Madison photographer earns display in National Art Museum of Sport
In recent years, many of the best visuals posted on Off the Couch were those generously contributed by Clint Thayer, of Focal Flame Photography, in Madison.
His work recently gained an honor more significant than my admiration. His photo, “Driving Rain,” has been selected for an exhibit in the National Art Museum of Sport, in Indianapolis.
The exhibit, the second International Fine Arts Competition Commitment to Excellence in Art & Sport, will be open from Oct. 27 to Feb. 29.
“Driving Rain” depicts Arrietta Walker Clauss of Madison during the Mid-America Time Trial Series Finale in September 2010.
Clauss holds the 2010 and 2011 USA Cycling National Time Trial championship titles for her age division.
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Driving Rain” is © 2010 Clint Thayer, all rights reserved.
“To me, ‘Driving Rain’ represents complete and utter determination,” Thayer said. “In seeking to bridge the worlds of art and sport I focus on composition and on finding the emotional element where sport and the human experience overlap, and both were aligned within this image.”
Thayer and his wife started Focal Flame in 2010. It's an outlet for his training in photography and computer programming.
"My photography involves deliberate conceptual and technical themes and an unending urge to explore," he said. "The subjects I capture with my lens are in motion, and the motion is a story in itself."
Founded in 1959, NAMOS maintains one of the largest collections of fine art depicting sport in the United States. The museum is dedicated to encouraging artists engaged in the genre. It collects, preserves and shares the best examples of sport art.
The founder of NAMOS, Germain G. Glidden, was a portrait artist and champion squash player.
“Glidden believed that sport art is like the Olympics: it has the power to bring together people from all over the world in peace,” said NAMOS Executive Director Elizabeth C. Varner.
Over 40 sports are represented in the over 900 paintings, sculptures, and photographs at NAMOS. Artists whose works are included in the permanent collection include George Bellows, Ogden Pleissner, Winslow Homer, Ray Ellis, James Fiorentino, Joe Brown, and Alfred Boucher.
If you missed it earlier, check out some of the great photos that Thayer has provided for Off the Couch, including graceful speed skaters and the determined IronKids, who showed their parents the way before the 2011 Ford Ironman Wisconsin.