wall space | the flat file

C4FAP + Crista Dix present Low Tech

2010-05-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

I am excited to be teaming up with the Center for Fine Art Photography to jury their upcoming show, Low Tech.

As anyone who has seen wall space knows, I love well crafted images. This is a great way for me to see new work, to experience great work and to support the tremendous efforts of C4FAP, who's mission is to celebrate photography. My thanks to Hamidah Glasgow and Azarie Furlong for inviting me to be participate.

image - Galina Kurlat, Ambrotype

So here are the specifics -

IMPORTANT DATES:
Entries due: July 13, 2010
Notice of acceptance: July 23, 2010
Exhibition dates: Oct 1 - 30, 2010

Public / Artists’ Reception: Oct 1 from 6-9pm (I'll be there too)

Prospectus -
While many of the low-tech processes have come in and out of favor, they remain a steadfast part of the photographic cannon. The Center is currently celebrating the low-tech processes and is interested in exhibiting the best low-tech images that photographers are producing. This call is open to all subjects and styles of photography that include a low tech means of image making or printing. This includes, but is not limited to; toy, Holga and Diana cameras, Pinhole, Wet Plate Collodian, Photograms, Callotypes, Cyanotypes, Polaroid and other traditional processes.

and the winners receive?

With selection for this exhibition, featured artist's work will be seen by an international audience of collectors, curators, art consultants and other advocates of fine art photography. Each participant will be included in the Center's Main Gallery exhibition and Online Gallery exhibition.

liveBooks Website Award: Valued at $399 each, two artists will receive a one year subscription for a website from liveBooks.com

Juror’s Selection Award: $300 and a Blurb book award from Blurb.com

Director’s Selection Award: $200 and a Blurb book award from Blurb.com

Honorable Mention Award: $100

All exhibitors are included in the Center’s online gallery.

I look forward to your submissions. If you have any questions, please contact the gallery or C4FAP for details.

Reaching Out - May 20th-23rd, with Tim Wride

2010-04-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

wall space is excited to be working with Photographic Center Northwest to bring Tim Wride, former curator at LACMA, and Executive Director of No Strings Foundation to Seattle for a weekend of events celebrating photography, its artists and ideas from May 20-23rd, 2010.

Here is the schedule -

Thursday 20 May, 2010 - 7pm Photographic Center Northwest
cost $5.

The Sky is Falling?
Just when you thought it was safe to go out in the Art World...everyone starts talking about toxic assets and downsizing! What’s an art lover to do? Curator/writer/educator Tim B. Wride will give his unique, and usually irreverent, look at the state of the Photography World in the wake of our current economic, social, and aesthetic meltdown. Follow as he guides us through the past and present trends that are in crisis, and take a leap as he offers insights into what may be the look of the future. Tim will point fingers, name names, and tilt at windmills as he explains how he dares harbor a satisfied sense of total OPTIMISM for the future of image making.

Saturday 22 May, 2010 - 11am - 3pm PCNW
cost $95.

Introduction to Critical Looking: A Seminar for Thinking Photographers

After all the practical workshops, after all the tech consultations, after all the seminars, after all the portfolio reviews ....now what? How does all of the information apply to YOUR process and YOUR work? How do the trends and climate of the art world affect you and your work? Do you know how to look at photographs—including your own—and CRITICALLY ascertain the direction and relevance of them? What is the difference between the work you want to do and the work you SHOULD do? How do you know which way to turn in order to grow as an artist?

Curator/writer/educator Tim B. Wride will guide you toward a fuller understanding of the art climate in which you are working and the social, economic, and creative pressures that are affecting your photography. Through a dynamic program of lectures, Q&A’s, and group interaction, we will explore the state of the market, the directions of creative interplay, and, most important, the necessity of critically and intensely LOOKING at the work you see as well as the work you make. For too many artists this is the most overlooked aspect of their tools and talents; for all artists, however, CRITICAL LOOKING is the most basic skill that must be developed in order to challenge and advance their artmaking ability.

Sunday 23 May, 2010 - 11am - 4.30pm PCNW
Cost $375. Class is Limited to 15 participants!!

Critical Looking: The Art of Conscious Creativity-

Do you know how to look at photographs—including your own—and CRITICALLY ascertain the direction and relevance of them? What is the difference between the work you want to do and the work you SHOULD do? How do you know which way to turn in order to grow as an artist? CRITICAL LOOKING is the key to expanding your awareness and applying a conscious understanding of your artistic process.

Tim B. Wride guides you through a dynamic series of historical perspectives, contemporary observations, interactive exercises, group critiques, and one-on-one portfolio reviews with the goal of awakening a fuller understanding of YOUR unique creative process and the directions that may be open to you with this new understanding. Open up your creativity and apply it to the way in which you approach images and imagemaking. Make the move to growth through self-awareness.

About Tim -

Tim B. Wride is a voracious consumer of photographic images. He likes nothing better than to look at photographs and talk to photographers about their work.
As Curator of the Department of Photographs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for 14 years, Tim curated over 50 exhibitions, authored and contributed to a dozen books, and has lectured, participated in panels, juried exhibitions, and provided portfolio reviews internationally. In 2004, Tim became the founding Executive Director of the No Strings Foundation, a Los Angeles-based non-profit that provides individual artist grants to U.S. photographers.

for more information, or to sign up for any of the events, please call wall space at 206.330.9137 or contact the gallery or PCNW

image Joelle Jensen, Interiors (Portrait Wall)

J. Wesley Brown

2010-02-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

I'm a fan. Have been since Critical Mass 2008.
His work is cinematic and moody, voyeuristic and just plain cool. His series semblances is the big lonely city at night. In looking over his website, the images are great, but I miss the words, I want to know why these women are sitting alone at a bus stop, where were they? where are they going? I love telling stories, so I just add my own narrative, but every once in awhile a clue would be great.

Wesley's work was part of our New Directions 2010 show and I was thrilled to see it up on the wall. Being a generous and all around good guy, he created a special edition of Bus Stop for Life Support, our program to provide support to Doctors without Borders and Haiti relief.
I think he has a great career ahead of him, what do you think?

Down + Out | Andrew Binkley - Best of Show

2010-02-05T07:29:00.000-08:00

Andrew Binkley, from the lovely Hawaiian Islands, is part of our New Directions 2010, Down + Out show, and our Best of Show choice by our juror Dr. Carol McCusker. His series Crossings has an arresting quality to it, making the viewer stop, pause and really delve into the facets, like a diamond, of all of the intricacies in the exposures. The bold color on the neutral background helps to define the organized chaos in a vibrant form.

As the Best of Show winner, Andrew has been awarded a gift certificate from Blurb Books to self publish his work. Congratulations Andrew and a huge Thank You to Blurb for supporting Wall space and New Directions.

His series Crossings, is working within the themes of intersection, of sharing paths, transforming or changing relationships, and the unknown connections between people through time. Here are more images from his series.

In looking deeper at his work, I loved his black and white series, Just Being. These beautiful black and white constructions have balance, symmetry, and a certain quietness that is respectful of the subject, meditation.
Here are some images from that series -

life support

2010-01-21T14:59:00.001-08:00

I wanted to do something. I think we all did. We started out with such hope for this new year, I don't know anyone who wanted to even see 2009 in the rear view mirror. When the earthquake happened in Haiti, I needed to do something. One of our New Directions artists, Jeff Antebi, had a photograph in the show of Cite Soleil, a Haitian slum. He and I talked about a benefit using his photo, and from there, I saw the power of an image, and wanted to expand the idea.
I am so honored to represent such tremendous artists, all banded together to create Life Support. The gallery and our artists are donating all of the proceeds, so 100% of the purchase goes to the group Doctors Without Borders. I can't think of a more worthy organization.

For those of you who have already shopped Life Support, thank you. For those of you who haven't seen the work yet, take a look. Here are some of the images available.

Wedding Clothes, Aline Smithson

Magnolia, Charles Grogg

Full Moon, Bill Finger

Bonnie, Brenda and Betty, Lydia Panas

Capitol Reef Storm, Mitch Dobrowner

Aajooba and Me, Priya Kambli

Kurama Sake Barrels, Ron Reeder

Architectural Detail No. 73, Randall J. Corcoran

Our New Directions 2010 artists are also participating. Purchase one of their special editions for $25 and all proceeds are contributed to Doctors Without Borders as well.

Thank you for helping us make a difference in peoples lives.

Emily Nathan + Haiti Relief

2010-01-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

Emily Nathan Has generously donated all proceeds of her gorgeous print, Green Sea to aid in supporting disaster relief in Haiti.

To purchase this print take a look.

Thank you for your support.

Jeff Antebi, Cite Soleil + Doctors Without Borders

2010-01-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

Jeff Antebi, one of our New Directions participants has a beautiful image of one of Haiti's poorest slums, Cite Soleil on the wall in the gallery. Jeff and I humbly ask you to support Doctors without Borders, OxFam or the Red Cross to help provide basic services and care that are so desperately needed in the country after the earthquake. On the gallery's website, we have an 8x10 print available for a price of $25. all of which goes to the relief organization of your choice. This small amount will go a long way to providing medical supplies and food to this impoverished nation. If you do not wish to purchase a print, support the relief effort in other ways.

Text Haiti to 90999 to instantly donate $10.
Give directly to Doctors Without Borders here.
Give to the American Red Cross.
Give directly to OxFam here.
MSNBC has a list of relief organizations working in Haiti here.

We are pleased to do our part to help. We hope you will as well.

Catching up

2010-01-10T15:04:00.000-08:00

I have been remiss.
it has been a busy January, and I have so much to say and will say soon.
I promise. Stay tuned.

Rayko Plastic Camera - Call for submissions

2010-01-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

It's not to late - January 5th is the deadline to get your work in front of Ann Jastrab and the Rayko Photo Center crew to be showcased in their fabulous Plastic Camera Show.

Here is the info - get thee to the post.

New Directions 2010, Down + Out

2009-12-13T07:12:00.000-08:00

What a show! Ms. Carol McCusker of MOPA has curated an international exhibition to showcase here at the gallery as well as a second viewing in Portland at 23 Sandy coming up in February.

The competition was tough. over 220 submissions, 1000 images, and Carol was able to cull it to 42 artists with 45 images. Really tough. I loved a lot of the work submitted, so I didn't envy her her job of clarifying dizzying visual perspectives.

Here is a list of the participating artists (in alphabetical order)

Robbie Acklen (Claremont, CA)

John Aldredge (Seattle, WA)

Jeff Antebi (Los Angeles, CA)

Cordelia Bailey (Anahola, HI)

Chris Bennett (Portland, OR)

Heidi Bertman (Beaverton, OR)

Andrew Binkley (Haiku, HI)

Charles Blackburn (Seattle, WA)

J. Wesley Brown (Los Angeles, CA)

Alejandro Cartagena (Monterrey, Mexico)

Pete Cosenza (Ventura, CA)

Matthew Derezinski (Kirksville, MO)

Kristen Fecker Peroni (Dexter, MI)

David George (Hackney, London, England)

Colin Graham (Port Angeles, WA)

Steve Guttenberg (Brooklyn, NY)

Ray Hau (Hong Kong)

Nicole Jean Hill (Eureka, CA)

Joshua Hobson (Tallahassee, FL)

Adam Jacono (Greenville, NC)

Kirby Johnson (St. Paul, MN)

Jeffrey Krolick (Ashland, OR)

Sarah Marie Land (St. Louis, MO)

Larry Larsen (Seattle, WA)
Nathan Lunstrum (Tarrytown, NY)
Duc Ly (Portland, OR)
Kora Manheimer (Brooklyn, NY)
Patricia McInroy (Albuquerque, NM)
Daniel Melo (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Charles Mintz (Cleveland, OH)
Emily Nathan (Oakland, CA)
David Jaewon Oh (Mill Creek, WA)
Wayne Palmer (New York, NY)
Ric Peterson (Vashon Island, WA)
Dawn Roe (Winter Park, FL)
Wendy Ross (Nyack, NY)
Michael Seif (Watertown, MA)
Sarah Sharp (Detroit, MI)
Peter Tilgner (Tenafly, NJ)
Ronit Toledano (Tel-Aviv, Israel)
Anna Maria Vag (Seattle, WA)
Jacqueline Walters (San Francisco, CA)

China Travels

2009-12-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

So, I am back from China, and have many thoughts on what a great trip it was, what an interesting country, politically, personally and visually and am still trying to wrap my head around the experience. In the meantime, Buzz always hits the road with me, so I thought I would start with his highlights of the trip. There will be more posts on Chinese photography to follow. Stay tuned.
and thank you to Karen Davis for the shot of me and buzz.

Lishui Photo - Karen Davis

2009-11-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

Karen Davis is headed to China this week with her body of work, Close to Home.
Here is more on her series.

Project: Close to Home
“Close to Home,” is a series of portraits of children and family at moments of deep engagement. I began at home, with photographs of girls at play; I continued with subjects in my family and immediate neighborhood. As my own children married and had children, I incorporated the diversity of their lives. Now, “Close to Home” extends far beyond my neighborhood to the world.

Lishui Photo - Mary Parisi

2009-11-19T21:52:00.000-08:00

Mary Parisi left for China today.

Her work, looking at food is based on the artistic, rather than culinary, allowing us to create an emotional connection of our own to foods so personal to her.

more about Food Pictures -
This body of work is about food. All the pictures resulted from foods, which I cooked and ate. Some of the food, like the chicken soup pictures are reminders of my childhood and my father who made chicken soup every other Monday for many years.
To some extent the pictures are related to my history as a sculptor because I think of food as material for art. I am indebted to the artist Joseph Bueys and his use of fat for its physical properties and metaphorical value.
I have to admit that while I am not a vegetarian, I live with a reluctance to take as food other animals, who like us have blood in their veins. I have no answer for this dilemma. I can only acknowledge the conflict and try to say, it is a chicken or a pig or the fat rendered from the pig’s body and it is delicious and beautiful and horrible.

