Ryan Agnew
W.E. Arnold
Ben Barnes
Liz Celeste
Dennis Deane
Laura Fisher
Ruth Foote
Kim Glover
Marcella Hackbardt
Peter Happelchristian
Danielle M. Hart
Abram W. Kaplan
Matthew Phillip Kowal
Adam Lefevre
Cosby Lindquist
Margaret Lockwood-Lass
Justin Luna
Ardine Nelson
Elizabeth Nihiser
Karen Nulf
Deborah Orloff
Brittany R. Ransom
Jessica Reed
Debbie Rosenfeld
MIchael Salrin
Francis Schanberger
Sydney Schardt
Stacie Sells
Cameron Sharp
Jim Shirey
Steven K. Smith
Nathaniel Smyth
Yvette Van Der Velde
Halle Tate
Margarita Vasquez Cardenas
Joel Whitaker
Kevin D. Willis
JUROR BIO — PAULA TOGNARELLI
It is often a difficult task to assemble a final body of work from juried exhibition submissions. Usually this is so because of the large number of submissions a juror must examine to ultimately select those images that reflect her/his personal vision. Oftentimes juried exhibitions are non-thematic so the juror relies on the strength of the imagery to unify the final selection. The identity of the artists is usually hidden from view, blackened out on the page like censored government documents. It becomes a solitary experience as the juror sifts through the anonymity seeking to find dialogue and connection with the artist through the artwork. In the end it is not the juror but this interplay of artist, artwork and viewer that builds the final exhibition.
I was thoroughly impressed by the caliber of the photography and video presented to me for review. Much of the work was fresh and innovative. It was varied as well, running the gamut from very dry wit, to obsessive content, to narrative imagery, to fine art, and journalistic inquiry. The work resonated as it took shape as a body. Placing an image next to another image can evoke new meaning and response. Mimicking a shape or object from one photograph places emphasis on another. Varying the size and orientation of the artwork plays with the visual pulse of the exhibition. All this in addition to positioning still photography next to the moving image makes for a great juried exhibition.
Thank you for inviting me to share in the evolution of your exhibition. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the work.
It is often a difficult task to assemble a final body of work from juried exhibition submissions. Usually this is so because of the large number of submissions a juror must examine to ultimately select those images that reflect her/his personal vision. Oftentimes juried exhibitions are non-thematic so the juror relies on the strength of the imagery to unify the final selection. The identity of the artists is usually hidden from view, blackened out on the page like censored government documents. It becomes a solitary experience as the juror sifts through the anonymity seeking to find dialogue and connection with the artist through the artwork. In the end it is not the juror but this interplay of artist, artwork and viewer that builds the final exhibition.
I was thoroughly impressed by the caliber of the photography and video presented to me for review. Much of the work was fresh and innovative. It was varied as well, running the gamut from very dry wit, to obsessive content, to narrative imagery, to fine art, and journalistic inquiry. The work resonated as it took shape as a body. Placing an image next to another image can evoke new meaning and response. Mimicking a shape or object from one photograph places emphasis on another. Varying the size and orientation of the artwork plays with the visual pulse of the exhibition. All this in addition to positioning still photography next to the moving image makes for a great juried exhibition.
Thank you for inviting me to share in the evolution of your exhibition. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the work.
LOCATION
Fort Hayes Shot Tower Gallery
546 Jack Gibbs Boulevard
Columbus, Ohio 43215
614-365-6681
GALLERY HOURS | MON-FRI 9am - 4pm
the gallery will be closed March 21-31 for the spring holiday break
FOR MORE INFORMATION | info@roygbivgallery.com
Fort Hayes Shot Tower Gallery
546 Jack Gibbs Boulevard
Columbus, Ohio 43215
614-365-6681
GALLERY HOURS | MON-FRI 9am - 4pm
the gallery will be closed March 21-31 for the spring holiday break
FOR MORE INFORMATION | info@roygbivgallery.com
Mr. Aloysius Magillicutty (Dad),
Inkjet print under plexi,
42x72",
2007 - 2008
RYAN AGNEW
Photographs seem to provide us with a static inscription of loss, hinting at a presence the image can neither capture nor restore. This print is a cropped section from a digital image I took of my father moments after his death. My mother wanted the sheets on the bed to be warm and comfortable.
Photographs seem to provide us with a static inscription of loss, hinting at a presence the image can neither capture nor restore. This print is a cropped section from a digital image I took of my father moments after his death. My mother wanted the sheets on the bed to be warm and comfortable.
