Fannie L. S. Tapper
Houston, TX
Artist's Statement for The Magic of Clouds, October 2003
Many have suffered the event and the aftermath of 9/11/2001. The bombardment of journalistic headlines--terrorism, the unspeakable suffering of war, religious scandal, rampant political and economic greed, murder, rape, neglect and abuse of the helpless--all this has contributed to a widespread malaise. But for me art is coming to the rescue, not as a vehicle to manifest pain but as a bridge to bring peace and hope. In these images it is clouds, the wide sky, the heavens of deep space that come to alleviate depressive fear, encouraging flights of fancy, evoking intimations of unspeakable mysteries; they bring us an upsurge of joy at the contemplation of beauty, lifting us to a sense of the eternal. My work with these clouds is a subset of my ongoing efforts to capture the magic of nature, that creates ever-new ephemeral shapes, seen and forgotten in seconds as new shapes form, unless they are rescued by the eye and hand of the artist.
Artist's Bio:
Fannie Tapper, life-long Texan, educated at Baylor (B.A. English Literature) and Rice (Ph.D. French Literature), professor of French at the University of Houston (1969-1992), debuted as a photographer in 1991 as second place winner in the Lawndale Big Show at the Glassell School of Art in Houston. Since then she has been represented by galleries and art consultants in Houston, Dallas, and Kansas City. With 19 solo exhibitions, she has also exhibited in numerous national and international group shows. Four previous Fotofest exhibitions (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000) have featured her photography. Her work is represented in 4 museums (including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston), a dozen other public collections, and private collections in the United States and Europe.
