5/28/08

the slime king


Here is a polaroid I took of my buddy Tom cleaning up the scum from the pond in Gardiner. Yes, I said pond scum. Just like Gretchen Fetchen the Slime Queen (reference from Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test- a must read!) This was a great day and a stellar location- belonging to my friends Eric & Lauren who were nice enough to have an awesome BBQ at their casa on Saturday. Did I mention that they have a zip-line too!? And by the way Lauren...thank you so much for the 4-wheeler ride!
I shot with my very old Polaroid camera all day. Though it was fun, it made me feel awfully sad about the end of Polaroid. A moment of silence is necessary...

5/26/08

the calm before the storm

I have been really bad about blogging. But spring time is here and it is so hard to stay inside on the computer. It is too beautiful outside! I am in love with the spring.

Seriously though, I have been doing very important things. Serious things. things that take up my precious time. Here are a few examples...

planting yummy herbs....


hanging out on my awesome patio set...

relaxing on the most comfortable hammock ever...

adding some flowers to my life...

See, these are very hard things to be doing in the spring.
The truth is, the craziness is about to begin and I am desperately trying to have a moment of calm before it does. Workshop season at CPW starts on Saturday! I cannot believe it is time already. I am so excited, it is an incredible line-up, but I am also a little anxious about doing it all over again. It takes so much energy and I really want to make an attempt to secure time for myself each week until it is over in October. I was not entirely successful at this last year. I am doing a good job practicing this weekend. : )

5/19/08

Exhibition Alert

Photograph by Mandy Fuller

What: An exhibition of the final projects by my Photo 1 students
Where: SUNY Ulster in Stone Ridge, NY (Building: VAN near room 255)
When: Reception is this Wednesday at 7:30pm. Free food & beverages!

These students worked very hard and did an amazing job! Please come if you are in the area. See you there!

5/18/08

my sunday local artist ramble

It is always wonderful to discover new artists by writing this weekly blog, but it is also nice to revisit artists that have inspired me who happen to live in the good old HV (Hudson Valley, that is). Judy Pffaf is one of those people. I did not really get in touch with her work until an artist named Sheila Pepe came to the UMass University Gallery and reinterpreted/responded to an installation Pfaff did there many years before. You can see a write up and images of that here.

I guess what drew me into Pfaff's work was her ability to fuse so many artistic techniques into one experience. By using shape & form as her main focus, she still manages to tell a story (even if an abstract one). When viewing artwork I have a hard time experiencing abstractions as anything beyond emotional impulse. Momentary passions, pain or joy- no clear intellectual pathway that leads me to these emotions- just impulse. But Pfaff opened me up to the narrative that abstract art has to offer. Hats off to her. Another incredible Hudson Valley artist. By the way- Pfaff works at Bard College in Rhinebeck, NY.

5/17/08

strange days

All good things today- hanging out with my friend's dog Chopper and practicing yoga. But I am just not feeling right. I am not sure if I am just feeling unhealthy or unhappy. eithor way, i did not get much accomplished today. will let you know how it all turns out...





5/13/08

Ideas on peace

oil painting by Alex Grey.
These are a few important words that I needed to read today. Enjoy.


The peace of wild things
by Wendell Berry
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

The End and the Beginning
by Wislawa Szmborska
After every war
someone has to clean up.
Things won't
straighten themselves up, after all.
Someone has to push the rubble
to the sides of the road,
so the corpse-laden wagons can pass.

Someone has to get mired
in scum and ashes,
sofa-springs,
splintered glass,
and bloody rags.

Someone must drag in a girder
to prop up a wall.
Someone must glaze a window,
rehang a door.

Photogenic it's not,
and takes years.
All the cameras have left
for another war.

Again we'll need bridges
and new railway stations.

Sleeves will go ragged
from rolling them up.
Someone, broom in hand,
still recalls how it was.
Someone listens
and nods with unsevered head.
Yet others milling about
already find it dull.

From behind the bush
sometimes someone still unearths
rust-eaten arguments
and carries them to the garbage pile.

Those who knew
what was going on here
must give way to
those who know little.
And less than little.
And finally as little as nothing.

In the grass which has overgrown
causes and effects,
someone must be stretched out,
blade of grass in his mouth,
gazing at the clouds.


5/11/08

my sunday ramble

This weekend my mother, father and grandma came to visit. We had a wonderful time. We did lots of fun stuff but we were especially lucky to get to see these ants outside of my house move their larvae from one place to another. Each ant carefully taking the larvae into its mouth and gently walking away with it, bettering this little thing's chance for survival...what a nice thing to witness on Mothers Day weekend.

I am going to hold off on my sunday local artist ramble this week and just dedicate it to all the mothers. The truth is, at least in my eyes, mothers are our world's greatest artists. Creation/creativity is their greatest purpose. Hats off to them.

5/9/08

Elinor Carucci at CPW

I had such a great time at UMass last night. Joetta and Megan put together beautiful thesis exhibitions. I am so happy for them. It is always good to be back on the UMass turf. I still think about how great my experiences were there. I honestly never imagined myself as a mascot for my school, but I have most definitly turned into one. Go Umass!