Grandpa's Slippers,
Traditional Photography,
8x10" unframed; 14 x 18" framed,
2006
W.E. ARNOLD
Winston Churchill said, "Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse." Similar is the principle I try to instill into my photography. I believe that the products of this art form are best expressed with a strongly established foundation alongside the boldness to take risks and make choices about one's interpretation of life. Consequently, the development of my work is done in a comparable manner. The preservation of film development is very important to me, and it is the only way I choose to produce my photography. It keeps the artist grounded in his own craft. Be it in a foreign country, or my own, capturing unedited reality is something I want to unearth. I go hunting for my subject matter; I don't construct it. I feel that artists owe a lot of their philosophy and values about their craft to the stories and ideals that compile their background. A Springfield, Ohio native, I was fortunate to receive my undergraduate degree in Sociology and a minor in art/ photography from Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. While photography was not my main area of study, it is without hesitation that I spent countless hours in the darkroom teaching myself, learning, experimenting, and harvesting a passion for the taking and traditional development of pictures. It is here that I discovered the importance in preserving the ageless technique of developing one's own photographs. There is an anchor that holds a photographer to his material, revealing his/her final work in this way. And If there exists a more fulfilling connection from the artist to the art to the audience, I have not found it.
Winston Churchill said, "Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse." Similar is the principle I try to instill into my photography. I believe that the products of this art form are best expressed with a strongly established foundation alongside the boldness to take risks and make choices about one's interpretation of life. Consequently, the development of my work is done in a comparable manner. The preservation of film development is very important to me, and it is the only way I choose to produce my photography. It keeps the artist grounded in his own craft. Be it in a foreign country, or my own, capturing unedited reality is something I want to unearth. I go hunting for my subject matter; I don't construct it. I feel that artists owe a lot of their philosophy and values about their craft to the stories and ideals that compile their background. A Springfield, Ohio native, I was fortunate to receive my undergraduate degree in Sociology and a minor in art/ photography from Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. While photography was not my main area of study, it is without hesitation that I spent countless hours in the darkroom teaching myself, learning, experimenting, and harvesting a passion for the taking and traditional development of pictures. It is here that I discovered the importance in preserving the ageless technique of developing one's own photographs. There is an anchor that holds a photographer to his material, revealing his/her final work in this way. And If there exists a more fulfilling connection from the artist to the art to the audience, I have not found it.
Marigny Telephone Pole,
Silver Gelatin Print,
6x6" unframed; 16x20" framed,
2004
BEN BARNES
My photography is an attempt to record the beauty in the forgotten, unfinished, left-behind, and otherwise unremarkable stuff of human activity.
My photography is an attempt to record the beauty in the forgotten, unfinished, left-behind, and otherwise unremarkable stuff of human activity.
WROX,
Archival ink jet print,
18x12" unframed; 24x18" framed,
2006
LIZ CELESTE
I love lines and shapes and colors and light. I am curious about how time affects things in different ways. I love piles of junk that are left lying around outside or dusty, forgotten interiors. Time has the power to reveal the vulnerability of all things and to me this is beautiful. My images are almost always from film, are unmodified, and I typically make use of only natural light, exemplified in this particular piece wrox. This work was taken in Clarksdale, Mississippi where early Wright, one of the South's first african american djs, broadcast r&b on the radio for 52 years. Bubba let me explore the dingy second floor while he prepared to open the first floor as a museum. It was heaven in lines and shapes and colors and light.
I love lines and shapes and colors and light. I am curious about how time affects things in different ways. I love piles of junk that are left lying around outside or dusty, forgotten interiors. Time has the power to reveal the vulnerability of all things and to me this is beautiful. My images are almost always from film, are unmodified, and I typically make use of only natural light, exemplified in this particular piece wrox. This work was taken in Clarksdale, Mississippi where early Wright, one of the South's first african american djs, broadcast r&b on the radio for 52 years. Bubba let me explore the dingy second floor while he prepared to open the first floor as a museum. It was heaven in lines and shapes and colors and light.
Memories Held:
Greenlawn Cemetery, Chillicothe, OH,
Epson UltraChrome Inkjet Print,
42x31.5" unframed; 48x38" framed,
2008
DENNIS DEANE
This series continues my photographic exploration of examining, in a straightforward style, the social signs found in American and European countries. Recent and ongoing projects include work documenting fallout shelter signs, drink machines, guardian figures, closed gas stations, and subway/metro stations.
