire to nod to the undulating shapes of the Calla Lilies I planned to use for the shot. My idea was to present the subject in Robert’s image – the Lilies – in a way that made the flowers less representational and more conceptual, illustrating the fugitive state of the flowers being depicted.

The edit was challenging, as there were many options to choose from. This one finally won the day. I look forward to what our new member of the Game, Mark Mackinnon will do from here.

Please feel free to share this post with your social networks, it really helps to spread the word about our Game. Thanks.