An elemental shift: chemist turns to artist

Photo composites have become part of a formula for happiness.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published June 18, 2007

LAND O'LAKES - Gordon Engebretson is a Ph.D. chemist who nurtures a serious passion for photography.

A Renaissance man living in Pasco County suburbia?

You bet.

"It's a right and left brain thing," explains Engebretson, who lives in Valencia Gardens. At 71, he's launched a second career of sorts - as a photographer and digital artist.

His convex and concave photo composites on metallic paper are displayed on hand-made frames that resemble archery bows and look nothing short of magical.

In a composite of the skyline of Tampa -- complete with University of Tampa minaret, historic Bayshore Boulevard balustrade, Sulphur Springs water tower and a smattering of office towers - he's captured the city in an imagined and creative configuration.

Even Tampa Bay sparkles like a cocktail at sunset.

The idea?

To someday feature each high-rise and corporate logo in separate works of art, giving big Tampa businesses one-of-a-kind attention in an original composite.

For a career scientist who once worked for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, as a research chemist for Sinclair Oil and spent years as an assistant director in the Department of Environmental and Public Health for the American Medical Association, Engebretson thinks like a creative entrepreneur.

When he opens the front door to his Valencia Gardens home, he's wearing Bermudas, a bright Hawaiian shirt, shell beads and a straw Panama hat he bought at an art fair.

"I have to think like one an entrepreneur," he explains. "Being self employed for years meant that I had to go out and earn my paycheck every day."

A job with the Florida Regional Medical Program, where he ultimately worked his way to director, brought him from Chicago to Tampa in 1969. He and his wife, Rosie, decided against South Tampa in favor of original Carrollwood, where Engebretson says they were able to buy a brand new ranch house for $32,000.

"It was so rural then that we used to go to a dairy nearby and buy our milk right from the milk house," he remembers.

Over the years, he and Rosie "got sand in our shoes," he says and decided that Florida was their forever home.

"We didn't want to leave so I did what everyone who stays here eventually does," he says, laughing, "I became a Realtor."

He also worked in medical sales, as a fundraiser for a major children's charity and ultimately as a financial planner for 20 years until he retired.

The Engebretsons bought their 2,300-square-foot four-bedroom, three-bath home in Valencia Gardens in 2000.

The house features a screened pool as well as a comfy-casual living room that now comes in handy for their three grown children and seven grandkids who all live close by.

The attractive decor is the handiwork of Rosie, who loved interesting clocks, Gordon Engebretson says, as well as her rose garden, which blooms in profuse shades of red, pink and coral by the front door.

Rosie died in February 2006 while battling cancer, something that still rocks Engebretson, who tends her rose garden every day.

Her creative vision helped him launch RG Galleries at www.rggalleries.com, an online gallery where art lovers can view and buy his work. Much of his sales proceeds will go -- in Rosie's memory -- to a charity that builds churches in South Africa.

"We decided that after I retired I would get back into photography," recalls Engebretson, who began taking pictures of skyscrapers while a young man on his lunch hour in Chicago.

He loved the work of Ansel Adams, learned his zone system and formulated his own chemical developers based on that system.

Now he's back in photography in the digital age, capturing images that draw him in for similar reasons.

"I look for color, substance, theme, juxtaposition or architecture -- people are more difficult," he says, laughing.

Lilies, sailboats, lighthouses, skydivers, bamboo and the American West are all included in his photo library. So are the Eiffel Tower, wetlands, kayaks, a "red chair by the sea" and a Tarpon Springs fishing boat.

He's captured many of Rosie's beautiful roses with love, including one set against a dropping sun. Perhaps the most stunning is a pristine white rose suspended over what looks like a pool of clear water.

His work is currently on display in the Pasco County Art Annual 2007 (he took his 9-year-old granddaughter as his "date" to the ceremony) and he was recently named Artist of the Month at the Alexandria Art Gallery.

When he captures an image, he explains, he first says, "OK, talk to me, where's this going?" before the final product evolves.

His new concave and convex photos came about by accident when he carelessly bent a photo printed on a too-thin sheet of styrene plastic, recalls Engebretson, who now bends his work deliberately into sculptural shapes.

When he saw the work of art born of serendipity, he was amazed: "I said, oh, my gosh I can do that!"

Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com.

[Last modified June 17, 2007, 21:31:56]