Lishui Photo - Karen Strom

2009-11-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

Karen Strom is one of a pair of Stroms. Her husband, Stephen is a photographer as well. Both Stroms are accomplished scientists, who have now focused on creative endeavors. Stephen's work, abstract large scale landscapes, was profiled earlier this month as part of the Lishui Festival. Karen's work is significantly different than Stephen's in her process, eye and creative focus. Her composited works create environments, visions and scenes that are often miles apart. Her blending of textures creates what she calls Architectonics.

Here is more about her process -

"The world I see is composed of many different layers, scales and moments. When making an image, I explore the relationships between multiple facets of the world, integrating them into a single vision in an attempt to mimic the manner in which the mind forms composite impressions from the array of images that are constantly impinging upon you. While the resulting images often evoke disparate, even conflicting, responses, they ultimately capture a more complete impression of a landscape or object: details are synthesized into broader views; interiors integrated into exterior views. It is the ambiguity of my images, the feelings evoked by differing scales, perspectives and viewpoints, that together work to yield an integrated image of a landscape. It is these visions that I then attempt to translate into a single image, hoping to evoke similar emotional and intellectual responses in the viewer. "

Lishui Photo - Sarah Hadley

2009-11-18T03:23:00.000-08:00

I met Sarah in Portland at PhotoLucida this April. She had a beautiful, romantic and really gorgeous portfolio on Venice. Sarah is also one of the participants of the Lishui Festival. The organizing committee chose a different body of work, Water's Edge. Having spent my youth on a beach, and getting back to it as often as I can, I understand the power the ocean holds over us, the metaphors it can conjure and most often I have the overwhelming urge to plunge in and be surrounded in the silence. Sarah's images lead me to that moment. Her Black and white images showcase that fluid ever changing boundary beautifully.

about "The Water's Edge":

I grew up spending entire summer days by the ocean. These outings were always a special event and the beach was a place of wonderment, fascination and exploration for me. I loved the enormity and freedom the beach provided and the sense that we had entered a space where time was lost and the only rhythm was governed by the tides. As an adult, I have lived close to two great bodies of water--Lake Michigan and now the Pacific Ocean, and I've found myself drawn to beaches wherever I travel, especially when I can be alone in these vast panoramas. The complex and ever-changing landscape feels like stepping into an altered reality and I am interested in how the patterns in sand, sea and sky echo one another, as well as showing the transformative power of the elements. Capturing that point where water meets land feels like entering an infinity at the edge of the world.

Tom Chambers - World Photography Gala Award

2009-11-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

It is an honor and a privilege to represent someone as talented as Tom Chambers.

I have had the pleasure of seeing his work grow, mature and emerge as one of the most talented artists in the world. His recent showcase in Fotográfica 2009 Bogotá, his smashing show in Madrid, his first place award from DC FotoWeek for his image "Saccharin Perch", and now his most recent success, the World Photography Gala.

Tom was awarded First Place in the Digital Enhanced category of the 2009 Worldwide Photography Gala Awards. "The Goatherd" will be exhibited in the WPGA inaugural exhibition in Madrid.

The WPGA received 3,180 images from 47 countries. The jurors' team included Susan Zadeh, publisher of Eyemazing Magazine; Chris Steele-Perkins, Magnum; Tim Anderson, editor of the Red Dog Journal; and Brooks Jensen, publisher of Lenswork.

Congratulations Tom!

New Directions 2010

2009-11-17T07:11:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who submitted to Down + Out, New Directions 2010.
We have some incredible submissions, and it will be difficult for Carol to make her decisions. I have had a great time going through the work, and have picks of my own, which won't be divulged until after her decisions are made.

We will be announcing the selected artists in December, and the show opens in Seattle in January. We will announce the Best of Show in January, and thanks again to Blurb for donating publishing for the winner of Down + Out.

images by Aline Smithson, Badwater and Jennifer Schlesinger, North Noon

Lishui Photo - Charles Rozier

2009-11-16T06:28:00.000-08:00

Charles is another participant in the Lishui Photo Festival.
Having met him in Portland, and really enjoying his work, I was pleased to see his inclusion in China.

His family fills the frame of his lens, watching who they are, how they grow and change over time. Broken into segments based on his camera, he defines his world by low and high resolution.

About the series -

“Low-Resolution Diary” is the second of three photographic series that form a 30-year diary of documentary portraits, mostly of my family. This project has driven almost all of my photography and remains a work in process. I can't say just how it got started, but I can say my first exposure as a teenager to Cartier-Bresson was life-changing.

The three series are defined by their media: 35mm monochrome (Tri-X Diary) through 2002; then small format digital (Low-Resolution Diary) 2003-2008; and currently medium format film (High- Resolution Diary) 2008-2009. Although I feel all the photographs emerge from the same point of view, each series is shaped differently by its format.

The Low-Resolution series was photographed digitally with a tiny camera that allowed me to unobtrusively capture fleeting situations that might otherwise have been missed or disrupted. The pictures are printed at a fairly large scale, at which the coarse character of the camera’s output becomes integral with the image, imposing a degree flatness and abstraction. Although some of the images may appear constructed, they are entirely documentary.

The High-Resolution seris is photographed on relatively larger and slower 6x7cm film. The resulting images are more static, formal, and perhaps more classically photographic in character than the earlier series. There are three key things I have been trying to accomplish: to capture a “live” documentary moment within a formal composition; to evoke a real environmental space; and to reveal the subject in a sense that is neither momentary nor expected.

Lishui Photo - Susan Berger

2009-11-15T08:05:00.000-08:00

Susan Berger is another Lishui participant. Her focus? She stopped. While the rest of us go whizzing by at 80 miles an hour, she stopped and payed tribute, and helped us focus on those who have left us. Roadside memorials are all something we see, but don't look at. I think Susan has done us a great favor by honoring those who care for those memorials, as well as the individuals they pay homage to.

About Private Memories in Public Places -

My portfolio, “Private Memories in Public Places”, documents the roadside memorials that dot our highways and city streets.Most of us barely notice them as we drive along, but these memorials have become an integral part of the national landscape. Perhaps we don’t notice them because they have become so common that they no longer arrest our attention. And perhaps it’s because they often fit so naturally into the landscape.
As I look at these monuments, I am struck by the obvious care, time and work that went into their creation. They are intended to be permanent and to be visited again and again. The compelling question to me is why the survivors need to memorialize the place the person died. Some have suggested a belief that the soul still hovers at the sight. But I believe it’s because the death was so sudden, violent and unexpected. Perhaps the survivors want to remember that life stopped right here.
I began photographing these memorials in 2005. In 2009, I was awarded a project grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts to travel the country and photograph these little works of art. In 2009, I drove 18,000 miles from coast-to-coast and border-to-border photographing the memorials I found along the way.

Lishui Photo - Rita Maas

2009-11-11T10:11:00.000-08:00

Rita Maas and curator Paula Tognarelli, from the Griffin Museum in Boston head to the Lishui Photo Festival to showcase Rita's series, Reality TV. I reviewed the work in Portland, at PhotoLucida, and found it fascinating. Reality TV is a world unto its own, creating a culture of reality stars and megastars, elevating the average to iconic status. It spawns some curious creatures, like Balloon Boy's Dad, in its more obvious surreal forms.

But what Rita is looking at is far more subliminal and seductive. Think about the palettes she is showing, from TV shows like Top Chef, The Home shopping Network, even news like Obama's Inaguration and baseball games - Pirates vs. Cardinals. We all know how we are affected by sunshine, and what that warm light does to us, how it lifts our spirits as it washes over us. But think about that light emanating form that big screen tv you have on all the time in that background. How does that affect your mood? Rita's presentation asks a good question, and showcases a perplexing answer.

About her series -

Reality TV was created as a direct response to living in a culture of You Tube and Twit- ter; constantly multitasking on multiple screens and the unending stream of informa- tion, both relevant and banal.

Feeling overwhelmed after the recent political season I felt the need to express my search for relief. The result is “Reality TV”. Each composite photograph represents a television program photographed with the camera directed towards a wall and ceiling or corner of the room where the program is being viewed. The camera takes in the information beamed from the television and reformulates it for the viewer as reflected color. The camera sensor is recording the light over several seconds, blending it as the capture takes place. It is recording the unseeable. The assembled images of saturated color vibrate against each other and are evocative of both field paintings and pixels. They are, in a sense, a reduction of the very notion of a photograph, the recording of light.

This piece is meant to highlight issues of observation and comprehension. How much of the world we inhabit do we really observe? How much do we comprehend of all we take in everyday? To what extent do we create our own reality?

The piece itself hangs on the wall as a kind of spiritual icon, presenting a space of mediation, a transformation of what it was created from.

“Nothing is more abstract than reality” —Giorgio Morandi

Lishui Photo - Stan Raucher

2009-11-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

Stan Raucher has been traveling the world, capturing the streets of Paris, Latin America and soon, China. I can't wait. I have been watching Stan grow as a photographer over the last few years, and his newest group of portraits I have found really lovely, engaging and intense.

Stan started as an observer, photographing the life he saw around him, now he is a participant, engaging his subjects, and the change is evident.

Here is Stan's statement about his process.

Using natural light and a bit of serendipity, I strive to create compelling black and white photographs that provide a glimpse into aspects of the human condition.

My candid photography documents ordinary people going about their daily lives in public spaces. These images capture fleeting moments, spontaneous gestures and the ephemeral juxtaposition of people and their surroundings. They depict situations that are unexpected, mysterious, humorous, bizarre or poignant. These photos are neither posed nor staged and I do not interact with my subjects before or after photographing them. Creating these images requires both quick reactions and a great deal of shoe leather since there are no second takes for this type of photography.

My portrait photography conveys a distinctly different sensibility. Portraits from Latin America documents people I have met during my journeys through this region. Although these encounters are brief, I attempt to delve beneath the surface and reveal insights into the lives and character of these individuals. These photographs portray a variety of temperaments and display a range of emotions. Making these portraits involves genuine interpersonal interactions that transcend language and cultural barriers.

New Directions 2010 Submissions due 15 November

2009-11-09T09:21:00.000-08:00

Pardon the interruption, but I wanted to make sure ya'll knew this was the last week to get your submissions in for New Directions 2010 and in front of Carol McCusker of Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California.

Do Not Delay! Get 'em in soon.

Remember, the show hangs in Seattle and Portland in January and February, and will be showcased online as well.

I am so excited with the number of entries that have come in, as well as the quality of images! It will be tough for Ms. McCusker to make her choices.

Did I mention our Best of Show winner receives $100 credit from Blurb to produce a book? Who doesn't want that?

For more information about ND10 - Down + Out, log onto the website.

All of our submissions are considered for gallery representation to both wall space and 23 Sandy in Portland.

Some previous participants of ND now represented by the gallery - Joseph O. Holmes, Priya Kambli, Joelle Jensen, and Bill Vaccaro.

we look forward to your seeing your work.

Images shown Jennifer Schlessinger, Bill Vaccaro, Joelle Jensen and Joseph O. Holmes.

Lishui Photo - Carol Isaak

2009-11-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Carol Isaak was a participant of PhotoLucida in April of last year. I got the opportunity to sit down with her for 20 minutes and review her work. Her focus, China, showcased an outsider's view of a foreign landscape. Bright color, beautiful architecture, and a sense of place fill her images with life.

She is headed to Lishui, and will continue her travels and add more dimensions to her visuals. By incorporating sound, she hopes to give us as viewers a transported vision. Not unlike when we head to our own International District, or Chinatown. Documenting a changing culture is difficult, but I applaud her for her efforts. She has done a nice job of showcasing a beautiful culture.

Here is more on Carol's vision -

Core Sample: China

I photograph NOW. My worldview is as a “social documentarian.” I look at societies thru their material culture in order to understand the population primarily by documenting their objects, as well as documenting the lives of women, some men, and some children.

My photographs are not timeless; quite the opposite. Markers anchor us to a specific time, especially images of material culture. We recognize the time-signs by historical references, garments, vehicles, architecture, juxtapositions, or by something in process that inevitably gets completed.

My goal is to present bodies of work that tell the backside, or the inside of the story, the private side, the small picture, not the global, general big picture. I search for the intimate, which reveals something larger. Core Sample: China describes certain visual conventions (like the pierced spaces in window coverings), and the contrast and tensions between the different realities that are lived and aspired to. But it is a country in flux, and that movement is vital to its wellbeing as the population explores long suppressed traditions and newly government-encouraged innovations.

Lishui Photo - Alejandro Cartagena

2009-11-06T08:07:00.000-08:00

Alejandro Cartagena's name is everywhere these days. Just announced yesterday, he is on the list for PhotoLucida's Critical Mass top 50. Today he was slated as a book finalist from CM50. An International Discovery at FotoFest in Houston , Alejandro has been highlighted on Joerg Colberg's blog, Conscientious, PDN online, Lenscratch, a participant in Review Santa Fe, and the list goes on and on. He is also joining Taj Forer in Lishui China to showcase his work on Suburbia. I am excited to see how is work is viewed there. What will be the response to the social and economic similarities of expansion and population growth, how it affects their surroundings, and how fundamentally changed the environment becomes....

Here is Taj Forer's statement about Alejandro -

Alejandro Cartagena's 'Suburbia Mexicana' is both aesthetically beautiful and politically, socially and environmentally poignant. The work is timely, deeply personal yet globally relevant. Cartagena's engagement of the real challenges the viewer to contemplate the timeless theme of how we dwell as a society (or collection thereof) with the natural environment. The fast-paced development examined by Cartagena through his photographs is not unlike many blossoming urban and suburban development projects currently found throughout China. The cultural challenges facing communities affected by such government-sponsored development initiatives is uncannily similar throughout the world. By focusing on his hometown of Monterrey, Mexico, Cartagena turns his lens on the complex and nuanced global phenomenon most commonly referred to as "progress." His vivid, straightforward, large-scale color photographs afford the viewer a moment to pause, experience and reflect upon the complicated and far-reaching implications of development. From issues of resource management to changing cultural values, Cartagena's photographs delve into the newness and unknown realities of Mexico's suburban expansion.

