artist statement 
the need to create and express oneself is powerful and you don't need to look very far to find the tools and materials to do so. art can be made with anything: paper and pencils, found objects like sticks, dirt, clay, photographs, old letters, bits of metal; you can make your own coloring agents. the more you develop your own techniques, the more you will access your original thoughts and expressions. trust your instincts.
when the materials are familiar and accessible, the artists can express themselves more freely, and with little or no expense. imagine the Native American with a pot of plant dye or colored mud or clay and a charcoal stick. simple tools, but the results are elegant depictions of their life and times.
larry calkins
issaquah, wa.
5-1-2003 up
biographical sketch up
Larry Calkins has been recording images with his camera and on paper since his youth, displaying a keen interest and skill in astute observation and interpretation.
From early on he used his personal environment or circumstance as the source for his ever increasing record of people and events, and of the inevitable change of times and places.
His technical skills include knowledge of all kinds of cameras, from the simple to the extravagant to the home made ones.
The same can be said for his talents in the darkroom, having been a professional printer at Ivey Seright for 15 years and Panda Labs (both in Seattle, WA.) and at Wy'east in Portland, Oregon. Incidentally, prior to his lab work, he was employed as a professional photographer's assistant.
Larry's professional skills in the darkroom are unquestioned, and besides mastering the commonly used techniques, he is continuously in search of new methods of printing to add character his own photographs.
Yet photography is only one of many aspects of Larry Calkins' creativity, which often extends itself into the creation of artworks that are an assemblage of all of his talents. these usually take on the form of 'books' - works of art using metal, fabric, paper, paint, drawings, photographs, found objects, sculptured objects made of dirt and wax, clay or wood... the variations are endless.
Larry has created a vast body of work, that has been presented and sold in mainstream galleries since 1996, beginning with the MIA GALLERY in Seattle. Other galleries include the
American Primitive Gallery in Soho, NYC;
the Rice/Polak Gallery in Provincetown, MA, (Cape Cod), and
Gallery 500 near Philadelphia, PA.
The G. Gibson Gallery is his present representative in Seattle and has recently concluded a very successful show of his paintings.
In spring of 2003, Larry Calkins was the Artist in Residence at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA. where he worked teaching visitors of all ages new insights into the creation of art. The response to his work and to his approach was tremendous and gratifying.
Larry Calkins was born in 1955 in Corvallis, OR and spent the first 2 decades of his life in a small logging community called Harlan. He stepped into the family tradition of working with logging operations in the woods, but after being involved in severe accidents, he decided to pursue his talents of expressing himself in the arts. Before entering the job market he traveled widely throughout the US and Europe.
From 1983 to 2003 he consistently worked in prominent photo labs as a part-time black & white custom printer.
He now lives with his wife of 20 years in a rural area outside of Issaquah, WA, where they enjoy the company of various house pets, chickens, a donkey, and 2 mules.
Larry works there in his studio, metal shop and darkroom, as well as photo editing on his personal computer.
