Gluttony, Vanity, and Lust. From the 7 Deadly Sins Project, Seth, 6x6 negative, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Works in Progress by Trevor Park
Trevor Park, from the "Domestic Disturbance" series, Digital Imaging, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
The Impossible Project
Bringing back analog. You know that polaroid camera you passed in the thrift store or the one tucked away in the back of your closet? Well it's time to bust it out and dust it off! When Polaroid announced it was withdrawing from producing analog instant film The Impossible Project stepped up. However I wasn't until April 2010 that they introduced their first line of a new monochrome film and then in July 2010 the released the First Flush Edition of a first brand new color film.
These films are made for all classic polaroid formats!
Be warned though prices aren't super cheap. For example if you are looking for 600 film a pack of 8 exposures will run you $23.50 plus shipping so at least $3 per exposure. So not super cheap but then again you would be paying about the same or WAY more if you try to buy Polaroid 600 off of Ebay!
These films are made for all classic polaroid formats!
Boris Zuliani
Jeff Hutton
Lia Saile
These photos are from their online gallery collection.
Be warned though prices aren't super cheap. For example if you are looking for 600 film a pack of 8 exposures will run you $23.50 plus shipping so at least $3 per exposure. So not super cheap but then again you would be paying about the same or WAY more if you try to buy Polaroid 600 off of Ebay!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Vivian Maier - Nanny turned Street Photographer
Vivian Maier is a new little sensation. Her photographs were discovered by John Maloof at an auction in Chicago where she lived an worked as a Nanny. She passed away in 2009 at the age of 83 as an undiscovered street photographer. Her images are stunning and capture raw life in chicago that is so intimate and personal. The general outline of her life has been pieced together but there are still many questions about how she gained her photographic knowledge and keen eye.
John Maloof purchased over 100,000 negatives and about 20-30,000 undeveloped rolls which he is currently working on developing. Maloof had no idea how big these would get but posted a few of Maier's images on a photography website and watched them become internet sensations. They have captured the attention of many from news stations to galleries wishing to exhibit her work. Her first US exhibition is at the Chicago Cultural Center!
You can see Maier's photographs posted frequently on a blog dedicated to her by Maloof. There will also be a book and movie produced by Maloof of her work.
Here are a few videos on her as well
CBS
Chicago Tonight
"Finding Vivian Maier"- an intro to what will be a feature length film
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Thinking Women
Jenny Thigpen is a US Women's and Gender historian with a specialty in the 19th century who teaches at WSU.
Here is a little about her which you might find interesting. It is also on her blog.
"Top Ten" Non-Fiction
Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
Annette Gordon Reed, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy
Sharon Block, Rape and Sexual Violence in Early America
Cathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements: Working-Class Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Cenutry
New York
Daniel Richter, Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America
Kathleen Brown, Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs
Sarah Deutsch, Women in the City: Gender, Space and Power in Boston 1870-1940
Antoinette Burton and Tony Ballantyne, Bodies in Contact: Rethinking Colonial Encounters in
World History
Allan Greer, Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits
Elaine Tyler May, American Families in the Cold-War Era
So go check out her blog here which contains information about each of the courses she teaches. There are many interesting readings, pictures and video clips she has links to!
Here is a little about her which you might find interesting. It is also on her blog.
What I'm Reading
I like to maintain a balance between scholarly and "fun" reading. At any given time, I have at least two books going and keep a running list of what I'll read next.
I'm always looking for books to use in class, fiction or non. If you have suggestions, pass them along!
Current Reads:
I'm always looking for books to use in class, fiction or non. If you have suggestions, pass them along!
