Most industrial spaces remind people of being in a major city. Kirk Anderson's space is not just an industrial warehouse space, it's a place where people meet a man who sees the world with endless beauty.
Anderson, who has been living in the valley for several decades, has a studio north of Ketchum, but has created a meeting space and gallery in Ketchum's light-industrial area, at 115B Northwood Way.
"It's an interesting space," Anderson said. "I don't need a retail space but will open for Gallery Walk. I needed a central space to meet clients."
Anderson travels often. His recent trips include New Zealand and Ireland. In New Zealand, Anderson and his wife stayed long enough to keep a home. Yet, Anderson's most interesting travels are just outside his door. For two years he traveled Idaho and said he lost a car in the process.
"I mostly do my own thing, get lost in my car and travel," Anderson said.
"Idaho Discovered" is one of Anderson's photography books and illustrates the state's vast terrain and intimate settings. Anderson said the book's first edition is almost sold out.
Pursuing new ideas in photography and subject matter, Anderson is working on a dock series, for which he has shot in New Zealand and Ireland. He is also working on the idea of traveling the Snake River from its source near Jackson, Wyo., through southern Idaho to Washington.
"I shoot every week," he said. "The working title is 'Floating North,' and it will be a two-year project. I am sure I will find other stuff while shooting. My thing is incredible detail and resolution."
The transition from print to digital images has not been an instant one for Anderson. He said that only in the last three or four years has he been satisfied with digital paper. All his prints are archivally produced on true photographic paper, as opposed to inkjet or giclee. Anderson presents his work framed in the downstairs gallery he shares with his wife, and has several slide shows of work on a large plasma screen in the upstairs space.
"Idaho Discovered" costs $50 and is available at Iconoclast Books and Chapter One Bookstore in Ketchum.
Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com
“Bodega Bay” by Kirk Anderson. Black-and-white digital photograph at Kirk Anderson Photography Gallery.
