Artist Bio: Melanie Reed

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“I am eye. I am a mechanical eye. I, a machine, am showing you a world, the likes of which only I can see.”
— Dziga Vertov

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I often think of this quotation when I am behind the camera. For me, my camera is a key to a portal through which I can step when using the mechanical eye. A rusting gas pump seen through the lens transports me to a WWII airfield during the Battle of Britain–I can hear the engines and see and smell the smoke from a damaged Spitfire as it spirals to earth. I can see a bare and dusty foot and be with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. I can hear the slap of a paddle wheeler and smell that unmistakable smell of the muddy Mississippi.

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My photography gives me great pleasure and freedom. I hope my work will evoke in you the smell, taste and feel of other times and places.

Artist Bio: D. H. McKee

This is an updated bio for D. H. McKee.
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D. H. McKee (Dave to his friends) works with painting, mixed media, digital photography, and illustration. He works with various media, unable to focus on any one thing. Most recently, he’s started ARC welding rebar sculptures.
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His education and experience (sitting in front of a TV for most of his childhood) has helped him integrate film and video aesthetics into his artwork: Through his works, he deconstructs the images in film, television, pop-culture, as well as from nature. Video stylistic themes work their way into his paintings, and one can discern letter-boxing, test patterns, scrambled pay-television signals and bright colours. Even in his photographic works, there is always something a little off–colours are a over-saturated, or washed out; lines are harshly defined, or barely discernible. Quaint scenery and poignant landscapes become subtly ominous.
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You can see his Website/blog at http://www.zuckerloft.com.
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Artist Bio: Jack MacAulay

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“So what am I doing with the classic view cameras?…Well, I like to reduce the subject materials to their simplest form. Also, I like to expand how we see abstraction in photographs.”

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“More to the point, I take pictures with 4″x5″ and 8″x10″ view cameras, lots and lots of pictures. By the current paradigm, I make quite small b/w prints from 4″x5″ and 8″x10″; contact prints up to 11″x14″ enlargements. I believe that small prints have a lot of aesthetic presence, rather than the histrionic presence of large prints.”

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“I’ve lived in Kitchener since 1965, and shortly fell in love with the lush southern Ontario landscape. My photographs are taken in all seasons, but I have a special interest in winter photography. My teachers and mentors Howard Bond, Stuart Nudelman, and Norman Rothschild have given me a lot of coaching, for which I am very grateful. Although photography is a medium based on technology, the important part of my background are the people.The arts community in Waterloo Region is a growing and vital one. My fellow photographers are not my competition; I see us as all being in this together. “

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Website: http://jackmacaulay.ca/

Portrait of the Artist: D. H. McKee

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D. H. McKee is a multi-skilled artist who works with painting, mixed media, journaling, digital photography, music, and video. He has a range of experience in various media, but painting is his first and foremost output; painting is a way of expressing ideas and emotions which cannot be formed through words or sound.
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His education has helped him integrate film and video aesthetics into his artwork: video stylistic themes work their way into the paintings, and one can discern letterboxing, test patterns, scrambled pay-television signals and over-saturated colours in the works. It is in this manner that he explores different mediums and surface techniques.
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Paintings are created quickly, passionately. They are assembled adjacent to thought and emotion, and are influenced by music, noise, television, and computers. The highly decorative images are richly textured and overflowing with colour. They are a combination of cubist and surrealist influences on non-representational abstract forms — essentially the interpretation of different external stimuli. The image dictates its final form, resulting in a surprising, unpredictable finished product.
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He lives in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. You can visit his Website here, and purchase online prints and framed photographic prints here. His Behance network page is here.