"We are all One," says Andrea Maki, "in different packages."
In keeping with this belief, Maki has produced a 2006 calendar entitled "In the Spirit of One," which cele-brates the beauty of wild horses and draws attention to their plight.
The word "spirit" has a double meaning to Maki. Besides the obvious meaning, it is the name of the star of the 2002 Dreamworks film, "Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron." When the film was completed, Spirit was taken to Return to Freedom, a wild horse sanctuary in Lompoc, Calif., run by Neda DeMayo. About 220 wild horses run free on the sanctuary's 300 acres. No attempt is made to tame them.
Maki visited the sanctuary and photographed the horses, including Spirit. She did not photograph them from afar, but stood in their thundering midst. She was thrilled by that experience, and she was not frightened. "I smiled so much my face hurt," she recalls.
Most of the photographs are full of abandoned movement, but there are a few where the horses are still, looking directly at the camera. "When I stopped to change film," Maki explains, "they stopped, too. I caught them right before they started galloping around me again."
Maki does not use a digital camera but the old-fashioned kind, with black-and-white film.
She greatly admires DeMayo's work. "Neda is actually saving ancient mustang bloodlines," she says. "She's living my other life."
Profits from calendar sales will be donated to Return to Freedom.
This is not the first time Maki has produced a calendar for a cause. In 2002 she photographed the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, resulting in a 2003 calendar that she distributed to all members of Congress and the Senate, hoping to promote awareness and support for preserving the refuge. She donated profits from the sale of that calendar to the Alaska Wilderness League.
She will distribute the wild horses calendar, too, to congress-men and senators, with similar hopes. Only the cause is dif-ferent.
Maki grew up on Queen Anne (she is the daughter of sculptor Robert Maki) and delivered the Queen Anne News as a child. She recently moved away from this neighborhood, but her work is back.
Original prints of Maki's photos of wild horses are on view through December at Caffé Fiore on Queen Anne. But Maki is more than a photographer; she is a constructionist. Her art incorporates photography, aluminum and found signage.
In addition to photographs, a few of Maki's pieces on aluminum are at Caffé Fiore. She calls them "projections," but projectors are not part of the exhibit. Through a process she will not reveal, she somehow makes the aluminum sensitive to light, then transfers the photograph onto it. She has done this with some of her photographs of wild horses, and the effect is stunning.
"Unlike regular photographs," she says, "I can't duplicate these."
To view Maki's exhibit or buy a calendar ('tis the season), visit Caffé Fiore at 224 W. Galer St. While you're at it, have a latte made with organic coffee.
Calendars may also be ordered by calling 244-7152 or logging onto andreamaki.com and clicking "wild horses." The cost is $15, tax included.[[In-content Ad]]