Lishui Photo - Mark Tompkins

2009-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Mark Tompkins work, Dialogues, will be on view in China this month as part of the Lishui Festival. Strong black and white images with text, Tompkins images tell stories and keep us engaged in the images.

about the series DIALOGUES -

By creating dialogues between image and text, this body of work takes on the age-old challenge of depicting multiple perspectives on a subject in a single composition. These conversations address the mystery and irony of the strong story lines that scribe through our lives, often uninvited; story lines on time and death, love and fear, work and play, god and meaning. Each composition organically expands the storyline of the image with the text, and so generates an unusually multifaceted narrative while still leaving plenty of room for the viewer to personalize it – to experience it from their own set of evoked memories, dreams and ideas.

Lishui Photo - Steven Strom

2009-11-02T07:53:00.000-08:00

Steve Strom has had some great success this year, between shows, his new book, and now a trip to showcase his beautiful work in China. His day job as an astronomer keeps him a visionary, finding needles in haystacks, looking at broad perspectives to find the tiniest fragment of being. HIs work takes on the stunning desert landscape, finding life and patterns in the empty space most pass over as desolate and void. His work will be a colorful open discussion of landscape and abstraction. I am looking forward to having a bit of the desert with me in China.

here is more on his series -

Images in the portfolio, Earth Forms attempt to capture what is nearly beyond the camera’s grasp: a desert land

shaped by millennial forces and yesterday’s cloudburst into undulations of color and form – its history reimagined in light that at once penetrates and sculpts.

For the poet Joy Harjo, “the(se) photographs are not separate from the land or larger than it. Rather, they

gracefully and respectfully exist inside it. Breathe with it. The camera is used to see with a circular viewpoint which becomes apparent even though the borders of the images remain rectangular. The land in these photographs is a beautiful force, in the way the Navajo mean the word beautiful, an all-encompassing word, like those for land and sky, that has to do with living well, dreaming well, in a way that is complementary to all life.”

I bring to this landscape the sensibilities of an astronomer who has lived in the desert for almost 20 years, and in whom the desert has lived for more than 30. My tools are simple: a 35mm SLR or 4x5 view camera, and long focal length lenses whose power to compress vast desert spaces can create an illusion of intimacy, of comprehension: inviting viewers to look deeply into what light and earth together form.

Lishui Photo - Jessica Kaufman

2009-11-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

My path has crossed with Jessica's on many photo review occasions, from Houston to Portland, and her work has always stood out. She was asked by the Lishui Festival to show her lovely work in China, and I am happy to highlight her work here. Her series, Panopticon, is well crafted, luscious, silver prints of open spaces.

Here is Jessica's statement on Panopticon -

No one

bears witness for the

witness.

–Paul Celan

I approached this series as I have all others: with the intention to investigate, or call attention to, how

identity shifts and changes when catalyzed by experience, and more dramatically, trauma. For this

project, I again was drawn to the landscape as muse, but uncharacteristically chose one loaded with

meaning, burdened with a history so cumbersome that I initially was afraid to pursue it.

The title of this series, Panopticon, refers to an 18th century circular prison model that allows for

secret surveillance of all prisoner activity through natural illumination. The subject matter is the

grounds of Nazi concentration camps. Far from being documentary in nature, these photographs are

decontextualized excerpts through which I sought to dispose of most recognizable clues to the

specific places, and focus on the surrounding, and surviving, environments in order to recast them as

sites for new meaning. The resulting images, mutated through a technical process that relies on decay

as an operative force, do suggest trauma, but don’t require a reaction that encompasses a response to

iconic horror. Instead, I make this work in the hope of inspiring a dialogue between the viewer and

imagery that fuses indeterminate disturbance with transcendent beauty.

Lishui Photo - David Wolf

2009-10-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

David Wolf and I met in Portland at PhotoLucida. We had a lovely conversation, and I enjoyed his body of work, Nurturing Time. His architectural, colorful and textured images were perfect for a rainy spring day in April. He is also one of the lucky invitees to Lishui, and I am looking forward to them brightening up a cold November day.

Here is more about his series - Nurturing Time.

“Nurturing Time, Life in a Backyard Garden” inhabits the place where still life and landscape meet.

The project’s working method bridges the disparate practices of found and staged photography to explore how we regard our natural surroundings as we nurture, shape and control them. The series depicts the human presence in Nature in the form of arrangements made from flowers and plants selected from the photographer’s garden, and places them amidst the cycle of growth, decay and rebirth that unfolds there.

To create the assemblages I isolate the plants individually, and arrange and combine them to make associations or suggest contradictions. A simple cardboard box serves as both neutral container and conceptual envelope to display the arrangements. This working practice is itself a metaphor for how we contain and manipulate Nature.

Beyond typology, “Nurturing Time” offers us the richness of the garden and illuminates our connection to it. The assembled flower boxes resonate with a range of emotion, reflecting our own experience of the cycle of life that embraces vitality and decay, abundance and loss. Memory—Time’s shadow—is present here, too, as events and lives are evoked and memorialized by these images.

Lishui Photo - Cyrus Karimipour

2009-10-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

I have been following Cyrus's work for a couple of years, after first seeing it in Critical Mass, then having the opportunity to meet him at Review Santa Fe. His work is somewhat dark, ominous and hard to read. Which is why I am a fan. My mother the mystery writer says there is trouble lurking around each corner. His figures are shapeshifters, shadows in a landscape. I like work I can come back to over and over and find something new, attach a new story to.

Cyrus received his invitation to showcase his work in Lishui, and I for one am looking forward to seeing it, as well as seeing the reaction to it.

Lishui Photo - Ernie Buttons

2009-10-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

In Portland, I'm walking around during portfolio walk night, and I am stopped in my tracks by Ernie Buttons' work. I laughed out loud. It was creative, clever, colorful and charming in a Lucky Charm, Capt'n Crunch kind of way. I am excited to see how the work is received in Lishui. I'll let you know.

More on his series Cerealism -

Art is shaped by a person's life experiences and I am no different. When I was a youngster, cereal was a luxury item. A brand name cereal was a rarity in our house as they were consistently more expensive. Something like King Vitamin (a popular 70's cereal) or Cap'n Crunch made for pure breakfast heaven as a child. On a recent trip to the grocery store, there sat King Vitamin next to a new version of Cap'n Crunch, Choco Donuts. Looking at the rest of the cereal aisle, it is clear that breakfast cereal has changed from mere nutrition to sheer entertainment. The cereal aisle has become a cornucopia of vibrantly colored marshmallows that resemble people and objects and characters from movies, as if they were calling out to have their portraits taken, to be the center of attention. However, on the other side of the aisle sits the more 'adult' cereals (i.e. fiber, bran). Having lived in Arizona for over 30 years, those cereals upon close inspection resemble some of the shapes and colors and textures of the southwestern desert. I began to construct landscapes that would utilize the natural earth tones of certain cereals. I placed enlarged photographs of actual Arizona skies in the background of the cereal landscapes giving the final image an odd sense of reality. It is apparent that cereal is not just for breakfast anymore. Cereal has evolved into pop culture objects instead of just nutritious corn pops.

Lishui Photo - David Ellingsen

2009-10-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

David is another fine artist making the trip to Lishui.

Here is more on his series, Future Imperfect.

The expectation of a perfect life as dictated by Western consumer culture has far-reaching implications, particularly as it relates to conservation and environmental responsibility. In the context of an affluent yet unsustainable culture resistant to any perceived deterioration of lifestyle, the series Future Imperfect asks when the tipping point for meaningful widespread social change will occur…and suggests one disturbing possibility.

With little or no trace of Man, the landscapes themselves seem to contain an unseen menace, weighing the human response instinct to a clear and present danger against signs of a more subtle nature. Formations of figures portray community - a crowd, a flock, a pod, a herd - beginning with a human perspective, but more importantly one more all-encompassing, putting mankind back into the natural order from which He has removed himself. The bodies themselves realize the dominant demographic of recent human history, raising ideas of civil justice and systems of power as they relate to social progress.

Bringing together these elements of Man and Environment, Future Imperfect examines the point where our seemingly blunted instinct of self-preservation will overcome the entrenched, destructive cultural norms inherent in the West.

Lishui Photo - Natalie Young

2009-10-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

I love my job.
Going to a portfolio review is like taking me to a candy store. Natalie Young sat at my table for 20 minutes, and it was like giving me a box of dark chocolate truffles. Her luscious, warm, tea stained images show the beauty of her family's farm with a sense of place, a history, and all the stories to tell. An American journey we all can be a part of.
She is part of the Lishui Photo Festival and I couldn't be happier to showcase her images. We were lucky enough to work with Natalie last year as part of our inaugural collectible showcase.

Here is more information about her beautiful series, The Farm.

"My photographs frequently explore the connection of the past to the present, and the relationship of people to their environment. Personal identity and cultural history are often attached to a sense of place, and this can have a strong influence over the texture and stories of our life. I am very interested in the experience of family and cultural history ... the need for a story that ties us to a larger meaning, and the extent to which we either inherit larger stories or attempt to create newer ones.

‘The Farm’ series was photographed in Kansas over the past decade, on the farm of my husband's grandparents. The land has been in the family for many generations and much of his family's roots, identity, and stories are tied to this particular plot of earth. This project is about place and history, about memory and story. It's about the things that tie us together, and the things that bring us back."

Lishui Photo - Douglas Ethridge

2009-10-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Doug Ethridge is a prolific artist, every series is unique, beautiful and creative. He is constantly searching for new views, new ideas and ways of looking at the world. His black + white series, Solitary Voyagers, is one of my all time favorites, graphic, moody and Hitchcock-like in its shadowy qualities. Metropolis shows off his dry wit and sense of humor, Primordial Seas is a symphony of color.
His newest series, Selective Memories, will be showing in Lishui. This newest series, done in palladium, has a romantic, dreamlike quality to images. Taken along beaches on the West coast, and being a beach girl myself, growing up in Southern California, these images remind me of days spent surfing, finding rocks and hanging out with my friends. The images have that feeling of the West, the openness of the sky, the feel of the sand between my toes, and that cold Pacific lapping at my feet.

About Selective Memories -

Our memories are often vague, imperfect and frequently embellished. Images, songs and smells trigger a flood of memories that are unique to each person. As a child, my family would often go on camping trips, usually to the forest or the ocean. My father enjoyed being on the road, seeing what there was to see – from him, I learned that every bend in the road had potential, every change of scenery could be interesting, every stop along the way was worthy of at least a moment’s notice. This series, like my childhood memories, is about fragments, details glimpsed along the way, about the journey, not the destination

His work is available at Verve in Santa Fe, through Kevin Longino, and at Gallerie BMG in Woodstock, New York.

Lishui Photo - Mark Jaremko

2009-10-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

I met Mark Jaremko on a beautiful sunny summer day in Portland, at Photolucida's summer reviews. I was hooked, I loved his images. His palette of blue and grey, the lights in the distance. I found myself falling into them, and enjoying their silence, the glow of an emerald city in the darkness. Nighttime is always so magical for me, bright lights big city. When I lived in the desert I had the stars as my bright light. not quite the same. The overwhelming stillness and quiet was sometimes too quiet. Mark's images have a great balance of both stillness and life. Always on the periphery, like creating his own universe.

We are excited and honored to be carrying his work in the Studio at the gallery, and he has a new show opening at John Cleary Gallery in Houston, as well as heading to Lishui in November.

Here is more from Mark about his Nightscapes -

I photograph at night. For the past four years, my focus has been on capturing urban landscapes over water photographed during a full moon, all taken with very long exposures. I am fascinated with the sky, the sea and the human presence on the horizon. The horizon can be peaceful, secluded and meditative. It can also reveal things that are distant, cold and artificial. The peaceful and secluded nature of the night draws me to scenes evoking tranquility, loneliness and isolation. My goal has always been to capture these moods in my photographs along with the finest distant details.

Lishui Photo - Rick Scott

2009-10-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Rick Scott is one of the artists who received an invitation to Lishui. He was a participant of PhotoLucida in Portland this spring. In his first review event, with a new portfolio, he received lots of feedback, and met some great people. He also crossed paths with the Lishui Photo Festival group who sent him an invitation to participate in this years festival. That is the beauty of the review process, the opportunities that come out of the events. He also was able to take the information he received, with a more critical eye and channel it into a more focused body of work, with great results.

Rick is showing a beautiful body of landscape images, all focusing on the five elements or Wu Xing in Chinese culture. He has selected a group of works honoring Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. His color, composition and focus on the light and beauty of the natural landscapes make for some lovely images.

Take a look.

Lishui Photo - Meg Birnbaum

2009-10-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of meeting Meg and seeing her beautiful series Corn Dogs and Blue Ribbons in Portland during PhotoLucida, and was taken with the romantic notions of the fair, the texture and emotional pull that took me back to living in the southwest, and small county fairs I couldn't wait to get to. Of course, I can hardly wait any day until a good carny, fair or rodeo, but these images I found really lovely.

I will be excited to see the response in China to this work. I hope you like it as well.

More of Meg's work can be seen on her website, at photo-eye, and we are excited to be working with her to create an edition for collectible this winter.

Here is more about Corn Dogs and Blue Ribbons. -

Corn Dogs and Blue Ribbons is a portfolio of photographs that I took over a two-year period at fourteen summer fairs in New England ranging in size from small 4H fairs to giant ‘expos’.

