Polar Coordinates

Don Pierce, is a photographer living in Vernon, who have been making photo composites almost as long as he have been making photographs.

As Don explains… “I work best when following Jasper John’s advice; “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.” In my case it would be ‘take an image. Do something to it . . .’ etc.  I often combine images from my distant past with ones from the present.
Although my work may not always appear traditionally photographic, I am always mindful of the particular qualities that distinguish the photographic process, especially as they concern time, place, light, and memory.  I am interested in factors that influence our perception, especially how the framework of our logical minds, and the emotional impact of our particular stories, create the world of our perception.
These concerns have taken on a deeper dimension for me since moving back to the Okanagan after many years.  There is a Welsh word, ‘hiraeth’, whose meaning has become of particular significance to me and to my work. Hiraeth expresses a special relationship to a past (memory), and a place (home), that lives deep in ourselves and in our culture.
Artists who have influenced my work include Johannes Vermeer, Paul Cezanne, Amedeo Modigliani, Antoni Tapies, Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg, Sol Lewitt, Gerhard Richter, Duane Michaels, and Jerry Uelsmann”.

Don Pierce studied at UBC (Mathematics, Literature) 1966-71, at Langara College (Photography) 1972-75 – UBC (Visual Arts, Art History) 1976-77  (Richard E. Prince, sculptor) – UVic (Visual Arts, Art History) 1980-81  (Gwen Currie, artist) – Photo Encaustics, 2015, Clare O’Neill, (photo-encaustic artist).

Don has shown his work at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in Victoria, BC – ARTE funktional, Kelowna BC