May Gallery enters an out-of-focus world
By: Karen Myers
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At the opening reception for photographers Cindy Lappin and Kevin Vogler on Friday, Oct. 9, students, staff and community members got a clear explanation of the out-of-focus photos hanging in Webster University's May Gallery.
Lappin and Vogler, a husband and wife duo, have been working together on-and-off for over 30 years and have been married for 14 years.
"I didn't want anything too sharp," Lappin said. "I was trying to convey not a dreamscape, but waking up, that the world is a dream."
Lappin's work includes more abstract pictures, as well as close-up shots of silverware. Vogler's work includes the sharp images of farms and flowers.
Just as their photography shows, Lappin and Vogler are very different when it comes to their style of photography.
Vogler said he is inspired by found objects, while Lappin is inspired by her walks through nature with her son Graham who attended the opening.
"I never thought I'd end up taking landscaping," Vogler said. "It was something I had been overlooking."
The couple likes to use regular digital cameras to capture their photos.
"It's freeing when you just have something with you all the time and you're not hung up on the equipment," Lappin said. "It inspires a different kind of photo than I would have (usually) taken."
The title of the exhibit, "Not One, Not Two," was Lappin's idea. She based it on the idea of non-duality - that two things are distinct, but not separate.
"It's a philosophy," Lappin said. "It's about interconnectedness. That we're all part of a whole, but we're not. It's like waves to the ocean. The wave is not the ocean, but they're not separate. They're connected in a way that they couldn't be without each other. It's not good, not bad."
Lappin relates the same philosophy to how she and her husband work together.
"We encourage each other," Vogler said.
Students were a minority at the event in a crowd of about 150 to 175 people who came to see the gallery. But students that did come to the event appreciated Vogler and Lappin's work.
"I think it's really interesting the way the sharp, focused images contrast the soft pastel pieces," said Allison Knotts, a junior photography major.
Both Vogler and Lappin attended WU when it was still Webster College. Vogler only took a few classes while Lappin graduated with a degree in media communications in 1982.
One of the most influential people in Lappin's career was Susan Stang, a WU photography professor, who told her to try something she was afraid of - portraits.
Bill Barrett, the director of the May Gallery, found the evening to be a success.
"Given the weather and the construction, we had a nice group of folks," Barrett said.
The exhibit will be on display until the end of October. To see more of Lappin and Vogler's photography, visit www.lappinvogler.com.
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