carbon copy: life as an artist in woodstock

an unexpected gift

2011-09-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

Image by Brian Ulrich

I am madly in love with photography and it does not take much for me to fall head-over-heals for an image. I can be a harsh critic but at the end of the day all I need is the right amount of light and I am melting away. Lets just say, I am an easy photo-date.

That being said, every once in a while a body of photographic work goes beyond and ignites something so hypnotic and wonderful within me that I cant even explain it in words. Sounds intense, doesn't it? It is.

In his past work, Brian Ulrich never really tapped into that place for me. I appreciated his work and understood its importance, but the images themselves were not that jaw dropping and did not resonate for me. He always existed in my intellectual plain but never struck me as the most interesting visual experience. Until now.

Image by Brian Ulrich

I got a glimpse of this particular work when he presented for Aperture at New York Photo Festival a few years ago. He was still traveling and shooting on his glorious Guggenheim (jealous!). But, it was not until today that I was reminded of the work and taken back at its beauty. Fraction Magazine published a short review of the project Dark Stores, Ghost Boxes and Dead Malls and I was mesmerized.

This work is so touching to me because in some ways it represents the fall of capitalism. I have been desperate to see this country transition away from big box stores and return to its roots of a locally made and self sustaining culture. That is clearly the anarchist within me coming to the surface (thank Ulrich). I know I am supposed to look at these and be sad for all the people who lost their jobs - which I really am to some degree - but I am also struck by the beauty of its decay. Not just the disintegration of a physical structure, but the dismantling of a way of life. As much as I am happy that we, a society, may be evolving - it equally scares me to death. The uncertainty and the insecurity of it all gives me the shivers.

Image by Brian Ulrich

That is why I have so madly fallen for these images...because they terrify me and make me uncomfortable. That is what I need. I need to be taken out of my comfort zone and be challenged. I want a picture to do that sometimes. Ulrich has done just that, but with the grace of beauty to ease my transition.

let the gardening begin...

2011-04-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring Everyone! I am happy that the weather is warmer and the sun is occasionally shining! It was a long winter for many, and the fresh air and lovely spring smells are a warmly welcomed.

For those of you who read this blog or for those of you who are new to it - I would like to welcome you back to Carbon Copy: Life as an Artist in Woodstock. This blog allows me to share and reflect on some of my life experiences in the art world, inside my head, in my kitchen, and in the world at large. I thank you for coming back and reading my crazy words!! Please feel free to comment or email me at any time.

So, I started a garden this year. It has been the most wonderful addition to my crazy life. I have loved that so much of my creative energy can be translated into this process.

Starting all these plants from seed has been a great learning experience.

I am so devoted to nurturing each one and tending to all its needs.

In return, the plant blossoms and comes to life before my eyes. It is a complete collaboration.

The seed and I, working collectively with light and water to create new life.

It melts my heart.

Then there is the smell.

I had no idea how nice this was going to smell.

Leaves forming and soil moistening is the most rejuvenating scent in the world.

Everything is from seed.

The seedlings are taking over and I could not be happier. They respond to my devoted attention with beautiful growth.

We built four raised beds. Salvaged the wood and had soil delivered.

J helped with the construction.

This garden is an incredible amount of work but it actually brings calm into my life.

The still lifes surrounding the garden and garden tools are constantly grabbing my attention.

After the beds were finished, we put up a large net-like fence to keep the animals out.

If only we had a better guard dog. This one would show the deer in the front door if he had the chance.

First harvest. Mom and Grandma were visiting for a birthday celebration and we got to pick lettuces and basil for a salad and chives for biscuits.

I will update the garden pictures as it grows. I look forward to documenting this adventure!

Devorah Sperber at SUNY this week

2011-03-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

Mona Lisa by Devorah Sperber

DEVORAH SPERBER
Devorah Sperber has been selected as the Visiting Artist at SUNY Ulster for the 2011 spring semester.

Exhibition on view:
March 17- April 15
Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery
Vanderlyn Hall, Stone Ridge Campus

Opening Reception and Slide Lecture
Thursday, March 17, 2011
7:00 p.m., Vanderlyn Hall, Student Lounge

From SUNY website:

Devorah Sperber was born in 1961 and raised in Detroit, Michigan and Denver, Colorado. From 1979 to 1981, she attended the Art Institute of Colorado, Denver, and in 1987, she received her BA from Regis University, Colorado. She has had numerous exhibitions including Mass MoCA, (2008), and a one-person exhibition,The Eye of the Artist: The Work of Devorah Sperber, at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York (2007).

Artist’s Statement
"My current body of work consists of sculptures assembled from thousands of ordinary objects - spools of thread, marker and pen caps, flower-power stickers, map tacks, chenille stems (a.k.a. pipe cleaners), faceted beads, and Swarovski crystals. The imagery is derived from digital photographs that I manipulate and translate into "low-tech" pixels.

While many contemporary artists employ digital technology to create high-tech works, I strive to "dumb-down" technology by using mundane materials and low-tech, labor-intensive assembly processes. I place equal importance on the recognizable image as a whole and on how individual parts function as abstract elements. Therefore, I select materials based on their aesthetic and functional characteristics as well as their capacity for an interesting and often contrasting relationship with the subject matter.

The thread-spool works are often installed so that viewers first perceive the spools of thread as a random arrangement of colorful cylinders. It is only after the spools are viewed through an optical device, such as a clear acrylic sphere or convex mirror that the recognizable image emerges. The viewing spheres (or convex mirrors) shrink or condense the thread spool "pixels" into recognizable images while also rotating the representation 180 degrees. This shift in perception functions as a mechanism to present the idea that there is no one truth or reality, thus emphasizing subjective reality over an absolute truth." - from the Museum of Arts and Design website.

Learn more about her work here.

Free lecture this Sunday!

2011-02-24T16:13:00.000-08:00

Lecture by Jamie Davis & Rachel Papo
This Sunday, Feb. 27 at 11am
The Center for Photography at Woodstock
59 Tinker Street, Woodstock
845.679.9957
free!!!

image by Rachel Papo

This is a great opportunity to hear two regional and successful photographers speak about their work and experiences. I highly recommend attending! I will be there and hope to see a number of you there too!!

more info available here.

new year, old perspective

2011-01-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

It is so nice to feel like I have a fresh start to life--and isn't that the illusion of the new year? It is as if we can put everything in the past year behind us and focus on the future. Making endless promises to ourselves to create a better year than the last. It is such a wonderful gift-- to feel dedicated to self-renewal--but I wish I awoke with such enthusiasm every day of the year. Instead of January 1st being the start to a fresh beginning, I want every single day to be approached as such. And this has to apply to creativity as well. When I was a photography student, and my camera never left my hands, every ounce of the world was a spectacle that was waiting to be recorded. Every odd reflection in a mirror, store sign that was missing letters, quiet moment in a park, shadow on the human skin, still life of my dinner, beautiful friends and family--everything was worthy of the space on a negative. Me and my Pentax K1000 took on the world and it was not always fun and games but it was always real and from the heart.

As I got older, my head got a lot bigger than my heart - and my photography followed. I had to have such an involved intellectual conversation with myself before any picture was allowed the honor of my negative. This was an important time for my art--it aught me about poetry, responsibility, philosophy-- but it was out of balance.

Now it is time for me to merge these two parts of my past and create a new chapter in my work. Follow the light, but analyze its meaning. Trust the instinct and think later.

I shoot with a 4x5 studio camera which has major limitations on how and when i can photograph. It is a wonderful tool--don't get me wrong--but it just too big and time consuming to be used all of the time. So, my iphone has been used to snap the quick and easy pics that I need to take in everyday life. This has been an amazing reminder of my days as a college student--when everything sparked my curiosity enough to explore it with my camera.

Even though the quality of the iphone camera is not good enough for me to really use -- it has ignited a desire to go back to something light, easy to hold, and fun. We shall see....

Images above:
I spend a lot of time in doctor's offices...waiting...and waiting...and more waiting. I play with my phone, I read a magazine, I daydream...until recently I started taking still lifes with my phone's camera. These are a few of those...

Commercial Photography: Now Available!!

2010-11-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

I have such a deep understanding of how essential it is to capture important life moments with photography. It is through our photographs that we share our memories for years to come. It is also the way many of us communicate about our products, activities, or business with the world.

This is why I have decided to become available to the public for commercial photography ventures.

I am now booking appointments to photograph in the Hudson Valley and surrounding areas for a affordable rate.

This includes:

-special events (weddings, holiday parties, birthday parties, bar/bat mitzvahs, anniversaries etc.)

-individual/family portraits
-head shots
-fashion

-products
-architecture
-other subjects also considered

Holiday portraits printed on cards are available at a special rate until December 10th!

Please contact me at ejunterman@yahoo.com for additional information.

SPE Northeast review

2010-11-27T07:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope your holiday festivities were wonderful!

This post is a little late coming. I meant to write about the conference...ummm...right after it took place. Unfortunately, life does not always agree with what you plan on doing.

The picture above was taken on one of my strolls around Providence, Rhode Island, which is where the conference took place. Every time I get to visit this city I say that I could move there in a heartbeat. It is just the right mix of New England and city life that meshes great with me.

The conference events took place at RISD. I had not been there since I curated at the Sol Koffler 4 years ago--which I think got a name change. In any case, the school is a great place to host a stimulating discussion on "The Experimental in Photography". Yes, broad subject indeed...but the panels, speakers, and presenters were very well curated to compliment this topic. Lots of praises went to the Northeast's newest Chair Bruce Myren, for his amazing organization of this event.

I missed the keynote, Spencer Finch, because of traffic coming in from Woodstock. But, I heard it was an energetic and enlightening talk--great way to start things off. I am sad I was not able to see it.

A few highlights from the talks include:

Sharon Harper (Cambridge, MA), Moon Studies and Star Scratches, No. 9, June 4 – 30, 2005, Clearmont, Wyoming, 15, 30, 20, 8, 5, 1, 5, 2, 1 minute exposures; 15, 8, 10, 14 second exposures, Digital C-print from 4x5 transparency, 50 x 40 inches, Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Roepke, Cologne

- Sharon Harper (Harvard University), "Photographing the Invisible"

A wonderful testament to the experimental is represented in Sharon's lengthy exposures exploring the night sky. Often taken over a period of several months, her images challenge photography to capture process, time, and memory.

Meegan Gould (Brunswick, Maine), Image from the Blackboard series

- Meggan Gould (Bowdoin College), "Site-seeing"

I related to Meggan's work the most at this conference. The image above is from the "blackboard series", which is on-going photographic studies of the spaces in which these boards reside. Who does not have a secret love for blackboards? She has recently started a series, which in a similar gaze, photographs personal computers....revealing what an individual's "screen" looks like. Both series are full of personality. She presented quite a few more projects--all with the same energy and excitement...please check out her website to see her complete works.

Joe Deal, Sunset Beach, CA, 1978. Courtesy of Robert Mann Gallery.

- Jan Howard (RISD Museum)," Joe Deal's West & West: Re-imagining the Great Plains"

Joe Deal's untimely death this past year has left many people to reflect back on his work and consider its importance to the history of landscape photography. Jan Howard curated Joe's most recent work at RISD and spoke wonderfully about those particular projects. Having taught at RISD, there was a great number of people in the audience who knew him personally. It was quite a lovely experience to hear about their connection to him and how he influenced them in the most grandiose ways. NY Times did a piece on him after his passing which you can read here.

Overall this was a well-run and interesting conference and I am so happy that I was able to attend. The benefits of going to SPE events is enormous--for someone in academia or not. The community that SPE supports is centered around the idea of loving and supporting the photographic arts and continuing its exploration through education. That is a kind of mission I can relate to.

SPE Northeast Conference--Novemeber 5-7, 2010

2010-11-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

Calling all my former students, photo friends and peers...The SPE Northeast Conference is a great opportunity to hear amazing discussions, lectures and panels about the thing you love most--Photography! If you have never been to an SPE conference this is the perfect one to start with! See you there this weekend?

