A little (more) about Quail Lane Studios

--a news article

THURSDAY July 1, 2005

BUSINESS

"Secrets of the Ancient Gardeners", by Laurie Larwood, is an example of Quail Lane's melding of photography and digital art.

QUAIL LANE OWNER-ARTISTS LAURIE LARWOOD AND
SHERRY SHAMROTH CREATE PHOTOGRAPHIC CREATIONS
DESCRIBED AS `CLASSICALLY BEAUTIFUL'

By Shelley Shelton

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Their names are so poetic, they could be made-up, but they're not. Neither is their neverending quest for what they like to call "visual poetry." Laurie Larwood and Sherry Shamroth, proprietors of Quail Lane Studios, have worked, lived and traveled together for more than 20 years. But it wasn't until about two years ago that they discovered they could parlay their knowledge of business and their love of art, photography and travel into a venture that, by most accounts, is a unique addition to the art market.

In the barest terms, Larwood and Shamroth use a computer to enhance or change the digital pictures they take during their travels around the world and in their own neighborhood. Then they sell the prints in any size you might want, from note cards to wall canvases.

But the results can be otherworldly, or "magical," as they are called by Diane Loving, president emeritus of the

Southern Arizona Arts Guild.

Loving teaches an art history class at Chaparral College. She likes to tell about the time when she showed her students one of Quail Lane's throwaway pictures - one that Larwood and Shamroth had deemed artistically inadequate - and the students loved it but could not figure out exactly what it was.

Some thought it was an underwater grotto, and others thought it was a Mars landscape.

It was a Hawaiian volcano.

"They were struck by its beauty, but they just weren't quite sure what it was, which is a wonderful way to bring the students in," Loving said. "I'm showing them (the Quail Lane pictures) with Leonardo and Vincent Van Gogh and all the other big kids."

Such an emotional reaction is exactly what Shamroth and Larwood hope to evoke with their creations, they said.

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THURSDAY, July 1, 2005

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Larwood held up a printout of a work in progress depicting a dark-skinned young man with his back toward the camera, standing on rocks in the ocean, holding what appears to be a bamboo fishing pole.

"This isn't just a guy fishing," she said. "This is a fellow standing on the rocks, looking for his dinner, with waves crashing. It should tell a story."

She pointed out that the studio adds a touch of digital art to the pictures after they are taken.

"We don't pretend this is how you see it if you go there," she said, holding up a large print of a piece titled "Sunrise on the Mountain." It depicts a cloud-flanked sun between cliffs. The original photo had no sun in it,” she said.

"The nice thing about digital is, you can make of it what you want." Larwood, who took early retirement as. dean of the business college at the University of Nevada, Reno before the women moved to Tucson, grew up

with parents who were the fifth-largest Kodak retailers in New York state. They had a darkroom in the basement, and she learned about developing photos early. She lost interest quickly, though, because she couldn't manipulate the photos as she wanted, she said. And she can't draw, but she's been programming computers since the 1970s.

Shamroth always wanted to be a commercial artist, and she ran an art gallery in Reno. She is the main photographer in the duo. "This business was just kind of a natural," she said. "The pieces were there. We just didn't put it all together until about a year and a half ago."

Once each picture is complete, it sits for a year before the women pull it back out to see if it's still as great as it seemed before, Larwood said. And both women have to agree on a piece before it makes it out of that stage, she said. They end up disposing of about two-thirds of what they produce.

Tad McBride, who, with his wife, Patti, owns McBride's Deck the Walls on North Oracle Road, shares the Quail Lane ladies' enthusiasm for photography as well as the triumph and tribulation of small-business ownership.

The McBrides count Larwood and Shamroth among their more pleasant framing clients, said Patti McBride. And being in similar fields, the business owners frequently cross paths while exhibiting at art shows. "There's a lot of commiserating," Patti McBride said.

"Laurie and Tad are absolutely hysterical. They like to tease each other about their different styles, she said: Laurie wishes Tad would "fiddle" with his photos more, while Tad thinks Laurie might fiddle with hers a little too much. Shamroth and Larwood "are very creative, very prolific. They work very hard at it," McBride said.

Loving had a harder time describing Quail Lane's output. "It's like this post-modern classicism. There's something about it that's just classically beautiful. Boy, if you could say it in words, they wouldn't have to take the pictures, would they?"

Contact reporter Shelley Shelton at 434-4078 or sshelton@azstarnet.com.

CHECK IT OUT

What: Quail Lane Studios, digital artistry and fine photography

Who: Laurie Larwood and Sherry Shamroth

Where: www.quaillane.com or in person by appointment

Phone: 579-9773

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