The series "Memories Held: Greenlawn Cemetery, Chillicothe, OH," shows elaborately adorned cemetery gravesites that rise above the standard graveyard memorials that may be maintained by family and friends. Somewhat akin to the highway death memorials that punctuate roadways throughout the United States and other countries, these memorials are filled with the everyday items of use and play; the items that connect belief systems of national, religious, ethnic, and cultural relevance; and, the highly personal iconic images that signify meaning outside and beyond external interpretation. With the minute details and the larger context of place, these images evoke interest beyond mere curiosity. As we view these images, it is hard not to be confronted with our own mortality, an experience that many of us find disconcerting.
Since 2002, I have been doing my color work exclusively with scanned color negatives and printed with an inkjet printer. Using wide-angle lenses and medium format film as my source media, the resulting negatives are scanned at 4000 ppi. The resulting 600 MB files produce exceptional resolution for printing up to 40 by 50 inch prints. Photoshop is only utilized for color and tone correction and sizing. No image sharpening is applied. Using ImagePrint RIPing software to drive the Epson 9600 printer, state of the art color management can be utilized along with the advanced screening technology to produce extremely fine resolutions and color accuracy. Using Epson's UltraChrome pigmented inks and Epson's Premium Luster paper as the support base, these prints are treated with Lyson Print Guard, a spray varnish that adds a UV protective screen to the print and prevents damage from water.
This series continues my photographic exploration of examining, in a straightforward style, the social signs found in American and European countries. Recent and ongoing projects include work documenting fallout shelter signs, drink machines, guardian figures, closed gas stations, and subway/metro stations.
The series "Memories Held: Greenlawn Cemetery, Chillicothe, OH," shows elaborately adorned cemetery gravesites that rise above the standard graveyard memorials that may be maintained by family and friends. Somewhat akin to the highway death memorials that punctuate roadways throughout the United States and other countries, these memorials are filled with the everyday items of use and play; the items that connect belief systems of national, religious, ethnic, and cultural relevance; and, the highly personal iconic images that signify meaning outside and beyond external interpretation. With the minute details and the larger context of place, these images evoke interest beyond mere curiosity. As we view these images, it is hard not to be confronted with our own mortality, an experience that many of us find disconcerting.
Since 2002, I have been doing my color work exclusively with scanned color negatives and printed with an inkjet printer. Using wide-angle lenses and medium format film as my source media, the resulting negatives are scanned at 4000 ppi. The resulting 600 MB files produce exceptional resolution for printing up to 40 by 50 inch prints. Photoshop is only utilized for color and tone correction and sizing. No image sharpening is applied. Using ImagePrint RIPing software to drive the Epson 9600 printer, state of the art color management can be utilized along with the advanced screening technology to produce extremely fine resolutions and color accuracy. Using Epson's UltraChrome pigmented inks and Epson's Premium Luster paper as the support base, these prints are treated with Lyson Print Guard, a spray varnish that adds a UV protective screen to the print and prevents damage from water.
On Existence I,
Silver Gelatin Print and Mixed Media,
28x22",
2007
LAURA FISHER
You know what? I never wanted to let you in.
BIO: Laura Fisher is a storyteller, magician, and artist. Her email address is lightcatcher76 (at) gmail.com. Drop her a line. She likes friends.
You know what? I never wanted to let you in.
BIO: Laura Fisher is a storyteller, magician, and artist. Her email address is lightcatcher76 (at) gmail.com. Drop her a line. She likes friends.
Detroit Institute of Art Main Hall,
Pinhole Panoramic Photograph,
Archival Ink Jet Print,
10x42" unframed,
2006
RUTH FOOTE
In an age of increasingly complex technology, this work revisits the simplest form of photographic image capture. A pinhole camera is the simplest design: a box with a literal pinhole for an aperture. No lens, no moving parts, no batteries. This image of the Detroit Institute of Art Main Hall is part of my series exploring architecture. My Panoramic pinhole camera reduces structural elements to repeating graphic elements where the design of the space is emphasized and made more fantastical. I am interested less in what the photograph can record of "reality" than in what it can do the extend vision beyond what the eye can see.
Technical Info: This image is a single exposure of the pinhole camera on color negative film. The film was scanned, adjusted in Photoshop (no manipulation of the image) and printed on a large format Epson archival ink jet printer.