The Experiential in Photography
November 5 - 7, 2010
Chace Center, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Hampton Inn & Suites Providence Downtown, Providence, RI

Here is a taste:

Keynote Speaker: Spencer Finch
Honored Educator: Deborah Bright

Additional speakers:
- Sharon Harper (Harvard University), "Photographing the Invisible"
- Meggan Gould (Bowdoin College), "Site-seeing"
- Angela Kelly (Rochester Institute of Technology), "Catharsis: Images of Post-Troubles Belfast"
- Janet Pritchard (University of Connecticut), "Seeing Yellowstone with New Eyes"
- Jan Howard (RISD Museum)," Joe Deal's West & West: Re-imagining the Great Plains"
- Monica McTighe (Tufts University), "Embodiment, Experience, and Photographic Images"
- Michelle Sheppard (Algonquin Regional High School), "Breaking the Bubbles and Rebuilding the Boxes: Re-Thinking Creativity After Standardization"
- Panel: "The Image, Written: Using Photography to Teach Writing" (academic practicum) - Rachel Somerstein and Lorraine Doran (New York University), Elizabeth Cornell (Fordham University), and Alden Jones (Emerson College)

The event is very affordable and well worth it!

More info can be found here.

oh martha...

2010-11-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

oh martha stewart. i cant tell if i love you or hate you! i do LOVE this photo of pumpkins and squashes from marthastewart.com. It is the perfect representation of the fall.

HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!!!!

a trip to cape cod

2010-10-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

Took a few days to relax in Cape Cod, Massachusetts last weekend to celebrate my 30th birthday. It was a great way to spend my time--and was possibly my best birthday in years!

The image above is a composite of the landscape that I was so struck by---the Cape Dunes. They are amazing and J and I spent a bit of time hiking around and through them (sand is a great workout!)

We also visited a wonderful exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) which was a few blocks away from our hotel. Traces: Daniel Ranalli, Cape Work 1987-2007 was curated by Leslie K. Brown. The collection included several series of work all taken on the cape. They were delightfully whimsical and deeply emotive at the same time. The image below is one that made me giggle-- and in the same breath-- I was awe struck.

Daniel Ranalli, Spiral Start #9, 1995/2009, From the series "Snail Drawings," Photographic diptych, Archival inkjet print, 20 x 28 inches, Courtesy of Gallery Kayafas

The exhibition is on view until mid-January. Fall/Winter is a wonderful time to go visit this unique part of the Northeast seashore. There are no people around! They all left for the season! You cant ask for better than that.

Reception in Amherst MA

2010-10-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

I will be in Amherst for the reception on Saturday. If you are in the area please join me! I would love to see my good ole yankee friends!!!

Call for entries

2010-10-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

My friend Lauren has organized this Call for Submissions. A literary/arts mag is an essential need in the Hudson Valley and I am thrilled that Lauren has taken the initiative to make it happen. I call to all my artist readers to send in work---this is a great opportunity!!

See the website for more details here.

Video Art Invades Woodstock!!!!

2010-09-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

Still from video "Newspeak" by Liz Unterman

Looking for something to do this Friday night? What are you interested in?
a) good times
b) cool looking stuff
c) fun peeps
d) great food and beer

If you picked a, b, c or d -- the answer for you is: The Woodstock Video Art Festival!!!!

Come hang out with me and the other amazing artists on Friday night for a party and video screening!

Opening Reception:
October 1st - 5 to 9pm
@
Image Factory
1534 Rt. 212
Saugerties, NY
(3.5 miles east of Woodstock)

See you there!

Hail to the Collector

2010-09-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

Wonderful collection of found photographs by John Foster. Nicely curated selection in this Newsweek article with comments from collector.

Read the Newsweek article here.

Whether they are beautifully disturbing, accidentally mesmerizing or breathtakingly simple--these images possess such an unmistakable charm.

David Maisel in Woodstock--Sat. Sept. 25th

2010-09-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend David Maisel will be giving the last lecture of the summer season at CPW on Saturday, September 25 at 8PM. His bio is as follows:

David Maisel is a photographer and multimedia artist based in the San Francisco area. Maisel’s first book, /The Lake Project/, was published by Nazraeli Press and selected as one of the Top 25 Photography Books of 2004 by the critic Vince Aletti. Nazraeli Press published Maisel’s second book, /Oblivion/, in 2006, and Cascade Effect in 2008. Chronicle Books published his monograph /Library of Dust/ in 2008, which the New York Times called "...this year's most haunting book of images." /Library of Dust/ was the subject of a symposium in 2009 at the New York Institute for the Humanities. Maisel is the recipient of a 2008 Artist Residency from the Headlands Center for the Arts and a 2007 Scholar/Artist Residency from the Getty Research Institute. He was nominated for the 2009 Alpert Award in the Visual Arts, and short-listed for the 2008 Prix Pictet Award. Maisel has also received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Opsis Foundation. His work is widely exhibited, and is represented in major public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others. To learn more about David, visit www.davidmaisel.com .

This is a unique opportunity to hear such an internationally renowned photographer so close to home.

The cost of the lecture is $5 for students, seniors, and CPW members, and $7 for the general public.

A day in Catskill...

2010-09-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

J and I took a ride to Catskill this weekend to go on the Catskill Artist Studio Tour. Some amazing talent were featured on the tour including Portia Munson, Jared Handelsman and Susan Wides. Unfortunately, we did not make it to their studios-- instead we got caught up exploring the beautiful town.

Within Catskill is Brik Gallery --- which I had never been to before but heard a lot about. It is a lovely space and was hosting an exhibition Cowgirls 3.

from website:
"Cowgirls 3" is curated by Rich Timperio, who owns the famous Sideshow Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Timperio calls the show "Good old fashioned fun, light-hearted and adventurous. It celebrates the collective creativity in our midst and showcases the diversity and style of art in the twenty-first century.”

This was a powerhouse of upstate artists. Kiki Smith (who just moved to the area!), Joan Snyder, Tanya Marcuse, Fawn Potash, Charise Isis, and Mary Frank-- to name a few. Great show--had a lot of fun looking through the diverse grouping. It is up until September 19th.

Mr. Toledano takes over Brooklyn

2010-09-09T05:48:00.000-07:00

Image of Angel by Phillip Toledano

It is very exciting for me to see this work by one of my favorite artists, Phillip Toledano, at one of my favorite galleries in NYC, Klompching Gallery.

Almost all of Mr. Toledano's projects connect deeply to the psyche of the American culture in a unique and previously unexplored fashion. This project in particular, A New Kind of Beauty, not only examines the current mood of our societal quirks, but it also steps into a future that is currently unfamiliar to most. We see glimpses of this beauty all around the American media but it is not generally experienced in most of our daily lives. Mr. Toledano brings this front and center in a profound and sophisticated way--by the poses and lighting he has chosen---which is opposite of the normal bright lights and exposed posing we see in the media. Instead of criticizing and judging this new beauty, he has left it as a blank slate--one for which there is no room for us to judge, but instead we can just simply experience.

In this experience, I see a world where the identifiers of self have greatly changed. In addition, the identifiers of sex have been magnified. I see a new type of human being.

Phillip Toledano's exhibition is at Klompching in Dumbo, Brooklyn until October 29th.

Above: See some of Phil's other fascinating projects in books form. (And by the way...Phil is a part-time upstate New Yorker.)

new semester, some regional goodies & rambles

2010-08-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

As part of my Photography class at SUNY Ulster, I set up a blog to share student work, photo events in the region and other passing art-like thoughts. Check it out here if you have a chance and let us know your thoughts.

On to other things...

I am currently writing my first post from my brand new 27" iMac!!! What an adventure this computer already is turning out to be. Technology like this totally inspires me to be wreckless and crazy! Gotta love it.

For the regional photographers, I would like to share that the Center for Photography at Woodstock's annual fellowship award deadline is approaching. Sept. 20 kids. Free to submit, you just need to live in one of the included counties. See their website here for more info.

I would also like to share with you some amazing jewelry work I have encountered. This kind of design and detail is totally in my frequency. I dig it more than anything I have seen lately. The references in her cut-outs are very much part of the Hudson Valley visual language.

The necklace you see above is part of Myriad Art which is created by regional artist Samantha June. Her etsy shop, with lots of goodies, can be seen here. In addition to being such a talented metal worker, Samantha is also an incredible musician! She sings in the band Desolation Angels. If they play near you---Go see them! Great times!

For now, enter the CPW fellowship and go buy some jewelry for someone you love....
...like me : )

Blog Highlight: Lens

2010-08-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog. I have been off my game is many ways, yet on to new games too. Looking at less photography lately as an attempt to clear the head and inspirational palette as to allow for my true instinctual creative impulses to shine through.

That is all getting a bit old and I am starting to miss the galleries, blogs, lectures, books and prints!!! So I have posted a link to a blog I have truly enjoyed over the years and am recently getting back into.

Lens is the photography blog of The New York Times, presenting photographs, videos and slide shows that examine the world of photojournalism. A showcase for Times photographers, it also seeks to highlight the best work of other newspapers, magazines and news and picture agencies; in print, in books, in galleries, in museums and on the Web.

collect.give

2010-07-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

Add to your photography collection and donate to a charity at the same time. That is the concept behind Collect.Give. With prints at about $40, this is a steal. Perfect for gifts or for yourself. In many ways, this is a more down to earth version of Jen Bekman's 20x200. Since they began in December 2009 they have raised over $10,000 for charities.

Image above by Kerry Mansfield and is still available for purchase here.

a work of tv art

2010-07-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Cast of Bravo's Work of Art

I remember my friend Isis auditioning in NYC for a new reality TV show about artists over a year ago. She was into it, but could not continue with the auditioning process because of her schedule. In any case, I thought, at the time, that this was genius. Why not have artists on a cut-throat reality show? We have everyone else doing it---chefs, housewives, dancers---- lets put some of that prize money into an artist's hand, you know?

The show just aired on Bravo recently and is called Work of Art. I hate to admit it, but I am entertained (but that does not take too much). There are a few artists whose process, which is recorded via interviews and other footage, is interesting and seemingly coming from a real place. And the end result are pieces of art that I appreciate and are accessible to me.

The access to the dramas of the studio and the critique process must be astonishing to someone outside the art community. If you have ever sat in on a critique or visited a studio---you know how quickly it can all turn into a therapy session. Overall, there is nothing truly new being explored here. It is actually quite tame compared to some of the scenes I have experienced.

If at the least, the American TV public gets exposed to some art outside the paintings they view from their hotel rooms--then this is a success. I guess. I am still torn about the commercialization of EVERYTHING. When I was visiting a former professor this spring she was talking about how disappointed she was in the ego-fest at the Marina Abramovic performance/installation at MoMA. She felt like Marina "sold out" and was presenting her work in a way it can never be truly appreciated. I had just gone to the show and was moved by her performance--- but it was the first time I ever saw her. I defended the work by saying that it exposed a whole new generation to the history of her performance work -- bla bla bla. Now that I think about it, I get my professor's point. It is one thing to cause a spectacle and it is an entirely different thing to talk about a spectacle that is placed nicely on a white wall. one is life changing, the other is just informative.

the potshow is coming to woodstock!!!

2010-06-03T14:34:00.001-07:00

Ha, ha--- I bet you are thinking "Hell, the "potshow" has been in woodstock since the sixties". And yes, you are right about that. But this is the Slideluck Potshow. I know it sounds crazy but---Yes, there is a such thing as a Slideluck Potshow! Can you imagine a place where you can see projected photography and show off your favorite recipe? This is it!

Slideluck Potshow is coming to Woodstock and YOU can be in it!!! It is coming to the Center for Photography at Woodstock.

Submit to be in the most delicious exhibition in Woodstock history.

Submission deadline is JUNE 15. More info HERE.

reading...

2010-05-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

Just started reading this book. Very excited since it has been recommended to me by a million people. It was suggested reading for Doug Beasley's workshop at CPW and I never got around to reading it. I will give a review when I am finished.

I have to say, that is one big advantage to the semi unemployed life--- reading time a plenty!

What are you reading right now?

NYFA MARK Artist Talk

2010-05-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

I will be giving a brief artist talk at this event. Would love to see you there!!! It is free and we would all appreciate you coming and giving us feedback.

Rosendale MARK Artists' Talks

Throughout Spring 2010, 60 artists from five different regions of NY state participated in MARK, a program of New York Foundation for the Arts. Women's Studio Workshop, in its second year as a partnering organization with the MARK program invites you to attend artist talks by the 12 participating MARK artists in the Rosendale region.

Thursday May 27, 2010 6p-8:15p

Marbletown Community Center
Route 209 (Main Street in Stone Ridge, Also known as Route 209, directly across the street from Key Bank)
Stone Ridge, NY 12484

All participating artists will be giving a 5 minute presentation on their work. There will then be a 5 minute period of question and feedback.