Passing through the gates of the first fair since I was a teen, I found myself smitten again. I was surprised and delighted by the open and generous sharing of information from all ages of the 4H community. The deep connection with their animals was particularly intriguing and enviable to me. I found that fairs are still a complicated balance of startling innocence and huckster sleaze. Everything is for sale; from whirlpool baths to religious salvation. All of these disparate elements exist in harmony against a backdrop of gleeful screams, bells and whistles and the aroma of fried dough mixed with the pungent essence of livestock and exotic poultry.

This portfolio presents an emotional and somewhat wistful visual record of this long-standing American tradition. I chose to photograph in black and white using extremely basic plastic toy cameras because I purposely wanted to lose sharp detail and instead capture a fleeting moment, a broad stroke, the distillation of the experience in the hope of capturing an iconic image. The fairs have changed so little over the last century I felt that using toy cameras and black and white film were a good match for capturing these timeless activities and that these tools
work well at going beyond documentation but to instead illustrate the memory, the then-or-now of it.

Will organizations like the Future Farmers of America and 4H continue to educate, nourish and interest tomorrow’s students in an agricultural career? Will the future of these summer fairs rely on a continuing shift
away from agriculture to entertainment…. mostly food, specifically fried food; fried Oreo cookies, fried cheesecake “We’ll fry anything” one sign read.

Lishui Photo Festival, China

2009-10-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

I have been told Lishui, in Zhejiang Province, is one of China's smaller provinces, with a population of two million. However, in November it will swell with hundreds of American and international guests, as part of the Lishui Photography Festival.

I am honored to be invited by the festival to represent wall space as well as have the great privilege of showcasing two of the gallery's talented artists. Aline Smithson's Arrangement in Green & Black and Jay Tyrrell's Wind Army will be among the many exhibitions that will fill Lishui from 28 November to 3 December.

I wanted to highlight the festival, as well as the number of talented artists I will have the pleasure of seeing over the course of the festival. look for new posts (finally) about the participating artists and their work.

and if you are headed to China with us - let me know, and I'll make sure we cross paths.

PCNW - opportunity and call for entries.

2009-10-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

Here is an opportunity to get your work in front of a highly regarded, influential figure in shaping Pacific Northwest arts. Eric Fredricksen, the Director of Western Bridge, has a creative curatorial eye, so don't miss this opportunity to support PCNW and arts here in the Northwest. They have extended the entry deadline to October 25th.

(Lillian Sullam)

The Photographic Center Northwest invites you to participate in our 14th Annual Members' Juried Exhibition December 1- January 15, 2009. You must be a current member or become a member of PCNW to participate (memberships are annual). First, second, and third prize winners will take home $175, $135 & $100 respectively. The awards will be presented at the artists' reception on Friday, December 4, 6-8 p.m. The competition is open to all photographic processes, all themes and photographers. The entry fee is $5 per jpeg. You may submit up to ten images total. You may not submit work that has been shown in past PCNW Members' Exhibitions. Entry fees are non-refundable. All entries must be received in an envelope by Saturday October 25th, 5 p.m. Selected artists will be notified by phone. A list of the selected artists will be posted on the website.

THE JUROR

Eric Fredericksen is the Director of Western Bridge. He is a former editor and writer at The Stranger and Architecture. Collections and exhibitions are managed by Matthew Cox, a former preparator at the Henry Art Gallery and Bellevue Art Museum. www.westernbridge.org

HOW TO ENTER

Click on the pdf entry form and print it out. Send the completed entry form with your labeled CD to PCNW, 900 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122 and follow the instructions below. Deadline: Must be received by Friday, October 16th, 8 pm.

CD Submission: Images submitted on CD must be jpgs formatted for a PC. Maximum jpeg size is 10 inches or 1024 pixels in the longest dimension and scanned at 72 ppi. Each jpeg must be titled with the photographer's name, correlating letter to match the entry form, the title of the image and the year it was taken. Example: JohnSmith_A_Untitled_2006.jpg, JohnSmith_B_Untitled_2005.jpg. You are strongly encouraged to have a file on your CD with an artist's statement (word document or pdf). The CD must be labeled with the photographer's name as well as the case it's in. Materials will not be returned.

SUBMISSION OF ACCEPTED WORK

Selected artists will have approximately 3 weeks to prepare their work for delivery for the exhibition due: November 21st. The work must be framed or mounted with a wire or sufficient hanging method on the backside. Although your work will be handled delicately by PCNW staff, we will not be responsible for the damage of any work. All works selected for exhibition must be offered for sale at a price determined by the artist. Artists will receive fifty percent of the sale price. Please note that images selected for the show may be used for promotion of the exhibition and PCNW.

New Directions 2010 juried by Carol McCusker

2009-10-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

Opportunity knocks here at wall space for our annual New Directions 2010 exhibition.

Our juror this year is Carol McCusker, of the Museum of Photographic Arts, in San Diego.

We are also excited to announce our collaboration with 23 Sandy Gallery to give the exhibition an additional showcase in fabulous Portland during the month of February 2010.

Here is the critical information -

New Directions 2010
Down & Out

in Seattle at wall space - 5 January - 31 January 2010
in Portland at 23 Sandy - 5 February - 27 February 2010

submissions open now until 15 November, 2009.
Artist notification - 15 December, 2009
Prints due to wall space - 4 January, 2010

Ms. McCusker's vision for Down & Out -

This call for entries privileges two points of view: looking down from a high vantage point, and looking out to a vanishing horizon. Art historian, Albert Boime, described the former as a "Magisterial Gaze" that gave early Americans, through painting and printmaking, a view at one with God, hence, Manifest Destiny. The latter may simply be the romance of the road, or curiosity about what lies just out of sight - an American impulse from early pioneers to Jack Kerouac.

Numerous painters and photographers have employed these vantage points, subsequently, they run the risk of cliché. When done well, however, each reveals the unexpected, as in Szarkowski's photograph above (he captures both in one image). The optimist in me delights at the disorienting perspective of looking down whereby familiar objects become abstract and dizzyingly beautiful, to looking out, with that forward motion promising adventure or escape.

The title Down & Out might conjure images of ne'er-do-wells (risky, if the public decides not to inquire further). What I hope the photographs provide, however, is pleasure in the variety of ways 'down' and 'out' can be imaged, and what emotional liberation such points-of-view can have on our often confined and overly responsible psyches.

About Ms. McCusker -

Carol McCusker is curator of photography at the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego. She received her Ph.D. in art history with an emphasis on the history of photography and film history at the University of New Mexico (UNM), Albuquerque. She has curated numerous exhibitions at MoPA and UNM, and is contributing author to Paul Outerbridge (Taschen, 1999); First Photographs: William Henry Fox Talbot and The Birth of Photography (powerHouse, 2002); James Fee: The Peleliu Project (Seraphin, 2002); Phil Stern: A Life's Work (powerHouse, 2003); Terry Falke: Observations in an Occupied Wilderness (Chronicle, 2006); and Breaking the Frame: Pioneering Women in Photojournalism (MoPA, 2006) The Roads Most Traveled: Migration Photographs by Don Bartletti (2006), Rebels & Revelers: Experimental Decades 1970s-1980s (2007), Public Privacy: Wendy Richmond's Surreptitious Cellphone (2007), and The Photographer's Eye (2008)

McCusker's freelance writing has been published in The Photo Review, Communication Arts, and she is a regular contributor to B&W and Color magazines. In recent years, McCusker has reviewed portfolios at Houston Fotofest, Review Santa Fe, Photo L.A., Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Photo Lucida, and in November, the Lishui Photo Festival, China. She was also a nominator for the 2009 ICP Infinity Awards, and a Juror for the 2008 Julia Dean Berenice Abbott Award.

for more information find the New Directions page on the gallery's website, or contact the wall space or 23 Sandy for details.

Opportunity Knocks at Foley Gallery

2009-10-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of Michael Foley.
He is talented, thoughtful, creative and now, giving of himself to help promote and support artists in a huge way.
I was honored to have him jury our very first New Directions exhibition in 2006, and some of his choices have been a great part of our gallery's vision since then. Cynthia Greig, Joseph O. Holmes, Joelle Jensen to name a few.

Now he has the Summer Project. Go now, do not delay, and submit to get the opportunity not only to get in front of the collection of talented artists and curators, but to have the ability to work with Michael is not to be missed.

Submissions are being accepted until 15 October, 2009.

here is more information.

The Summer Project offers the unique chance for artists to work directly with the gallery, creating new work to be curated in a group exhibition.

This new initiative will provide an opportunity for emerging photographers to have their work seen, recognized and reviewed by fellow artists, gallery directors, book editors, as well as curators from museum and corporate collections.

Upon acceptance, you will work on your own and with the guidance of gallery owner Michael Foley to create new work dedicated to a theme that will be suggested by the curatorial panel. A total of 12 photographers will be selected by the panel to participate.

From January to April you will meet with Michael Foley either in the gallery or via iChat/Skype for two 30 minute sessions where you can discuss your progress and share what you have been working on.

In May, a final edit will be made and two photographs from each photographer will be curated into a group exhibition at FOLEY Gallery opening in June 2010. In addition to the work of these 12 photographers, additional selections will be curated into the show from some of the most well known contemporary photographers working today.

This is the first year for The summer Show Project. We invite you to submit your work to participate in this unique opportunity and share the experience of exposure, guidance, feedback, community, recognition and support.

We invite photographers from all disciplines to apply. The Summer Show Project is open to all photographers world wide.

for the online application click here.

Opportunity at Rayko Photo

2009-09-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a great opportunity for a photographer to have access to a great facility, staff and the fabulous town of San Francisco.

Apply by 2 October.

We here at the gallery are big fans of Rayko and its gallery director, the ever talented, clever and creative Ann Jastrab, and how can you pass up the option of working in such a cool, creative environment?

Give it a shot.

PhotoNola

2009-08-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am telling you - go forth on September 1st, plunk down your ducats and plan on being in New Orleans on December 12& 13. This is a great portfolio review, and alas I won't be there, but really talented, hardworking and creative people will be.

Last year I met so many great people, it will be a weekend you won't soon forget.

Here is the link for more info, the fabulous reviewers who will be there to help further your career, and all the festivities surrounding the event. And did I mention its in New Orleans? Can't beat that with a stick.

don't hesitate - its a small event with a big impact. just go.

photo's by some of PhotoNola 08 participants - Wallace Merritt, Maja Georgiou, Sarah Wilson and Victoria Ryan

Benjamin Lowy

2009-08-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Ben's work is powerful and insightful. I follow politics, politicians and the war pretty closely, so when I saw this work I was immediately taken with it. To me it exemplifies the way we grasp what is happening in Iraq, how we see a different culture, and why we don't understand what happens to our families when our soldiers come home.
I have been trying to consolidate my feelings for this post, and I end up frustrated, trying to stay neutral. I just can't. I know, its my blog and I can say what I want. But this blog is about images, and the photographers who created them. So I found this wording from a PDN post Ben had done in June of this year. It says it all. Thanks to PDN and to Ben for letting me share.

In Ben's words -
In July 2005 I was being driven from an assignment—an endeavor that took two cars and 4 heavily armed Iraqi guards—when my mother called. She asked me if I had the chance to go to a shopping mall with Iraqis. Mouth agape, I told her that something like that is impossible, dangerous for someone like me—tall, white, and bald. I told her that I couldn’t go anywhere without guards, or without US soldiers—that Iraq was a land of blast walls and barbed wire fences. She replied that she had no idea, that she never saw any photographs or news reports illustrating what I had described. That was when I made my first image of a concrete blast wall through the window of my armored car.

“Iraq | Perspectives grew immediately out of that conversation, and as a response to what I felt was the general apathy and inability of people in the US to comprehend what Iraq is like. Confronted by a level of violence so high that walking on the streets to photograph is tantamount to suicidal behavior, I found myself confined to working with American soldiers, spending most of my time going on various missions in armored Humvees. My only view of Iraq was through the inches-thick bulletproof window.

“I wonder if Iraqis see me through these windows? I don’t know. But they do see the monstrous convoys of Humvees coming down the roads of their neighborhoods. Some stop to stare, some jeer, some cheer (rare), some just go about their business, oblivious to the tons of destructive force driving by. This view of the Iraqi street is one so rarely seen by the American public, but it is the most common sight for US soldiers. Do these soldiers see the Iraqis as they speed by? I’m not sure.

“I strive to create images that will hopefully overcome the public’s apathy to news pictures from Iraq. Metaphorically speaking, these windows represent a barrier that impedes dialogue. These pictures show a fragment of Iraqi daily life taken by a transient passenger in a Humvee. The images are not intimate—they often show a distant and detached perspective of a country so empty, so desolate and of a situation so dire.”

Emily Shur

2009-07-31T06:30:00.000-07:00

Emily has got to be one of the coolest people I have ever met. I had the pleasure of meeting her in Santa Fe this June at the Reviews.

A commercial photographer by day, her personal work lends itself to her downtime, when she doesn't have to think on her feet. Reacting to her circumstance, giving us who she is, where she is, and that moment of peace, like an exhale, before gearing up to go out and do it again.
Her work is quiet and unassuming. The structure, color and sometimes the light of the images draws me in. I am not sure if it is the anticipation of whats next in the image, or it often feels like something just happened, and I am disappointed that I missed the event. She calls them small moments, but to me, who soaks up as much life as I can absorb, they all seem important. It seems like the yin and yang of the careless nature of what we do to our surroundings, and finding out it is all so deliberate.

ok, ok, enough. Take a look at the work.
Emily's statement about the work -

Some of my earliest memories are of light shining through a row of hospital windows and walking down that long hallway with my father, going to visit my mother who was sick with cancer at the age of twenty-nine. I was three years old. I’ve always found it interesting that I don’t remember seeing her in the hospital. I only remember the light coming through the window and forming bright, glowing rectangles in repetition along the floor. Through the years, I’ve thought a lot about how memory subconsciously manifests itself; how small and seemingly insignificant moments become important and meaningful over time; how a lifetime is slowly constructed out of these moments. There’s no doubt this has impacted my photography.

