Local beaches serve as the backdrops for photographer Heidi Gruetzemacher’s latest figurative works, currently on display at the Valley Art Gallery in Orcutt. The new exhibit is named Passages, and it will run through Saturday, Sept. 28, at the gallery.
Each featured piece centers on a woman during different stages of her life—more specifically, her spiritual journey. In some instances, the model (whose name was asked to be withheld from the article) appears to us as a transparent, ghostlike figure. In The Reward, for example, we can see the ocean through the model’s torso as she approaches the shoreline.
“Passages is part of an ongoing body of conceptual photographic work exploring life, death, and the metaphysical realm of the spirit,” said Gruetzemacher, who has been using figurative photography to translate such concepts since the early-to-mid ’90s.
The first of Gruetzemacher’s spirit-themed exhibitions was Spirit and the Feminine, which showed at Allan Hancock College’s gallery (before it became known as the Ann Foxworthy Gallery) in 1994. The exhibit consisted of black-and-white silver gelatin prints, accompanied by hand-colored details. A second showcase debuted in 2014, exhibiting black-and-white montage works, making Passages the third series in Gruetzemacher’s ongoing project.
“It really occurred to me that I am drawn to expressing the same questions in each series,” Gruetzemacher said. “Eventually, I would like to create a book, but that is down the road a bit.”
For Passages, Gruetzemacher specifically chose to shoot near the sea for thematic purposes, using Avila Beach, Oso Flaco, and the Guadalupe Dunes, among other local destinations.
“The sea was the beginning of us all and is abundant with life. Where there is life on Earth, there is also death,” Gruetzemacher said. “Life is the journey between birth and death. Spirit leads us to our paths, without our even knowing it. The choices that we make become our lives.”
As for the artist’s own journey, Gruetzemacher first became passionate about photography while studying at Hancock. She valued the program for not only teaching the craft and process of photography, but for offering a wealth of information on the subject in a Google-less world, she explained.
“The photography courses at Hancock exposed me to the contemporary fine art photography world for the first time,” Gruetzemacher said. “Keep in mind there was no Google nor search engine of any kind available to us back in 1984 when I began to study.”
Some of Gruetzemacher’s former instructors included Steven Lewis, founder of the school’s photography program, and Nat Fast, founder of the Santa Maria Arts Council. During college, Gruetzemacher also worked as a photography lab assistant, which encouraged experimentation and helped hone her printing craft, she said.
“I was able to begin experimenting with different processes in the dark room,” Gruetzemacher said, “such as printing from multiple negatives, solarization, etc.”
Not long after taking on the assistant position, Gruetzemacher quickly became lab manager, and later started working as the staff photographer for the school’s Media Services Department. To further supplement her income, the artist began picking up freelance work shooting weddings and portraits. From that point on, Gruetzemacher made an informal pact of sorts, she explained.
“I made a decision in my mid-20s that I would accept no work that was not art related,” Gruetzemacher said. “I never looked back.”
In 1995, the artist began her career as a designer and framer for Frame Gallery in Orcutt. She became owner of the gallery five years later. Aside from running the business to this day, Gruetzemacher also volunteers at Valley Art Gallery, currently serving as the board’s vice president.
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood also loves working in an art-related field. Reach him at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 15-22, 2019.