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!

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