This body of work represents roughly ten years of picture taking and an examination of my individual experiences. These images were made all over the world, under all sorts of circumstances. Sometimes I was led to a place for work, sometimes for fun, but in every situation I found myself celebrating the supposedly small moments. Photography has allowed me to give due importance to all of the bits and pieces in my life. These images are not idealized views of life experience. Instead, they are representative of a conscious choice I have made regarding how and what I choose as my memories. Births, deaths, milestones, and change are a part of every life. A face or a smile is not required for me to associate imagery with emotion. In my world, the subtle, the natural, and the insignificant are just as powerful as the obviously epic.

Jon Edwards

2009-07-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

I saw Jon's work in Los Angeles at ReviewLA two years ago, and loved it. Have been watching his growth and success ever since. The richness of his work both in content and in process is beautiful. Images of Maine, and its people (I say it as if it were a different country) Jon captures the strength, life and emotional connection of this way of life. Having been to Maine many times and seen this rugged beauty, I am drawn in to these images, remembering how simple and how stunning it is.

Jon's Statement -

After Practicing civil rights and environmental law for over twenty years, I have spent the last six years photographing inhabitants of islands off the coast of Maine. These individuals live simply, and demonstrate dignity and tenacity when, by choice or lack of opportunity, they are forced to survive under the harsh economics or isolation of island living, or an increasingly difficult way of life. They reside in a remote or isolated beauty and remain a direct connection with the natural environment. Their lifestyles demonstrate how far our society has come from the once organic, symbiotic relationships between human and natural conditions. My photographs are meant to be a celebration of people and places where the human spirit still connects with the natural world. It is my hope that, like my legal work, they will contribute in some small way to social justice and human progress.

Laurie Lambrecht

2009-07-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

Laurie's trees are stark, architectural, and just plain beautiful to surround yourself with. Shot in winter, these lovely images really show how life survives. When everything goes dormant, here are these living breathing, survivors in such bleak grey.
I am excited to see Laurie's work be part of the upcoming Lishui Photo Festival in China this November.

This is what Laurie says about her work - I couldn't say it any better.

Often a symbol of strength, trees provide visual poetry for our life and its cycles. Throughout history, literature and painting have depicted the ever changing language of landscape.
With appreciation of this tradition, it is the tree that I have chosen to study. Over the past decade I have been photographing trees in urban areas, often revisiting and further exploring their individual character. This series of photographs was begun in November 2oo4 on the edge of Lake Zurich, Switzerland. To date there are almost 25 images in the series. They are photographed at the end of the day in silent moments before dark takes over. I consider them as being in a landscape in my mind as much as an actual place. The images hold some of my emotional experience of the trees rather than merely a physical description of them.

Brian Buckley

2009-07-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

Brian Buckley participated at the Santa Fe Reviews, and I was enchanted by his Photograms.

A series filled with color, light, organic shapes and dimensionality. A total treat. This particular group is lighthearted, but he also has explored more intense themes. Today - I want lighthearted fare. Maybe some other day, I'll expose his Love Lost work. I'll go with the simple elegant Circles, and a few from Organics.

Let me know what you think.

Mark Menjivar

2009-07-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

So I have been thinking alot about who we are, what we carry with us and what we become without our stuff. I have had to shed a lot of my stuff these last few months, streamlining shall we say. Most of it precious, and some stuff just had been around too long. Everyone has baggage, some visible, some subsurface.
Mark Menjivar has found a really interesting way of looking at who we are - through food. you are what you eat is this great study of organized chaos in a small space- our habits, needs, comfort, control, and desire all in one footprint, without a single face to see. We see what baggage people bring to something so vital as food. I am really compelled by the rorsach test that these images become. I want to know more about them, see them, but being deprived of a face to a fridge, I also appreciate not knowing, and enjoying their anonymity as they would respect mine.

From the top -

Bar Tender | San Antonio, TX | 1-Person Household | Goes to sleep at 8AM and wakes up at 4PM daily. | 2008

Street Advertiser | San Antonio, TX | 1-Person Household | Lives on $432 fixed monthly income. | 2007

Red Cross Board Member | San Antonio, TX | 1-Person Household | Sleeps with a loaded .45 pistol on nightstand. | 2008

Midwife/Middle School Science Teacher | San Antonio, TX | 3-Person Household (including dog) | First week after deciding to eat all local produce. | 2008

Here is Mark's statement about the work -

You Are What You Eat is a series of portraits made by examining the interiors of refrigerators in homes across the Untied States.

For three years I traveled around the country exploring the issue of hunger. The more time I spent speaking and listening to individual stories, the more I began to think about the foods we consume and the effects they have on us as individuals and communities. An intense curiosity and questions about stewardship led me to begin to make these unconventional portraits.

A refrigerator is both a private and a shared space. One person likened the question, "May I photograph the interior of your fridge?" to asking someone to pose nude for the camera. Each fridge is photographed "as is." Nothing added, nothing taken away.

These are portraits of the rich and the poor. Vegetarians, Republicans, members of the NRA, those left out, the under appreciated, former soldiers in Hitler’s SS, dreamers, and so much more. We never know the full story of one's life.

My hope is that we will think deeply about how we care. How we care for our bodies. How we care for others. And how we care for the land.

PhotoNola

2009-07-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

Really great news!

PhotoNola is coming! Mark your calendars - the event is from 3-13 December, 2009.
I was honored to be part of this event last year, to participate in the portfolio reviews, and I had the greatest time ever. I cannot recommend it enough. The reviews were top notch. Not only was there an incredible group of reviewers, but the quality of the work we reviewed was well conceived, crafted and a total visual treat and feast for the eyes. I met great artists like Wallace Merritt, Katrina D'Autremont, Frank Relle, Victoria Ryan, Sarah Wilson and Mary Ellen Bartley. These very talented photographers have been highlighted in Black&White Magazine (Wallace Merritt), Color (Frank Relle) highlighted at Foley Gallery in New York (Sarah Wilson), and part of a group exhibition at the Griffin (Katrina d'Autremont) and Mary Ellen is up now at PCNW thanks to Jen Bekman's curatorial jurification.
This is a year to build relationships, and heading to New Orleans in December wouldn't be such a bad idea. If you are thinking about a Portfolio Review event, this one should be on your calendar.
If I'm lucky enough, I'll see you there!
(images shown - Mary Ellen Bartley, Sarah Wilson, Wallace Merritt and Victoria Ryan)

For more information head to PhotoNola's website or drop them a line at info@photonola.org

Fantastic Plastic - The Greatest Toy Camera Show on Earth

2009-07-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Holy Moley! What a show!

Susan Burnstine and Carol Watson have juried a mammoth show in Texas, at the Watson Studio Gallery. The Fantastic Plastic show has a huge cast - 45 artists. Some of our favorites are on the list, some new faces we are looking forward to seeing.
Here is the list -

Bill Barber - Sugarland, TX
Phil Bebbington - Bath, UK
Lori Bell - Santa Maria, CA
Tatyana Bessmertnaya - Plano, TX
Tami Bone - Austin, TX
Susan Bowen - New York, NY
Chris Bucher - Indianapolis, IN
Jean Caslin - Houston, TX
Carol S. Dass - Colorado Springs, CO
Faustinus Deraet - Austin, TX
Mark Finlayson - Goonellabah, Australia

Karen Florek - Venice, CA
Megan Green - Astoria, NY
Laura Greenwood - Austin, TX
Warren Harold - Houston, TX
Jennifer Henriksen - London, ON
Dan Hessing - Leicester, UK
Mark Hickman - Morganton, NC
Cathy Van Hoang - Long Beach, CA
Hugh Jones - Arlington, VA
David Keenan - Austin, TX
Rocky Kneten - Houston, TX
Adam Lanigan - Hawthorne, NJ
Adam Laskowski - Toronto, ON
Erin Malone - San Francisco, CA
Tootie Nienow - Santa Ana, CA
Heather Oelklaus - Colorado Springs, CO
Rebecca Pendel - Farrell, PA
Becky Ramotowski - Tiejeras, NM
Deon Reynolds - Eureka, NV

Carol Schiraldi - Cedar Park, TX
Laura Shindollar - South Bend, IN
Deborah Smith - Austin, TX
Herb Smith - Wimberly, TX
Aline Smithson - Los Angeles, CA

Jennifer Spelman - Santa Fe, NM
Amanda Stahl - Johnson City, TX
Daryl Tebbitt - Leicester, UK
Ann Texter - Georgetown, TX
Rebecca Tolk - Burke, VA

Larry Joe Treadway - Lawrenceburg, KY

Dyana Walker - Kerrville, TX
Kristin Ware - Austin, TX
Kathy Weaver - Los Angeles, CA
Jon Witsell - Brooklyn, NY

Jarrett Murphy

2009-07-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

In Santa Fe, another fabulous portfolio plunked down in front of me was Jarrett Murphy's.
In a technicolor vision, his work exposes fabulous landscapes, unbelievably flawless, showing us a life we seem to drive through without thought. Each image has a distinct life of its own, as well as mystery and story. I found them so surreal, I couldn't stop looking at them, dissecting them, looking for flaws in their flawless presentation. The blue was intense, greens otherworldly, and his use of a grey scale - the night trees, fences and structural objects that frame our subject are almost three dimensional.
I have stories swirling in my head, Cormac McCarthy, Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry. I see the west and its unromantic underbelly.
While Jarrett is not relegated to western subjects, he has a solid body of images that expose the city as well. Check out his website for more.

I hope ya'll like these as much as I do.

Megann Gould

2009-07-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

Megan's photographs tell stories. of us.
They question who we are, what were we thinking, and what's next.
Me - I have been curious about the world around me since birth (no really, ask my mom, she said I couldn't stop looking around from the moment I opened my eyes...) So I loved this work, these stories she tells in Verso. They are mini Rorschach tests.
What do think when you see them? Are you as drawn in as I am?

Megann's creativity and curiosity doesn't stop at Verso, she wants us to think about what we leave behind when we walk out of a room, close a window, move along...Her series of Blackboards is a study in what were they talking about, and why is that there?

I see she has a show coming up at Rayko Photo Center in San Francisco and I encourage everyone to stop by and push yourself a little. Look at her work, think about who you are, or tell stories about the people you don't see. Get creative on your own.

Critical Mass + Photolucida

2009-07-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

It's that time again!

Don't miss out on an opportunity to show your work to some of the best and most influential people in photography and art. Critical Mass is a great way to put your work front and center to dealers, collectors, fellow photographers and dare we say movers and shakers?
How can you not participate? You don't even have to travel to be part of this event.

Angela Bacon Kidwell, one of our newest artists at the gallery participated last year and made the top 50. See how easy that was? If you have a body of work that you think should be seen by some of the worlds best, put it out there. I'll look forward to reviewing it when it comes through.