In an age of increasingly complex technology, this work revisits the simplest form of photographic image capture. A pinhole camera is the simplest design: a box with a literal pinhole for an aperture. No lens, no moving parts, no batteries. This image of the Detroit Institute of Art Main Hall is part of my series exploring architecture. My Panoramic pinhole camera reduces structural elements to repeating graphic elements where the design of the space is emphasized and made more fantastical. I am interested less in what the photograph can record of "reality" than in what it can do the extend vision beyond what the eye can see.
Technical Info: This image is a single exposure of the pinhole camera on color negative film. The film was scanned, adjusted in Photoshop (no manipulation of the image) and printed on a large format Epson archival ink jet printer.
Kayla,
Digital Photo, Archival Print, 2008,
14x11" unframed;16x20" framed
KIM GLOVER
Gentle, ambiguous, and the unexpected are the feelings I am currently interested in portraying. Feelings can be evoked whether a facial expression is shown or what is in the frame is defined. Freezing in time the elements of images, images found and uncontrived, images in their "pure state." The experience is temporal just as the people, places, and objects inside the frame. Each image demonstrates people and their response to their environment or how they have created an environment for others to respond and how ephemeral yet vital are the relationships.
Gentle, ambiguous, and the unexpected are the feelings I am currently interested in portraying. Feelings can be evoked whether a facial expression is shown or what is in the frame is defined. Freezing in time the elements of images, images found and uncontrived, images in their "pure state." The experience is temporal just as the people, places, and objects inside the frame. Each image demonstrates people and their response to their environment or how they have created an environment for others to respond and how ephemeral yet vital are the relationships.
Rearrangements,
Digital Chromogenic Print,
18x36" unframed; 22x40" framed,
2008
MARCELLA HACKBARDT
Rearrangements comes from a series of constructed photographs called "Story of Knowledges." The images are intended as a meditation on knowledge, the power of its study and pursuit, and the strength and determination involved in the ways of learning. Instead of a body that functions in opposition to the mind, here the body acts in alignment with notions of thought or mindful purpose. Their perception is often guided by the senses of sight and touch, emphasizing the corporeal nature of knowledge. However, reality is not automatic or clear-cut. Rather, it is in question; and each character attempts to have an experience that will engender meaning. The wide, horizontal framing of these images is intentionally filmic, and this proportional reference adds to the feeling that the narrative continues. However, in photography, the camera isolates one moment - embarking on storytelling while disrupting narrative - permanently leaving us in suspense. Like finding a page torn from a book, beginnings and endings go un- documented; and without a basis or outcome, the logic of the action remains unclear, complex, and shifting. Rather than suggesting specific disciplines, such as science or history, Story of Knowledges tells of struggle, longing, and resolution. Here, illumination is mixed and precious, and the figures' imagination and creativity are key components in these stories of progress, success, and the broader perspective. No particular person is cast to impress us with sheer intellectual force. Instead, their curiosity and determination are what write their stories.
Rearrangements comes from a series of constructed photographs called "Story of Knowledges." The images are intended as a meditation on knowledge, the power of its study and pursuit, and the strength and determination involved in the ways of learning. Instead of a body that functions in opposition to the mind, here the body acts in alignment with notions of thought or mindful purpose. Their perception is often guided by the senses of sight and touch, emphasizing the corporeal nature of knowledge. However, reality is not automatic or clear-cut. Rather, it is in question; and each character attempts to have an experience that will engender meaning. The wide, horizontal framing of these images is intentionally filmic, and this proportional reference adds to the feeling that the narrative continues. However, in photography, the camera isolates one moment - embarking on storytelling while disrupting narrative - permanently leaving us in suspense. Like finding a page torn from a book, beginnings and endings go un- documented; and without a basis or outcome, the logic of the action remains unclear, complex, and shifting. Rather than suggesting specific disciplines, such as science or history, Story of Knowledges tells of struggle, longing, and resolution. Here, illumination is mixed and precious, and the figures' imagination and creativity are key components in these stories of progress, success, and the broader perspective. No particular person is cast to impress us with sheer intellectual force. Instead, their curiosity and determination are what write their stories.
