Greg Banks says of his series, 'An Explanation of Sympathetic Magic', "God, witches, devils, mythical creatures, speaking in tongues, snake and fire handling, and raising the dead all exist in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky.  

For this body of work, I am appropriating family photographs, as well as vernacular images, to tell supernatural stories about my family history and the region that I come from. My work weaves together a personal narrative with the folkloric history of that area. Photoshop and the unpredictability of smart phone applications are used in a similar way to how a folktale unfolds. Each app is manipulating the story as a person might exaggerate a tale when they pass it along.

By assembling family photographs and appropriating historical images, I am constructing stories with contemporary tools for manipulation and passing them along as visual folklore."

Greg Banks is a nationally shown photo-based artist and instructor, currently teaching at Appalachian State University. He received his MFA in photography at East Carolina in May 2017. 

He received a B.A. in photography and a B.A. in fine art from Virginia Intermont College in 1998.  In 2017, he was one of only seven artists chosen for the Light Factory’s Annuale 9. Greg’s work was among the top 5 most popular, on the online magazine “Don’t Take Pictures” in 2017. 

Greg combines everything from IPhone images to historic 19th century processes, gelatin silver printing, painting and digital printing. His current creative practice investigates family, folklore, memories, Appalachia, as well as history and religion. 

www.greg-banks.com  
 

Michael Kenneth Depue takes great interest in exploring the abstract, the historical and finding the hidden meaning.

Michael's craft benefits from developing a series of nine or ten pieces which allows him to explore a concept, develop a theme and tell a story. Some of the series you will find on his website will be added to throughout his entire life.

Besides his love of painting, one of his passions is collecting photography from 1860-1960. Most of which is by unknown photographers. Recently he has been working on digitally manipulating these historic images embracing a then-and-now theme.

His goal is to create recognition for the collection and build on it  so that one day he will give it back to the community by donating it to the Smithsonian.

Each photograph is a moment in time that has become significant and communicates with visual storytelling that is left to individual interpretation. Michael's storytelling has just scratched the surface and his passion continues to add substance to embrace all forms of media. Stories are gifts that are felt for lifetime.

Career Highlights:

2018 "Connections", San Diego Museum of Art Artist Guild Juried Exhibition -  May 31 - July 2

2017 First Annual National Juried Exhibition Wausau Museum WMOCA - Honorable Mention, Oct 6 - Dec 29

2017 "Dangerous Lullabies III", National exhibition in Crystal Lake's historic Dole Mansion - Oct 6 - 26

2017 “The Image of the Savage”, Rome - Italy at space Millepiani International Juried Exhibition- May 23 - 31

2017 “Retro Future”, Treat Gallery pop up exhibition - Manhattan, New York - May 11

www.MichaelDepue.com