DAVE HIGGINS, ARTIST of the MONTH at BOOTHBAY HARBOR MEMORIAL LIBRARY.
An exhibit by Dave Higgins will be on display in the upstairs Community Room throughout May at normal library hours.
Born in Portland, Maine, Dave has been a photographer and educator for more than fifty years. He is a tech school graduate of graphic arts and over the years earned a BS in vocational education and a Master of Fine Arts – Visual Arts. Higgins taught photography and graphic design for twenty-five years and in 1999 he was Technology Teacher of the Year in New Hampshire. He retired from public education, but continued to teach photography and design at local art societies and workshops. Higgins’ work has been exhibited and published throughout New England as well as online. In 2005, he was Artist in Residence at Carina House on Monhegan Island.
Photography is Dave’s first love, and his images cover a wide spectrum of interests. Although much of his work could be called landscape, Higgins feels it is more about subtle relationships than grand vistas. He places emphasis on line, tone, form and relationships. Minimalism is often an important concept in his work. Twenty years ago he moved completely into digital photography which allowed him to simplify and blur borders between black and white and color, between photography and other art forms, and especially between the real and the perceived.
These ideas led him back to painting, a medium he had not used since he was in his twenties. Compositional techniques and camera ‘points of view’ in his photographic work readily transferred to his painting and drawing. He soon found that his photography and painting influenced each other. In 2012, he had an epiphany and began to combine both art forms with computer technology. These images often start with a photograph and digital brushes, various software, filters and/or screens are used to develop a scene. The resultant works are neither photographs nor paintings, but an amalgamation of the two into something new. Higgins now finds his options for expressing his vision are truly limitless.
More of Dave’s work can be seen on his website: http://www.d-higgins.com.