Northwest showcases work of photographer Nick Vedros
Photographer Nick Vedros turned his friend into a gnome.
He gave him a beard and had a costume made, complete with pointy hat. Then, he photographed his gnome in humorous situations.
You can see some of those photographs at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building gallery on the Northwest Missouri State University campus in Maryville, Mo. Vedros’ art, part of the visiting Artists Series, will be on exhibit through Feb. 29.
“I was always seeing his work in famous magazines,” says Craig Warner, assistant professor of art at Northwest.
Warner says the exhibit consists of approximately 25 to 30 pieces of Vedros’ work. Those humorous gnome shots are intermixed in with other serious pieces.
The fact that Vedros’ work is on display at all is a minor feat.
“I forgot to read the fine print,” the artist says.
Vedros loves being what he calls an “assignment photographer” for the past 30 years and he loves lecturing about what he does. He lectures to professionals and students throughout the world. But exhibiting isn’t a favorite activity.
“It takes a lot of work,” he says. “It’s tedious.”
He’d rather be out shooting rather than showing. He doesn’t even exhibit his own work in his Kansas City gallery.
“I know what my work looks like,” he says.
Vedros got his first camera when he was 13 and began shooting black-and-white images. He studied photography at the University of Missouri-Columbia and opened his own studio in 1977 in Kansas City. Although a fan of a variety of art mediums, Vedros says that he loves the fact that he can stop time with his photography.
“I consider myself a photographic Rottweiller,” he says.
When he gets a concept, he says, he’s aggressive about giving that concept life.
“... He can close down a major intersection in New York and get away with it,” Warner says.
Other than the Northwest exhibit or tracking down his work in books and magazines, Vedros’ art can be viewed on his Web site, www.vedros.com.
And, yes, you’ll find the gnome there.
Take a Look
What: Visiting Artist Series exhibition of photographer Nick Vedros’ work
When: Through Feb. 29
Where: Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building gallery on the Northwest Missouri State University campus in Maryville
Hours: 6 to 9 p.m. Monday, 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday
Info: For more information about Nick Vedros, log on the Vedros & Associates Web site at www.vedros.com
Lifestyles reporter Cathy Woolridge can be reached at cathyw@npgco.com
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