In Person-Tree
(The nylon net is as tall as me
and is as wide as my arms stretched out),
Lightjet Print,
10x10" unframed; 11x11" framed,
2008
PETER HAPPELCHRISTIAN
In my work I liken my creative habits to that of an early cartographer-looking, measuring, collecting, calculating and displaying the intersections of quotidian life and the natural world. As much as I am inspired by phenomena of the natural world and find great value in being outside, I focus on the observation that our everyday relationship with nature is predominantly one of mediation, physical distance and cognizant remove. Through photographs, simple sculptures and subtle performances, I work to reveal, fictionalize and question "nature" as a geographic locale, as a romantic ideal, and as a socio-political construct. A current project, Near the Point of Beginning, is an investigation of an historical cartographic site and of the natural landscape. The location known as "The Point of Beginning," established in the late 18th century through the Land Ordinance of 1785 under the guidance of Thomas Jefferson, is located in East Liverpool, Ohio on the northern bank of the Ohio River. It was from this site in which nearly all the land west of the original thirteen colonies was organized and compartmentalized into a grid suitable for sale to land prospectors and would-be homesteaders. This site acts as an essential point of reference, a sort of personal datum, from which I gauge how people, including myself, think about the natural world and interact with the landscape. I have interpreted that this location established a clear and distinct separation between people and the land. I am interested in qualifying my varied experiences in the natural environment as a set of relations between disparate cognitive and sensory events where perception eclipses the ground underfoot.
In my work I liken my creative habits to that of an early cartographer-looking, measuring, collecting, calculating and displaying the intersections of quotidian life and the natural world. As much as I am inspired by phenomena of the natural world and find great value in being outside, I focus on the observation that our everyday relationship with nature is predominantly one of mediation, physical distance and cognizant remove. Through photographs, simple sculptures and subtle performances, I work to reveal, fictionalize and question "nature" as a geographic locale, as a romantic ideal, and as a socio-political construct. A current project, Near the Point of Beginning, is an investigation of an historical cartographic site and of the natural landscape. The location known as "The Point of Beginning," established in the late 18th century through the Land Ordinance of 1785 under the guidance of Thomas Jefferson, is located in East Liverpool, Ohio on the northern bank of the Ohio River. It was from this site in which nearly all the land west of the original thirteen colonies was organized and compartmentalized into a grid suitable for sale to land prospectors and would-be homesteaders. This site acts as an essential point of reference, a sort of personal datum, from which I gauge how people, including myself, think about the natural world and interact with the landscape. I have interpreted that this location established a clear and distinct separation between people and the land. I am interested in qualifying my varied experiences in the natural environment as a set of relations between disparate cognitive and sensory events where perception eclipses the ground underfoot.
Pristine,
Digital Photography
11x14" framed; 8x10" unframed,
2008
DANIELLE M. HART
I utilize black and white digital photography not to "create" art but, rather, to capture the elegance ordinary articles and situations have to offer. The monochromatic perspective embraces the notion there is beauty in simple reality, and encourages the viewer to appreciate the image at hand without the distraction of color. The term "pristine", by definition, refers to that which remains in a pure state. This work offers a glimpse into an uncorrupted transition of darkness to light, recidivism to redemption. Inspiring in others a realization of the beauty that lies in the imagery that encompasses us daily is exceptionally gratifying as an artist. I continually look for opportunities to grow and develop my craft while embracing and embodying the creative process.
I utilize black and white digital photography not to "create" art but, rather, to capture the elegance ordinary articles and situations have to offer. The monochromatic perspective embraces the notion there is beauty in simple reality, and encourages the viewer to appreciate the image at hand without the distraction of color. The term "pristine", by definition, refers to that which remains in a pure state. This work offers a glimpse into an uncorrupted transition of darkness to light, recidivism to redemption. Inspiring in others a realization of the beauty that lies in the imagery that encompasses us daily is exceptionally gratifying as an artist. I continually look for opportunities to grow and develop my craft while embracing and embodying the creative process.
Watch Pigs,
Photography,
Framed: 18x30" unframed 9x22",
2008
ABRAM W. KAPLAN
Rural land is called "unimproved," "raw," or even "waste" by governmental agencies. In Ohio, about 65% of all our land is used for agricultural production, all apparently worthless until we build on it. What about food? Oh, that comes from the grocery store.
I teach Environmental Studies at Denison University in Granville. In my classes, we explore a wide range of environmental challenges. I rarely tell my students what they should do, or what the right answer is, but rather help them learn tools and skills they might use effect change. In a class called "Farmscape," we take a step further: if social change may be inspired by new ways of looking at the world, how can artistic perspectives create opportunities for awareness in new audiences? We focus on farmland: its uses, its loss, and its stories.