Current Reads:
- Naked in the Promised Land: A Memoir by Lillian Faderman
- Patrick V. Kirch, How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai‘i
On My List:
"Top Ten" Fiction
J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
Jim Carroll, The Baseketball Diaries
Lori Lansens, The Girls
Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted
Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Courderoy and Denim
T.C. Boyle, Tortilla Curtain
Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
- Elaine Tyler May, America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation
- Terry Galloway, Mean Little Deaf Queer
"Top Ten" Fiction
J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
Jim Carroll, The Baseketball Diaries
Lori Lansens, The Girls
Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted
Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Courderoy and Denim
T.C. Boyle, Tortilla Curtain
Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
"Top Ten" Non-Fiction
Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
Annette Gordon Reed, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy
Sharon Block, Rape and Sexual Violence in Early America
Cathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements: Working-Class Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Cenutry
New York
Daniel Richter, Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America
Kathleen Brown, Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs
Sarah Deutsch, Women in the City: Gender, Space and Power in Boston 1870-1940
Antoinette Burton and Tony Ballantyne, Bodies in Contact: Rethinking Colonial Encounters in
World History
Allan Greer, Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits
Elaine Tyler May, American Families in the Cold-War Era
So go check out her blog here which contains information about each of the courses she teaches. There are many interesting readings, pictures and video clips she has links to!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Larry Sultan - Pictures From Home
Photography has always been seen as a documentary tool. Many artist such as Larry Sultan have used this notion of photography as a document to push the viewers to reevaluate that claim. In his project "Pictures from Home" he photographs his parents, uses old photos of them, home video stills and text to try and understand his parents and their lifestyle. This life portrait of his parents evokes issues of aging, relationships, family values and exposes the ideals his parents had for their life that he does not connect to. Sultan undermines the claim that photos are always an accurate form of documentation by pointing out the posing and known use of self representation. He complied this project in a photobook which you should definitely take a look at and is simply titled "Pictures from Home".
You can look at a few good links of people reviewing this body of work here and here oh and here which also has a video of him and his dad!
Larry Sultan unfortunately passed away back in 2009 at the age of 63. He had a successful career and left behind very interesting projects that are still great to learn from.
"Mom in the Garage"
"Dad on the Bed"
"Practicing Golf Swing" 1986
"Mom Posing by Green Wall and Dad Watching TV" 1984
You can look at a few good links of people reviewing this body of work here and here oh and here which also has a video of him and his dad!
Larry Sultan unfortunately passed away back in 2009 at the age of 63. He had a successful career and left behind very interesting projects that are still great to learn from.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Blind Photographer - Pete Eckert
Well the semester is in full swing now and students are in the photo lab playing with chemicals. I teach one of the two beginning sections and I can't help but laugh when I see them start to process their prints for the first time. They have to adjust to a pretty dimly lit room (with safe lights of course), avoid bumping into each other and remember what I taught them. Most start off pretty timid but as they see their first print appear in the developer a little excitement washes over them. However this experience with my students and watching them get comfortable with their new surroundings Pete Eckert boggles my brain.
My students tell me they feel blind when they first go in the Photo lab and start printing which has seriously been put into perspective for me now. Eckert didn't take photography seriously until he was completely blind. He was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa when he was still young. He had planned to study Architecture at Yale but soon realized with his deteriorating sight that would not happen. Currently employed as a carpenter he realized he had two main fears which were how to protect himself and how to make a living. So he earned an MBA and a black belt. Him and his wife had moved to the East Coast to be near his family during that tough time but once he was done with school and couldn't get a job in the area due to prejudice against the blind they relocated to Sacramento California. After working for the government to help the blind he decided he "wanted to do something fun". He first dabbled with making woodcuts which the idea not only makes me nervous but I assume it did his wife too. He came across a camera while cleaning out a drawer and now is an exhibited photographer! Of course he had to learn a lot about photography since he knew nothing at the time and has had to adapt his working process for his disability but I'll let you read his bio to read more about that.
Honestly I didn't mean to reiterate so much of his bio but I just think his story is so fascinating and inspiring. He had such a drive to create art and beauty that he kept experimenting until he could find a way to make a living from his passion!
Artist Wanted did a great video of Pete Eckert! Don't you love it?
Anyways I hope this might be an interesting little pick me up Artist Spotlight.
-Kailtin
My students tell me they feel blind when they first go in the Photo lab and start printing which has seriously been put into perspective for me now. Eckert didn't take photography seriously until he was completely blind. He was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa when he was still young. He had planned to study Architecture at Yale but soon realized with his deteriorating sight that would not happen. Currently employed as a carpenter he realized he had two main fears which were how to protect himself and how to make a living. So he earned an MBA and a black belt. Him and his wife had moved to the East Coast to be near his family during that tough time but once he was done with school and couldn't get a job in the area due to prejudice against the blind they relocated to Sacramento California. After working for the government to help the blind he decided he "wanted to do something fun". He first dabbled with making woodcuts which the idea not only makes me nervous but I assume it did his wife too. He came across a camera while cleaning out a drawer and now is an exhibited photographer! Of course he had to learn a lot about photography since he knew nothing at the time and has had to adapt his working process for his disability but I'll let you read his bio to read more about that.
