Derrick C Tabor – Monarch Wing #3

Description

I am a photographer, calligrapher, and mixed media artist. I have always loved art since my first art class in elementary school. Now after retiring from a career in the sciences, including nearly a decade at Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY, where I picked up photography as a hobby, I have embraced art and photography more fully. Since 2017, I have exhibited my work at local venues, including the Blood Bank, National Institutes of Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD, the Strathmore Mansion (2018), the GWC Artwork Gallery (2019, now closed), Glen Echo Labor Day Art Show (2019, 2022, 2023), and The James E Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, 2023. My nature photography revolved initially around the pollinator garden and sanctuary my wife and I created in 2012. Over a couple of years, we removed all of our grass replacing it with pollinator friendly flowers and plants. We started our garden to attract and provide sanctuary for monarch butterflies migrating to and from South America. Over the years, monarchs have been frequent visitors and my favorite subject, however, during COVID-19 the plants in my garden received much more attention than the mobile butterflies. Unlike butterflies, my flowering plants are always ready for long photo sessions. My garden is a creative and dynamic space, and it was a COVID-19 safe space while COVID was a real threat. My interests now include landscape, macro, architectural, and portrait photography. My collage art results from the concept of the photographic print as fabric and text. My designs may be informed by patterns created by quilters, the wings and other components of pollinators, contemporary masks, the creative application of digital filters, and artists Alma Thomas, and M.C. Escher.