Teton Windows

Teton Windows
(Click on image for larger version.)

A collage made from two photos of the Tetons, made by improvising in Photoshop till inspiration struck. This piece is thematically tied to the series of Ocean Windows and Sunset Windows pieces also made in Photoshop.

Each piece in this series is made of two or mote layers of photos of the same setting or subject, with "windows" in the upper layers masked out to reveal what lies beneath. There is an apparently Cubist aspect to this collage method, with multiple viewpoints of the subject within the frame; but for me the visionary art aspect is more important, with each of the multiple viewpoints being a window or door one sees through into another aspect of the scene, or into another world entirely.

On one level, my inspiration here is from contemporary stained-glass windows in cathedrals. These collages evoke standing inside Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, for example, the stained glass illuminated from outside, flooding the walls and floor with colored patterns of light, the sacredness of the space created as much by this illumination as by any conventional religious association. I plan to print some of these "windows" pieces large, and hang them so that they in turn evoke the feeling of cathedral windows.