Honestly I didn't mean to reiterate so much of his bio but I just think his story is so fascinating and inspiring. He had such a drive to create art and beauty that he kept experimenting until he could find a way to make a living from his passion!
Artist Wanted did a great video of Pete Eckert! Don't you love it?
Anyways I hope this might be an interesting little pick me up Artist Spotlight.
-Kailtin
Monday, February 7, 2011
How to Publish your Photography Book
Print on Demand services such as Blurb have allowed the every man to create their own Photobooks. I (Kaitlin a first year MFA student at WSU) personally created a photobook for my BFA portfolio review. However unless you have a background in Graphic Design or publishing the average person doesn't know what should or shouldn't go into a photobook let alone how certain choices impact the overall feel and look of a photobook. An even bigger part is how to market the photobook. If the book is meant for more than just sitting on your mothers coffee table where and how do you get it out to potential buyers? For this I turn to the new book by Darius D. Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson ...
From publishyourphotographybook.com -
From Mary Virginia Swanson's website -
Princeton Architectural Press:
“We live in the golden age of the photography book. Since the early 1990s, the number of photography book publishers has continued to grow while technological developments have placed more tools for bookmaking directly in the hands of photographers. For the students and working artists who have chosen photography as their primary means of expression, having their own photography book is seen as a passport to the international photography scene. Yet, few have more than a tentative grasp of the component parts of a book, an understanding of what they want to express, or the know-how needed to get a book published. Publish Your Photography Book is the first book to demystify the process of producing and publishing a book of photographs. Industry insiders Darius D. Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson survey the current landscape of photography book publishing and point out the many avenues to pursue and pitfalls to avoid. This expert guide is organized in six sections covering the rich history of the photo book; an overview of the publishing industry; an intimate look at the process of making a book; a close review of how to market a photo book; a section on case studies, built around discussions and interviews with published photographers; and a final section presenting a wealth of resources and information to aid in the understanding of the publishing world. Publish Your Photography Book also includes a number of additional interviews and contributions from industry professionals, including artists, publishers, designers, packagers, editors, and other industry experts who openly share their publishing experiences.”
On another note Marry Virginia Swanson is a photo industry leader for photographers to consult with. She has a book called "The Business of Photography: Principles and Practices" and frequently travels around where you can meet with her personally or call her for a consultation.
Here is what her website says about consultations:
"Mary Virginia Swanson makes it her goal to help guide photographers towards the strengths in their work and to identify appreciative audiences for their prints, exhibitions, editorial and licensing placement. Swanson has a diverse professional background, having coordinated educational, publication and exhibition programs for a wide range of institutions and businesses in our field."
Overall it should be noted that even though creativity and motivation are keys to success reaching out to others for advice is a necessary step. While you might want to jump into marketing your photography and photobooks head first I suggest grabbing these two books "Publish Your Photography Book" and "The Business of Photography: Principles and Practices" so you at least have some guidance upon impact!
By Darius D. Himes and Virginia Swanson
From publishyourphotographybook.com -
Praise for Publish Your Photography Book
This elegantly designed volume on publishing photography books fills a much needed gap. It is written in a clear and accessible manner with inspiring examples and an abundance of insight from notable figures in the industry. Himes and Swanson bring decades of knowledge and experience from their writing and publishing experience. This is the perfect book for students, artists and photographers everywhere.—Dennis Keeley, Chair of the Photography and Imaging Department at the Art Center College of Design
From Mary Virginia Swanson's website -
Princeton Architectural Press:
“We live in the golden age of the photography book. Since the early 1990s, the number of photography book publishers has continued to grow while technological developments have placed more tools for bookmaking directly in the hands of photographers. For the students and working artists who have chosen photography as their primary means of expression, having their own photography book is seen as a passport to the international photography scene. Yet, few have more than a tentative grasp of the component parts of a book, an understanding of what they want to express, or the know-how needed to get a book published. Publish Your Photography Book is the first book to demystify the process of producing and publishing a book of photographs. Industry insiders Darius D. Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson survey the current landscape of photography book publishing and point out the many avenues to pursue and pitfalls to avoid. This expert guide is organized in six sections covering the rich history of the photo book; an overview of the publishing industry; an intimate look at the process of making a book; a close review of how to market a photo book; a section on case studies, built around discussions and interviews with published photographers; and a final section presenting a wealth of resources and information to aid in the understanding of the publishing world. Publish Your Photography Book also includes a number of additional interviews and contributions from industry professionals, including artists, publishers, designers, packagers, editors, and other industry experts who openly share their publishing experiences.”
