stuart haury
About Stuart:
Seattle, Washington
Stuart Haury was born in 1984 and grew up on the east coast of the U.S., but has spent adult life in the Pacific Northwest, with frequent travels throughout the American West. He has been practicing photography for over 20 years, using it as a tool to explore the world around him. In 2007, he received his BA in Fine Arts at the University of Washington and is continuing his studies through Photographic Center Northwest. His work has been shown in galleries, commercial spaces and online. Stuart has pursued a career as a designer to mix all passions of art, science and engineering.
Stuart joined Grand Image in 2018.
Q+A
Grand Image: How did you get your start in art?
SH: Probably like most kids, I got positive feedback from my parents, teachers and friends when I would do it for fun. By high school, I realized that you can have a professional career in creativity, which led to a formal education in art, art history, design, and photography over the years.
Grand Image: How did you develop your style?
SH: Design school and professional practice teaches you to simplify and eliminate the unnecessary, and that philosophy shapes my photography. As I come across inspiring work from other artists, I’ll try to copy in my own way, and move on after learning if it works or not.
Grand Image: How has your relationship with art changed the way you view the world?
SH: Art can be anything, or anything around you can be an inspiration for a future work of art. Especially with photography, which relies on capturing a moment in time that is fleeting and will never happen again. Those two reasons motivate me to explore and give myself reasons to keep moving, to keep trying things, and to not dwell too much on the past.
Grand Image: What is inspiring you lately?
SH: Music is always inspiring to me, and I think it’s a strong part of forming new ideas, or keeping me entertained for hours as I work. I think in another life, I would’ve been a music video director, because the marriage of music and video has always been magic to me. A lot of other sources of inspiration come from where new technology and art collide: augmented reality and virtual reality. We’re on the brink of new revolutions in how humans interact with creative content, and that is just as interesting to me as going to a museum and looking at the classic masters of painting, drawing and mixed media.
Grand Image: What initially inspired you to travel to Utah and capture the imagery that is part of your new, “Permian Exposure” series?
SH: I take occasional trips with some best friends to Utah, and it’s beautiful in an entirely different way than the Northwest. The endless textures and forms from erosion are impossible not to document. New environments create new challenges and new ways of composing my work, and I always find these new challenges inspiring and motivating.
Grand Image: How do you feel this new work is different to some of your previous Grand Image body of work? Are there new concepts or ideas you feel you’re exploring in this series?
SH: I’m trending simpler and simpler as I make new bodies of work. It’s borderline abstract, and it’s interesting to see how people react to it. My color palette seems to be intensifying, as I’m pushing the subject matter further away from reality. I think it’s also out of boredom: I get tired of shooting the same compositions and like to experiment.
Grand Image: What about capturing reflections in your water prints speaks to you? Is it purely for the dynamic compositions or is there an emotional inspiration/curiosity?
SH: I find water extremely relaxing, and I’ve been a swimmer my whole life; some of my best memories are from lakes, rivers and oceans. I think the main intrigue is the pure randomness of the light: the surface of a pond can give you infinite possibilities, and all you need to do is look closer.
Grand Image: What advice would you give someone starting out as an artist?
SH: I strongly believe that anyone can be creative or an artist; you don’t need to be born with it. But most of what it means to be an artist is practice and process, so get ready to work hard your whole life. If it’s important to you, you’ll enjoy it, no matter if people see your work or not. I’ll be making art for myself until I’m gone because I can’t turn off the urge, and I’ll always be flattered that anyone else likes to look at it.
