Stethoscopes & Shutter Speeds

David Lancaster thrives in his Orr Street creative space. Artwork courtesy of David Lancaster.

After a tumultuous family decision to move to Columbia for David Lancaster’s medical practice, he found solace in the energy and excitement of First Fridays. Lancaster, a certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician who now works in medical law, has since dipped not just his toe but his entire foot into the local art scene.  

Delving into his creative career, Lancaster knew he wanted his own space to work and to be around artists.  

“When you’re around people of the same mindsets, you tap into this wave of creativity,” he explained. “You feed off of one another in different disciplines, and I really enjoy it.”  

Lancaster fell in love with photo design as a teenager after his father gave him a camera to use at family gatherings. In the rising heat of his medical career, he put down his camera to pick up a stethoscope. It wasn’t until his family moved to the area fifteen years later that he revisited his alternative passions. One of his goals was to become a pilot, but after flying the skies, he sold his plane club shares to purchase camera equipment.   

For ten years, he has been creating behind his studio’s ornate steel door, designed by Chris Teeter in 2006. His current gallery residence, Orr Street Studios, has homed dozens of artists, some of whom Lancaster listed as his creative heroes. Those heroes include nationally renowned photographers Michael Kenna and Annie Leibovitz, and local artists Sharon Hyatt and the late Byron Smith. 

Lancaster’s creative influences drive his technical passions. Whenever he needs ideas, he reaches for photography books that showcase lighting work, model positioning, and camera techniques. After reading, he practices the techniques in different variations to expand his skill.  

“I originally wanted to be a musician,” he said. “You learn by listening to your favorite songs and artists, learning their songs, then when you learn many people’s work, you start to build your own style.”  

Lancaster’s artistry is not just a visual medium, but a personal escape. In his medical career, he is often frustrated with insurance companies, administration, and medical liability. Those strong emotions have driven him to design protest pieces like “Broken”, his most notable creation. “Broken” is a portrait photo story in which Lancaster asked medical staff, patients, and administrators to choose a word that described the hospital environment at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and write the word on a piece of paper.   

Some of the words included: anguish, determined, despair, numb, humanity, fatigued, blessed, and together. Once chosen by the individual, that word was theirs, and then Lancaster photographed the person holding the card. Some individuals’ stories were recorded, too, and recounted, with raw emotion and passion, their experience in health care. Those videos and photos, available on his website, are interactive and include video or audio about those experiences.  

Lancaster came up with the idea behind “Broken” when eating downtown at Sycamore, where he first encountered a QR code menu. When his art piece was complete, he listened to his subjects’ stories and felt a sense of relief from all his anger and frustrations.  

“I think with all the emotions we feel,” he said, “there’s an energy to it, and part of being conscious is being able to do something either productive or destructive with it.”  

Lancaster’s work extends beyond portraiture. His photography also includes architecture, statues, street photography, landscape, and tintypes. Tintypes are taken using a thin sheet of metal covered in a light-sensitive collodion chemical mixture, then exposing the plate in the camera. That results in high-contrast, black-and-white photos. Lancaster noted that he liked how this method of photography — as well as his other current medium, platinum palladium printing — is known for its longevity. The photos he takes can last for decades, or even centuries, and in his eyes, will carry his story and legacy on for generations.  

He inherited more than 1,000 family photos, which he and his siblings dug through to draw their family tree. In doing so, the experience made him want to extend a photographic branch.   

Family and community are of paramount importance to Lancaster. As he now works within his studio at Orr Street, he opens his door every first Friday of the month to curious visitors. Orr Street Director Barbara Hoppe gives Lancaster high praise.  

“David Lancaster is a very talented, knowledgeable, and diverse photographer, with a very keen and artistic eye, whose photographs are exceptional,” Hoppe said.  

As Lancaster continues his artistry, he wants to improve his technical skills in advanced mediums, even setting up a dark room in his studio to continue his practice. Through his dedication to both art and science, his blend of creativity with technical mastery ensures his place within the community — and an extremely well-documented branch on his family tree.  

“I want to put something together so that my great, great, great grandkids, who I’ve never met, will know a little bit about where they came from,” he said. “I wanted to be famous like the Beatles. People will know the Beatles or Paul McCartney for probably another 1,000 years. Beethoven and Shakespeare did these immortal things. And of course, it’s not like I’m going to be famous, but I can pass them down to my family.” 

---

Welcome to COMO’s art galleries  

Established in 2009, the North Village Arts District is the heart of Columbia’s art scene. It encompasses more than a dozen businesses, hundreds of local artists, several ornate sculptures and murals, and several monthly events. Located in the northern downtown area, the art district, or NVAD, has a designated art walk that guides visitors through the various artistic exhibits and locations throughout the area.  

Some include Sparky, the raptor sculpture designed by Vincent Houston; the Walnut Street courtyard sculpture designed by Adrienne Luther; and the “Art Lives Here” installation between Artlandish and Sager Reeves Gallery. The art walk is a community staple for First Fridays, when all of the downtown galleries open their doors on the first Friday of each month to present exhibits and current pieces. Several local music hubs and bars also welcome visitors with rich music and performances.  

 Barbara Hoppe, Orr Street Studios director, has art walk ideas for newcomers.  

“We hope they will feel welcomed and that they enjoy the experience, being in this unique and lovely space, seeing the art and also the one-of-a-kind sculptured doors made by Chris Teeter, as well as talking with the artists and with others there enjoying art and creativity.”  

Orr Street Studios, currently showcasing its Missouri Photo Workshop Exhibit, is one of several thriving galleries within the art scene. Other galleries include Sager Reeves, which is currently showing its exhibit “The Women”; Artlandish, known for its jewelry, pottery, and fine arts; and Serendipity Salon and Gallery. Several restaurants are also a part of the experience, including Acola Coffee Company, Le Bao Asian Eatery, Wishflour Bakery, The Roof, Ernie’s Cafe, Fretboard Coffee, and 11Eleven. Together, the businesses and artists provide a rich creative atmosphere, engaging events, and community regardless of the day of the week.   

Here is a list of businesses and galleries that are part of the North Village Arts District: 

• Art Underground   

• Artlandish Gallery   

• Artworks Studios   

• The Atrium   

• The Beach Salon   

• Cafe Berlin   

• Castello Branco Fields   

• Coming Home   

• Curations 573   

• Downtown COMO   

• Frame Shop on Orr   

• Fretboard Coffee   

• Hempriety   

• Jane Mudd   

• Jenny McGee   

• John Fennell   

• Jonathan Asher   

• Julie Youmans   

• Le Bao Asian Eatery   

• Leo Falkinstein Gallery   

• Lisa Bartlett   

• Love Columbia   

• Mareck Center for Dance   

• Michelle Seat Fine Art 

• Monarch Jewelry   

• North Village Recording   

• Orr St. Farmers Market   

• Orr Street Studios   

• Range Free   

• Rose Music Hall   

• Sager Reeves Gallery   

• Sara Fougere Catering   

• Serendipity Salon & Gallery 

• Shannon Webster  
  Art Studio 

• Sharyn Hyatt   

• Shear Soul Hair Studio   

• Stop-Gap Projects   

• Talking Horse Productions   

• Tootie Burns Mixed Media   

• Wishflour Bakery   

• Yoga Sol