ABOUT Mark Schermeister
Biography
Mark Schermeister is a fine artist who has spent a large part of his life in the north woods of Wisconsin for the past 64 years. Originally from Minneapolis, he now divides his time between Miami and Land O’ Lakes. He’s an enthusiastic Photographic Artist who describes himself as “having 56 years’ experience and still (always!) a student.”
He began as a photographer and lab technician, then followed a career as an air traffic controller, retiring from federal service a few years ago. Through it all, he carried his camera, capturing and expressing what he calls “the miracle and mystery of the life we’re blessed with.”
With a personal intention to create and exhibit visual art that conveys the unseen qualities of the world around us, he endeavors to “To photograph the invisible.”
Mark has been photographing dance for 12 years and is Owner and Proprietor of Studio1761; a photographic arts venture with the purpose of “Communicating the visible and invisible spirit of both the dancer and the dance.”
Awards
PDD Studio Portraits Finalist
Pas de Deux On Location Portraits
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I once read that one should never begin an artist’s statement with the word “I.” (I also once read “Mistakes are one of our most effective teachers.”) It seems that we often take “experts” and “common knowledge” as truth, without examining the consequences of the assumptions that are often presented as “facts.” Historically, photography has been defined as “writing with light,” capturing what is before us.
I propose that the images we create are both representations of the world around us and (I believe more importantly) the way we see it. These images are our way of saying “here, look- share my world!” To do this takes time, attention, and a focus in the present moment.
Consider this thought by the poet William Blake:
He’s saying our five senses are imperfect, distorting perception of reality; that we need to see through, not with our physical form. This is a spiritual rather than a physical approach to perception. It requires time, thought, present-moment awareness, and conscious attentional management.
Compare this to our present-day crazy-busy pace of life where, on certain social media platforms we spend less than one second on each image as we scroll and endless procession of invective, political rants, and selfies. I like to think of my art as an “alternative-to-social media” approach; It invites consideration, contemplation, and intentional thought through the eyes of another.
This was articulated by Marcel Proust in La Prisonnière: “The only true voyage, the only bath in the Fountain of Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to see the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to see the hundred universes that each of them sees, that each of them is.”
With this we have a choice between a dictionary-prescribed, social media-ish abbreviated version of the world before us, or the option to look deeply and at length; both at our world and, as Mr. Proust proposed, “eyes of another, of a hundred others, to see the hundred universes that each of them sees.”
This opens for us a vastly expanded human experience. Please take a few moments, perhaps look a little deeper and longer; welcome to my (and our) world!