MARK10 Rosendale Artists:
Michael Asbill
Cristina de Gennaro
Gordon Fearey
Allison Leach
Jill Parisi
E. Elizabeth Peters
Kaete Brittin Shaw
Elizabeth Unterman
Lori Van Houten
Pamela J. Wallace
Tona Wilson

MARK is the New York Foundation for the Arts'(NYFA) statewide six-month program for visual artists seeking a unique opportunity for individualized focus on the professional side of their creative practice. Partnering MARK organizations include Women's Studio Workshop as well as other arts organizations throughout New York State.

For more information on the MARK program visit nyfa.org/mark.

getting adjusted

2010-05-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

I took a break from blogging for the past few weeks.

Getting this new semi-jobless life of mine into perspective.

It is slowly coming together. I think.

It is a beautiful thing to have time and freedom and I do not want to waste a second of it.

I get to be an almost full-time artist and I am slightly overwhelmed. Only because it is everything I have been asking for and I have to figure out how to make it work for me. Believe it or not- I still do not have as much time as I need to be in the studio or out shooting. Very complicated.

On the flip side, looking at new work is as important to me as making it. So, I will be headed to NYC for New York Photo Festival in Dumbo starting this Thursday. A lot of very interesting exhibitions and speakers over the 4 day event. I look forward to taking it all in and digesting it thoroughly.

The festival is very cool because it organizes several exhibitions and constructs a panel schedule around the topics of each show. The visiting curators include Vince Aletti, Erik Kessels, Fred Richin and Lou Reed.

In addition, they have a very large portfolio review event. Many wonderful reviewers are invited to participate--- it is a great place to showcase your work. Will most surely take advantage next year when this newer work is further along.

NYC is buzzing with photography that is not related to NYPH. Some of the exhibitions I plan on seeing:

KlompChing Gallery in Dumbo (very close to the NYPH events) will have a reception for Helen Sear on Thursday evening.

image by Helen Sear, courtasy of the Klompching Gallery

MoMA has a tremendous amount to see: William Kentridge (through May 17), Henri Cartier-Bresson (through June 28) & performance by Marina Abramovic (through May 31). I can seriously spend the entire day here-- and I just might end up doing that.

The last big thing on my list that I have to see is:

Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video & Performance at the Guggenheim.

I will keep you updated....

notes from the blogosphere

2010-04-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote an article for PQ (Photography Quarterly) about the photography blogging community called "notes from the blogosphere". Nymphoto wrote a nice mention of it as well as several other features from that issue on their wonderful blog.
You can see it here.

Nymphoto is a wonderful resource that I read on a regular basis. Nymphoto: A Collective of Women Photographers provides online exhibitions, group shows, collective publications and an open forum for artistic discourse. Nymphoto remains a trusted and innovative resource for women photographers. Got to love it.

Another brief mention of the long awaited PQ #98 was given on jen Bekman's blog Hey, hot shot here.

Hope you are having a nice week!

2010 is going to be a great year....

2010-04-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... It is finally here. the 2010 workshop schedule. Check it out on CPW's homepage. Even though I am not running the program anymore I will still endorse it with all my might. Best workshops ever.

greetings from the sunshine state

2010-03-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

A few days away in Florida for J's cousin's wedding. Fun times for sure. Nice to be in lala land for a bit. We keep hearing about the crappy weather back in New York and I feel slightly guilty since it has mostly been warm and sunny here.

Have not seen any art--- even though I had a list of spots I was hoping to check out. Busy with other things and time goes fast. The good news is that I was insired to take a few pictures. Imagine that?! One was even a self portrait. Maybe I will share when I return.

Be back soon on the rainy and dark side. Maybe I will bring some sunshine with me?

picture of my day

2010-03-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Have not been posting much in the last few weeks. Been very busy at work and in my personal life (see my two favorite boys above). Life moves fast and I am trying not too miss too much of it.

The big news is that I am getting ready to leave CPW next month. I have been there for three years and am ready to pursue other professional paths. I am hoping to move on to a full time faculty job and simultaneously pursue my own art with more diligence. I am applying for several positions, but have yet to receive any offers. Fingers crossed that something perfect emerges. If you hear of any positions that might suit me or have any advice about applying for faculty jobs, please contact me.

I love CPW with all my heart and will continue to be a part of its extended family. You will see me at all the major events there- listening to the artist lectures, volunteering, taking a class, using the facilities, or just having some fun with the extraordinary people who work there.

Most certainly not an end of something, but the beginning. So excited to see what the universe throws at me. I will keep you informed!

the light at the end of the long winter tunnel

2010-03-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

the smell, taste and sights of spring air. ahhhh. deep breathes of warm, sun soaked inhalations.

and that light! what a sight for my sleepy wintered eyes. Those reflections and shadows are so uniquely spring.

book wishlist

2010-03-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

image by Hank Willis Thomas

I mentioned Hank Willis Thomas in my last post because he spoke at the SPE conference. While he is on my mind I would like to acknowledge that his book Pitch Blackness is now on my immediate book wish list. It should be on yours too.

The image above is from the series Unbranded, which is represented in his book (which was published due to Willis-Thomas winning the first ever Aperture West book prize). By removing the logos and product information from these advertisements, Hank examines the ever so complicated Black image in American media.

You can purchase it through Aperture Books here.

notes from the field: an SPE overview

2010-03-08T10:52:00.001-08:00

Jenn and I out taking a stroll on market St.

Back from a great national conference. Still processing all the information. Spoke on a panel about Language, Diversity and Community. Heard speakers including Kip Fulbeck, Hank Willis-Thomas, Dawoud Bey and so many more. Deb Willis was the honored educator and I was so looking forward to hearing her lecture---but instead a number of people who have been close to her throughout the years paid tribute to her exellence. which honestly, made me want to hear her even more- their words were incredibly moving.

Bought a few books at aperture, talked to many interesting artists and students, looked at art and played a little too...capped each night with a martini (or two...or three)

My only comment about the event is that for a topic as big as diversity I felt that there was not enough discussion time after each panel/lecture. To really dig in and get our hands dirty I believe that a public conversation is necessary. Even despite this, I think some important points and histories were discussed.

Dawoud Bey just posted his thoughts on the conference and a transcript of his lecture as one of the conference's keynote speaker's on his blog What's Going On.

Philadelphia was a great city for the conference. It was energetic and creative.
The bus that SPE organized for a gallery tour took us to the new yet wonderful Philadelphia Photographic Arts Center, and to Gallery 339 where I saw the exhibition Show by Henry Horenstein(who wil be teaching at CPW this summer).

Jenn and I got to walk around a bit and snap a few shots and visit the oh so wonderful Mutter Museum. Aside from the medical specimens that were intriguing beyond belief (I stared at deformed fetuses and objects that were lodged in people throats for hours)- there was a fascinating ceramics exhibition on display which explored the various perspectives surrounding the idea of "normalcy". So glad I made it there.

Another fun thing I got to do was see Justin Townes Earle (Steve Earle's son) at a great, small venue on the west side of town. Killer music- I highly recommend. Oh, did I mention that I went with Henry Horenstien. Yes, the man whose photographic texts taught me almost everything I technically know about photography at age 14-24 was rockin' out with me at a folk concert. This Crazy life.

A few images from my walk:

Happy Monday!

SPE bound

2010-03-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I will be Philadelphia bound where I will be attending the Society for Photographic Educator conference.

On Friday I will be speaking on behalf of CPW on a panel called "Language & Identity, Opportunities and Communities". I will discuss our residency program and its past participants.

Also, I will be going to hear many speakers including Dawoud Bey, Deborah Willis, David Graham, Phyllis Galembo, Kip Fulbeck and many, many more. I am so excited!

I will try to post from the hotel and give an update.

my sunday local artist ramble

2010-02-28T07:30:00.000-08:00

image by Carla Shapiro

waking up this morning to the sound of hail balls hitting my window was surprisingly relaxing. I think I am just happy to have a day off to lay in bed for an extra few minutes. what a better way to spend my sunday morning in bed than to post another local artist ramble from my trusty 6 year old powerbook (kisses to the computer gods that this laptop is still operational).

As I consider all the interesting local artists I have encountered lately, one in particular comes to mind. I ran into her last night at an event for the Woodstock Land Conservancy and so I would like to briefly speak of her work today.

Carla Shapiro lives and works in Chichester, NY. I was exposed to her through CPW in which she has been involved on a number of levels- she has received a fellowship in 2003 and most recently she was featured in Landscape Forever an exhibition curated by Dion Ogust. After meeting her several times and speaking to her about her passion for teaching, we decided to host a workshop in the summer of 2010 in which she will instruct called "Portraits: On location". This workshop will help students to get a creative portrait (for assignment or project) on a location in a short period of time. The class will visit a nursing home and each student will be assigned an individual to photograph. Carla has been photographing the aging body for many years so this location suits her well. I think this will be an incredibly informative workshop.

Carla's work is about connecting to the world around her on a deep and meaningful level. May it be people or places, her images demonstrate a compassion and understanding of the cycle of life. By using experimental techniques such as toy cameras, she is able to add a layer of mystique to her images and is able to express this warmth without the expected cliches. Carla's images are complicated and peaceful all at once- which is such a realistic viewpoint.

Take a look at Carla's website here to get a more comprehensive view of her work and have a Happy Sunday!

book wishlist

2010-02-27T10:41:00.000-08:00

Don't judge a book by its cover- bla bla bla. Forget that! This book sold me with its cover. Colorful, whimsical and intriguing- I need it! Add Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage, 2009 (Art Institute of Chicago) to your booklist too.

This book has inspired an exhibition at the Metrapolitan Museum of Art in NYC until early May. See more images and read more about the exhibit here. I cannot wait to see it.

Copies of Playing with Pictures can be found at the Met store here.

fragmented and re-imagined- curtis mann

2010-02-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

The Whitney Biennial 2010 is upon us and I would like to share the work of artist Curtis Mann, who will be featured this year.

Curtis Mann's work is so intriguing to me. It is my understanding that he uses found imagery and enlarges them to produce a new image. He then uses bleach to erase some of the image and essentially create a completely new one. For one of his projects he used images which originated at sites of conflict such as Gaza, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon etc. which were found on photo-sharing websites such as Flickr.

This process enables him to change the way in which we read and interpret these scenes. I see fragments of a place, of people and have to approach the image with my senses fully aware to decipher what it is I am looking at.

I was exposed to Curtis' work through Jen Bekman and bought a piece through the wonderful 20x200 print program (the image below). I was intrigued by the transformation these images had gone through. They seemed so personal- as if they originated from his own personal family photo collection- and when I found out they were not, I was very surprised.

See Curtis' perspective on art, life etc... on his blog featured here. Or check him out at the Whitney Biennial which is on view until May 30th.

all images by Curtis Mann.

book wishlist

2010-02-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

This is the start of a brand new weekly post titled "book wishlist". think of it like a liz book club. i will be posting about both books that i wish i had and books that i have seen or own that i think are important. I will laways include a link to where the book can be purchased. It may often be amazon, abe books, the strand online, photoeye, aperture or icp.

Today's post is about Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard (Steidl & Partners, 2009). Did you know Walker collected postcards on his many travels? Even long before his photography became part of his professional life, he was building quite the inventory of the travel cards.

In the end he accumulated over 9000 cards. There was an exhibition at the Met last year highlighting some of the most interesting.

Buy the book here.

alternative venues for your viewing pleasure

2010-02-17T09:43:00.000-08:00

image taken from Slideluck Potshow

Challenge #1: So many artists, so few spaces to show work.
Challenge #2: Such a limited audience go to see art in person
Challenge #3: contemporary work is not always meant to be hung on white walls

Solution: alternative venues.

not such a new concept, but an exciting one none the less.
alt. spaces for exhibiting art has been explored as long as art has been made (non profits to coffee shops to sides of buildings etc...).

as artists, we have so many wonderful organizations accessible to us who are coming up with new and different ways to bring art to the people.

here a just a few examples of the many institutions, organizations, individuals and publications working to create new ways to get work out into the world and expand the

Humble Arts Foundation: is a non-profit organization that is committed to supporting and promoting the work of new art photographers. The New York-based nonprofit serves the international art community by way of exhibition and publishing opportunities, limited-edition print sales, twice–annual artists grants, and various special curatorial projects.

Founded in 2005 by amani olu and Jon Feinstein, Humble has been a pioneering hub for showcasing new fine art photography, and has served as a resource for collectors, galleries, museums, curators, photo editors, and bloggers internationally.

One of the many wonderful exhibitions affiliated with Humble is 31 Women in Photography at Affirmation Arts which is coming up in early March and is co-curated by Charlotte Cotton and Jon Feinstein.

