Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us October 13, 2005 Ashland gives photographer a fresh eye By Cindy Blankenship For the Tidings Solomon Jerry Solomon has been working as a graphic artist for 23 years now, and he’s been enjoying the art of photography since he was a teenager. He says moving to Ashland has brought refreshment to his art and to his life. “The spiritual community here is what I’ve really taken with. That’s what makes Ashland home,” says Solomon. “And the spiritual community is reflected in my work projects along the way. It has reinvigorated my personal passion for my work; I’m excited about it again.” A screensaver running on his laptop displays his most recent photographs taken at Harris Beach, waves crashing, the mist blanketing the rocks, white foam and water lapping onto the sand. Nature photography claims most of his laptop’s photo folders, but there are also wedding pictures and downtown Ashland shots. His portfolio is a collection of commercial graphic arts and fine art that he creates for its own sake. Whether a mandala on a business card or a garden of flowers on a label, a wood wall sculpture of a sailboat bobbing in the waves or a computer-designed graphic affirmation declaring the oneness of humanity, each piece has an uplifting quality about it, pleasing to the senses and to the mind. Born and raised in Northern Illinois, Solomon moved to the small town of Crested Butte in the Colorado Rockies near Aspen in the late ’80s, where he ran a successful graphic arts business. In Crested Butte, he designed many of the more artistic and creative signs, as well as graphics for brochures, menus, business cards and such. He was also one of the resident artists invited to design and paint one of the town’s shuttle buses. Since the uneven surfaces of the sides of the bus didn’t make for good mural backgrounds, he painted pretty symbols all over it, including the yin and yang and the sun, naming it “Cosmic Party.” In the late ’90s after being diagnosed with a serious illness he traveled the West in his RV for three years, seeking treatments and looking for a new home. “I found it here,” he says. ARTIST SKETCH Name : Jerry Solomon Age : 47 Hails from : Northern Illinois Training : Self-taught; Southern Illinois University, visual communications Niche : Graphic Design Claim to Fame : Designed and painted the Cosmic Party shuttle bus for Crested Butte, Colo. Inspiration : Beauty. Before settling in Ashland, he lived for a few years in Big Sky, Mont.; however, he found that the climate was too cold and the general lifestyle of a sports-oriented, beer-drinking town didn’t add much warmth: “I’ve always been an intensely spiritual person living in extreme sports areas,” he says. While in his darkest hours before a life-saving surgery and then during recovery, Solomon discovered a new form of art while experimenting on his laptop with Photoshop and Illustrator: graphic affirmations. A framed print of one of them hangs on his living-room wall, a visually pleasing design with the words, “Praise, Gratitude, Love, Compassion.” “Namaste” is affirmed with a warm-colored, intricate mandala; while others affirm thoughts such as world citizenship and unity in soft hues of blues, greens, pinks and yellows and earthy tones of browns and purples. “They’re my version of the great American novel. … I used to use only about six or seven of the Photoshop tools, the ones I needed for my graphic design business; but now I’ve learned to use it to create art for the sake of art.” Having been an artist before the advent of personal computers and graphics software, Solomon blends the old techniques with the new, drawing a design with a pencil or black marker and then scanning it onto his computer where he paints it in Photoshop and completes the design process. While his clients usually give him a great deal of artistic freedom, the process of creating a logo, window lettering, sign, brochure or other graphic design is one of creativity coupled with interpretation of what a person wants to say. “My role is to serve as a channel through which those messages can be expressed clearly and accurately,” he says. “The challenge for me is to convey every visual message, whether simple or complex, in an interesting and engaging fashion that not only informs people, but perhaps also uplifts them in some way.” Solomon can contacted at 951-3034 or through his Web page, where some of his art can be viewed, at www.webspiritsystems.com/looksgreat. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams