Benzie Gallery Hosts Photographer

If you live for art, then Beulah is your place to be.

Opened last year, Live For Art gallery is located on South Benzie Boulevard, the main street in downtown Beulah. Owner Mary Lane said she had long wanted to have her own gallery. After operating a virtual gallery on line, she took the plunge when the space in her adopted hometown opened up late last summer.

But her online experience gave her some original ideas on how to promote the art and the artists for visitors.

“I thought videos were so important (online). I wanted to give people a personal connection (to the artists). I have a video production background, and that made us unique.”

She brought that concept with her to her real life gallery. So now, not only can visitors see artwork up close and in real live 3D, they can also get a glimpse of the artist and their process through video productions presented on a screen.

MEET THE ARTIST

Of course, it’s even better when you can speak directly to the artist. That was the case at the opening for Diane Budzynowski’s unique photographs.

Budzynowski works in two general areas: Historical photos, typically printed in black and white, and a more romantic vein, in which she adds quotes from her favorite authors to photos of man-made objects set amid nature. Those authors include Thoreau, Shakespeare, Hemingway, and other classic writers.

While she has long had an interest in photography, Budzynowski only began exploring it as an art form relatively recently.

“I had called my brother, Alan Trombley, a very talented photographer in San Antonio, for advice on purchasing a digital camera a few years ago. He asked me several questions on what I wanted to shoot, and when he realized that I was looking to go beyond family snapshots and was serious about it, he told me not to buy anything,” she said.

A few days later, a package arrived on Budzynowski’s front porch with of one his old digital cameras. Thereafter, each time he upgraded his equipment, Budzynowski got some of his old gear, until he finally convinced her she was good enough to invest in a DSL camera of her own.

QUOTES SET OFF PHOTOS

“People often ask me about my quotes and where I get them,” Budzynowski said. The initial impetus for using quotes came as she was re-reading Thoreau’s Walden.

“For some reason, the quotes on nature in that book jumped out at me as if they were written in bold type, and I could not grab a pen quickly enough,” she said.

“‘A taste for the beautiful is best cultivated out of doors;’ ‘Nothing so fair, so pure ...

as a lake, lies on the surface of the earth’ – Are we sure Thoreau didn’t live in Northern Michigan?” Budzynowski also shows her work off by printing it on glass.

“A friend suggested it. When I had it done, I was astounded at the depth and color, how beautiful it was.

“There’s no frame, nothing to interfere with the image. It’s just the viewer and the image,” she said.

Budzynowski also said she refrains from touching up her images in PhotoShop. She uses the digital photo program only to insert the type for the quotes, or in the case of her historical series, to change the photos from color to black and white.

She says her favorite image is one she took in the morning on 11th Street in downtown Traverse City. “The fog had just come off, and it looked okay in color. But when I dropped the color out, wow.”

HEARTS FOR FEBRUARY

Lane said she selected Budzynowski as the featured artist for February in large part because of her works focusing on a series of graffiti hearts in the downtown Traverse City area. She paired the photos with famous quotes about love.

“My graffiti hearts series started with love quotes – ‘When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew’ – Shakespeare.

“But now I have started using more inspirational & friendship quotes on them as well,” Budzynowski said, such as the popular quote from Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

“It just seemed perfect for February with Valentine’s Day,” said Lane.

In addition to Live For Art, where her work will be on display the rest of the month, Budzynowski’s work can also be seen at the Red Dresser, Old Town Optical, and TC Eye, where she works as an optical tech.

Live For Art is open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm. Call 882-9370. For more information, go to liveforartgallery.com.

Writer: Ross Boissoneau
Source: Northern Express