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Couple Have Passion For Creativity

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By ELAINE MARKOWITZ, Tribune Correspondent

Published: September 19, 2007

SUN CITY CENTER - When James and Rachel Flack moved from California to Sun City Center two years ago, they left their careers behind but brought their passion with them - art.

The two former Silicon Valley professionals, he an engineer in advanced technology and she a certified public accountant, are turning their artistic hobbies into businesses in their retirement.

James Flack is dedicated to pursuing his dream - photographing the scenes around him in black and white. His wife, Rachel, is immersed in jewelry making, using semiprecious gems, African stones and crystal, among other materials.

'Art is a counterpoint to what our careers had been,' James said one recent morning in his sunlit living room.

Each of their pursuits has its roots in their past, yet each has brought a new sense of joy to the present.

'The engineer in me was drawn to photography,' James said. 'You had to understand the physics of how a camera converts light onto a film plane.'

He said the complexity of the art appealed to him.

Rachel stumbled onto her craft out of frustration while dressing for work each day. Five necklaces she purchased to match specific outfits broke.

'I took a jewelry stringing class to learn how to repair my own necklaces,' she said. Now, she said, beaded jewelry has become her love.

'Once I learned what to do I began to add my own interpretations and soon became addicted.'

Rachel said she couldn't wait to leave work and turn to jewelry making, and soon found herself entering craft fairs to support her hobby.

She said she discovered that other women also wanted to match ornaments to outfits and were drawn to her array of colorful stones for necks, wrists and ears.

James' interest in photography goes back 30 years. Long interested in the process of photography, he has amassed a sizable collection of old camera equipment and accessories along the way.

One glass plate featuring a scenic view of Yosemite National Park dates to 1890. James scanned and printed the scene. A turn-of-the-last-century camera has a roll film holder, plate holder and a vertical leather contraption into which the photographer must bend his head to shoot the picture.

James uses horizontal landscape and vertical portrait formats. His work often has contrasts and moods not immediately apparent to the untrained eye.

A white egret streamlines itself in flight over a ruffled sea. The bird's serenity contrasts the turbulent water below. A sandy beach reflects shadow and light and texture, rendering complex and beautiful something people often walk over and barely notice.

In December James was selected by Little Harbor in Ruskin to create photos of the natural environment around the resort.

'Not many local photographers specialize in black and white and that's what they wanted,' he said.

He took 2,700 photographs with a digital camera and selected 240 of them.

'That's what a photographer does,' he said. 'You can't get birds and animals to pose for you.'

He said lighting and background are equally important to the composition.

In the couple's bright, spacious home, James' photo portfolios share space with his wife's handmade jewelry and racks of supplies. Those include beads, stones, crystals, porcelains and gold-filled and silver wires for stringing.

Among the stones are some of Rachel's favorites, including the colorful, one-of-a-kind Kazuri beads, handpainted by women in Nairobi, Kenya.

'I like the shapes and colors of these beads,' she said.

Rachel fashions earrings, pendants and bracelets out of the multihued Kazuri beads as well as from her other stones.

She sells them from her home - her business is called Alta Designs - or at local arts and craft shows.

Rachel said women are drawn to the colors, styles and comparatively low prices. A pair of hanging earrings, for example, might sell for $15 or $16.

She said her goal is to keep learning, and to that end she joined the Lapidary Club of Sun City Center, where jewelry aficionados learn to cut stones, put on clasps and loop fine wires.

'I also go to bead shows, retail and wholesale, and look for things that will inspire me,' she said. 'You never know where something will lead.'

Her husband, too, said he never stops learning.

'I am a student,' he said. 'I have over 2,000 books on photography dating from the 1860s to the 1930s.'

James called the above period the 'pictorial era,' when serious photographers sought to differentiate themselves from mass picture takers.

For now, the artists said they are living their artistic passions on a daily basis and glad of having the time to do so.

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