Yet another opportunity-

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."

Photo-Op at PCNW

I know its early - but send those entries in! Its a great space to exhibit and the juror is Jen Bekman. What do you have to lose?


The Photographic Center Northwest's 14th Annual Photographic Competition Exhibition, Photo-Op, will be chosen by Ms. Jen Bekman. This annual juried exhibition draws entries from across the country and around the world, and remains among the most popular shows in PCNW's annual schedule. Selected entries will be exhibited at PCNW in Seattle from July 13th - September 4th, 2009. First, second, and third prize winners will take home $1000, $500, and $250 as well as $75 Gift Certificates of Blurb Scrip for each winner. The competition is open to all photographers, all photographic processes, and all themes. The juror is looking for work that represents a larger, cohesive body of work and will be selecting a short series from each photographer chosen.

Here's the fine print - The entry fee is $47 for a minimum of five jpegs & artist statement file. Additional jpegs will be accepted if accompanied by a seven dollar per jpeg fee, up to ten jpegs total.

All entries must be received by Friday, May 15, 2009.

Bootsy Holler - Ruby & Willie

Bootsy has created a beautiful, poignant series, Ruby + Willie, documenting the home of her grandparents. I have been looking for a way to showcase these images for years, and we are now working to get the series online and into the gallery. As a document and testament to the lives of her family, she has captured the essence of these two people who shared their lives for so long.

We started previewing the series with a limited edition image, Chandelier, from Ruby + Willie in our Collectible group, and prints are still available.

We are excited to work with our friends at City Catering Company to celebrate Bootsy, and showcase Ruby + Willie.

Join us on
8 April 2009
5.30-7.30pm

City Catering Company
1318 E Pine St
Seattle
206.721.0334

for more information, please contact the gallery or City Catering Company

aaron hobson

Aaron Hobson's work is mesmerizing.

I grew up with a mystery writer (my mother), which leads me down the very twisted path of my imagination that really connects with this work. The sense of darkness, foreboding and a strange sense of dry wit really compels me to look at this work over and over and over.

I first saw the work on Aline Smithson's great blog Lenscratch, and then again during my review of Critical Mass, from the great group at PhotoLucida.

Information about Cinemascapes -
Hobson's work is created by combining several sequential, vertical images, thereby offering more visual information and an obscured rendition of any moment depicted by a single image. These preserved moments straddle between the contexts of fictitious, universal and isolated autobiographical experiences. At times inspired by scenery near the artist's residence in the Adirondack mountains, the work contains narratives steeped in the everyday-from the machismo American cowboy to the disheveled Wall Street staffer. In a fashion comparable to that of feminist portraiture the figure in the image is always the artist whose signified identity morphs through changes in attire and ever-changing elusory surroundings. The nuanced details in the photographs are not forced, whether the interior of a '64 Mercury or a seemingly unconscious figure, and lack excessive or immediately shocking details. Rather, the restive energy that pervades the artist's work unexpectedly draws and subsequently arrests the viewer as the narrative unfolds exposing sensual, disturbing, and onerous undertones. The incredibly intricate and open-ended narratives are at once left to the interpretation of the viewer and restrained by details conveying the intentions of the artist; in the end, leaving the onlooker to ponder happenings within the frame incessantly.

Imagine - Jurored by Susan Burnstine at Spring Arts Collective

One of our represented artists, Susan Burnstine, juried a new exhibition, Imagine, opening Wednesday the 11th and running through 4 April.

Do not miss this outstanding collection of work. Susan did a fabulous job of curating this show. We were so excited to see Polly Chandler take top honors, Ann Texter, who I hadn't seen before, as well as Jonathon Luckhurst head the list of outstanding work on the walls of the Deborah Martin Gallery.

I have been a huge fan of Polly's work since meeting her in Portland two years ago. She has been part of our New Directions 07 show, as well as having a work in Collectible, our collection of affordable art.

Don't miss the opening extravaganza on the 11th (yup - that's this week)

for more information contact the Deborah Martin Gallery for details, and congratulations to all those involved.

victoria ryan

Victoria's work is stunning, rich and luscious to look at.
She was also a participant of PhotoNola, and I was thrilled to see such incredible work, not just Victoria, but all of the participants.

Victoria's work is textural, full of depth, structure and emotion. Her works pulls me in, holds my interest and takes me on a journey in each image. The split toning is the perfect compliment to add depth and showcase the texture of branches, bark, water and the environment she has chosen to frame for us.

from her artist statement -
With the threat of environmental sabotage looming, I want the work to convey the sense of urgency; to make people realize that we need to protect and appreciate nature and the depth of the gifts it offers. I want to provide a point of departure from which the exploration into the beauty and mystery of our natural world can begin, and the necessity of balance understood. The marriage of environmental concern with an obsession for observation has made this a project that will always have significance in my life, and has given me a voice to address something of great importance to all of us.

The process -
The images are printed on black and white silver gelatin paper, then toned archivally with Hypo Alum. I use this to achieve a split tone effect, dividing my values into warm and cool.

From there I use diluted photographic oil paint, which I add in a series of very light layers, shifting from warm to cool to give more dimension. I do this over a period of days to give each layer time to dry. Then I can slightly shift the values with each application, and as a result the light will refract differently, again adding more depth.

After it dries, I seal it with a protective finish. Because none of the steps in the process can be duplicated exactly, each print is unique.

Wallace Merritt

I met Wallace in New Orleans, and was completely entranced by his beautifully crafted black + white prints.
His gorgeous portraits have such sincerity, passion and connection, I couldn't stop looking at them. It's his connection with his subjects, the openness and honesty that captures my attention. All shot in his courtyard in New Orleans, the lush background makes a perfect compliment to the storied emotional visions he puts before us.