On another note Marry Virginia Swanson is a photo industry leader for photographers to consult with. She has a book called "The Business of Photography: Principles and Practices" and frequently travels around where you can meet with her personally or call her for a consultation.
Here is what her website says about consultations:
"Mary Virginia Swanson makes it her goal to help guide photographers towards the strengths in their work and to identify appreciative audiences for their prints, exhibitions, editorial and licensing placement. Swanson has a diverse professional background, having coordinated educational, publication and exhibition programs for a wide range of institutions and businesses in our field."
HOW WE WORK TOGETHER
Mary Virginia Swanson is sought after by photographers seeking to establish professional relationships, and focused marketing efforts, to place their personal work in the fine art arena. Ms. Swanson has assisted and inspired many artists to build on the strengths of their work and gain a broader understanding of the fine art, commercial and editorial markets. To stay current in our industry, and to provide exceptional consulting service, Ms. Swanson attends every major photography event, either as a speaker, portfolio reviewer or juror, as well as gaining continuing education for herself.
Please understand that Ms. Swanson is a Consultant not an agent, lending her professional insights and advice. She does not make introductions or secure professional relationships for her consulting clients with galleries, publishers or clients in other markets.
CONSULTING WITH PHOTOGRAPHERS
Ms. Swanson will tailor her consulting services to meet your goals, such as:
- Help you in understanding the business of photography and work together to build your “toolkit” toward participation as an informed professional.
- Maximize your investment in portfolio review events, preparing for portfolio review events, and attending gallery expos.
- Assist you in identifying appropriate exhibition venues for showing completed bodies of work.
- Assist you with your research toward prioritizing potential creative clients in the advertising and design communities, if appropriate for you and your work.
- Guide you in preparing your self-promotion pieces.
- Inspire you to stay creative, recognize the strengths in your work, and build upon those strengths.
Overall it should be noted that even though creativity and motivation are keys to success reaching out to others for advice is a necessary step. While you might want to jump into marketing your photography and photobooks head first I suggest grabbing these two books "Publish Your Photography Book" and "The Business of Photography: Principles and Practices" so you at least have some guidance upon impact!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Current Events!
In Gallery 2 we currently have a show up Titled "Build Up" which is a painting exhibition curated by Michelle Forsyth. Craig Drennen came for the opening and gave a lecture about the current state of Painting.
This Thursday February 3rd at 5pm in the Fine Arts Auditorium we have Harrell Fletcher giving a lecture as our visiting artist.
"Internationally recognized artist Harrell Fletcher is Professor of Art and Social Practice at Portland State University. He is known for producing a variety of socially engaged collaborative and interdisciplinary projects including Learning To Love You More."
Build Up
January 10th-February 18th
Opening reception: Thursday, January 20th at 6pm
Opening reception: Thursday, January 20th at 6pm
Curated by Fine Arts faculty member, Michelle Forsyth, Build Up will features the work of seven artists who are pushing the boundaries of painting as an idea, practice and form. The show includes the work of Brandon Anschultz (St. Louis, MO); David Corbett (Portland, OR); Peter Fox (Brooklyn, NY); Valerie Anne Molnar (Richmond, VA); Elise Richman (Tacoma, WA); Aili Schmeltz (Los Angeles, CA); and Tamara Zahaykevich (New York, NY). A catalog with an essay by Craig Drennen will accompany the exhibition.
"Internationally recognized artist Harrell Fletcher is Professor of Art and Social Practice at Portland State University. He is known for producing a variety of socially engaged collaborative and interdisciplinary projects including Learning To Love You More."
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