Photographer opens 1st exhibit since being burned

MOOSE LAKE, Minn -- A renowned North Shore landscape photographer will debut his first gallery exhibition since being severely burned in a sauna fire, an accident he largely kept from public view until now.

Last November, Craig Blacklock, 61, went to teach a private photography workshop on his family's North Shore land, the Blacklock Nature Sanctuary. When he went to warm an outdoor sauna with water, he noticed smoke coming from the eaves of the building.

"Looked around, never found any flames, room started filling with smoke, realized I had to get out, there was nothing I could do and when I went to get out, I couldn't open that deadbolt for some reason, I just couldn't get it turned and for a few seconds thought I was dead," said Blacklock.

As he crawled toward a back door, the next moment was never fully captured in his memory.

"Reached up for the doorknob and that's the last thing I remember until I came to in the snow 20 feet outside," he said.

With third degree burns to his hands and arms, and second degree burns to his face, neck and ears, Blacklock managed to call his wife, Honey Blacklock, while paramedics rushed him to the hospital and airlifted him to Duluth.

Honey Blacklock worried most about her husband's eyes, swollen shut.

"Nobody else could fill in for his eyes, if his hands were so damaged he couldn't use his hands very well, I felt like a lot of us could step in and be his hands but nobody could be his eyes," said Honey Blacklock. "As soon as I knew his vision was fine, anything else was fine and we could get through it."

After spending three weeks in a Duluth burn unit, Blacklock was released to the care of Honey, who spent four hours a day changing his dressings.

He worried about the stress to her health, as Honey was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which can be triggered by stress. The couple also has a 13-year-old daughter, Charis.

After learning his burns and skin grafts would take at least a half year to heal, Blacklock started a GoFundMe page to keep his art and family afloat. Donations from around the world poured in, exceeding $20,000.

"I lost a third to a half year of work because of this, and because of the recession knocking wind out of every artist, the buffer financially wasn't there. It's very humbling and brings tears to your eyes -- people are that kind and giving," he said. "So I'm anxious to repay that by getting back out and starting to make images again."

He calls the generosity his "stepping stone" to see images he'd taken just before the fire with new meaning, pointing to a new stone series he spent editing while recovering. His new stone exhibition will debut at Gallery 13 this week, and he hopes the public can see his interpretation.

"In that the fractures and the cracks that have filled in with new intrusions tells the history of that rock. So, it's sort of a metaphor for my being burned and healing and the scars that are there tell a story gives the character to the rock, and these are going to be a part of me," said Blacklock. "It's sort of gift in allowing me to do my job better."

He will never know how exactly his burns occurred, but the fire inspector later determined the fire was electrical and not from the wood stove.

Blacklock would rather focus looking forward, spending much of his time in physical therapy, running, and improving his fitness, while playing guitar and piano to help with the skin grafts on his hands. He said the flexibility in his fingers will be a key in his recovery and getting back to his craft.

Blacklock also said the advent of digital photography and Photoshop has allowed him to showcase the magic of the North Shore in a new way, using a process called "stacked focus" to bring an entire image to into focus through layered editing, something that couldn't be done before. He's also now focusing on the intimacy of his work, where small items like rocks are a metaphor for larger things.

Blacklock's time in the burn unit overlooking Lake Superior inspired him to make videos to soothe burn patients and cope with his pain. He already has done work with the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality and Healing for burn patients, and now plans to do even more.

"I was watching the steam rising off and envisioning my dead skin sloughing off and being replaced by the fresh water from underneath. Looking at metaphors of the lake and thinking of videos I want to do for burn patients -- so I have quite a few idea of things I am going to go out and film," said Blacklock.

He points to work like his birch tree installation in the Children's Pain and Palliative Care Clinic, where doctors see the calming power of a picture. He used over 500 images to create one large ceiling installation.

"It's unbelievable," said Dr. Kris Catrine, of Blacklock's photography installations, noting the healing power of a picture for her patients.

"It physically changes you, we have proof it lowers your heart rate, lowers blood pressure, treats anxiety," said Dr. Catrine.

Just as Lake Superior tells its story stone by stone, Craig Blacklock now sees his scars as one layer in a masterpiece of his own.

"Now it's almost if you can dream of anything, you can create it, and so I'm just a kid in a candy store with new tools, and I can go back to the same places and say entirely different things with much more fidelity, closer than what I have ever been able to do," said Blacklock.

He will celebrate his comeback at Gallery 13 in Minneapolis this Wednesday, June 24, with his new Lake Superior stone series exhibit opening from 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. and a benefit at 7 p.m. Gallery 13 is located at 11 Lasalle Avenue in Minneapolis.