My own photographic work deals with sustainability, change, and new perspective. It is my sense that we, as humans, take a lot for granted we often fail to see the world around us. In other words, we see but we don't. Through my images, I seek to revitalize our attentiveness to phenomena regularly passing before our eyes, which we often judge as boring, typical, or unremarkable. I may look where other people do not, but often I look more closely where other people may glance and move on.
"Watch Pigs" is a vignette of lives lived on Ohio farms. This image was taken at Sweet Meadows Farm near Zanesville, in July, 2008. When I approached the pig barn, these characters turned to confront me, and the little guy on the right was intent on being one of the big boys: he stepped up and dared me to get close, affecting the same posture and stance as the much larger and more menacing of his brethren. There was a strong sense of community among these pigs, as if they had a stake in their home turf the same way the farmers who manage them do, too.
The mantra of progress that takes farm land for granted is a dangerous one. It starts with the economic dysfunction of our food system and traverses the American dream, which incites us to desire a large plot of land with a McMansion on the hill, looking out on the rural landscape we destroy by the very construction of our housing. We increase our fuel use by living farther from our workplaces and essential community functions, and we then insist that farmers grow corn to produce ethanol to support our wasteful driving habits... yet we removed their acreage by building where they grew that corn last year. Left in the wake of our insatiable appetite for growth is our potentially tragic vision: we see, but we clearly do not.
Rural land is called "unimproved," "raw," or even "waste" by governmental agencies. In Ohio, about 65% of all our land is used for agricultural production, all apparently worthless until we build on it. What about food? Oh, that comes from the grocery store.
I teach Environmental Studies at Denison University in Granville. In my classes, we explore a wide range of environmental challenges. I rarely tell my students what they should do, or what the right answer is, but rather help them learn tools and skills they might use effect change. In a class called "Farmscape," we take a step further: if social change may be inspired by new ways of looking at the world, how can artistic perspectives create opportunities for awareness in new audiences? We focus on farmland: its uses, its loss, and its stories.
My own photographic work deals with sustainability, change, and new perspective. It is my sense that we, as humans, take a lot for granted we often fail to see the world around us. In other words, we see but we don't. Through my images, I seek to revitalize our attentiveness to phenomena regularly passing before our eyes, which we often judge as boring, typical, or unremarkable. I may look where other people do not, but often I look more closely where other people may glance and move on.
"Watch Pigs" is a vignette of lives lived on Ohio farms. This image was taken at Sweet Meadows Farm near Zanesville, in July, 2008. When I approached the pig barn, these characters turned to confront me, and the little guy on the right was intent on being one of the big boys: he stepped up and dared me to get close, affecting the same posture and stance as the much larger and more menacing of his brethren. There was a strong sense of community among these pigs, as if they had a stake in their home turf the same way the farmers who manage them do, too.
The mantra of progress that takes farm land for granted is a dangerous one. It starts with the economic dysfunction of our food system and traverses the American dream, which incites us to desire a large plot of land with a McMansion on the hill, looking out on the rural landscape we destroy by the very construction of our housing. We increase our fuel use by living farther from our workplaces and essential community functions, and we then insist that farmers grow corn to produce ethanol to support our wasteful driving habits... yet we removed their acreage by building where they grew that corn last year. Left in the wake of our insatiable appetite for growth is our potentially tragic vision: we see, but we clearly do not.
Open Books - 09 (1/6),
20x30",
Archival Ink on Canvas
MATTHEW PHILLIP KOWAL
Open Books
Currently, Google Book Search, the Gutenberg Project, Open Content Alliance, and other educational and cultural institutions maintain projects to digitize, archive, and distribute literary works. These digital books become text or images displayed on 2-D computer screens. They become representations of their printed version.
The book, its cover, dust jacket, blank pages, and index are parts of the physical container. They ease transportation, standardize features, and encourage production. During digitization, a translation occurs; book-container-words transform into representative format, code, and symbols. The book has been unbound and reformed as a container consisting of information wrapped in computer code. This process pertains to the informatics of electronic literary distribution. The archived digital texts portray an order and flatness that is inherent to the printed word. Similar to books they also allow for non-sequential viewing, albeit at a much faster rate with high searchability. This transformation streamlines and expands dissemination. I am dealing with the perceived flattening of these books into essential file and format. The information and the container become intermixed, resulting in a composite of imagery, literature, and function. The book as an object, becomes free from its boundaries and contextual meanings. It becomes a printed production.
The container has become part of the message. The book: the story.