Humble has a very open submission policy - worth checking out.

_______________________________________

Slideluck Potshow: a non-profit organization devoted to building and strengthening community around food and art. Aspiring, Undiscovered and very accomplished artists, photojournalists, painters, designers, sculptors, fashion and fine art photographers all show their work alongside one another in a relaxed, egalitarian, and spirited atmosphere. This slideshow format offers emerging artists a unique forum and opportunity to reach new audiences. Past participants include: Elliott Erwitt, Shepard Fairey, Chris Buck, Alec Soth, Martin Schoeller, Elinor Carucci, Alistair Thain, Edward Burtysky, Doug Menuez, and Phil Toledano.

At each Slideluck Potshow event, the slideshow exhibition is preceded by a potluck-style dinner. Attendees bring food and drink, as the evening begins with two hours of dining on the home-cooked delights of the participants, while drinking and mingling. The potluck gives presenting artists and event attendees the opportunity to interact with each other in an informal atmosphere that encourages dialogue about the artwork to be exhibited.

Slideluck Potshow was founded by advertising and editorial photographer, Casey Kelbaugh, in 2000.
You can even find recipes for the potluck here.

Keep an eye out for Slideluck Potshow Woodstock coming July 17th!!!! Submissions will be due mid-June.
______________________________________________

Visura Magazine: an on-line, invitation only magazine featuring personal projects selected by the artists. The goal of this magazine is to be true to the artist's voices.

A very passionate group of people run this online publication- and work very hard to keep each issue coming out.

Some artists featured in the latest issue #7 are Larry Fink, Donna Ferrato, Jeff Jacobson and many others.

Every issue includes a "Visura spotlight" which highlights a student or emerging photographer.

my sunday local artist ramble

2010-02-14T07:24:00.000-08:00

image by Stephen Shore

Across the river and through the woods is a wondrous place called Bard College. Within the realm of Bard's campus some of the art world's most talented educators reside. One of them is one of the most iconic names in contemporary photography (at least in my world)- Stephen Shore. He has been the head of Bard's photography program since the early 1980's.

Since I was in high school, photographs depicting the cultural American landscape was something that intrigued me and Stephen Shore's work was very much a part of that genre. His unfiltered, comical, and poetic look at the 20th century landscape represented everything that i understood about the world. The most visible landscape photographic work, to me as a young person, was Ansel Adams...and his landscape pictures are lovely and in some circumstances they are even breathtaking- but they were not from the world I saw in front of me. I believed that there were more metaphorical layers to the landscape than I was seeing in the art historical context- and it was not until i was exposed to contemporary work like Shore- Owens- Sternfeld-Klett etc... that landscape photography truly began speak to me.

Shore has a really interesting history. He started making pictures so young and found an audience for them very quickly. As a young person he hung out with Warhol and took many images of that scene (see below). There are several beautiful portraits in this series but my favorites are the environmental portraits which show the factory in all its glory.

Stephen Shore

Warhol with 'Silver Clouds' in Factory
1965-1967
Black and white photograph
19 x 12 3/4 inches
edition of 8

all content copyright 303 Gallery, New York, 2010

Stephen Shore's book Uncommon Places is in my opinion one of the most important photo book ever created. Mostly because it gave the next generation of artists the ok to creatively explore our society's cliches, contradictions, weirdness, sprawl and all the ugly that oozes to the surface of our landscape. It is not going to produce a perfect Ansel Adams- but it will create a new kind of beautiful. One that comes only with individual perspective and freedom. One that exists to explore instead of simply satisfy. Shore is like the Dean Moriarty of the art world- on the bus and ready to go.

image by Stephen Shore

303 Gallery represents his work which you can see more of here.

happy v-day

2010-02-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Card made by up up creative.

for love or money or both?

2010-02-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

painting by Carmen Herrera

Never have I considered the possibility of being able to make a living from my art. Truth be told, I still can not grasp that idea. People who are able to do that are amazing to me- or they have big trust funds- either/or, it seems far from my reach. Despite these feelings, I have been contemplating ways to make it happen for myself. I know that I am in love with what I do- and have been since I was 14 years old- and yet the concept of having a career as an artist is overwhelming to me. I know that in order to attempt it, you have to put yourself out in the world in the most vulnerable way possible. Sure, I am as stubborn as it gets but rejection is scary. And maybe that is just it- making a living in the arts but not through my art is safe. I get to be around what I love but I do not have to risk so much in order to do it.

Being part of the NYFA MARK program I am starting to learn about different strategies to succeeding as an artist. First, of course, you have to determine what success is for you. Harder question than you might realize. I ask myself it and I come up with a different answer every time. So many definitions of success run through my head: Being happy-supporting myself-getting gallery representation-exhibiting often-having a lot of studio time-etc....

I found out about the amazing story of Carmen Herrera through the reading material given to me through this program. She is one of those rare examples of someone whose passion for art finally paid off with "success". Not until she was in her 90's were her paintings "discovered" by the art world. Because the art world often focuses on the trends rather than art as a whole- her work did not find its relevance until recently (you can see one of her images above). She was supported by her husband for most of her life and was able to be a studio artist because as she put it, "she had to".

This story is almost too romantic for my taste, but i am inspired. Mostly, I am happy for Carmen who deserves to be recognized in this way.

You can view the NY Times picture slide show here.

what up winter

2010-02-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

not very much snow fell so far today but a few more inches should be on their way. I did get a chance to walk in the woods a bit this afternoon. the property here is so rich with interesting views, wildlife, and plants.

i hope everyone is having a nice winter day- staying warm and being inspired.

wet your plate in 2010

2010-02-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

Came across this image yesterday hidden in the deep valley of digital files- it was taken by a CPW student during a weekend Wet Collodion wokshop taught by Michael Mazzeo in 2008. I always come across so tough in pictures- which is funny cause I an as soft as a bunny : )

The exciting news is Michael will be returning to teach in 2010 for a 3-day workshop called Blackening your Fingertips: Wet Plate Collodion! He is incredibly talented and is a great person to learn this unique process from. No question- it is hard work- but when you start making plates on the second day you will be so inspired.

Curious about who else might be teaching this summer? The schedule will be on-line in early March so sign up for CPW's email list to be notified. I promise- it is a killer line-up with new faces and class topics....

my sunday local artist ramble

2010-02-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Sunday! It is sunny and beautiful here in Woodstock. I am back and forth between the computer and the backyard where I am making silk cyanotypes for the store at the Green Country Council of the Arts gallery (opening Feb. 20th).
I may be busy today, but I am still excited about my sunday local artists ramble...

This ramble highlights the artist George Quasha who lives and works in Barrytown, NY. He is one of those rare and versatile artists who has mastered several creative mediums in order to express his point of view. His sculpture, video, 2D and written word all share a common language throughout Quasha's life work. It is the language of the uncertain- the spontaneous moment- the balance between control and chaos.

Along with his wife, Susan, he founded Station Hill Press, which has specialized in publishing art, poetry, and philosophy, with titles ranging from presentations of work by performance artist Gary Hill to novels by French thinker Maurice Blanchot.

View his website here for more info.

I discovered Quasha's sculptural rocks at the Samuel Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz around the time i returned tot he valley in 2007 (see sculpture image above). I was taken back by the balance he was able to construct. He had pushed these elements to the absolute farthest they could be pushed before collapse. What a beautiful metaphor for so many things in our world.

I then heard about this video piece:

From his website:
art is develops an open-ended video art work in portraiture that registers artists in the act of saying what art is. It is presented as a continuous series of speaking faces viewed up close, one at a time, with no overlaps or special effects, filmed “on site” under many circumstances. One unadorned face at a time fills the image area, and the image frame is contained within the face, thus reversing conventional portraiture. The framing effectively removes most social indicators (hair style, clothing, context, etc.). While many famous artists are included, they are mixed with lesser known ones. Identification of the artist is indicated only at the end of each "speaking portrait" in o rder to keep the viewer's attention focused on the act of saying what art is rather thank on the identity of the speaker.

A preview of his video piece "Art is: speaking portraits" can be seen here.

Quasha's work challenges his viewers to trust what we see and hear and feel-
he is a lovely representation of our valley.

all images are of work by George Quasha.

Blog that inspires...

2010-02-05T11:34:00.000-08:00

Imagine having a locally made farm fresh 5-course meal out in open, fresh air?
That is the mission of the wonderful group of chefs, community activists and foodies involved in the group: Outstanding in the Field.

Their wonderful blog, which can be viewed here, follows their travels and has great photographic documentation of the varied seating arrangements and meals prepared specially for each location.

Yes, I did say travels. Outstanding in the Field is nothing short of a rock band of foodies traveling the country and staging these elaborate local meals at different farms. When you sign up for a dinner (which is not cheap and is priced from $180-$200) you get a 5-course "family-style" meal with wine pairings, all gratuities, and a tour of the farm that the dinner is presented at. And, you cant forget the atmosphere. Included in your dinner is the rare and unique experience of eating out in the open, on the land where it all begins, where the seed is planted and life emerges...
...ahh....so romantic.

It is mentioned on their website that this may not be suitable for people with food allergies.

Keep in mind-the dinners sell out. Their website indicates that sign-up begins on the first day of spring (so cute). If you need more direct info you can view their website here. And guess what kids...they even have a few NYC locations!!! Yumm!

delicious words

2010-02-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

From a 6th grade classroom...

the return of my sunday local artist ramble

2010-02-01T08:14:00.000-08:00

dear facebook, the social networking epicenter of the universe. I do enjoy your accessibility and easy connection to my friends, family and peers-but all the time you absorb is taking me away from my precious blog! Love, me

No more I tell ya! I am back to being a blogging regular. And with that statement I bring back the "my sunday local artist ramble". In the name of Woodstock's Levon Helm (yes, from the Band), who produces his own ramble aka the Midnight Ramble, I will highlight on my blog Carbon Copy a local artist that I admire every Sunday- hence the name "my sunday local artist ramble". There are so many incredible artists residing in the Hudson Valley region and beyond- some of my past rambles have included the work by Craig Barber, Judy Pfaff, Tatana Kellner, and Laura Moriarty to name a few.

Now that the logistics and excuses have been ironed out, this sunday I would like to present the work of Albany-area artist Jeri Eisenberg.

I first saw Jeri's work in Woodstock at BMG Galerie. These out of focus views of corners and crevices of the landscape on large panels of Japanese paper and thinly coated in encaustic had immediately grabbed my attention. Their majestic quality and delicate nature made them easy on the eyes- yet the disrupted view made from the lens and the use of several panels to create one image forced something deeper and more emotional. They are dream-like and visually unclear- but they make sense and are reconstructed in my mind into a familiar view.
These fractions of a "view" equate to something more than themselves....

from Jeri's beautiful Artist Statement:

I feel no need to seek out grand vistas or exotic locales, majestic mountain ranges or rushing rivers. It's the common wooded landscape of my day to day life that captures my attention. Many of the images in my current work are from areas close to my home; others are from farther flung places, but places that I just happen to be for one prosaic reason or another. They are places that are generally more ordinary than spectacular.

By photographing the treed landscape with a purposefully oversized pinhole or a radically defocused lens, however, I capture it as it is not often seen. The images are firmly grounded in the natural world, a particular place, a particular season, a particular time. But by obscuring detail, only the strongest brush strokes emerge: the images become sketches with light, literally and figuratively. They tend to float between there and not there, to dissolve into abstraction and reconfigure themselves back into recognizable form.

I began this series when my father, then 83, started loosing both his sight and his memory. Strangely, the work has been comforting. Beauty, though fleeting and fragmentary, seems to console me.

all images by Jeri Eisenberg.

You can also see Jeri's beautiful work at the Albany Center Gallery on view until Feb. 27 with 2 other artists. If you cannot make it out there, check out the Carrie Haddad Gallery or Galerie BMG website.

oh WiNtEr

2010-01-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

image taken in mohonk preserve, ny

So bitterly cold today...
...it is just what you have to deal with when you live in the northeast.
working at CPW and then an evening at home by the fireplace. ahhhh, sounds nice, no?

Keep an eye on my blog tomorrow- I will be bringing back a classic- the sunday local artist ramble. yeeehaaa.

Have a wonderful saturday...I hope you are up to something great and grand.

i really need to visit...