Joetta and I talked a bit about Elinor Carucci last night which reminded me to share her workshop information with you. This is going to be an incredible & unique weekend at CPW. I am looking forward to it and hope that any of you who might be interested will sign up and join us. There is still limited space available! If you are interested, give us a call at 845-679-9957 or check out our website on how to register by mail.



PERSONAL NARRATIVE
JUNE 28-29

How do we photograph our private lives? How do we picture the personal? This two-day intensive workshop is designed for those interested in using photography in a diaristic fashion to explore your personal vision of your life, what you are most close to, and what you want to get close to with your camera. Whether you are currently making portraits, creative dramas, documentary, editorial, or even fashion – this is a class about making art from inside your life and creating work that is intimate and personal.

Combining in-depth discussions, portfolio review, assignments, and presentations, this class will examine the practical, stylistic, technical, emotional, and moral issues surrounding personal narrative, as well as the delicate boundaries inherent in creating honest and intimate photographs of family, friends, and self. You will become more knowledgeable about some of the most important contemporary work made in this vein today and Elinor will also share how to bridge personal creative work with professional assignments. You will leave this weekend with new directions, confidence, and above all encouragement to follow your instincts and passions to strengthen your vision and voice.

ELINOR CARUCCI received her BFA from Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem before moving to NYC, where she currently lives and works. Her intimate color photographs of her family and self are celebrated worldwide for their emotional honesty and personal draw. Ms. Carucci’s work has been exhibited internationally at the Gagosian Gallery in London, Ricco/Maresca Gallery in NYC, the Prague House of Photography, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Israel Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in NYC; and collected by the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, the International Center for Photography in NYC, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Houston Museum of Fine Art. Carucci’s monographs include Closer and Diary of a Dancer. Additionally her images have appeared in books Sleep, MaleFamale, Love and Desire by Chronicle; and magazines New York Times Magazine, New Yorker, W, Vogue, New York, PDN, Elle, American Photo, among others. She is the recipient of a 2002 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2001 ICP Infinity Award. Ms. Carucci currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts and is represented by Edwynn Houk Gallery and Art & Commerce. Her website is www.elinorcarucci.com.

Please bring: a pre-class assignment will be sent prior to class, please bring this along with a portfolio of 20 prints, and work from magazines, films, or books by other artists that hold meaning for you.
Class limit:
15
Tuition:
$325 / CPW members: $295
PUBLIC LECTURE, SATURDAY, 8PM

all images copyright Elinor Carucci

5/6/08

Shout Out: Go UMass!

by Joetta Maue

by Megan Randlett

Two of my favorite people are having their thesis shows this week! At the Herter Gallery on the UMass Amherst campus you can see the work of Joetta Maue and Megan Randlett.

The reception is Thursday May 8th from 5-7pm. I am so there! Leaving work early on Thursday! I cannot wait to see the shows. I know they have worked so incredibly hard on this (hey, i was doing it too exactly 1 year ago). If you are in western MA, I expect to see you there too.

5/4/08

my sunday local artist ramble


It is already sunday! This week flew by. It was a cloudy day in Woodstock- which was actually quite nice. As the day is coming to an end it is getting warmer. A Pileated Woodpecker just flew into my yard and I got to watch him/her peck at our trees. It was massive- its beak alone was a good 6 inches long! Oh, I love spring!

Today's local artist ramble is about a wonderful individual who was one of my instructors at SUNY New Paltz when I was an undergraduate student there. Joan Barker is an accomplished artist, photojournalist and professor of photography who lives and works in New Paltz, NY. In all honesty, she was a driving force behind my pursuit of photography. Her passion and knowledge is addictive. I learned so much from her.



Joan has explored several different subjects through her photography. One of my favorite bodies of work are the portraits she took of women gun owners. They were taken with an 8x10 view camera and therefore obtain an immeasurable quality. They were taken within the woman's personal space and posed with their gun.

Like I said, the range of Joan's work is broad so there is lots more to see- you should check out her website for more.

Some Useful Info:
It just so happens that Joan will be teaching the Introduction to Photography workshop at CPW in June. This is a great class for anyone (of any age) who is interested in learning the basics of film photography. Check out more info here.
AND....The curator for CPW's Triennial Exhibition, Beth Wilson, has chosen Joan as one of the artists for her show called "The Camera Lies". Keep an eye out for that this summer!

5/2/08

GLASS inspiration


Suspended Artifact, 1995, 29"x24"x7" Blown glass, steel stand, Photo: Rob Vinnedge

William Morris has deeply affected me and he does not even know it. I saw his art at the de Young Museum in San Francisco and I have not stopped thinking about it since. He creates glass work like I have never seen before. These sculptures represent ancient ritualistic forms with primitive emotions and instinct- yet they have such a strong contemporary essence. They are modern artifacts. As the term "rephotography" is used to explain how we can revisit sites originally photographed by another individual in an attempt to create a new viewpoint- I believe that Morris is in the state of "reinventing" artifacts, myth, customs, ritual and pre-societal culture also with the intention of redefining these objects. I cannot get enough of this amazing work.



Trophy Panel-Detail
, 1998, 30"x291"x14", Blown glass, Photo: Rob Vinnedge

Maori Man, 24"x7"x10", Blown glass, steel stand, HA601.13.02
Featured in book Man Adorned published by
Marquand Books, Inc. Seattle, WA, in association with
University of Washington Press, Seattle and London.
Photo: Rob Vinnedge