Montage of spurs is Texas photographer's recent imaginative endeavor

By KARI KRAMER | East Texas Edition

The recent montage created by photography Rick Vanderpool is one that depicts spurs from a museum in the official spur capital of Texas.

Nov. 4, 2004 - Rick Vanderpool has created art from one of Texas' oldest tools, the Spur.

Vanderpool is a photographer in the Hunt County town of Commerce. He became known for a montage he created of the word Texas. "Looking for Texas" was the first of several montages Vanderpool has created.

His most recent work, "The Spur" has about 100 photos of spurs. Over 200 pairs of spurs were photographed for the montage. The spurs are all part of the Lloyd and Madge Mitchell Collection at the Coryell Museum and Historical Center in Gatesville.

Gatesville is the official spur capital of Texas, as deemed by the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas. Lloyd Mitchell was a high school athletics coach who later taught history. Mitchell collected spurs from all over the world in a period of 77 years. His collection was donated to the Coryell Museum and Historical Center after his death. It is known to be the largest spur collection in the world. The museum's full collection includes over 7,000 pairs of spurs. The spurs of Pancho Villa and the riding spurs of Jacquelyn Kennedy are displayed, as well as some dating back to the 13th century.

Vanderpool made four trips to Gatesville to take photographs of the spurs. He photographed the spurs at the museum, at Mitchell family properties, and at the Leon River Mercantile. Vanderpool said he could not have had such successful photo shoots without the help of the museum, the Mitchell family, and the Leon River Mercantile, who donated several props for the photography sessions.

"No one knows Gatesville is the spur capital of Texas. There are lots of communities just like Gatesville that have something to be proud of," said Vanderpool. "These communities are taking advantage of a way to show-off their point of pride, and it's nice to be able to work with them to do that."

Vanderpool said photographing and producing the spur montage was not as time consuming as the "Looking for Texas" montage, which took 54 days and covered 20,500 miles within all of Texas' 254 counties. "The Spur" was shot in five days. Vanderpool first met with representatives from the museum in January, and the final product was available in August.

"It promotes the spurs, the art of spurs, the tradition of spurs, and the use of spurs," said Vanderpool.

Once photographs are taken, Vanderpool puts the montage together at his business, Prairie Rose Studio, in downtown Commerce. Once he has arranged the photos, the final montage can be printed. The art is printed on posters, giant puzzles, and some are hand-tinted by his wife Judy. In addition, Judy builds frames for the pieces of art. Judy has been hand tinting Rick's photographs since 1994. An example of her first hand tinting job is displayed in the couple's studio window.

Vanderpool's other montages, in addition to the spurs and "Looking for Texas" include a barbecue montage depicting various pits in the state, "Starring Texas" which is made from pictures of the Texas star from around the state, and a wildflower montage.

"We make our montages have some kind of educational spin or importance," said Vanderpool. He added that each montage comes with a key explaining each photograph in the montage. Educators can use the montages and have pupils trace the meaning or location of the star, or learn about the various types of Texas wildflowers.

Vanderpool will be creating a montage of the Plano Balloon Festival, a montage of tiaras for the Pulpwood Queens and a windmill montage to promote the use of wind-power for a company in Lubbock.

"Something I haven't started, but would like to do at some point in time, is boot details to go with the spur montage," said Vanderpool. "Most of our montages start with a few pictures and grow from there," he added.

Vanderpool said he has over two pages of ideas for montages.

"It's a neat little synergy that we have found to apply to our work," said Vanderpool, who adventures out to shoot his own ideas, but also takes work requested from companies, communities and organizations. In addition the studio works with interior designers to customize Vanderpool's work to meet their needs.

Samples of Vanderpool's work can be seen at www.prairierosestudio.net, at Canton on First Monday's, at Prairie Rose Studio in Commerce, or in the Texas Highways catalog, where some of his work can be ordered.