Stephen Althouse: “Photographing Die Waerkzeichen (The Tools)”

Stephen Althouse’s interest in photography grew out of a need to document and preserve his fragile pieces of sculpture that had evolved into loose assemblages of found objects. He discovered that he could manipulate and change the perceptions of his works through lighting, camera angle, and scale. Working like a sculptor (which he formerly was), Althouse creates sculptural assemblages and then photographs them onto large format film.  Lacing his large-scale images with visual autobiographical themes that recur and crisscross throughout his work, Althouse creates a mysterious and enigmatic visual language of personal symbols and metaphors. Stephen will talk about his large-scale Tools photographs on view in the Payne Hurd Gallery, along with his earlier work. Althouse, a Distinguished Professor of Fine Art at Barry University in Miami, Florida, now resides and works in Centre County, PA.