2010-01-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

...the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. It has been years since I have made a pilgrimage to the photographic epicenter of the united states- and it is about time. It is a beautiful location and Roger Ballen has a show opening the end of February. Sounds perfect to me.

image by Roger Ballen

If you never heard of GE House, this may help. Their mission is:

The George Eastman House, an independent nonprofit museum, is an educational institution that tells the story of photography and motion pictures—media that have changed and continue to change our perception of the world. We:

Collect and preserve objects that are of significance to photography, motion pictures, and the life of George Eastman.
Build information resources to provide the means for both scholarly research and recreational inquiry.
Keep and care for images, literature, and technology to tell the story of photography and the motion picture in history and in culture.
Care for George Eastman’s house, gardens, and archives, maintaining them for public enjoyment and as a memorial to his contribution to our lives and our times.

We do these things to inspire discovery and learning—supporting the education of a regional, national, and international audience.

life with geordi

2010-01-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

I realized today, while sick in bed, that I have not shared a picture of our new dog. He was adopted in Newburgh, NY by my boyfriend J just before new years. His name is Geordi (yes, like Lieutenant Commander of the star ship Enterprise) and he is estimated at about 10 years old. He is our big black senior citizen. He is such a wonderful spirit to have around. I love him and highly recommend that if you are thinking of adopting a dog a senior is a great choice!

Back to being sick. Hoping this flu thingy does not last another day. Bla to illness!!!

Say cheeze.....blog highlight

2010-01-22T10:04:00.001-08:00

Oh, the photobooth. Documentation at its finest.
Who didn't love the movie Amelie, whose narrative centered around the photobooths of Paris...

Visit Photobooth.net if you share an obsession with the old school version (not Apple's!!!)
Did you know there is an annual photobooth conference? Something you will learn by going to this site.

Happy Friday!

a kids eye-view of the landscape

2010-01-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

I was really happy with this spread in the Woodstock Times last week which highlights a project I have been a part of for the last few months. As a collaboration with the Woodstock Land Conservancy and Bill Miles, an artist in the current exhibition at CPW "Landscape Forever" and CPW- we visited 50 6th graders at Woodstock Elementary and talked with them about landscape photography, gave them Canon digital SLRs to shoot with, and curated an on-line and in person exhibition of their work.

To be honest, I am not normally comfortable working with that age group. (It is lame, but true.) But, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this project was simply because of the talented group of students I got to work with. Give them a tool to be expressive and they will not only use it, but will often go beyond your expectations. Great lesson for me. I hope thie kids learned something too.

Check out CPW's Flickr site here to see more student work. (go to on-line exhibitions)

lovely interview

2010-01-13T14:41:00.001-08:00

My friend Joetta Maue has been interviewed and featured on the blog Making the Art Seen. Her work is so refreshing, honest and beautiful and I could not be happier to see this wonderful piece on her.

She has a lot going on right now- solo show in MA, group show in Brooklyn and more- so check this interview out to learn where to see her work.

art party time...

2010-01-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

Two great exhibitions at CPW. Join us for the opening reception tomorrow, Saturday January 9th, from 5-8pm. There will be an artist talk given by Justine Reyes at roughly 6pm and a panel discussion with all the artists in Landscape Forever at 7pm.

I guarantee good conversation, great art and wonderful peeps.

local exhibition

2010-01-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

The beautiful, intriguing and haunting work by Geoff Miller will be on view at the John Davis Gallery in Hudson, NY.

We went to graduate school together at UMass and I have always been a big admirer of the complexity of his work.

From Geoff's website:

Geoffrey Owen Miller is a Brooklyn based artist who explores the sociological meanings of iconic imagery. Through various methods of painting he looks for ways to create spaces for the viewer to actively re-insert themselves in the identification of the icon. By complicating the image through various means of controlled and uncontrolled mark-making, the viewer is pushed to consider the context and definition in their search to identify what they are seeing.

The mind seeks to create closure of form by means of context, experience, and learned biases of perception. In the fractured repetition of his imagery we still try to see what we have been conditioned to see, and that is where ones own perceptual filters can emerge. Those subconscious tendencies we color our perception that then shape our culture and institutions.

Dividuals explore the divide between the individual and the group. While Gilles Delueze states with concern that “[i]ndividuals have become ‘dividuals,’ and masses, samples, data, markets, or ‘banks,’” Arthur Koestler sees our whole-ness or part-ness as dependent on the point of view. Instead of the atomistic view of distinct parts, he proposes the concept of a Holon: a unit that is simultaneously a whole and a part.

Artist spotlight: Hu Yang

2009-12-28T06:16:00.000-08:00

image by Hu Yang

When viewing ICP's most recent exhibition, Dress Codes, I was not blown away. There is, of course, amazing artists represented within the show- Martha Rosler, Hank Willis Thomas, Lorna Simpson and many more. The curation, overall, felt a bit didactic and did not push too many new ideas out into the world. Maybe too many curators were involved and it felt a little modge-podgey? Or, fashion might just not be my thing...

But, I did discover a gem. Hu Yang is someone I have been exposed to once or twice but I really got a sense of his work in this show and I am impressed and excited.

Very nice multi-media piece made by the New York Times can be viewed here.

In early 2004, photographer Hu Yang began documenting the lives of ordinary Shanghai residents. He originally planned to include 100 households in his survey, but over the course of the year 500 families allowed him to interview and photograph them in their homes. Unlike the New York Times' Faces of Shanghai slideshow, which focused on the middle class consumer culture, this project covers Shanghai residents from a surprisingly wide range of backgrounds. From poor migrant workers to expats to billionaires, nearly all of Shanghai is represented.

While Hu Yang says he hoped to demonstrate some of Shanghai's social problems, such as the gap between the rich and the poor, he presents his work without editorializing. Every photo could stand alone as a candid family portrait.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

my recent acquisition, thanks to 20x200. Oh, the Starn Twins. You two are so cool. and now you are mine...he he he he....

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! Off to see family for a few days...and hopefully get a little R&R, but will report back to the blog soon! Have a wonderful time doing whatever it is you do!

Love & Light.

starting to lose it, need to relax.

2009-12-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

nice images, eh? wish i had the book they came from....

The Circus: 1870-1950

...would help with my current insanity.

exhibitions i want to see while in nyc...

2009-12-22T08:51:00.000-08:00

Tanya Marcuse
Corset with Silk ribbon, 1880s, from the series Undergarments and Armor, 2002–2004
© Tanya Marcuse
Courtesy the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York
can be seen in Dress Codes.

Dress Codes: The Third Triennial of Photo and Video at ICP. Tanya Marcuse is one of the many amazing artists represented. I had the opportunity to work with her this summer on a workshop and she was brilliant. Love her work. Always inspired by the triennials. Ecotopia (the last one) was o.k. but I still think Strangers (first one) was incredible! I am hoping Dress Codes is even better.

Roni Horn aka Roni Horn at the Whitney.

Looking in: Robert Frank's The Americans at the Met. Marking 50 years since this was published. Wow.

Robert Frank (American, b. Switzerland, 1924)
Funeral—St. Helena, South Carolina, 1955
Gelatin silver print; 15 5/8 x 22 7/8 in. (39.7 x 58.1 cm)
Susan and Peter MacGill

Barbara Crane and Michael Wolf at Aperture Gallery.

Paolo Ventura Winter Stories at HASTED HUNT KRAEUTLER.

so many more but this is a nice start. anyone have other suggestions for me?

Photograph © Robert Frank, from The Americans

NYFA MARK10 and website

2009-12-18T09:19:00.001-08:00

I am so happy to announce that I have been accepted into the New York Foundation for the Arts MARK program.

A brief description from their website:
MARK is the New York Foundation for the Arts'(NYFA) new statewide six-month program for visual artists who want a unique opportunity for individualized focus on the professional side of their creative practice. MARK is designed to address the concerns of artists living outside of New York City while providing them with a new network statewide. Participating artists can expect MARK to spark goals and help to define concrete steps while providing individual and group feedback on how to better present yourself.

What this means for me is that I get a time, place and platform to learn how to self promote, better articulate my ideas, and discover who the audience is for my work and try to tap into it. Mostly, I look forward to meeting the other artists who have been selected and hearing their feedback, seeing their work and developing new friendships, and connections with my beautiful Hudson Valley community. This definitely feels like a step in the right direction for me.

On this note, I have been working on my website and am ready to share it. It is far from completed (lots of work has not been posted yet and the design is still questionable) but I am ok with it being seen as an unfinished project. So, please, if you have any feedback or suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. You can check it out here.

Gifts Ideas for photo-geeks

2009-11-30T12:29:00.000-08:00

Giving gifts to photo-geeks can be challenging. We can be very picky and we are so opinionated! Here are a few suggestions that might help.

-The Contacts DVD series: The world's greatest photographers reveal the secrets behind their images in this collection of short personal films.
sold at ICP gift shop here.

-There are so many amazing photo books out there that it is impossible to list just a few. If that is what you are seeking, a great place to go is Aperture. Their books are incredible and you cannot go wrong. Check out Sally Mann's new book "Proud Flesh" or "Winter Stories" by Paolo Ventura.

-Nikon just released the first camera that has a projector built into it. The coolpix s1000pj is pretty impressive- it will project the image up to 40". No clue how good this camera actually is quality wise but I am really interested. No way a photo nerd would not love it- about a $400 price tag.

-For photographers looking for something a bit different out of their images- the Lens Baby is awesome! This is a tool you attach on to the front of the camera to add a tilt and shift capability. Instead of having to carry around a large format camera, this is a nice alternative to achieve a similar effect. (though, large formats rock!)

-If you know someone really into digital printing, then Digital Art Supplies is great. Their coated Japanese papers are amazing and beautiful. They have a sample pack that any printer would enjoy. For the more "hands-on" printers, try any of the products from ink-AID. These allow you to coat your own surface so it can be printed on through an ink-jet. Great product, highly recommended!

-Membership or a gift certificate to one of the wonderful not-for-profit photo organizations is a fantastic gift. The place I work and love, the Center for Photography at Woodstock, is one of the many places you can support during the holidays and in exchange offer a photo lover a connection to a community of other photo lovers. Some organizations offer publications, classes, workshops, art, books and other photo related material. International Center for Photography in NYC, The Photographic Resource Center in Boston, EnFoco in NYC, Light Work in Syracuse- are just a few to choose from in the general area.

-Possibly the best gift of all...take your photo-lover and spend the day with them seeing art. If you live in NYC, Chelsea is a great place to walk around and see photography. If you are outside the city there are also so many places to go! Just check out your chamber of commerce site and they should have an "arts" listing which will have all your local galleries and art organizations.

Hope this helps! Happy Holidays!

Blog highlight: Missed Connections

2009-10-21T12:40:00.001-07:00

I am so happy to find this blog by illustrator Sophie Blackall called Missed Connections. This really made my day. On top of that, a wonderful local photographer David Cunningham just stopped by with two camera for me to play with. Both of which I have never tried- a rangefinder and a Rolleicord. Yippeee!

Back to this wondrous Sophie. For this particular project, she has been reading personal ads and illustrating them into these amazing pictures. Her statement is: Messages in bottles, smoke signals, letters written in the sand; the modern equivalents are the funny, sad, beautiful, hopeful, hopeless, poetic posts on Missed Connections websites. Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down.

illustration by Sophie Blackall

Saturday, September 5, 2009
- m4m - 29 (astoria)
we were both swimming around 5-6 in astoria pool. we ended up walking the same direction in the park for a while but didn't talk. i wish i had said hi...so i figured i would on here.
worth a shot.

She is a special one. You can view her website here.

local exhibition alert

2009-10-04T05:53:00.000-07:00

From October 1-31 you can see Richard Edelman's exhibition at Donskoj & Co (93 Broadway in Kingston). This body of work "Infra-Structure" is an examination of landscapes that are unremarkable and quite ordinary. Yet, Richard brings these places to life with his remarkably composed images and extraordinary printing abilities.

You can see more by Richard and his fine art printing company Woodstock Graphic Studio here.

sally mann's proud gaze

2009-09-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Sally Mann's new exhibition at Gagosian Gallery on 980 Madison in NYC is called "Proud Flesh". Sally mentions in her statement that she has had trouble finding work by female artists with their male partners as the subject. How can this be so rare? Looking at the history of photography we see many men exploring their female partner's bodies in thier images but when seeking out the opposite we hit a dead end.

We know women are staring at the male body. We know that their gaze is seeing the light hit their flesh, their bones, their muscle.

I think I have photographed every partner I have ever had. I remember dragging one guy, who I barely knew, into this tiny, miniscule bathroom in a studio apartment I rented- all because the speckles of light were going to look perfect on his back. he did it without complaint and the images were lovely.

