Photos by Danielle Boise
“I’ve always taken pictures.” Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood, founding member of Fleetwood Mac, shared his thoughts and perspective on his way of making art as he attended his Reflections photo exhibit at Ann Jackson Gallery in Roswell, Ga., on Tuesday, Dec. 16, the day before Fleetwood Mac’s sold out show at Philips Arena in Atlanta, to an eager crowd of art and musical aficionados.
Fleetwood spoke about making art through still frames. Even feeling under the weather, with a fever of 103, Fleetwood was charming, comical and charismatic as he discussed his philosophy behind his photographic eye.
“This is all personal work. I don’t paint, so I try the best I can to make a balanced piece of art,” Fleetwood said as he exclaimed to the 200 plus in attendance at the gallery’s event.
Reflections is a deeply personal project of Fleetwood’s, as it focuses on the life that he has made for himself and his family in Hawaii, primarily still life and landscape photography; which suit who he is and where he is at technically with his skillset. Fleetwood spoke of how his type of still life photography is very different in retrospect to live, action shots of athletics or even events like race car driving. His work is “technically” still life, but there is movement and energy captured in each piece. “This takes time to do it, to set up,” he said to the crowd, which allows for moments of reflection. Fleetwood spoke genially of his father’s insistence of capturing everything on film, that moments mattered and needed to be preserved. “I encourage people to take pictures.”
What I found most interesting on Fleetwood’s point of view on the creation of art is that art can be created in a vacuum, a vortex so to speak, but art is more than just doing something nice and creative. It needs to be fostered in an open exchange with the encouragement of feedback. And that is exactly what Fleetwood is doing, sending his art out into the world and enjoying giving something back while taking the responsibility for it.
Mick Fleetwood’s Reflections photo exhibit will run through Sunday, Dec. 21 at Ann Jackson Gallery in Roswell, Ga.