Artist combines photography with poetry

Posted: March 9, 2010

When Mukwonago resident Fred Kreutz was a freshman in boarding school, the senior in charge of putting together the yearbook was looking for a replacement. Kreutz volunteered, and there began his interest in photography.

Kreutz's photography and poetry exhibit is on display this month at Espresso Love Coffee in Mukwonago.

As a young man, Kreutz spent a lot of his spare time with a camera, but as he settled into a career and had a family, he spent less time on photography.

"Since my children grew up and went away, I have more time and money," he explained. "I call it my habit that's gotten out of control."

Kreutz isn't sure how to classify his work, except to say that he takes pictures of just about anything, except what other people would take.

"I think there's a photograph in just about everything," he said.

Kreutz said he likes geometry, color and shapes and pays special attention to those elements when taking a photo.

He also looks for moments that can be captured in his work. Whether it's glass bottles sitting in a window with the light reflecting in, the moon rising over a lake, the side of a rusty, abandoned building or a crash of waves, Kreutz said he sees the magic in the scene.

Kreutz enjoys playing with the camera and trying new things. For instance, he discovered if he turns the lens while taking the picture, he gets a great abstract look.

Although he's taken a few photography classes here and there, Kreutz said he's mostly learned from experience. Most important, he's learned to make sure his camera is always close at hand.

On a flight back to Wisconsin from Washington state, Kreutz said he looked out the window at what would have made the perfect photo: the mountains peeking out on top of the drizzly sky. But he didn't have his camera.

"That's OK," said Kreutz. "The picture is in my head."

While Kreutz was working to care for his family, he taught English literature - and still teaches literature at MATC.

"That's where the poetry comes in," he said.

Although Kreutz does not write poems to directly coincide with a piece of photography, many are on similar subjects, and he has just begun to pair them up for exhibits.

When preparing for a show at the Wauwatosa Library in January, Kreutz said he asked the librarian what she thought of him displaying some poetry alongside his artwork. She liked the idea and paired up poems with his photographs herself.

Kreutz said that was the first time he displayed the two together.

"They both come out of the same curious mind," he explained.

Kreutz describes his poetry as free-flowing. He enjoys using words to capture topics from different angles.

"Words have a way of capturing things," he explained. "You can look at something from the side, from the back. We take words for granted."

Kreutz likes to ask "what if?" in his poetry, and his curiosity sparks most of his ideas.

Just as Kreutz finds a photograph in almost anything, so too does he see the poetry in the outside world.

"I could be driving along one day and all of the sudden - bing! There's a poem in that. It's the trick of the moment, and I think to myself, I never really looked at that before," he said.

Kreutz is a member of the Lakeland Art League and the Three Lakes Art League. Although he sells his work here and there, Kreutz said he's not in the field for the money.

"If no one else in the world likes it, that's OK," he said. "I don't want to take pictures just to make someone like it."

Not knowing what kind of photo he will take next or what his next poem will be about is part of the fun.

"There have been so many great photos that I have missed," he said. "But sometimes I tell myself to just go for a walk. There's a picture within 10 feet of us if we just look."