"I have long appreciated the art of the circus sideshow banner line. Since childhood, I have been intrigued by the odd and unusual — probably because I felt a little odd and unusual myself being a awkward and shy only child.
"About 4 years ago, in my thirties and not so shy, I began to document the people and the attractions of the mysterious carnival life. As I got more and more excited about my images, I soon began to wonder how I could recreate the banner line art with my photography.
"I was invited to participate in an art show where I had to create a work on fabric, and the invention of this banner project was born! When I received the invitation, I didn't know what I was going to do but I was excited by the challenge of stepping outside my box of traditional prints presented in frames.
"Immediately I wanted to put my imagery onto canvas blanks like the old banner painters used, but I wasn't sure how. I also knew that I didn't want to drop off a digital file and have it commercially printed, because I didn't want such a polished look. I was in the shower one day (the place where so many of my ideas come to me) and I remembered someone telling me about heat transfers.
"That was it! — and so I started my experimentation. It was perfect because it offered the weathered appearance that I was looking for and the final coat of sepia tinted acrylic medium just added to the antique feel that seems to transcend time.
"It started with "A Giant in the Morning Light", but I knew then that there would be more to follow. I wanted the banners to be traditional in their structure, but since I have always loved the art of black and white photography, I wanted to use my mostly monochromatic images as opposed to the traditional bright colors that are used for midway advertisement.
"With the financial assistance of the 2008 Individual Artist Grant from the Arts Council of Hillsborough County in Florida, it is my hope that these modern recreations will offer the feel of the traditional art form, while presenting imagery in a unique, different and more subtle way."
For more information about Lori Ballard, including a gallery of her work, please visit her website.
Q: Who ARE you?
A: My name is Steve and I make my own postage stamps. As far as I know there's no twelve-step program for people like me, so I guess I'll keep on making my own stamps until the higher creative power that drives me to do so gives up the ghost.
I'm a product of early childhood exposure to Tom Lerher's music and 1950's Mad magazine. I'm also a classically trained artist and sometimes university art instructor. I paint and draw and occasionally take on illustration jobs.
I'm a native Floridian and have watched the last fifty years of "progress" take its toll on my state, my country and the rest of the planet. I could piss and moan but what's the point? There's plenty of weird beauty and frucitifying humor out there if you're sufficiently out there to look for it.
Steve Smith also designed the 2009 Ybor Festival of the Moving Image logo, at the top of this page.
For more information about Steve Smith, please visit his website.