Mann's visual language is so strong that these exhibited images actually ooze with emotion,sensuality, mortality and grace. they are loving but they are real.

Aperture has book out a book in conjunction with the show. Also, Gagosian has launched a store next to the gallery. all very exciting.

blog highlight: walmart as visual phenomenon

2009-09-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

I have been intrigued by the photographic possibilities of the Walmart franchise for years. These super stores offer a visual landscape unlike any other. It is what America is all about, isnt it? Peel back the layers and welcome in metaphors that could keep us psychologically busy for years. The human condition is alive and well under that warehouse of americana. and...you gotta luv the eye candy too.

As an undergraduate student, I visited several Walmarts with my manual 35mm Pentax camera (hidden in my purse, lens popping out through a hole in the bag) as part of a documentary project i was working on about people who shopped there. It was called "Every 2 Days" because that was how often a new store was launched. Those facts might be different today, but at that time (roughly 2000/01) it was truly that consistant. My goal was to observe people shopping- in the Walmart zone. I roamed the stores, and found people so engaged in their shopping fantasies that they looked almost like they were in a trance. it was strange. so i snapped some shots, but needed more. I then started taking portraits outside the stores of people before they went in. I could not get Walker Evans out of my head at this time. Therefore, most of the portraits were in front of the walmart signature brick wall (thinking of the textured barn walls of the 1930's in Evan's work). I asked these people what they were there to buy and asked them to see me when they were done shopping. When they found me an hour, two, sometimes 5 hours later I asked them what they ended up purchasing and without a doubt every single person bought more than they intended. Interesting info that I collected but it did not translate in my pictures. This was a project i always wanted to revisit and see what else I could do with.

In the mean time, my wonderful friend Megan sent me a link to this blog which fulfills so many of my visual walmart needs but also goes a little too far for me. People of Walmart has potential but I think it crosses the line by humiliating shoppers to some extent. That was never my intent and I do not think it is constructive or interesting to do that. This blog, which consists of snapshots taken by Walmart shoppers, does give a nice overview of the cultural presence at these stores but at the same time posts images that just simply make fun of people. we are americans, therefore we have the right to be mean, don't we?

in any case. this blog is worth checking out.

zen and art making....

2009-07-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

A few quotes shared by Doug Beasley in "Zen and the Art of Photography":

"To see is to forget the name of what one is seeing"

"Listening with the eyes you can name nothing" -George Wolf

"To live a creative life we must lose our fear of being wrong" -Joseph Chilton Price

"A camera is an extension of ourselves, an appendage to bring us closer to the universe. This is Zen in the Art of Photography. In discovering the universe, we discover ourselves." -Robert Leverant

image taken at the Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Trempor, NY

let the spiegel begin

2009-07-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

Spiegeltent at Bard College is absolutely worth visiting. I will not miss it.
Located across from the Fisher Center, the 100-year-old Spiegeltent (“Mirror Tent”) is a glittering pavilion with an eye-filling interior of carved wood surfaces, beveled mirrors, stained-glass windows, and sumptuous velvet canopies.

From July 10 through August 23, the Spiegeltent hosts performances by singers, bands, magicians, contortionists, and impressionists (to name but a few!) on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, and rollicking kid-oriented shows on weekend afternoons. Later in the evening, the disco ball turns as SummerScape audiences gather to dance to DJ-spun tunes.

Food is available, indoors and out -- lunch is served on weekends; dinner is available Thursdays through Sundays; and wine, beer, and snacks are available during performances.
Info taken from website.

Get schedule and more info here.

she is finally coming to woodstock!!!

2009-06-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Elinor Carucci is going to be lecturing at CPW Saturday June 27th at 8pm. This is not to be missed. All my NYC friends- come up for this!!! You can stay at mi casa!!!

Carucci's poetic voice shines through these intimate yet relatable images of herself and her family. I look at her photographs and get wrapped up in their emotionally charged visuals. Following the undeniably intense expressions and postures which fill the frame I find myself in a trance. The images permeate through me and unleash my own memories, dramas and histories. I can look at these as if they were traces of my own experiences, relatives, friends, moments....

...ahhhh. Can you tell i am excited that she will be in Woodstock?

see you there.

Ahoy mateey!

2009-06-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild kicks off a season-long series of events celebrating the 400th anniversary of the exploration of the Hudson River with an opening reception for “Ahoy! Where Lies Henry Hudson?” a major outdoor exhibition of Henry Hudson memorials designed by area architects, on Saturday, June 13, 4-7 pm at The Villetta Inn, 3 Upper Byrdcliffe Way. Curated by Linda Weintraub, the exhibition is an original and thought-provoking contribution to the state-wide Quadricentennial of Hudson’s explorations of the river that bears his name. The site-specific memorials have been installed outdoors on the grounds of the historic Byrdcliffe Arts Colony in Woodstock, NY and will be on view from June 13 – October 12, 2009.

The exhibition continues through October 12, during which time, the WBG will feature a monthly events to commemorate the Quadricentennial.

Byron Bell and Les Walker, "The Magnificent Adventure of Henry Hudson"

Exhibition curator, Linda Weintraub is a writer, curator, educator and artist. She is the author of a series of college textbooks entitled: Avant-Guardians: Textlets in Art and Ecology. She has curated over fifty-five exhibitions nationally and internationally. She received her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University. Weintraub comments that the project is unique, imaginative and local, “…never before have regional architects been featured in a major exhibition. The installations take their inspiration from the site and the historic occasion. The results utilize unusual materials, original designs, and unconventional construction methods. As residents of the Hudson Valley, the participants are responding to this historic occasion in manners that are personal as well as accomplished and informed.”

Henry Hudson is celebrated as a hero, but his life ended in failure. His crew mutinied and set him adrift to die in the icy waters of Hudson Bay. As a result, he never received a formal burial. The memorials in this exhibition are designed and constructed by distinguished regional architects. They interpret the significance of Hudson’s historic journey within the context of 400 years of European occupation.

Matt Bua, "The Henry Hudson Mutiny Memorial Drive–thru Kiosk"

Woodstock Guild Director: Carla Smith. Architectural coordinator: Alan Baer.

Text taken from press release.

First workshop completed.

2009-06-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

I have been slacking on the blog entries. I need to be more disciplined!

So...we opened the workshop season with The Art & Craft of Portraiture taught by Platon. This workshop was taught in 2007, during my first few months with CPW, so it was really nice to see it through a second time around (second for me that is, not for Platon or CPW).

Great start to the season. Platon is energetic, intelligent and incredibly passionate for what he does...which is infectious. He carefully nursed every workshop participant through somewhat grueling exercises in "relating and connecting to your subject"--- which in the end brought every single person to a place of better understanding of who they are as artists. It was extremely enjoyable to watch from my end. People really came out of their shells and did an amazing job.

I have blogged about portraiture before and discussed the complicated discussions that exist around it. how much of a portrait is made with genuine "connection" and how much is a projection that we impose onto it? how telling can a photographic portrait really be on its own without other representation? what level of responsibility do we have as artists to properly represent a person? what is the definition of representation!? How does the gaze of the viewer change over time alter the portrait?

lots of questions...lots of different viewpoints...all interesting for another time...

And...the fabulous interns!!! They did a great job and I can tell that they will blossom from the experiences of the next 4 months. I am relieved...I now am confident that my summer will go smoothly.

Linda Connor lecture this Saturday. not to be missed people.

my local artist ramble: Paul McMahon

2009-05-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

image by Paul McMahon

Paul McMahon strolled into CPW this week to use our digital facilities to prepare a presentation he will be giving at the Metropolitan Museum today. He is one of the artists in the exhibition The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984 at the museum and his live musical slide show is a special event in conjunction with it. I showed him the little bits and pieces I know about Microsoft Powerpoint so he could construct his orgy of images which would synchronize with a live performance of guitar playing and vocals.

In the two years I have lived here I can honestly say that all Woodstockians are immensly unique characters. Paul is no different, and may even rise above the norm. He was so much fun to be around and was very inspiring to say the least. After all the hard work was over, he sang through his performance for Megan and I. It was seriously wonderful. We were laughing hysterically. makes me wonder why i take art so seriously all the time...

The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984 is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art till August 2nd.
Read the Art in America review here.

A few sentences from Douglas Eklund's essay which gives some valuable background info:

"...The famous last line of Barthes' essay, that "the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author," was a call to arms for the loosely knit group of artists working in photography, film, video, and performance that would become known as the "Pictures" generation, named for an important exhibition of their work held at Artist's Space in New York in 1977.

The show featured 45-rpm records and projected short films by the California artist Jack Goldstein, who sampled and looped canned sound effects or film snippets that triggered Pavlovian responses of fear and dread in the imagination of the viewer. Slightly later, Richard Prince zoomed in on what he termed "social science fiction," the hyperreal space depicted in countless advertisements featuring gleaming luxury goods and robotic models. Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons worked at the intersection of personal and collective memory, rummaging through the throwaway products of their youth—from B-movies to dollhouses that served as training manuals for who and how to be—in search of moments that both never existed yet were indelibly stamped in the mind.

The image-scavengering of these artists was not restricted to the child's play of popular culture: Louise Lawler stalked the corridors of power in search of hidden treasure, while Sherrie Levine shot over the shoulders of photography's founding fathers not as a dry Duchampian gesture, but in order to create something akin to musical overtones—a buzzing in the space between their "original" and her "copy" that effaced the distance between objective document and subjective desire."

DVD highlight: PBS Craft in America

2009-05-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

I started watching a wonderful mini-series PBS made called Craft in America. It is organized like Art21 in that the craft artists are categorized by inspirational topic (ie. Memory, Landscape etc.) The footage is beautiful and the commentary offers a historic overview of the particular craft and the way it has been transformed and modernized by the contemporary craft artists using them.

The handmade revolution is in full swing.
Check out the website here.

is that the ocean in the hudson valley?

2009-04-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

The sun is shining, warm weather is on the horizon and I could not be more excited to go to Storm King Sculpture Park this coming May to see the new work by Maya Lin. I have been waiting all winter for this!

Storm King Wavefield, is the largest site-specific earthwork created to date by acclaimed artist and environmentalist Maya Lin. Occupying an eleven-acre site that was a gravel pit until Ms. Lin
reclaimed it for the work, the ambitious Storm King Wavefield comprises seven rows—each over 300 feet long—of carefully scaled, undulating hills that give the appearance of ocean waves. The four acre work culminates a series of three wavefields by Ms. Lin. It is the newest addition to the
sculpture park’s distinguished permanent collection.

From Storm King's website:
The opening of Storm King Wavefield is accompanied by a special exhibition, Maya Lin: Bodies of Water, on view in Storm King’s museum building May 9 through November 15, 2009. The exhibition features several works that reflect the artist’s interest in water in its various states. The works include installation, sculpture, photographs, models, and drawings, among them examples related to the development of Storm King Wavefield. Several works also draw attention to the plight of sites around the world that suffer from human encroachment and industrial pollution.

Highlights of the works on view include a new piece, fabricated in recycled wood, that evokes a single wave; a work titled Pin River, comprising tens of thousands of straight pins set into the gallery wall, creating the illusion of a shadow image of the Hudson River system; and Dew Point, a series of cast-glass drops of water.

The exhibition also includes a video and photographs of Ms. Lin at work.

You may recognize Maya Lin's name as the designer of Washington D.C.'s Vietnam Veterans Memorial. While still a student at Yale University, Maya Lin's design was chosen for this project which launched her career. Since then she has taken on one ambitious project after another- welding together the lines between design, architecture & sculpture. Amazing woman!

You can also visit Maya Lin's website for more info on her.

my literary ramble

2009-04-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

my literary ramble today highlights an old favorite of mine, mr. dylan thomas. thomas' work is a brilliantly choreographed montage of the english language. ochestrated so deliciously it resembles a verbal dessert. an apple pie a la mode for your nerve endings. i have included my "all time drop to my knees and worship these words" favorite poem. it was first read to me by a professor in college and it stuck and never let go.

Light breaks where no sun shines; Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart Push in their tides; And, broken ghosts with glow-worms in their heads, The things of light File through the flesh where no flesh decks the bones. A candle in the thighs Warms youth and seed and burns the seeds of age; Where no seed stirs, The fruit of man unwrinkles in the stars, Bright as a fig; Where no wax is, the candle shows its hairs. Dawn breaks behind the eyes; From poles of skull and toe the windy blood Slides like a sea; Nor fenced, nor staked, the gushers of the sky Spout to the rod Divining in a smile the oil of tears. Night in the sockets rounds, Like some pitch moon, the limit of the globes; Day lights the bone; Where no cold is, the skinning gales unpin The winter's robes; The film of spring is hanging from the lids. Light breaks on secret lots, On tips of thought where thoughts smell in the rain; When logics dies, The secret of the soil grows through the eye, And blood jumps in the sun; Above the waste allotments the dawn halts.