I mean seriously - here is the list -

Andy Adams, Editor/Publisher, Flak Photo
Jeanne Adams, Ansel Adams Galleries
Laura Addison, New Mexico Museum of Art
Kate Alpers, Art Historian, University of Arizona
Paul Amador, Amador Gallery, NYC
Kathy Aron Dowell, Kathy Dowell Art + Service
Daniel Augschoell, Ahorn Magazine
Susan Baraz, Co-Chair, Lucie Awards
Jayne H. Baum, JHB Gallery, NYC
Jen Bekman, Jen Bekman Gallery, NYC
Nathalie Belayche, Food for your Eyes, Paris
Linda Benedict-Jones, Carnegie Museum
Harvey Benge, Curator / Photographer
Chris Bennett, Newspace Center for Photography
Ellen Boerner, Independent Curator
Howard Bossen, Kresge Art Museum
Ellen Boughn, Stock Agency Strategist
David Bram, Fraction Magazine
Leslie K. Brown, Curator, PRC, Boston
Elizabeth Brown, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle
Paul Buckley, Penguin Group, USA
Susan Burnstine, Black and White Photography Magazine
Alessandra Capodacqua, Studio Marangoni Foundation
Clinton Cargill, NYTimes Magazine
Jean Caslin, Caslin Gregory & Associates
Jim Casper, LensCulture
Darren Ching, Klompching Gallery/Photo District News Magazine
Brian Paul Clamp, ClampArt Gallery, NYC
Joerg Colberg, Conscientious
Alison Collins, Iris Gallery of Fine Art, Boston
Linda Connor, Photographer/Educator
Daniel Cooney, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, NYC
Sean Corcoran, Museum of the City of New York
Tony Decaneas, Panopticon Gallery, Boston
Rodrigo Corral, Rodrigo Corral Design
Lucy Davies, photography critic, Daily Telegraph
Luca Desienna, Gomma Online
Alexa Dilworth, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University
Crista Dix, wall space Gallery, Seattle
Catherine Edelman, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago
Natasha Egan, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
Jon Feinstein, Humble Arts Foundation
Jim Fitts, Photographic Resource Center
Melanie Flood, Melanie Flood Projects
Roy Flukinger, Harry Ransom Center
Harris Fogel, Mednick Galleries, University of the Arts, Philadelphia
Taj Forer: Daylight Magazine
Hannah Frieser, Light Work
Andy Freeberg, Photographer / Previous CM Book Award Winner
Jason Fulford, Photographer / J & L Books
Aprile Gallant, Curator, Smith College Museum of Art
Helen K. Garber, Photographer / Consultant
Diana Gaston, Associate Curator, Fidelity Investments
Judi & Bernard Gerson, Galerie BMG
Christian Gerstheimer, El Paso Museum of Art
Anna Gianesini, FotoGrafia Festival Internazional, Rome
Hamidah Glasgow, Executive Director, The Center for Fine Art Photography
Fabian Goncalves Borrega, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington D.C.
Olivia Lahs-Gonzales, Sheldon Art Galleries, St. Louis
David Haberstich, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Bruce Haley, photographer, Features Editor, ARTWORKS Magazine
Lisa Hatchadoorian, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY
Gary Hesse, Independent Curator / Consultant
Tom Hinson, The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cherie Hiser, Photolucida Board
Lisa Hostetler, Milwaukee Art Museum
Jason Houston, Orion Magazine
Lisa Hunter, writer, The Intrepid Art Collector
Konstantinos Ioannidis, Art Historian, Athens
Karen Irvine, Museum of Contemporary Photography
Michael Itkoff, Daylight Magazine
Cory Jacobs, Independent Editor / Curator
Ann Jastrab, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco
Jen Jenkins, rep, Giant Artists
Brooks Jensen, Lenswork Publishing
Tom Jimison, Curator, Baldwin Photographic Gallery
Whitney Johnson, The New Yorker Magazine
Jessica Johnston, Assistant Curator, George Eastman House
Maya Jones White Sturgeon Art Gallery, Vancouver, WA
Russell Joslin, SHOTS Magazine
Ron Jude, Co-Founder, A-Jump Books
Mindaugas Kavaliasuskas, Kaunas Photo / F Galerija, Lithuania
Arlette Kayafas, Gallery Kayafas, Boston
Eric J. Keller, Soulcatcher Studio, Santa Fe
Anne Kelly, photo-eye Gallery, Santa Fe
Gerardo Montiel Klint, Photographer / Educator, Mexico City
Debra Klomp Ching, Klompching Gallery, NYC
Lisbeth Neergaard Kohloff, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Golden, CO
Paul Kopeiken, Paul Kopeiken Gallery, Los Angeles
Thomas W. Kuhn, Educator / Critic, Dusseldorf
Marten Lange, Photographer / Publisher, Farewell Books
Zuzana Lapitkova, Central European House of Photography, Bratislava
Shane Lavalete, Photographer / Publisher, Lay Flat
Sam Lee, Sam Lee Gallery, Los Angeles
Jain Lemos, Photography & Publishing Consultant
Andy Levin, 1000 Eyes Magazine
Russell Levin, Levin Gallery, Monterey
Maren Levinson, rep, Red Eye Agency
Stu Levy, Portland Art Museum Photo Council, Photolucida Board
Stephanie Lewis, Educator
Jim Leisy, Portland Art Museum Photo Council, Photolucida Board
Kevin Longino, Watermark Fine Art Photographs & Books, Houston
Karsten Lund, Independent Curator
Celina Lunsford, Fotografie Forum International, Franfurt
Mary Ann Lynch, Not for Profit Photography
Allen Maertz, Blue Sky Gallery exhibition committee, Portland
Lee Marks, Lee Marks Fine Art, Shelbyville, IN
Nadja Masri, GEO Magazine
Michael Mazzeo, Michael Mazzeo Gallery, NYC
Mary McClean, Knopf Art Department, Random House
Melanie McWhorter, Books Division manager, photo-eye Books
Raymond Meeks, Photographer
Kate Menconeri, Independent Curator
William Messer, Independent Curator
Jennifer Miller, Independent Photo Editor
Kevin Miller, Southeast Museum of Photography
Evan Mirapaul, collector
Robert Morton, Editor / Book Packager
Laura Moya, Director, Photolucida
Claire Annette Mussard, Curator / Consultant, Switzerland
Ruben Natal-San Miguel, collector
Julianne Newton, Visual Communication Quarterly
Brady Nichols Sloane, Independent Curator
Deborah Paine, Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Seattle
Joaquim Paiva, Collector
Paul Paletti, Paul Paletti Gallery, Louisville, KY
Ann Pallesen, Gallery Director, Photo Center Northwest, Seattle
Stephen Perloff, Photo Review
Mark Pinsukanjana, Modernbook Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
Terry Pitts, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
Jan Potts & Elizabeth Corden, Corden Potts Gallery, San Francisco
Phillip Prodger, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
Christopher Rauschenberg, Blue Sky Gallery / Photolucida Board
Shawn Records, Photolucida Board
Mary Ann Redding, Curator, Palace of the Governors / New Mexico History Museum
Rixon Reed photo-eye Books and Prints
Richard Renaldi, photographer
Ema Ribeiro, Lab65 Gallery
Doug Rickard, Founder / Publisher, American Suburb X
Arianna Rinaldo, Freelance Photo Editor
Conor Risch, Photo District News Magazine
John Rohrbach, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX
Miriam Romais, En Foco
Laura Russell, 23 Sandy Gallery, Photolucida Board
Dana Salvo, Co-owner, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Tina Schelhorn, Galerie Lichtblick, Cologne
Jennifer Schlesinger, VERVE Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe
Martha Schneider, Schneider Gallery, Chicago
David Schoemer, Hassla Books
Randall Scott, Randall Scott Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Camille Seaman, Photographer / Previous CM Book Award Winner
Becky Senf, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
Ariel Shanberg, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY
Elizabeth Shank, Silverstein Photography, NYC
Carla Shapiro, Educator / Photographer
P. Elaine Sharpe, Independent Curator
Mark Sink, Gallery Sink, Denver, CO
Karen Sinsheimer, Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Mike Slack, Ice Plant Books
Mark Sloan, William Halsey Gallery, College of Charleston
Susan Spiritus, Susan Spiritus Gallery, Newport Beach, CA
Amy Stein, Photographer / Previous CM Book Award Winner
Joni Sternbach, Photographer / Previous CM Book Award Winner
Jennifer Stoots, Stoots Fine Photography
Alex Supertano, Independent Curator
Lisa Sutcliffe, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Mary Virginia Swanson, Consultant and Educator, M.V. Swanson & Associates
Martha Takayama, Tepper Takayama Fine Arts, Boston
J.D. Talasek, Curator and Director of Exhibitions, The National Academy of Sciences
Barbara Tannenbaum, Chief Curator, Akron Art Museum
Paula Tognarelli, Griffin Museum for Photography, Winchester, MA
Leya Simmons Oswald, Oswald Gallery, Jackson, WY
Laura Valenti, Newspace Center for Photography / Photolucida Board
Annie van Avery, Photographic Center Northwest
Herman van den Boom, Hexgalleries, Belgium
Michael Van Horn, Curator, The Joseph Monsen Collection
Marie Via, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester
Anna Walker Skillman, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta
Jennifer Ward, Exhibitions Coordinator, FotoFest
Kate Ware, New Mexico Museum of Art
John Weber, The Tang Museum, Skidmore College
Carla Williams, Editor, Exposure
Rick Williams, Educator
Clint Willour, Executive Director / Curator, Galveston Arts Center
Rhonda Wilson, Seeing the Light, Rhubarb-rhubarb, Birmingham, England
Bryan Wolf, Photolucida Board
Laura Wzorek, Center, Santa Fe
Carol Yarrow, Photographer
Del Zogg, Works on Paper Study Center, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Manfred Zollner, fotoMAGAZIN

for more information - log onto the PhotoLucida website.

Brad Moore

2009-07-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

Brad has a creative vision. Clever, insightful, full of structure, yet oddly quirky. His document of the Inland Empire in Southern California has me obsessed by shrubbery. Yes - that fabulous way Southern Californians landscape. He takes the idea of a cypress to a whole new level. Not that that is all the images are about, I don't want to dismiss the intelligence of the work that way. I find on a human scale, I look at who we are and what we do to control our surroundings, and Brad's work showcases nicely the way we brick and mortar ourselves into a community. I am drawn to the structuring of the natural world, not only by the work he's capturing, but how he has photographed it. I love the abstracts. Greenery in a desert. He has a way with the architecture as well, but for me - it's a perfect shrub.

John Mann

2009-07-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

John Mann is a great guy. Talented too.

A participant of Review Santa Fe, I was treated to his really inventive work, Folded in Place, images of cartographic goodness. As a geeky scientist, and map lover, I was excited to see science and art meet at a somewhat original median. The three dimensional nature of the work leads to creation of newly found worlds, civilizations and ideas of how we inhabit this planet.
He has an upcoming show at Rayko Photo Center this December, and I am always looking for a good excuse to get to the Bay Area. This might be the right enticement....
see what you think.

In his words -
"Folded in Place highlights the abstraction of the landscape traditionally offered by these means, while creating a tangible photographic “place” in each image that is occupied by a mapped construction. The images therefore provide precise photographic and mapped information at the same time as they offer an abstraction of the landscape itself. The viewer is shown a landscape that is simultaneously understood and unknown, a landscape in which the map obtains a new geography of its own. "

Graham Miller

2009-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

I had seen Graham's work as I review for Critical Mass, and got the opportunity to meet him in Santa Fe. I was thrilled to see such a solid body of work, beautifully crafted, with a compelling story.

My mother the mystery writer would be pounding away on her typewriter crafting text to accompany each image. So much information, yet so much left yet unsaid. These are brilliant narratives, visual treats.

I kept thinking of how I wanted to talk about this body of work, but it can't be said any better than in Graham's own words.
From his Artist Statement -

"The inspiration for Suburban Splendour came from numerous sources. Images materialized from encounters observed while driving, walking to the shops or visiting friends, from eavesdropping and casual conversation, but more often than not the photographs were inspired by literature and cinema. Films by Paul Thomas Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, and Ray Lawrence all contributed, as did writing by Richard Ford and the lyrics of Paul Kelly. But the background soundtrack, which remained constant, was the voice of the American short story writer Raymond Carver. Carver's vision depicts ordinary blue collar people living lives of quiet desperation, people who are feeling their way in the dark with the hope that maybe next week things will get better. Reading his work, now nearly twenty years after his death, it seems to me that his writing taps into a sense of contemporary isolation that reflects the anomie, uncertainties and vulnerabilities of existing in a world changed after 9/11, and on a planet which contemplates an undecided environmental future.

Melancholy has always appeared to be just under the skin of the suburban vernacular. We are no happier now than we were fifty years ago. Life seems a process of replacing one anxiety for another; one desire for another and the elusive dream of happiness is continuously postponed. What if happiness is not a final destination that we plan to arrive at and then stay, but a fragile and fleeting emotion, an intermittent state that evaporates leaving us with a lingering backdrop of what Julia Kristeva calls "a sad voluptuousness, a despondent intoxication"?

We all experience within us what the Portuguese call saudade, or the German sehnsucht. Nick Cave in 'The Secret Life of the Love Song', describes saudade as a vague but inconsolable longing, an unnamed enigmatic yearning and an inexplicable sadness which lies at the heart of certain works of art. "The writer who refuses to explore the darker regions of the heart," he says "will never be able to write convincingly about wonder, the magic and the joy of love…so within the fabric of the Love Song, within its melody, its lyric, one must sense an acknowledgement of suffering."

The compressed cinematic frames of Suburban Splendour try to articulate something of the soft lament that Cave and Carver allude to. These characters are troubled, but not irretrievably lost; they carry a dignified endurance and a sense of bruised optimism. These people are survivors. They have a desire, as we all do, to be transported from darkness into light."

News for Artists we Love

2009-06-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

Exciting News! A number of our favorite artists are showing this summer. I want to congratulate them on their success.

Here's a rundown of some news and must see (according to me) shows.

Flak Photo -

Angela Bacon Kidwell's series Fish Woes gets a daily dose of Flak.

Fraction Magazine -

Melanie McWhorter has curated a great online exhibition called - The Un-Natural Nature of Food
starring some of our new favorite artists -

Jonathon Blaustein
Taj Forer
Cynthia Greig
Jason Houston
Erika Larsen
Mark Menjivar
Kevin Miyazaki
Susana Raab
Nicholas Vroman
Natalie Young

Catharine Stebbins, one of our Collectible participants, is up at Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, Oregon. Her stunning work can be seen from July 3rd thru 2 August.

Jen Bekman has curated a great show at PCNW, Photo-Op opening on 13 July thru 4 September,2009. For a full list of participants, click here.

We are excited to see work from Mary Ellen Bartley, Liz Obert, Kevin Miyazaki, Shawn Records and Lacey Terrell among other luminaries already well known to Ms. Bekman through her numerous projects.

So go forth and view art, incredible photography and support the galleries and exhibition spaces that encourage them.

Liz Kuball

2009-06-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

I grew up in California.
Yup, Southern California. Can you tell? I hope not.

Liz didn't grow up there, but loves living there. She gets to. She can have my spot.

In her statement for California Vernacular she discusses the fact that as weird and out of place everything is in Southern California, she wouldn't go anywhere else. "...you'd become disillusioned and go back home, and some do, of course, but many more of us stay and instead of growing bitter, we hang on - hang on to world that, to us, is even more fantastic than the one we thought we'd find, because it's real in its absurdity and because we have stories to tell."

California Vernacular reminds me of what I have happily left behind, yet gives me a sense of melancholy, like I actually might miss it when its gone. I find it alluring, and exactly what growing up in Newport Beach was like. I always preferred the seedy neighbors, Huntington or Laguna Beach. Now that was so so so long ago, for they have both gone upscale like everything else in SoCal. Nothing was too perfect, there were no McMansions. Everyone had their vision of paradise, and it didn't always look right from door to door. But it was human. and that's what I really enjoy most about this work. It's humanity, honesty and lack of perceived perfection that we all believe happens in that strange corner of the world.

Liz has recently received an Honorable Mention from Jen Bekman's Hey Hot Shot, and has been part of the Humble Arts Collector's Guide to Emerging Art Photography, as well as A Field Guide to the North American Family, by Garth Risk Hallberg.

Kevin Miyazaki

2009-06-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

I was excited to meet Kevin in Santa Fe at the Santa Fe reviews.
I had heard about his work, Camp Home and seen his 20x200 from Jen Bekman Projects. Couldn't wait to put a face to the work I had so admired.