Open Books
Currently, Google Book Search, the Gutenberg Project, Open Content Alliance, and other educational and cultural institutions maintain projects to digitize, archive, and distribute literary works. These digital books become text or images displayed on 2-D computer screens. They become representations of their printed version.
The book, its cover, dust jacket, blank pages, and index are parts of the physical container. They ease transportation, standardize features, and encourage production. During digitization, a translation occurs; book-container-words transform into representative format, code, and symbols. The book has been unbound and reformed as a container consisting of information wrapped in computer code. This process pertains to the informatics of electronic literary distribution. The archived digital texts portray an order and flatness that is inherent to the printed word. Similar to books they also allow for non-sequential viewing, albeit at a much faster rate with high searchability. This transformation streamlines and expands dissemination. I am dealing with the perceived flattening of these books into essential file and format. The information and the container become intermixed, resulting in a composite of imagery, literature, and function. The book as an object, becomes free from its boundaries and contextual meanings. It becomes a printed production.
The container has become part of the message. The book: the story.
Campbell House,
Computer Enhanced Photography,
11x14",
2008
ADAM LEFEVRE
When, I purchased my digital SLR in 2005 for $1500, my wife didn't understand, we already had a good camera, and I didn't even take the family photos. My conscience thought she was right, but my heart knew I found my calling when I first held the camera in my hand.
First, I went out on photo shoots. I found my beautiful "waterfalls." I printed them out, and had them matted and framed. I hoped to display my work at local art galleries, but I was rejected by every gallery I visited. I put away my camera and quit.
Every month I kept getting my "Popular Photography" magazine. I would look at the cover and throw it away. Until, I got my last issue. I read it to pay my last respects. I realized I still had a passion for photography. I was going to pour my heart and soul into photography, and I was no longer going to ignore my calling.
I still had to figure out my place in the art world. I did a lot of research online. I didn't want my art looking like anyone else's. I decided to make art for what makes me not everyone else. I go to local antique malls to find props for my studio photography. I then will create art to bring my props back to "life." I use original lighting to emphasize exactly what I want to express. In my outdoor photography I take pictures around my hometown that mean something to me. I also use my computer to manipulate my images. I wanted my art to reach people who weren't usually interested in art. I hope to become a visionary, so when people look at my art 200 years from now they'll know my art is from the turn of the 21st century. In many of photographs I create a visual story of the past. I pay tribune to our ancestors, for they couldn't produce art like me because I was born into the "technology age." I decided on three different mediums, studio photography, outdoors photography, and computer-enhanced photography. Ideas started to pour into my soul I didn't know I had. I write them down to create later. I never had so much fun with art. I felt proud of what I was creating. Even criticism didn't deter me. I felt better about myself. Eventually, the doors to the art galleries opened to me.
I feel my art gives meaning to my life. I know I will inevitably die. As like other artists before me, my creations will live on. Through art, "I'm going to live forever. I'm going to cross that river. I'm going to kiss tomorrow night."
When, I purchased my digital SLR in 2005 for $1500, my wife didn't understand, we already had a good camera, and I didn't even take the family photos. My conscience thought she was right, but my heart knew I found my calling when I first held the camera in my hand.
First, I went out on photo shoots. I found my beautiful "waterfalls." I printed them out, and had them matted and framed. I hoped to display my work at local art galleries, but I was rejected by every gallery I visited. I put away my camera and quit.
Every month I kept getting my "Popular Photography" magazine. I would look at the cover and throw it away. Until, I got my last issue. I read it to pay my last respects. I realized I still had a passion for photography. I was going to pour my heart and soul into photography, and I was no longer going to ignore my calling.
I still had to figure out my place in the art world. I did a lot of research online. I didn't want my art looking like anyone else's. I decided to make art for what makes me not everyone else. I go to local antique malls to find props for my studio photography. I then will create art to bring my props back to "life." I use original lighting to emphasize exactly what I want to express. In my outdoor photography I take pictures around my hometown that mean something to me. I also use my computer to manipulate my images. I wanted my art to reach people who weren't usually interested in art. I hope to become a visionary, so when people look at my art 200 years from now they'll know my art is from the turn of the 21st century. In many of photographs I create a visual story of the past. I pay tribune to our ancestors, for they couldn't produce art like me because I was born into the "technology age." I decided on three different mediums, studio photography, outdoors photography, and computer-enhanced photography. Ideas started to pour into my soul I didn't know I had. I write them down to create later. I never had so much fun with art. I felt proud of what I was creating. Even criticism didn't deter me. I felt better about myself. Eventually, the doors to the art galleries opened to me.