2009 workshops are announced

2009-04-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

It has arrived! The Center for Photography at Woodstock's 2009 workshop schedule is posted on the website for all to see. this is a stellar year for our program...we expanded on our offerings and introduced new instructors and class topics.

Today I am at New York Press and Graphics in Albany where the catalog is being printed...which means it will be in your hands next week (fingers crossed).

But for now, check out the schedule and workshop details here. registration begins next week.

wanted: inspiration

2009-04-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

image by Andrea Modica from series Treadwell, NY

i wish i can put an ad on craigs list that goes something like this:

wanted: artist seeking a jolt of inspirational fire. find me. zap me. and let me be.

what is my problem? have i gone numb to the psychotropic effects of art? i am in a work environment where we pray to the creative gods and yet i find myself in a rut of some kind. not only am i not really making any, but i am not loving any either. maybe this over saturation has weighed me down.

i believe it might be time to simply start making and seize all this thinking. keep it simple. more than one person in my life in the last few months has recommended this approach to me. keep it simple. focus on what i love and not what i think i need to do (or am expected to do).

image by Andrea Modica from series Treadwell, NY

as i search for this mind-bending fire I find that i come one step closer to a total zen-like state when viewing work by Andrea Modica. her photographs stop me in my tracks in the most profound way. they illuminate such a warmth that i cannot help but to gravitate toward them and ponder, imagine, relate, focus & feel all in one gasp. she is so in touch with every inch of the photographic frame- and transforms it into a poetic masterpiece. i respond. i respond again. i keep responding because it is deep and alive. ahhh.... that wonderful feeling.

guess what is even more amazing about andrea modica? she is coming to CPW this summer for our workshop program. keep an eye on our website for more info. all workshops will be posted by tomorrow. you think i am excited?

Check out more of her work here.

dreaming of ebony...

2009-03-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

I have been day dreaming about the Ebony large format cameras for a very very long time. Every now and then I get really determined and almost charge one to my credit card (though I think there is a bit of a waitlist for certain models and I am not even sure I have that much credit anyway). Then I talk myself off the ledge because they are so out of my price range (my range, at this moment, is close to $0).

The time is coming that I have to make this investment and if it is not an Ebony it will be some other kind because I need a 4x5 in my life. Everything of value that I have learned about picture making comes from this format. Other tools are equally wonderful as well, but the reason I fell in love with photography was because of the lessons I learned from the 4x5" view camera. For someone like myself who is often moving fast and furiously through life it is a tool like this that literally forces me to slow down and patiently observe. sounds so idealistic, doesn't it?

are there any cameras you can suggest I look at? are there any tools missing from your artistic arsenal that you are thinking about acquiring?

pick a state to rest your head on

2009-03-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

I love my new pillow from Bananasaurusrex's etsy shop- check it out here. It will be perfect on my couch (once I actually have one).

She uses vintage hankies mixed with contemporary fabrics to create these fabulous pillows. I am waiting for a few more states...New York & Massachusetts specifically.

Lovin the craft world lately. Very motivated to pull out my sewing machine and go stitchin madd.

Thanks again Bananasaurusrex!

book suggestion: outside lies magic

2009-03-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

a modern day explorer. professor at harvard university. writer. philosopher. oh curious one....John R. Stilgoe and his book Outside Lies Magic is worth recommending to you all. artists, writers, historians, doctors, housewives, cynics, peacekeepers, salesman etc. etc.- i suspect that you will all get something out of this insightful investigation into our surroundings- because all of us should be looking more carefully.

You may already be familiar with his other work- one in particular being Landscape & Images, 2005. That is a collection of essays which discuss and observe our constructed landscapes. very good one too.

do you have any book suggestions? would love to hear them!

Thanks to David Hilliard for suggesting this book to his class when he visited Woodstock in 2008.

my literary ramble

2009-03-03T11:51:00.000-08:00

Image by Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison, Migration, 2007-2008, Archival print on dibond with acrylics, 40 x 40 inches. They are represented by Jack Shainman Gallery.

My Literary Ramble is a chance for me to post poetry and prose by writers that I admire and/or have recently discovered. Though I have been inspired by many great beat generation iconoclasts, Philip Lamantia is new to my world. I am glad to have unearthed his work and will now dive into his surrealist words with great enthusiasm.

Romantic Movement

to Nancy

The boat tilts on your image on the waves between a fire of foam and the flower of moon rays, these the flags of your dreaming lips. I'm watching Venus on the ogre sky and a continent in cocoons.

Soon all the butterflies of desire shall manifest o prescience of life becoming poetic... and poetry the incense of the dream. A street and a forest interchange their clothing, that tree of telephones, this television of nuts and berries - the air edible music.

King Analogue

Queen Image

Prince Liberty...

... Garden of imperious images, life is a poem someday to be lived: the feast of our hearts on fire, the nerves supplying spice, blood coursing a glow of insects, our eyes the dahlias of torrential ignition.

The whisper of the inter-voice to wrap you in the mantle of marvelous power, with the secret protection of the forest that falls asleep in fire whose ores become transmined only for love - all your steps will lead to the inner sanctum none but you behold, your shadow putting on the body of metaphoric light.

The stone I have tossed into the air of chance shall come to you one great day and exfoliate the original scarab, the carbuncle of delights, the pomegranate inviolate, the sonorous handkerchief of the Comte de Saint-Germaine, all the reinvented perfumes of ancient Egypt, the map of the earth in the Age of Libra when the air shall distribute our foods, the sempiternal spectrum of sundown at Segovia (the stork carrying the golden egg from the Templar's tower) Chief Seattle's lost medicine pouch, our simultaneous presence in all the capitals of Europe while traveling Asia and listening to the million-throated choir of tropical birds, your lost candlewax empire, a madrone forest to live inside of, which we can wrap in a set of "secret bags" and open on our wanderlust, the turbulent cry beneath the oceans, the extinct bird calls in a magic vessel Christian Rosenkreutz dropped on his way out of the Damcar, beads of coral dissolving the last motors, the redolent eyes of the first born seers, the key to the bank of sanity, the ship of honey at the height of storms through which we sail to new islands rising from the sunken continents and the bridge between sleep and waking we will traverse in constant possession of "the great secret" become transparent as a tear drop - with no other work but the genius of present life.

see you at the Chili Bowl!

2009-02-26T17:46:00.001-08:00

this is the first bowl I got from the Women's Studio Workshop Annual Chili Bowl at least 8 years ago.
it is, by far, my favorite.

This Saturday February 28th Women's Studio Workshop is hosting their 12th annual Chili Bowl Fundraiser in Rosendale, New York. This event is a blast. Enjoy a delicious helping of chili made by local restaurants and chefs in your very own Women’s Studio Workshop handmade bowl. All of my favorite bowls have come from this event plus I love this organization and want to support them anyway I can. I hope to see you there.

Get more info here.

what the world eats- in pictures!

2009-02-20T11:57:00.001-08:00

Photographer Peter Menzel and author-journalist Faith D'Alusio have gone all over the globe to create this pictoral study of what families are eating on a weekly basis. As someone who is very food-centered, I seriously appreciate the value of this type of documenation. Hungry Planet: What the World Eats was published in 2005 by Ten Speed Press.

A review by Arthur Boehm:
Among the families, we meet the Mellanders, a German household of five who enjoy cinnamon rolls, chocolate croissants, and beef roulades, and whose weekly food expenses amount to $500. We also encounter the Natomos of Mali, a family of one husband, his two wives, and their nine children, whose corn and millet-based diet costs $26.39 weekly.

We soon learn that diet is determined by largely uncontrollable forces like poverty, conflict and globalization, which can bring change with startling speed. Thus cultures can move--sometimes in a single jump--from traditional diets to the vexed plenty of global-food production. People have more to eat and, too often, eat more of nutritionally questionable food. Their health suffers.

Because the book makes many of its points through the eye, we see--and feel--more than we might otherwise. Issues that influence how the families are nourished (or not) are made more immediate. Quietly, the book reveals the intersection of nutrition and politics, of the particular and universal.

view article by NPR here.
view artist website here.
check out Time Magazine Photo Essay here.

knitting circle

2009-02-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

woke up this morning to this amazing light in my livingroom. i was inspired. everything was in place from our knitting circle last night and thanks to the girls I have finally figured that craft out (well, sort of). At least now I can do it on my own and practice.

Found out about the The Revolutionary Knitting Circle recently. They are are awesome.

Check out their manifesto:

The Revolutionary Knitting Circle Proclamation of Constructive Revolution

We hold that all communities should have the means necessary to meet every essential need of their own people.

To that end, the Revolutionary Knitting Circle calls upon people everywhere to take up the struggle through the tools of local production. We shall bring forth not only our voices raised for global justice, but we shall rise together, with the tools to liberate local communities from the shackles of global corporatism.

By sharing in the skills and resources of our communities, we shall become free to cast off dependencies on global trade for our subsistence. In so doing, we shall all be able to enter fairly into meaningful and equitable trade of not only goods, but also those cultural intangibles that are necessary if we are to bring about understanding, justice and peace to truly enrich our individual lives and our communities.

By returning production of the essentials of life to the community, we can eradicate the dependence imposed by the elites - giving communities the freedom to guide their own destinies.

We call upon all people who would see their communities freed from corporate slavery to come forth to share in action dedicated to removing the production of essential goods from the hands of multi-national corporations and returning that production to the people.

This is a daily struggle.

We shall put this struggle in the faces of the elites by engaging in knit-ins at their places of power throughout the world.

We shall conduct workshops and skill-sharing at their major meetings, on the steps of government edifices, and - perhaps most significantly - in the banks, malls and even those 'hallowed' office towers of the richest of the rich.

We will remind ourselves - and those who would have us believe there is no alternative to the corporate doctrine - that we can have the ability to produce what we need without the destructive hand of the investment banker and his ilk at our throats.

So whether you want to knit, quilt, grow food, build homes, teach, heal or any of the other skills that can provide for a community, we call on you to come forward in solidarity to create production and learning outside of the dominant 'corporate economics'.

We look on with delight in our hearts to this action that will shine as we produce so much for our communities while providing no offerings to the elite's loathsome 'bottom-line'.

Let us join together in action to create a globalization of justice so that freedom can be made to ring out for all people.

This is our constructive revolution.

the rockies via Liz

2009-02-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

back to the daily grind. a week of vacation goes very quickly.

these were taken on a day trip to the Rockies. The mountains are moody, majestic, romantic and humbling (I felt very, very small). I miss them already.

westward bound

2009-02-04T09:27:00.000-08:00

image from the poudre canyon

I am spending the week in the Fort Collins, Colorado area. It is beautiful here and I am enjoying some needed R&R. Aside from playing in this spectacular landscape, I plan on checking out the Center for Fine Art Photography while I am here which has been on my radar for years.
I will keep you posted throughout the week.

I am a slacker...

2009-01-26T14:51:00.001-08:00

I have gone so long without posting. I am a slacker. a tired slacker. I will post pics from the reception for Site Seeing this week- and i will get back into my routine again....posts about artists, art, life in woodstock etc.

For now, here are a couple of images of the installation by the Starn Twins at the Staten Island Ferry. For those of you who do not know this, I grew up in Staten Island and feel some serious excitement about this piece. There could not be a place more in need of some splash of contemporary art.

artist highlight series continued: stephen chalmers

2009-01-20T13:05:00.000-08:00

This work, among the other artists I have been blogging about, are featured in CPW's Site Seeing: Explorations of Landscape with is co-curated by myself and our Executive Director Ariel Shanberg.

DUMPSITES by Stephen Chalmers
These are images of locations in the west where serial killers have disposed of the bodies of their victims, located through Freedom of Information Act searches, police reports, true-crime novels, and other sources..

Allen, Caroll, Gerald, Gunnar, Jacobson, Cosner, Peranteau,
Stapley, Bond, Bond Jr., O'Connor, Dubs

Jane Doe (Torso only)

This project reminds me of Joel Sternfeld's On This Site- in which he revisited and photographed locations that made the newspaper headlines when he was growing up. For example, Sternfeld photographed the motel where MLK was killed, the spot on the Ohio State campus where the students were gunned down during the anti-war protest etc... They were all shot dead-pan and included a brief statement about the incident that made that particular location significant to him.

