Main Street Portraits

May 25th, 2009

As the economy has temporarily slowed the pace of our studio jobs, I’ve taken the opportunity to begin a project that I have thought about for a couple of years, but finally have time to pursue. Being located, as I am, in the heart of what could charitably called a embattled commercial district, in the heart of beautiful downtown Arbutus MD, I have taken note of the diverse, eclectic members of the business community.

Everyone from a Nigerian immigrant trying to make a go of it as a coffee shop proprietor, to the pizza shop owner who has been in business for 35 years to the owner of the new head shop and hookah bar, this area represents a beautiful convergence of entrepreneurial ambition and brutal reality.

Shown here is just a few of the portraits I have created in an effort to capture the essence of the men and women who make Arbutus, like every struggling small town commercial district, a place of opportunity. I create an environmental portrait of my subjects in their shop, then invite them into my studio for a (very) close up, intimate portrait. I hope to work throughout the summer on this project, as time permits and to produce a final body of work for a fall exhibition.