We are pleased to introduce our second installment in our monthly blog series that showcases all of our wonderful Park City galleries on a rotating basis! A prestigious and diverse art scene awaits visitors and local art aficionados alike throughout Park City’s historic district and beyond.

Every month we will be telling the story of a local gallery and the gallerists and artists behind them. For this month’s spotlight we spoke with David Beavis, who’s gallery is located on 314 Main St. View some of his award winning photography on his website here, and read on to learn more about David in our exclusive interview with him!

Arts Council: Where are you from originally?

David Beavis: Perth Western Australia, is considered the most isolated city in the world. It takes longer to get anywhere from Perth compared to anywhere else in Australia.

AC: How did you end up in Park City?

DB: We came through as part of a 3 month vacation at the end of 2010 and some friends of ours were here. We didn’t think we could live here at first because of the snow because we grew up on the coast. But this place grew on us and we ended up here in the end.

AC: Have you always been a photographer?

DB: My first camera was given to me at the age of 12 and my parents tell me that my ability to see things was identified very quickly. I have 2 older brothers that were given a camera as well and we were on a trip through Europe and my parents looked through all of our images and said, “Oh look at David’s!” He seems to have a good eye. I won my first open photographic competition at 12 with a picture that I shot in Switzerland. So I fell in love with it from there.

AC: Did you get a formal education for photography?

DB: No I’m self taught pretty much

AC: What are your favorite things to shoot?

DB: That changes over time. Anywhere I am im seeing things. I just shot an old bench against a rustic wall and to me it tells a story. It’s inviting - a beautiful blue door with paint peeling off. I can imagine sitting there with someone and just talking. I like to shoot simple things that speak to people. I don’t go out of my way to shoot the traditional scenes that most photographers would shoot. You won’t find a lot of iconic images in my gallery, they are all very, very different. And that’s the way I’d rather shoot.

AC: Can you talk more about your photographs of horses?

DB: Id’ never done wildlife photography before and I had a guy come through the gallery a couple of years ago and he asked if I had ever been to Camargue, France. He said there were some beautiful wild horses there. So I decided to Google it and I thought, wow they're pretty cool! It was about August last year that I said I should go to France and photograph these horses. And my wife said, you don’t shoot wildlife, and I said … I do now! It was a gut feeling and it’s paid off.

These horses were galloping right at me and I thought are these horses going to stop? Are they going to trample me? And often they’d just go around and other times they’d stop right in front of you and cover you in mud, but it was an exciting shoot.

AC: The picture is beautiful, It almost looks like a painting.

DB: Our collectors tell us that a lot of my images look like paintings and that has a lot to do with the texture of the canvas. Im now known for my massive images printed on canvas that have a painterly feeling to it. So that’s what I’ve become known for and I’m happy with that.

AC: One of my favorites in the gallery include the Aerial image over the ocean.

DB: Yes the aerials photographs of around where I’m from, in Perth Western Australia. I like to get in helicopters and planes and shoot some from a bird’s eye view. I don’t use drones. We take the door off of the plane and I guide the pilot where I want to go.

AC: Do you seek these beautiful places out or just stumble upon them?

DB: I knew of this place as it’s in my home state of Western Australia. It's a place called Shark Bay and the colors there are amazing. Just shooting some beautiful colors and patterns, I like to call that earth art. It can be tricky to get a composition when you’re flying 300 Kilometers an hour but it’s a lot of fun! Most of my subjects I just stumble upon. I want to find my own images and be unique. To be fair, all photographs see things differently.

We could have 20 photographers go to the same location and all the photographs would be different because of the way we see. I just want to present things in my gallery in a way people haven’t seen before. I’ve got one down there called the Lake House and no matter where you stand it feels like you can walk down that pier. It’s something that creates a peace for people.

We live in a world where we’re bombarded by noise, whether it be audio or visual, so I try and create a sense of peace there. The two iconic images I have are called Nothing But Blue Skies, and Daddy Daughter Date. And they’re just peaceful. Very simple. Very peaceful.

AC: What is the story behind these two iconic images?

DB: I have 4 children and they always knew their dad to be home. When we moved to the US, I opened this gallery and their dad was not around as much anymore and so the kids were a bit sad. So one day, I said let’s go out for a walk and we were coming home and I looked up on the hill and on that particular day I saw how the weather was with the snow and thought wow that’s simple and beautiful. I took a picture and put it on social media and the response I was getting was unbelievable. The next day I took the kids to school and it was a bluebird day so I got the camera to take the same picture with the blue sky as opposed to the white out from the day before.

AC: Is that your best seller?

DB: Daddy Daughter Date is my best seller, but more often than not, people buy the pair, Daddy Daughter Date and Nothing But Blue Skies. They’re hanging all around the world. One woman just took one back to Europe as her remembrance of her visit to the US.

AC: Where do you go to feel inspired?

DB: I see things everywhere. All my life I can remember driving in cars and saying to whomever is with me “Hey look at that!” and they’ll say “What?” So it’s just a way of seeing. Its something that’s within.

AC: How long has your gallery been open?

DB: We opened December 2015. It was a dream of mine to open a gallery for 20 something years. I’ll share a little story. I was doing photography up until 21 and then I gave it up because a colleague told me I couldn’t make a living out of landscape photography. And I didn’t want to do weddings and what not so I put the camera down. Then my wife and I came here to the US in 1998 during a 7 month tour around the world.

Our first stop was at the Denver Airport and Tom Mangelsen has a gallery in that airport. When I saw his work , it inspired me so much and relit the flame inside of me and I thought that’s what I want to do! So straight away I bought a camera again and thought one day, one day, I’ll open a gallery and 17 years later we opened our gallery.

AC: Has your photography evolved over the years?

DB: Absolutely. Whenever we immerse ourselves in something passionately, we see better results and improvement, and I’m certainly seeing that in my own work. The fact that we are growing and having collectors of my work come back to the gallery time and time again and invest in new images, is a testament to that.

AC: What is your favorite photograph of yours?

DB: That can change as time goes on. But Daddy Daughter Date is my favorite because of the story of my daughter. Also, my wife and I just celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago.

On the weekend we celebrated we were at Sequoia National Park and you could hardly see anything. There was cloud and snow everywhere, but we saw these two beautiful trees in the middle of it all and to me it just represented the symbolism of going through life together. So I took a picture of it. Anytime I can connect a photograph to a story that involves the family, I find that powerful.

AC:Anything you want to add?

DB: We have 3 new pieces coming to the gallery today and over the next month we’ll have 3 or 4 new ones coming in as well. I also want to give my awesome staff a shout out, they’re doing a great job, Caleb, Maria, and Dianne. We do have something else special coming up, but I have to keep that under wraps for now…

Learn more about David Beavis and view some of his amazing photographs on his website, https://www.davidbeavisgallery.com/, or stop by the David Beavis Fine Art Gallery, located at 314 Main St. in Park City. Hours are 10am to 9pm Friday and Saturday. 11am to 5pm Sunday throughThursday.

The David Beavis Fine Art Gallery is a member of the Park City Gallery Association, which supports and promotes Park City galleries in a number of ways, one of which is hosting a Last Friday Gallery Stroll, a fun (and free) monthly community event that runs from 6:00-9:00 PM on the last Friday of each month, dedicated to highlighting artists and special exhibits at art galleries throughout town.

Park City Gallery Spotlight // David Beavis Fine Art Gallery