Though these recordings of the tragically memorialized landscapes by Chalmers are documents to an extent, the use of a shallow depth of field adds an emoitional quality that prevents them from being categorized, like Sternfields, as dead pan. The ironic nature is that Sternfeld personally memorialized those locations (even if it was through a memory created by the media)- while Chalmers is living out a cultural history that is not directly his own.

Read more about Chalmers and the exhitiion here.

literary ramble: hafiz

2009-01-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."

Look what happens
with a love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.

~Hafiz
From: The Gift

image by Alfredo de Stefano, who is featured in CPW's Site Seeing (opening Jan. 24, at 5-7pm)

artist highlight: sze tsung leong

2009-01-13T11:13:00.000-08:00

Another day...another artist from CPW's exhibition Site Seeing to highlight on my blog. Sze Tsung Leong's History Images are truly caught in between all aspects of time- the past, present and future. And they are so lovely...

from his artist statement:

The photographs in History Images are of histories, in the form of cities in China, either being destroyed or created at this juncture in time. They are of past histories, in the form of traditional buildings and neighborhoods, urban fabrics, and natural landscapes, in the process of being erased. They are of the absence of histories, in the form of construction sites, built upon an erasure of the past so complete that one would never know a past had ever existed. And they are of the anticipation of future histories, yet to unfold, in the form of newly built cities.

Sze Tsung Leong is represented by Yossi Milo Gallery. You can view his website here.

artist highlight: matt siber

2009-01-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

Another artist in CPW's exhibition Site Seeing is Matt Siber. The work featured in the show is from his series Floating Logos.

from matt's statement:
Inspired by the proliferation of very tall signs in the American Mid-West, Floating Logos seeks to draw attention to this often overlooked form of advertising. Perched atop very tall poles or stanchions, these corporate beacons emit their message by looming over us in their glowing, plastic perfection. Elimination of the support structure in the photographs allows the signs to literally float above the earth. In some cases the ground is purposefully left out of the image to further emphasize the disconnect between the corporate symbols and terra firma.

Making the signs appear to float not only draws attention to this type of signage but also gives them, and the companies that put them there, an otherworldly quality. References can be drawn to religious iconography, the supernatural, popular notions of extraterrestrials, or science fiction films such as Blade Runner. Each of these references refers to something that can profoundly affect our lives yet is just beyond our control and comprehension.

artist highlight: annemarie jacir

2009-01-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

I am co-curating an exhibition with CPW's Executive Director Ariel Shanberg called Site Seeing: Explorations in Landscape which opens on January 24th (the reception is 5-7pm). I would like to highlight each artist that is represented in the show over the next few weeks. Today's post is about Annemarie Jacir. I have been a fan of hers for a long time and I am thilled that we are able to include her in this show. Her film takes on an important role in this exhibition, one that can speak to people of all cultures and backgrounds who have been treated like a foreigner in their own land.

Recognizing the personal, political, and social layers found within the everyday landscape, the 11 photographers and film makers featured in Site Seeing: Explorations of Landscape utilize a wide range of visual practices in order to unveil the sublime truths found beneath our feet and before our eyes.

We now live in an age where everything has been mapped, charted, graphed. What is left for us to map? Where can the modern explorer go? Today the multiple layers of meaning and connection to the Landscape are far more apparent. Its ability to bear evidence to our presence and follies is better understood now more than ever. And man’s ability to artificially alter and define the Landscape for our own purposes has grown abundantly clear.

The Landscape has throughout the centuries, born witness to our need to claim, organize and control. The distress of separating and policing the Landscape on an individual’s creative freedom is revealed through Palestinian artist Annemarie Jacir’s short film Like Twenty Impossibles.

Here is a description of the film from Annemarie:

What inspired like twenty impossibles is the continued fragmentation of us as Palestinians – how through the imposition of endless checkpoints and military barriers throughout our own land we have been separated from each other and also criminalized for the mere act of attempting freedom of movement – the right to travel from one place to another. Aside from the creation of arbitrary borders, this fragmentation has also been imposed through the identity cards that Palestinians carry. These ID cards further separate Palestinians from each other by labeling them as a “West Banker”, “Jerusalemite”, “Israeli citizen” or “American citizen”, “Gazan”, rather than allowing us our collective identity as Palestinians. I was also interested in exploring that fact that these various “labels” also give each individual different rights and privileges depending on what their ID is. In like twenty impossibles’, a group of Palestinian filmmakers begin their journey by making a film together and working as any ordinary film crew would – with a director, an actor, cinematographer, soundperson, etc. By the end of the film, because of these realities, a totally different situation exists.

all images by Annemarie Jacir and are stills from her film
Like Twenty Impossibles.
Learn more about her films here.

local exhibition alert

2009-01-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

image by Sophie Calle. She is featured in the exhibition, though I am not sure from what project.

There is only one month left to view this exhibition at Bard College's Hessel Museum of Art. I cannot believe I have not seen it yet! The list of artists is incredibly interesting.

Reconsidering the Documentary in Contemporary Art is such a weighted subject and I am very curious how the exhibition approaches it. I will see it soon and write my reviews.

my literary ramble

2009-01-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

More Emily Dickinson for today's literary ramble. I cannot help it. I am obsessed with her right now and I finally just got a book of her work. I wish I enjoyed her more when I lived in Amherst (since people there are dickinson crazy).

The image was taken of Felicity over Christmas. This poem makes me think of her.

As if some little Arctic flower,
Upon the polar hem,
Went wandering down the latitudes,
Until it puzzled came
To continents of summer,
To firaments of sun,
To strange, bright crowds of flowers,
And birds of foreign tongue!
I say, as if this little flower
To Eden wandered in--
What then? Why, nothing, only
Your inference therefrom!

inspiration from my dad...

2008-12-29T08:25:00.000-08:00

My brother, his girlfriend and I all chipped in and bought my dad a film scanner for the holidays. I know he had a collection of really beautiful slides, but I did not realize how amazing they were. I have included a few in this post because I am so in love with them. These are just the tip of the iceberg and I cannot wait to see what else he has.

These are all pictures taken of my mom, Rosalie. They were all taken in the beginning of their marriage (a few possible before they were married). The ones of her by the beach are on their honeymoon in 1971.

I think they are so elegant and well composed. Aside from my mom being drop dead gorgeous, my dad has a loving & intimate gaze- which makes these so incredible to me.

I hope you like them too.

my top 5 photo moments of 2008

2008-12-27T19:51:00.000-08:00

image by Edward Burtynsky

I am feeling a bit sentimental as this year comes to a close, and decided that I wanted to share some of what I consider to be the most significant photographic moments of 2008. These are simply photo-related experiences that I have had personally and not a survey of everything that has happened this year. I would love to hear what your memorable moments were in the art world too. Please leave comments.

(These are in no particular order)

1. The incredibly huge Lee Friedlander retrospective at SF MOMA was pretty awesome. It was great to see all the work separated in categories and laid out with so much thoughtfulness. The museum is beautifully designed and more affordable and accessible than its east coast cousin.

2. The lecture by Edward Burtynsky at the SPE conference in Denver, Colorado has made it to my list. He was full of information and creative input on art and the state of our society. A very important photographer who is addressing concerns that will be present for many generations to come.

3. The announcement that Polaroid is closing its film division. Devastating news to many of us who are not purchasing digital backs for our medium & large format cameras (I just do not have a spare 30 grand laying around) and are now left with a forceful push into an unknown world.

The list of artists who have made work inspired by this historic instant film is endless, and now they will represent a completely extinct art form.

This also means no more polaroid transfers. Which to some might be a waste of time, but I think they are awesome and will be missed.

Like the "save the whales" campaign, the dedicated polaroid people have started their own fight: Savepolaroid.com.

On the bright side, thanks to Fuji, instant film will still live on. I tried it this summer- it is not half bad at all. they are not capable of complete transfers...yet.

A good article written in the NY Times is here.

4. The photo blog community is growing larger and more interesting. I have been reading more of them in 2008 than ever before (you can see my side bar for a list of the blogs I keep up with). Though some are obviously better than others, I think blogging overall is an excellent platform for immediate commentary & discussion. For some, it is an alternative to publishing. For others, it is a place for self-promotion. I personally like it all.
The bottom line is that we all have a voice, opinion and unique perspective....blogging is just another way to share that. For me, I live in a slightly isolated community so reading blogs helps me to feel in touch and connected with the outside world.

5. Barack Obama's Flickr page. even i do not have a flickr page. but after seeing that Obama has one, well, it might be my new years resolution to start one up. Sites like Flickr are completely changing the way we view images by making them more accessable than ever in our history. what will this lead to and how will it alter our visual language?

the great christmas memories...

2008-12-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

These images are from a new book, which I first heard about on Leslie Brown's blog- and then got to look at it and developed even more appreciation for this collection of photographs demonstrating the spectacle of visiting Santa's lap. It is Scared of Santa: Scenes of Terror in Toyland by Denise Joyce and Nancy Watkins. You can check it out on amazon here.

I have always been a little afraid of the Santa I saw at the mall as a kid...I thought he was creepy and weird (and drunk). But I thought I felt this way because I am Jewish and never considered Santa as anything special. But, now that I see these images I realize there is a little bit of fear of the man in red & white in all of us.

Happy Holidays!

and then there was snow...

2008-12-19T10:30:00.001-08:00

when i got home i had to take this picture.

finally...Woodstock's first real snow storm of the season. i am psyched to see the snow everywhere. it brings Woodstock to life.

There is something so poetic about walking on a fresh bed of snow and watching as you leave behind your own distinct markings. Next thing you know, your footprints are gone. The trace of your walk is covered by more snow- and you are erased from the landscape. It is a beautiful thing.

I have to say, I am a bit spoiled and therefore able to romanticize the snow. For one, I walk to work. That eliminates the stress of having to drive in a storm. Secondly, I have a carport (yes, like the Floridians). So I do not have to dig my car out the day after. Though, I still have a little bit of shoveling to do, of course.

my literary ramble...

2008-12-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

image by Elinor Carucci from the series Crisis.

As an attempt to learn more about poetry, I will start a weekly (or almost weekly) post featuring a poem or two and an image picked out or created that I think relates to it. I shall call it "my literary ramble"...

Today's poems are by Emily Dickinson...someone who's work I have been able to relate to since I was a teenager.

I ENVY seas whereon he rides,
I envy spokes of wheels
Of chariots that him convey,
I envy speechless hills

That gaze upon his journey;	5
How easy all can see
What is forbidden utterly
As heaven, unto me!

I envy nests of sparrows
That dot his distant eaves,	10
The wealthy fly upon his pane,
The happy, happy leaves

That just abroad his window
Have summer’s leave to be,
The earrings of Pizarro	15
Could not obtain for me.

I envy light that wakes him,
And bells that boldly ring
To tell him it is noon abroad,—
Myself his noon could bring,	20

Yet interdict my blossom
And abrogate my bee,
Lest noon in everlasting night
Drop Gabriel and me.

________________________ HE touched me, so I live to know
That such a day, permitted so,
I groped upon his breast.
It was a boundless place to me,
And silenced, as the awful sea	5
Puts minor streams to rest.

And now, I’m different from before,
As if I breathed superior air,
Or brushed a royal gown;
My feet, too, that had wandered so,	10
My gypsy face transfigured now
To tenderer renown.

how do I look? screening this Thursday

2008-12-15T13:20:00.001-08:00

Kathleen Sweeney and I have curated a film screening that I am very excited about and would like to invite you all (all 3 of you) to attend. It is this Thursday, December 18th, at 7pm at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, 59 Tinker Street. Click here for more info or directions.

We put out a call to the young female film makers of our region (ages 13-18) and asked them to interpret the question How do I look? We got a wonderful response and chose 7 films to screen on Thursday. The talent in our area of New York is overwhelming. These girls are incredible!

Thanks to great programs like Indie Media Programs and Children's Media Project the girls have a place to learn and grow as artists.

I hope to see you on Thursday.

Photogravure blog

2008-12-12T19:07:00.000-08:00

photogravure by Lothar Osterburg

Have you been wanting to keep up on photogravure artists but did not know how? Check out this blog: The Art of the Photogravure. It is a serious guide to the history and technique of photogravure as well as extensive coverage of artists (historic and contempoary) using this process in their work.

The artist I featured above is teaching a photogravure workshop with CPW in the summer 2009. He is incredible! You can check out what The Art of Photogravure has to say about him by going here. Or you can check out his personal website here.