Art times two

Couple share artistic journey around the world

By CANDACE CHASE/Daily Inter Lake

Robert "Bob" and Joann Sleadd, a photographer-and-artist couple, share their creativity and passion for travel in a new display of their art at Soucie and Soucie in Kalispell.

In the reception area and tucked between stations at the trendy salon, more than 30 photos and paintings show visitors vignettes of their journeys to places including Italy, Switzerland, Germany and their former home in Mexico.

"We just want to share the pieces and have people enjoy it," Joann said.

While photographs dominate over paintings, exhibit viewers may have difficulty discerning photos from paintings due to Bob's unique printing technique involving layering textures such as linen over negatives to produce a painting-like photograph.

Joann's work captures scenes such as a grand cathedral in oils, her favorite medium. However, she also enjoys making pen-and-ink drawings and painting with watercolors.

Stylistically, Joann cites Clark Hulings, a Southwestern painter of rustic and provincial scenes of daily life, as her inspiration.

"I met him when we lived in Santa Fe," she said.

That was just one of several moves the couple made in their creative journey since meeting in 1981. They became acquainted at a conference in Carmel, Calif., where Joann was teaching a photo retouching class.

But she remembered their first meeting when Bob arrived with a real problem at her professional retouching business in California.

"He asked me if there was any way to get India ink off a negative," she said with a laugh.

At that time, Bob was a photographer with the Crime Scene Investigation unit of the San Francisco Police Department. Prior to joining the department, he had worked as a newspaper and wedding photographer and for a photo lab.

Bob said he had assumed that he would work a few years as a street cop before moving into his desired job as a police photographer. But he lucked out when CSI had an opening just when he graduated from the academy.

During his 25-year career, Bob captured the darker side of life in San Francisco at homicide scenes and at the morgue.

"The worst were the child abuse and mistreatment cases," he said.

But weekends brought happier photographic moments on freelance assignments at weddings. He also enjoyed capturing scenic wonders on vacation or landmarks around San Francisco such as Coit Tower at night.

After the photographer met Joann in 1981, the two became inseparable. They shared an interest in photography and a desire to foster their individual creativity.

Joann recalled her artistic nature ability emerged at an early age.

"I was doing it from the first time my parents gave me crayons and paint," she said. "I did big paintings from comic books."

While still living in Missouri, she became known as an artist through her portraits of mayors, school principals and other dignitaries. Joann won many awards for her work as a member of the St. Louis Art Guild.

A chance job opening took her into photo retouching and airbrush work. After moving to California and opening her own studio, she taught those skills in classes for the Winona School of Professional Photography and the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara.

"I produced a training tape on retouching for Kodak," Joann said.

She continued developing her skills as she and Bob traveled and lived in a series of interesting places. One of the most intriguing was San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, the scene featured in several of the exhibit works.

The couple went to the town 560 miles from Laredo, Texas, on a whim after touring Guadalajara. They journeyed to San Miguel on a bus loaded with local people and chickens.

When they arrived at a filthy bus station, they nearly turned around to go back. But tapping their sense of adventure, the two went into town and fell hard for its historic, colonial charm.

"It's such an artistic town," Bob said. "We spent the first of April to mid-August there for the next 12 years."

The couple bought a 200-year-old ruin of a house in town that they renovated with the help of Mexican craftsmen. Joann restored extensive tile work throughout the house.

At the time, the restaurants charged so little for meals that it made no sense to cook at home. So both Joann and Bob had more than enough time to pursue art and photography.

San Miguel de Allende later was discovered by other people, driving up prices for everything. At the same time, Joann and Bob felt the urge to explore other areas such as Europe rather than spend so many months at the home in Mexico.

They sold their house in 2001, then began traveling to Europe as a benefit of Bob's membership in the International Police Association. The Sleadds stay as guests of police-related families in Europe, then host their families in the United States.

"It's like a brotherhood all over the world," Bob said.

As a result, they have photographed and painted in Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. The couple has many memories of families rolling out the red carpet to entertain them.

"You never feel like a stranger," Joann said.

Bob, 75, and Joann, 70, have their bags packed for their next journey to France where they plan to stay in the walled medieval city of Dinan in Brittany.

In between travels, Bob and Joann enjoy processing their memories into art in the home they bought in Kalispell in 2006.

As in their travels, they came to the Flathead following their curiosity and the rave reviews of close friends who settled in Bigfork.

Enjoying the community college and an association with Hockaday Museum of Art, the couple think they may have found a permanent home.

"It just feels right," Joann said.

People interested in contacting them about their work may call them at Sleadd Photography and Art Designs at 755-3325. Their show is located at Soucie and Soucie at 77 Third Ave. W. N. in Kalispell.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.