Full SLOPOKE Art Book for 2023

TOM BURGHER
A life-long photographer, Tom is comfortable with creating art with a camera. Therefore, he is
attempting to learn to paint in oil en plein air. For those who know, this is a difficult challenge
and he is nowhere near ready to present an original oil painting in this show. However, it does
demonstrate his intellectual recognition that art created
without machine assistance is a skill set worth
preserving and celebrating in an art show such as
SLOPOKE. Whether he develops a marketable skill
(or not) photography is also a valid art form and it
became a serious study in early adulthood when film
and a darkroom were still “wet” tools of the trade. In
that era, he was the photographer for Batik Unlimited,
a book by Batik artist Joanifer Gibbs. This included
1970’s fashion as well as “how-to”photography. Then
suddenly, the digital revolution proved not only to be
a disruptive technology, but also a creative stimulus.
He learned at workshops led by renowned photographers
George Lepp and Bob Krist, and won several
awards and was published in a few annual books of
photography. He was soon drawn to big sky views of
land and sea, and discovered a love for western art
by attending the Masters of the American West Exhibitions
at the Autry Museum. Because anyone with a
camera has the potential to create a “money” image,
Tom is always on the lookout for a means to discriminate
his photography from others. He experiments
with subject matter, lighting, perspective, printing,
media and even mixed media techniques of combining
The Leaning Tree - We All Need Someone
to Lean On, 30x20 , Ink on Canvas
14
paint and gesso with brush and palette knife on canvas.
Due to constraints interacting with other people