Today we’d like to introduce you to Stan Strembicki.
Hi Stan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am an emeritus professor art, having taught at Washington University for 36 years where I headed the photography program in the Sam Fox School. I am now a working artists and currently represented my the Bruno David Gallery in Clayton, Mo. My photography ranges from studio portrait and still life work done at my studio at the Tyson Research Center in Eureka, Mo, part of Washington University. I also have numerous portfolios of documentary work done in Louisiana and specificly New Orleans going back to 1982. I have photographed the last 33 Mardi Gras events as well as a 15 year Post Katrina project based mostly in the Lower 9th ward of New Orleans. Some of this work was used last year in Spike Lee’s documentary “Come Hell and High Water” a Netflix film. I began my photographic career at the University of Rhode Island where I received my BFA in Studio Art in 1975 and also studied at the California Insitute of the Arts in Valencia California where I received an MFA in photography in 1977. I have works in the collections at 20 museums in the USA and my work have been shown or is on display at on all seven continents, yes, even Antartica. I currently reside in University City, Missouri
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The life of an artist is not an especially well paying gig and the career path not an especially straight or clear one either. Hustling work to museums, galleries and the grant process takes a lot of persistence and a faith in your own creative abilities, I have a pretty thick file of rejection letters to prove it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Photography suites me very well, my practice brings me to a variety of places and subject matter depending on the time of year. In the spring I start planning my studio work, photographing people mostly middle aged and older as part of a long term project on how we see ourselves as we age, in the summer, we often travel to the East coast but I’ve also had the opportunity to teach at WU in the Florence, Italy program 13 times for 1 or 2 months at a stretch and I have a lot of work on that subject. I have been working on a Coastal Landscape project along the New England Coastline, in the fall I usually head down to Louisiana working on a landscape project photographing the landscape between the Mississippi Rive and the levee and the architecture of New Orleans. In the later winter early spring back to New Orleans to photograph Mardi Gras and by then its time for another road trip, this coming year it will be to the South West. So my work involves, portrait, landscape, still life and documentary works in different parts of the country.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I find my work to be a great source on happiness, I have always been able to tap into photography as a means of personal creative self expression. I like to believe that I think about making art every day one was or another. Any trip offers a possibility to make a visual statement. I understand the world around me thru my photographs.
Pricing:
- All my current works are available at Bruno David gallery
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.strembicki.com
- Instagram: @fakestanstrembicki
- Other: https://www.flickr.com/people/48890643@N08/