Camp Home was everything I hoped it would be, and Fast Food was as clever and creative as everything Kevin touches.

Camp Home is a story of family, of the past and of the present. History at its most gut wrenching. Japanese American families taken from their homes, placed at Tule Lake (among other locations). But this story is not just about the wrongs we committed. Its about how we have managed to give additional families a new life, and how we moved on from that horrible moment. Kevin bridges the gaps, connecting us to the residents now.
Kevin's words -
“In the series Camp Home, I document the reuse of buildings from the Tule Lake internment camp, where my father’s family was sent during World War ll. The barracks used to house Japanese and Japanese American internees were dispersed throughout the neighboring landscape following the war. Adapted into homes and outbuildings by returning veterans under a homesteading movement, many still stand on land surrounding the original camp site. In photographing these buildings, I explore family history, both my own and that of the current building owners – this is physical space where our unique American histories come together. Because photography was forbidden by internees, very few photographs of homelife were made by the families themselves. So my pictures act as evidence, though many years later, of a domestication rarely recorded during the initial life of the structures."

Fast Food. Hot Topic. Current event. We are all looking at what we ingest now in many ways. Epidemic obesity, health issues, cancer, ecoli, and the list continues.
Kevin looks at what we leave behind, buildings abandoned, as disposable as the containers we use to consume. My dream is to showcase Susana Raab's color work and the stark contrast of Kevin's black & white images, really looking at what we have become. and maybe where we go from here.

Review Santa Fe

2009-06-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was honored to participate in the Santa Fe Reviews. A three day extravaganza, I am always excited to look at new work, get new ideas and see what artists are coming up with. It's an opportunity for me to connect with artists I already know and admire, and to meet up with my peers in an arena not often afforded to us because of our busy schedules.

I will be highlighting some artists as we move forward, but here is the great group that I was lucky enough to have pick me to spend 20 minutes with.

Julie Anand & Damon Sauer
John Mann
Richard Ashley
Katherine Lanin
Cyrus Karimipour
Sonja Thomsen
Ines d'Orey
Brad Moore
David Gardner
Jonathon Smith
Kevin Miyazaki
Jarrett Murphy
Amy Todd
John Charbonneau
Ashley Craig
Brian Buckley
Meggan Gould
Jonathon Blaustein
Hyomin Lee
Kaycie Roberts
Mark Menjivar
Stefanie Motta
Graham Miller
Curtis Wehrfritz
Deborah Hamon
Pamela Pecchio
Kelly Neal

Isa Leshko

2009-06-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Isa Leshko submitted work to our New Directions 2009 juried show, and I was hooked on the work.

I'm a sucker for a carny, and if there is a rodeo nearby, you can't drag me away. The lure of the rides, smell of the corn dogs, and of course, the photobooth...like a moth to a flame.

Isa's images of the carny rides, coasters, tilt-awhirls, ferris wheels and swings are loopy, windy breezes of memories.

Shot with a Holga, the images are a little soft and hazy, like the memories we all share from our childhood.
There is something implied about the motion, imperfect ride, the hanging sensation, that pause before you get jolted in a direction you didn't expect.

This is Isa's statement about the work -

These images explore the fantastic and sinister place these rides hold in our imagination. With these images, I suspend disbelief and embrace the underlying fantasies of these rides. I create these images with a Holga camera to heighten their dream-like and surreal quality. They are deliberately printed dark to reflect the murky-realm that I envision these mechanical beasts inhabiting.

UW Photography Certificate Program Exhibition

2009-06-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

You have seen the BFA and the MFA show, now take a look at the Certificate Program show.

The Certificate program is a group of students who love photography, and care about fine tuning and crafting their own vision.
They have two shows brewing for your viewing pleasure - group one opens on the 12 of June, group two opens on the 17th of July. Don't miss out on supporting this great group of people.

Here's what they say about their vision -
An eclectic collection of photography that shows our unique connections with our environment. Subjects such as the lines that link us to each other in the physical world, an examination of the beauty of aging, the commodity of space in landscape, the ethereal world of water and reflection; though each subject is different, the art connects us as students, and links itself together as a single body of art. Join us as we present small pieces of ourselves. Small windows into our vision of what surrounds and connects us.

For more information log onto their website here.

shown above-
Ferns - Jennifer Ely Anderson
Cross - Siobhan Pearce McGuire
Lamps - Susan Smilow
Architecture - James Harnois
Portrait - Sopon Supamangmee

Corvo Brothers

2009-06-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

The Corvo Borthers were part of the mass of submissions for our New Directions 09.

I think the work is clever, creative and timeless in a quirky sort of way.

Their artist statement talks about a world that does not impose sharp divisions between reality and fantasy and Celebrates the existence of the extraordinary. The completely blur the lines of time, humor, darkness and fear. The work is a little uncomfortable, but you keep going back. Their images are well crafted objects, with rich color, significant narrative, and intricate details. I just keep going over them, always finding something new. The series they submitted to the gallery, The Van Buren's, I was entranced with, however, the Orphan series I find truly transfixed by.

It is creepy, cool and interesting all at once. I think they are great stories.

Here is what they have to say about the series -

In Orphans, we create dreamscapes that generate wonder. Simultaneously playful and sinister, these images suggest mysterious narratives in which children on their own make their own rules. Unexpected juxtapositions of the comic and the dark become refracted portraits of our own childhood. Each image in this series is a graft that fuses photography to painted backgrounds in order to create hybrid images that blend Victorian culture, Pop imagery, and the compositional aesthetics of the Renaissance and Baroque masters.

Art of Photography - submissions due

2009-05-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

Deadline for submission is Sunday at midnight.

Our lovely Susan Burnstine was a featured artist in last years show. Circuitous was selected by the fabulous Carol McCusker.

This year's show proves to be a winner as well with Charlotte Cotton as the juror.

The ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW 2009 is an international exhibition of photographic art which will take place August 29 through November 1, 2009 at the elegant Lyceum Theatre Gallery, located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego, California.
WEBSITE: www.artofphotographyshow.com ENTER COMPETITION HERE

CALL FOR ENTRIES:
The Prospectus and entry details are available here. The online entry process is very easy, simply filling out a short registration form and then uploading your images as JPEG files. Additional details are in the FAQ page here. The entry deadline is May 31st at 11:59 pm (California Time).

JURIED COMPETITION:
Charlotte Cotton is the Judge for the Art of Photography Show 2009. Ms. Cotton is Curator and Head of the Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

$10,000 IN AWARDS (Double what we awarded last year!):
$2,000 1st Place Award
$1,600 2nd Place Award
$1,200 3rd Place Award
$ 800 4th Place Award
$ 400 (11) Honorable Mention Awards

PLUS: liveBooks is providing grants for three custom designed websites, valued at $1,700 each.

ENTRY FEE:
$25 for the first entry, $10 for each additional entry. The entire registration, upload, and payment process can be done securely right on the website.

MARKETING & PUBLICITY:
The Art of Photography Show 2009 will be pursuing an intensive marketing and publicity campaign. Over 25,000 people are expected to view the Show during the run at the Lyceum Theatre gallery.

TESTIMONIALS from artists and attendees of our recent shows can be viewed here.

For more information please contact the Producer, Steven Churchill:
Email: steven@artofphotographyshow.com
Phone: 858-793-0900

Jane Fulton Alt

2009-05-24T22:33:00.000-07:00

Jane Fulton Alt is clever, creative and interesting. I first met her in Portland at PhotoLucida, and caught up with her again in Houston at FotoFest, I am always pleased to cross paths and find out what she is working on.

Her mind works in multiple directions, yet always has the same consistent vision. She approaches her work with dedication and focus.

I enjoyed her first series, Treatment Room, then after wandering her website, I got hooked. Visitations was stunning, Mourning Light haunted me, and the new favorite, Burn is beautiful and mesmerizing.

I am so pleased that Ms. Alt has a new book coming out. It's called Look and Leave.

Beautiful images, focused on Katrina and the Ninth Ward, personal stories grappling with the one of the worst events in recent memory. As a participant in New Orleans’s “Look and Leave” program, Jane accompanied Lower Ninth Ward residents back to their homes for the first time since fleeing Hurricane Katrina. Alt’s photographs and stories reflect the intense drama of the epic loss this community endured while highlighting lasting hope and inspiration. It is through Alt’s social worker’s compassion and keen photographer’s eye that we are given a better understanding of what it meant to be a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina.

It's due out in August - look for it.

Marie Claire Bozant

2009-05-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I was at the opening for the University of Washington MFA exhibition, and Marie was one of the fine graduating class. Also one of our submissions to our New Directions 09 exhibition, while she was not selected by our juror, George Slade, the work captured my eye.
I was taken by the intimacy of the subject, emotional joy in the tossing of the sheet, and the closeness to her, softness of her outstretched hand. I thought the images were lovely.

Her work at the MFA opening were drawings, objects her subject, as well as some objects as sculpture. While the sculpture was interesting, I am a fan of her photography. There seemed to be more intensity, connection and energy in the photos she submitted to me than what I saw hanging on the walls of the Henry.

Don't miss the exhibition, there were some great ideas, and well crafted works. While I am passionate about photography, I love a great work of art in any medium, and I appreciate Marie's well rounded resume, and look forward to seeing more work from her in the future.

Susan Burnstine on Photographers Speak

2009-05-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

How do they do that? What are they thinking? When looking at any artwork, if its interesting, different, unsettling, jubilant, use any descriptor here, you just wonder how that came out of someones creative mind.

Interviewing a photographer can be challenging. After all, it's a visual medium, and the images should explain all of it. Right? Often the statement can give new meaning and depth to the work in a way that the visuals cannot.

Writer/Editor of B&W magazine Dean Brierly has started a fascinating new blog, Photographers Speak. Using his interviews with artists, he delves a little deeper into the mind, process and creativity of talented photographers.

I was excited to see and read this interview with one of our talented gallery artists, Susan Burnstine. please take a minute to read it here.

the image shown above, Lift, is from her newest series, Flight.

Willson Cummer

2009-05-16T17:52:00.001-07:00

Wilson's landscapes aren't typical, they take the mundane and peripheral, and force you to look. Sometimes with solidarity, some with silence, and sometimes the paradox and incongruity just gets you.

There is something about his vision, and I am in the process of working it out. I think they are interesting.

He starts with a rooftop garage. How many times have you parked up there on the roof and wish you had the view to yourself? Didn't Joni Mitchell say something about parking lots? Traditional landscape in concrete.
He then moves on to underpasses, and the newest portion of the portfolio is Lake Ontario. A great deal of the work has a sense of irony and silent expanse.

I really find it fascinating what traces we leave of ourselves. I keep thinking planet of the apes, with Lady Liberty coming up out of the sand....having a background in historical geology, studying the rock for clues to our past, I wonder what we will leave behind. In a way, I think Wilson does too. He just visualizes it.

Sarah Malakoff

2009-05-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

To say Sarah Malakoff just shoots interiors is to do an injustice to the work.
This body of work, is poignant, hopeful and a little bit quirky. Not to state the obvious, but our homes reflect alot about who we are, what we surround ourselves with, as well as how we want to present ourselves to the world. Sarah gets these moments on film, exposes them without judgment, and lets us make the journey with her about who the inhabitants are and how they live. I want to know these people. After living in New England for four years, I feel like I know them already, but I believe anyone can identify with them. While other artists capture images that can be sad, lonely or just void of emotion, Sarah's images give me hope, fill me with a quirky sense of optomisim, and seem fun. Her use of patterns and textures are great, I love all of the wallpapers. Would I use them? some yes, some no, but they are a great visual cacaphony of delight.

Her work has been featured in Esopus magazine and Art in America, and she has exhibited all over New York and New England. click here to see more of this great body of work.

Frank Relle

2009-05-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Frank Relle's work haunts me.
eerily beautiful. These images of New Orleans keep me on edge, and yet are somehow serene. I think it's that push and pull that brings me in to them. I want to see what each image has captured in its frame. For me what shines through most in this work is Frank's love of his city, and the honor he pays to its beauty.
The first exposure to it was last year's Critical Mass, and then I was lucky enough to see it in person last December in New Orleans during PhotoNola, and went to my local Borders and picked up Color magazine, and was treated to the images again.

about Frank -

Frank Relle (b. 1976) is a photographer born and based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a 2007 International Photography Award and the Photo Lucida Critical Mass top 50 photographers.
His work is represented in major public and private collections, including the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. His photographs have been printed in the New Yorker, the Southern Review and the Oxford American magazines.

Relle continues to document the changing architecture of New Orleans and is working to share his images with an international audience hoping to inspire people around the world to help rebuild the city of New Orleans with the integrity she deserves.

Shameless gallery pride - Tom Chambers

2009-05-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

I am so thrilled when one of our artists has an incredible event.
I just received a recap from Tom, and can't wait to share.

Here is what Tom sent me about the event -

Imagine attending four to six daily art openings over the course of a week showing the work of diverse international contemporary photographers in the heart of Bogotá, Colombia. Then, imagine the opportunity for informal conversation with fellow photographers over coffee or a sumptuous Colombian dinner. Now, imagine exchanging ideas with your colleagues about the creative process in the relaxed and supportive atmosphere of the Bogota arts community.

The biennial Fotográfica Bogotá 2009 sponsored by Fotomuseo, the national museum of photography, provided me with these artistically and intellectually stimulating experiences during the first week of May 2009. Along with sixteen international photographers, twenty-four Colombian photographers, and a cadre of university professors and museum curators from around the world, I shared my work and ideas about contemporary photography in both formal and informal settings.

