Muddy Creek Artist: Q & A with Michael Hodge

As part of a monthly series on local artists, Edgewater-Davidsonville Patch has teamed up with the Muddy Creek Artists Guild to focus on the arts scene in the area. The guild currently consists of about 100 local artists in mediums including photography, painting, textiles, jewelry, woodwork, metalwork and more. For information on upcoming shows, visit the Muddy Creek Artists Guild website. The guild has two"musts" for their artists: they must live south of the South River, and their art must be original.

This month we interviewed Davidsonville photographer Michael Hodge, whose subject matter is the natural world, including scenics, landscapes and flowers. Hodge sells his images as gicleé gallery wrap prints. The pictures range in price from $119 to $400. For example, the landscapes are generally 20x40 for $299, the signature flora are 30x30 for $349, though Hodge can do these in other sizes. He has printed the scenics as large as 30x60. The images are available through his website here.

How long have you been an artist working in the medium? I’ve been a serious photographer for over 30 years.  I’ve been working as a professional for about 10 years.

What was your earliest recognition of your talent/skill? In high school, I took a photography course for art (I used my father’s old Argus camera).  I also did stage set and lighting design for the drama club, and worked as a cameraman on some student films.

How did you get started?  Apart from what I did in high school, at the age of 33, I graduated from law school, and my graduation present to myself was a good Nikon camera.  Since then, I’ve been teaching myself and building my skill as a photographer.

Who inspires you: My  grandmother, Rhoda Brady Stokes.  She was a well-known artist from Louisiana.  She worked in oils, capturing memories of her life as a girl in Mississippi.  I remember going to her house in Baton Rouge and seeing her work from floor to ceiling on the walls.  The rocking chair in which she sat when she painted is now in my bedroom.  Though she was classified as a folk artist, I always thought her sense of color was amazing.  One time, when I was about 11 years old, I stood with her on the back porch of my aunt’s house in Baton Rouge, and she asked me what colors I saw in the sunset.  I saw some pink and blue; she went on to list purples, pinks, oranges, blues, greens, grays, and more.  Once she pointed them out, I saw them too.  She helped me see the world around me with different eyes. 

How do you approach a new piece? I take mostly landscape and nature (primarily flower) photos.  In a sense, the pictures reveal themselves to me.  As I go about my life or go on a shooting safari, I try to keep my eyes and my mind open to the beauty and form of the world through which I move.  When I can do that, I “see” pictures that I want to capture.  I take the images back home and refine them.

What is the range in price for your work? A small canvas might go for $119.  My larger works (20x40 or 30x30, especially my Signature Flora series) will go for $400.

Why do you do what you do? I love it.  I am a very visual person, but it is more than that.  My camera puts me in touch with my world; it involves me in that world and brings my senses alive.

Is there anything about this area that you regularly incorporate into your work? Our house backs onto the Mt. Airy U Pick Strawberry Farm owned by the Hopkins.  We can see their barn and wonderful sunsets from our kitchen and back porch.   I’ve taken a series of images of that barn and those sunsets.  Otherwise, this area provides a treasure trove of scenes, from downtown Annapolis and the Naval Academy to the Chesapeake Bay to the many barns and farms that sprinkle the countryside.  They all provide inspiration.

If you could be another artist for a day, who would it be and why? Umm, that’s a tough one.  Maybe Georgia O’Keeffe.  I love her sense of color and design, and the brash subtlety of her vision.  I also would like to be one of the Hudson River School artists, like Thomas Cole or Frederick Church.  Their sense of landscape and the play of light astounds me.
  
What is most rewarding about being an artist? Watching people’s reaction to my work.  I love when I am showing my work at arts and crafts fairs, and people strolling by literally stop in their tracks and say, “Wow!”  It’s the best compliment I could get.

What is most frustrating about being an artist? Not being able to work at it full time.