On Oct. 4, MMoCA’s Gallery Night will come to Waunakee, thanks to the time-stacking photographs of Waunakee artist Mark Weller and the Access Wisconsin location at 1113 Stephenson Lane.
Weller has been shooting photographs for many years, starting with the challenge of capturing the Milky Way and the Northern Lights from the Apostle Islands. When he spoke at the Waunakee Rotary Club on Sept. 26, he said as an astro-photographer, he would marvel at the beauty of the stars.
“You see a pinpoint of light that starts at a vast, vast distance of where you are,” he said.
Separated by light years away, the star you may gaze at may not even exist any longer when you see it, he said.
Mark has long been fascinated with the concept of time.
“I was wondering, how does that perhaps work with photography and art?” he said.
What we see is three dimensional, with height, width and depth.
“What I’m trying to do with my photographs is infuse the fourth dimension,” Mark said, referring to time.
He showed several of his photographs, including one titled “Summer from a Hilltop,” taken from Bong Road. There he took 100 exposures of the same view one to five seconds apart, then compressed them all into one. The final product then takes on the effect of a painting.
While stationary objects such as buildings and trees appear as is, one can almost detect movement in clouds and tall grass. Mark’s photographs are large – about 5 by 3 feet – and you can detect the texture in that movement.
Mark then pursued a more a impressionist genre. Instead of photographing from a tripod, he hand held his camera. Inspired by Claude Monet, considered to be the father of impressionism, Mark visited Giverny, France, and photographed some of the subjects of Monet’s paintings. He hired a driver to take him to Monet’s home and was able to get to the pond area where Monet had painted in the 1880s.
“It was my nod to the great Claude Monet,” he said.
In July, Mark visited Iceland to photograph some of the glaciers now in peril.
He moved into his third genre, abstract photography, recently. In addition to holding the camera with his hand, he moves the camera while shooting the series. He used this technique to capture the geyser at Yellowstone National Park.
Mark has sold several of his pieces. Sixty percent of his clients are corporate, and he believes this is a trend.
“I think the value of art, particularly in the workplace, it tells your clients and customers...what you value, your level of sophistication, and it tells who are,” he said.
Often, individuals at those corporations will contact Mark to purchase art for their private use.
Mark encourages the community to stop by Access Wisconsin during Gallery Night, which runs from 5-9 p.m. Oct. 4. The works of painter Issis Macias will also be on exhibit.

 

Other News:
–The club inducted a new member. Welcome, Brian!
–The next Chamber Biz & Bev event will be with Rotary Oct. 17, when there will be a visit to MERI at 3 p.m. and then to Octopi afterwards.
–We’ll soon having visiting Rotarians from New Mexico, and Linda is planning a potluck for them.

 

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Guests: Mark Weller, speaker, guest of the club.  

 

Visiting Rotarians: None.
 
Birthdays: Oct. 7, Ann Becker; Oct. 8, Jim Fitzpatrick

Anniversaries: Oct. 5, Dan and Kristin Statz; Oct. 8, Jim and Linda Pingel

 

Programs: Oct. 3, Tara Swalve, Waunakee Soccer Campaign; Oct. 10, Club Assembly.

 

Greeters: Oct. 3, Lori Derauf and Breck Dokken; Oct. 10, Pat Durden and Fritz Durst; Oct. 17, Jim Elvekrog and Rex Endres; Oct. 17, Gary Epping and Bill Erickson; Oct. 24, Daniel Evans and Jim Fitzpatrick.