Following the theme of the Fotográfica I displayed various portraits at the Museo de Bogotá located in the historic Candeleria district. Teaching a class at the Universidad Nacional I explained the process of creating my photomontages to five hundred enthusiastic art students, all remarkably appreciative of their educational opportunities. In a public conversation at the Universidad Central with Guatemalan photographer Luis Gonzalez Palma, we compared and contrasted the themes and symbols in our photographic work. At the city radio station called RadioNica I chatted in a live conversation about the meaning of my photography, as some of my favorite music by Iron and Wine and Andrew Bird bookmarked my comments.

In the spirit of the Fotomuseo's mission to bring photography into the lives of the Colombian people, my photographic portraits were displayed on the exterior of public buildings and along the thoroughfares of Bogota. Most remarkable was the piece Fetch measuring 24 by 65 feet displayed prominently on the front of the Archivo de Bogotá. A bit of a surreal experience, perhaps a parallel to my photography, I was amazed and grateful to view my work on such a large scale in the international arts community of Bogotá.

If you have the opportunity to participate in a future Fotografica, I would highly recommend this experience. Please disregard any unfounded concerns and stereotypes about travel to Bogotá. Throughout my stay I was well taken care of by Gilma Suarez and her attentive staff at Fotomuseo, as well as warmly embraced by the people and arts community in Bogota.

Katrina d'Autremont

2009-05-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

Katrina's Si Dio Quiere is a beautiful, romantic look at family.

Her soft color palette, beautiful portraits, and wonderfully warm home makes me wish I could be an extended member of the family. Her narrative of being caught between two worlds, the United States and Argentina, examining her identity, showcases the emotional connection to her surroundings, her family. Her sense of self becomes ours, and we become a larger extended family as a result.

I met Katrina in New Orleans, and ran into her again recently at Photolucida, and have seen that she has been selected as a Hey Hot Shot contender for 2009 - congratulations! She has also been selected at as 2008 top 50 winner at Photolucida's Critical Mass. I think she has good things happening to her, as well as along career ahead of her. I look forward to what's next.

Rayko Photo Center - call for entries

2009-05-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

It's Still Life.

Rayko Photo Center, and the fabulous, entertaining and talented Ann Jastrab are putting out the call for entries an upcoming show, based on inanimate objects and spaces. Entries are due by 25 June, 2008 - so set those alarms and reminders so you don't miss out.

The basic details -
The competition is open to artists photographing inanimate objects and interior spaces. Subject
matter can be anything as commonplace as a pear (and man, are there some amazing pear
pictures out there!) or as strange as a dead animal, perhaps too literal. Subjects may be either
natural: food, flowers, plants, rocks, shells, hair clippings, and so on. They can also be man-
made: books, toys, glasses, vases, fishing lures, etc. Settings may be artificial/set-up or simply
found and perfect. There’s a lot left up to interpretation…as well as artistic freedom!

for more information about submitting - check out rayko's website.

do you not know about this space yet? You should. Ann does a great job curating shows, finding new work and giving artists opportunities to showcase their talents. Not to mention the facilities itself, with a darkroom, lab and digital area. If you are in town, stop in.

About RayKo Photo Center and Gallery -
RayKo is the largest public photographic center in the Bay Area. Our diverse facilities include
rental darkrooms, pro-digital lab, affordable studio, year-round classes and workshops, and a
spacious community area to finish work. The RayKo Gallery serves to advance public
appreciation of photography and create opportunities for regional, national and international
artists to present their work. We are located in the SOMA arts district of San Francisco in walking
distance of SFMOMA, the Moscone Center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and AT&T Ball
park.

Dave Jordano

2009-05-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

Another one of our New Directions 09 submissions, Dave Jordano's images tell the story of Prarieland.

Reaching into his backyard, Dave looks at the rural environments of Illinois, finding the unanticipated culture on the edge of a major metropolitan area. Quirky, full of life and eccentricities, or certainly a life so different from what most of us see or live, Dave shows us a slice of ourselves we don't often see, or know exists.

Dave makes a living as a commercial photographer, and his fine art work reflects his desire to showcase who we are, with sensitivity, humor and vibrant color. He is a 2008 Top 50 Critical Mass winner, and Prarieland will be shown at the Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh, PA this year.

I was honored to see his name in our submissions for ND09, and while he may not have fit George's list, his work certainly made mine.

Lydia Panas on Flak Photo

2009-05-07T05:44:00.000-07:00

It's a big day here at wall space - an Artist's Reception AND a highlight of Lydia's work on Flak!

In honor of her artist reception this evening at the gallery, It's a Matter of Perspective, Mr. President is flying across the internets. See the show on the gallery's website.

Have you heard of Flak Photo? If you haven't you are missing out on a solid collection of artists and ideas, as well as your daily dose of photography. As Andy has said on his site - "Flak Photo celebrates the art of publishing contemporary photography online." The site is produced by Andy Adams and highlights new series work, book projects and gallery exhibitions from an international community of contributors.
Sign up for a daily email and get a great image in your email box every morning. I get a visual treat each day.

Here's a look at today's front page showcasing Lydia's great work.

Please join us tonight from 6-8pm at the gallery, rain or shine, and chat with Lydia about her work.
If you can't join us tonight, here is a link to an interview Lydia did with Humble Arts by Julie Fishkin about the visual stories she tells, her process and ideas.

For more on Flak - head to their website.

Jim Kazanjian

2009-05-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

I really sympathize with everyone who blogs.
I personally can't keep up.
So many artists, so much information, and so little time.

This artist is one of those who stuck in my mind, but my fingertips can't keep up moments. Jim submitted to our New Directions show, and I loved the work. Last night I was down at 23 Sandy in Portland, celebrating our artist Loren Nelson's opening, and realized when I walked in the door, I had seen the other artist's work somewhere before, but couldn't place it.

I'll tell you what, the jpgs don't do the prints justice. The prints are gorgeous and rich.

Not to be missed. So if you are in Portland any time between now and the 30th of May, do not miss this show.

The work is smart, clever and really well meshed. His images are seamless, and you need to really dig deep, spend some time with them and keep coming back to enjoy them.

A new opportunity from Camerawork

2009-05-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

This just in from Chuck Mobley at Camerawork. It sounds like a great opportunity.

In lieu of a juried member's exhibition, Camerawork has chosen to craft an exhibition with a more egalitarian outline and it's open to everyone!
Hence the title: Ersatz Group Exhibition—meaning literally a substitute group exhibition—in reference to our shift away from the juried exhibition model. Utilizing the strategies and conceptual links of mail art allows for a more inclusive process with a broad reach. The idea is provide a service to help artists meet one another, help artists promote their work and to get their work in front of a large group of international curators. Artworks mailed in should reflect each artists' practice in some way, think of it as an advertisement for yourself! This Wikipedia link provides useful background on the history of mail art: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_art Several artists and curators were consulted about what would be most beneficial to artists and all of those suggestions have been included within the structure of the exhibition:

YOUR WORK WILL BE FEATURED IN AN EXHIBITION:
Your lens-based work will be included in an exhibition at SF Camerawork from June 4 to August 22, 2009.

YOUR WORK WILL BE FEATURED IN A PUBLICATION:
A reproduction of your contributed artwork, name, and personal website URL will be included in the exhibition catalog, available mid-summer 2009 via blurb.com and as a PDF download via sfcamerawork.org Curators Lawrence Rinder and Evelyne Jouanno will tour the exhibition and respond to the work by contributing a text to this publication.

YOUR WORK WILL BE FEATURED ON CAMRAWORK'S WEBSITE ARTIST LINKS PAGE:
Artists' personal website URLs will be included on the sfcamerawork.org links page as a resource for curators.

YOUR WORK IS INCLUDED IN AN INTERNATIONAL GIFT EXCHANGE:
In the spirit of a creative exchange economy, once the exhibition closes all participants will receive a work from the exhibition to be redistributed randomly with the Fall/Winter issue of Camerawork: A Journal of Photographic Arts in September 2009. Your own work will not be returned to you.

YOUR WORK COULD BE ON THE COVER OF CAMERAWORK'S JOURNAL:
One (or more) work(s) will be chosen for the cover of the fall issue of Camerawork: A Journal of Photographic Arts.

For more information, to sign up for our email list and to view the call for participants, please see:
http://www.sfcamerawork.org/getinvolved/membership/index.php

Melinda Hurst Frye

2009-04-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

Melinda, another submission for our New Directions 09 show, is a Seattle photographer with a quirky, creative eye.

Her use of color, pattern, texture, and the intentional placement of insects create a visual structure that I keep going back to and wondering where did that come from?

about Melissa -
Melinda received her Bachelor’s degree from Pacific Northwest College of Art, and earned her Master’s degree From the Savannah College of Art and Design. Melinda Hurst Frye has worked professionally in the field of photography, shooting everything from editorial work to medical imagery. In addition, Melinda is an accomplished photographic artist, exhibiting her work both locally and nationally.

I am anxiously awaiting what's next.

Brea Souders

2009-04-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

I have watched Brea Souders over the last few years, her images are interesting, creative and thoughtful. She was recently highlighted by Dan Cooney and his Emerging Artists Auction group, and I see her continuing to grow and make a place for herself in photography. She is completing a Darkroom Residency at the Camera Club of New York, and has recently been part of Pause to Begin in Rochester, NY and at Katzen Museum in Washington DC, part of Washington Project for the Arts

I look forward to her future photographic contributions.

about Brea and her visual stories -
The photographs in this series are interpretations of superstitions that I have collected from various sources, including old texts, internet forums and word of mouth.

I’m interested in the way superstitions reflect the human urge for story telling and our need for control in an uncertain world. They act as portals to a childhood sensibility, and can transform an ordinary scene into a mysterious tableau, rich with new meaning. While researching this project, I found that superstitions morph from place to place, but certain themes remain constant. I became interested in what these themes can tell us about our fears and desires, and how they shape our psychology from an early age. Using both meditated and candid photography, I look to capture the whimsy and tension that superstitions evoke in us, and to illuminate the scope of our collective imaginings.

S. Doyle Hammond

2009-04-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to Shauna Doyle Hammond last year when she was selected for our New Directions 08 show. I loved the strong structural lines, play with light, and great scale of her architectural work. I have since found a number of artists exploring this topic, and I think she was ahead of the curve and at the top of the class. Take a look.

about Shauna -
Shauna Doyle Hammond is a Seattle-born photographer currently based in New York. She earned her MFA in 2007 at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and has a BA in Art History from UCLA. Her most recent series, Nightfall, encompasses urban landscapes where commonplace subjects gain a heightened sense of mystery at night. Using only available light, trees are quietly illuminated in the darkness and the strange beauty of concrete is transformed into something otherworldly. Her upcoming work builds upon these themes, focusing on urban development and its impact on the neighborhoods of New York’s five boroughs.

David Trautrimas

2009-04-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

The future of architecture has arrived.
I have found one of it's potential architects.
David Trautrimas has my vote.
Clever, creative, inventive and just a little bit off, as well as almost hospitable. Someplace I could call home. I don't know if it is the simplicity of the design, his household objects as his materials, or the open space around each building, the fact that there is green. The trash can in Sprinkler House is a nice touch. ecologically conscious, no wall-e here needed. Blade Runner meets Norman Bel Geddes.
He has had a recent show at KlompChing gallery in NY, in their group Visual Morphology show, and is coming up at Photo-Eye in July with our own Mitch Dobrowner, and that should be a great show.

images shown - Waffle Iron Heights, Iron Apartments, The Fishing Complex and Sprinkler
House

Sarah Wilson

2009-03-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

At PhotoNola last December I kept hearing this phrase - Have you seen the blind prom pictures? You gotta see these images...

Well I tracked Sarah down, and was really all the better for it. I found them so beautiful, rich in color. Her subjects, The Texas School for the Blind students, so full of life, I didn't want to stop looking at them. She took the PhotoNola Review Prize and I look forward to seeing more and greater things from her.

I enjoy deconstructing the ideas we have about beauty, strength, our weaknesses and flaws. We spend our time so used to understanding beauty as a view of a supermodel, and here we have young adults who are so compellingly radiant, we want to be part of their joy. I want to know them, be part of their lives.

Based in Texas after graduating from NYU's Photo program, she has another compelling project based on Jasper, Texas called the Road to Redemption. Shot in Black & White, she captures the tension and questions the issues of race, justice, the Death Penalty and ultimately a certain level of forgiveness. I'll save that for another time.

Yet another opportunity-

2009-03-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

NYMPHOTO (a Collective of Women Photographers) is pleased to announce it's forth group show and firs call for entries o be exhibited at the Sasha Wolf Gallery. Nymphoto is looking for the best in female contemporary and emerging photography. Work will be curated by the core members of the collective, in conjunction with highly respected curator and gallery owner, Sasha Wolf. Works selected will be included in "Nymphoto Presents at Sasha Wolf Gallery" and be on view from May 23 to June 6, 2009. Sasha Wolf Gallery is located in lower Manhattan, conveniently located and easily accessible from both Chelsea and Dumbo, two of New York's artistic centers.

Eligibility: Any woman working in photography.

Deadline: Midnight (EST) April 3, 2009.

For more information, go here.

NYMPHOTO is also publishing there first book: "Since we've grown in readership from our blog with our interviews, we've decided it was time to take the publishing step. There's no real publication dedicated to contemporary women photographers so we decided it needed to be done. We've made a curatorial selection from our long list of artists we've interviewed and was fortunate enough to meet gallery owner, Sasha Wolf, who approached us to collaborate in an exhibition to coincide with the book.

Our book is simply titled "Nymphoto: Conversations Volume I."

Including work by Michele Abeles, Juliana Beasley, Rona Chang, Michal Chelbin, Nina Buesing Corvallo, Candace Gottschalk, Jessica M. Kaufman, Klea McKenna, Talia Greene, Maria Passarotti, Susana Raab, Emily Shur, Tema Stauffer, Jane Tam, Garie Waltzer & Jennifer Williams."