Kevin Miyazaki

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.