Richards received first place for her photo “Lapse of Memory,” currently on display in the Monochrome exhibition.
CAL aims to help artists succeed, whether that's offering skill building classes, the opportunity to exhibit work in our gallery, or sell work in our Gift Gallery. Our Artist on Display series invites you to get to know our artists a little bit better!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
CR: I have an M.A. in philosophy, and a Ph.D. in comparative literature with an emphasis on drama. Aside from creating art, I have been heavily involved in political activism over the years.
CR: I don't remember ever actually choosing to create. It has been central to my life for as long as I can remember; it's always been a big part of who I am.
Developing curiosity
CR: Years ago, writing short stories, poetry and plays took up a great deal of my time. Then I went to graduate school and found that when I was writing papers there was an imaginary but very tough critic always leaning over my shoulder, making me spend hours revising paragraphs. This carried over to my creative writing efforts, and caused me eventually to lose interest in pursuing writing of any kind.
CR: Several years after grad school I had the opportunity to spend some time in Spain. Suddenly I was seeing all kinds of striking light, lines, shapes, and shadows. I realized I wanted to capture them, and that even though I knew next to nothing about photography, I could at least give it a try.
CR: I also realized I could try with the camera on the phone I had right there in my purse! Those first shots were exciting for me, and I've been obsessed with making photos ever since. I definitely didn't pick this medium. It worked its magic on me, and it got me hooked.
CApturing a process
CR: At first I was mainly taking shots of what I just happened to see: a geometric shape, for example, made by sunlight hitting a wall at a particular slant. Soon, though, I began to experiment with building my own scenes at home, and that practice continues today.
CR: I love collecting random objects (often from flea markets), making temporary constructions with them, and seeing how the sun interacts with them.
CR: My favorite "prop" is a multi-colored set of rectangular plexiglass frame samples from an art framer. I've gotten hours and hours of photo time with those samples!
CR: Currently I've been doing a lot of shots with copper flashing. It's great because it bends, and has a shiny side as well as a dull side.
CR: In short, I've moved from trying to capture what I happened to find interesting, to trying to create the possibility for something interesting to be captured.
Themes & inspirations
CR: The often unseen visual power of ordinary objects is a main theme that I keep returning to. Also, when making photos, for me it's like doing a meditation that takes me out of myself and connects me to something much greater. That's what I enjoy pursuing, and I hope that others who view my photos have a similar experience.
CR: When shooting the winning piece, "Lapse of Memory", I was working with a sushi mat and a cloudy vase on a table on a gray day with little sunlight coming in. When I saw the photos from that session, I immediately thought of the difficult cognitive struggles that a close relative was then experiencing, and made edits with that in mind.
CR: The other photo in the show, "Daybreak," was inspired by morning light shining on architectural details near the ceiling. This is an example of my former practice of finding a subject and shooting rather than building a subject and shooting, but sometimes it's just there and you've got to take it! (And with the sun, you've got to be quick!)