I feel my art gives meaning to my life. I know I will inevitably die. As like other artists before me, my creations will live on. Through art, "I'm going to live forever. I'm going to cross that river. I'm going to kiss tomorrow night."
Untitled,
Archival Pigment Print,
27X17" unframed; 35X27" framed,
2006
COSBY LINDQUIST
I try to capture the transient moments that exist in my everyday life through the ritual of taking photographs.
I try to capture the transient moments that exist in my everyday life through the ritual of taking photographs.
Anna: Necklace,
Digital Photo/Giclee Print,
12x8.5" unframed; 21x 7.5" framed,
2006
MARGARET LOCKWOOD-LASS
A New Yorker once told me that the true difference between urban dwellers and Mid-westerners was obvious as soon as you entered their homes. The city person was surrounded with stimulation, so their home was a sanctuary without clutter and useless things. But Midwesterners filled their homes with stuff for stimulation because their outside world was barren.
I have contemplated that remark for years. As a fourth generation Midwesterner, growing up in South Dakota, getting my college degrees in Iowa, starting my career in Nebraska, and having spent my last 25 years in Ohio, I can't say the outside world has been barren. But I will admit that I've seen, purchased and inherited a lot of stuff. And all this it has been part of my art since the 1970s when I made my first pinhole camera out of used 35mm film cans, and then a skirt of old ties.
Super Savers: End of a Line
My latest series is a work in progress. It started out as Super Savers, capturing just a portion of my inherited affliction of saving too much stuff. While my ancestors saved to reuse items by modifying them for new clothing, bedding or resale, I saved my stuff for "when I have a child." Thus, this project has become more about why we save, as well as the compulsion to save even when there is no one to inherit it all... the End of A Line.
By integrating text with the images, I am spanning the generations with stories about the women in my family tree: from my great-great grandmother, to my mother and mother in law, down to my wonderful 70s wardrobe that I saved for the daughter I never had.
As this work is shown, I discover that my personal odyssey of exploring the items my family and I saved captures the viewers' imaginations, regardless of their age or gender. My joys and sorrows seem shared as I watch people laugh, discuss, question, and even cry as they view my work. I find it humbling and inspiring to touch people with a relatively simple image and a few lines of text.
About the artist
Margaret Lockwood-Lass graduated from the University of Iowa with a BFA and MA in Art and Art History, majoring in Photography and Multimedia, as well as an ED.S. in Instructional Design and Technology. Her writing and media production business, Lockwood-Lass Associates, is celebrating its 20th year in Toledo, Ohio. In addition, Margaret is an adjunct instructor in digital photography and visual communication at Owens Community College.
Margaret's photographs have been exhibited and published both locally and nationally. Her photograph, Sandlot, was featured in the 2007 July/August issue of Camera Arts as part of the Center for Fine Art Photography "Art of Digital Imagery" exhibit. It can also be viewed online at www.c4fap.org. The End of A Line series was recently seen as an installation at Toledo' s Artomatic 419 Lite, as well as part of a three-person exhibit at the Parkwood Gallery in Toledo.
A New Yorker once told me that the true difference between urban dwellers and Mid-westerners was obvious as soon as you entered their homes. The city person was surrounded with stimulation, so their home was a sanctuary without clutter and useless things. But Midwesterners filled their homes with stuff for stimulation because their outside world was barren.
I have contemplated that remark for years. As a fourth generation Midwesterner, growing up in South Dakota, getting my college degrees in Iowa, starting my career in Nebraska, and having spent my last 25 years in Ohio, I can't say the outside world has been barren. But I will admit that I've seen, purchased and inherited a lot of stuff. And all this it has been part of my art since the 1970s when I made my first pinhole camera out of used 35mm film cans, and then a skirt of old ties.
Super Savers: End of a Line
My latest series is a work in progress. It started out as Super Savers, capturing just a portion of my inherited affliction of saving too much stuff. While my ancestors saved to reuse items by modifying them for new clothing, bedding or resale, I saved my stuff for "when I have a child." Thus, this project has become more about why we save, as well as the compulsion to save even when there is no one to inherit it all... the End of A Line.
By integrating text with the images, I am spanning the generations with stories about the women in my family tree: from my great-great grandmother, to my mother and mother in law, down to my wonderful 70s wardrobe that I saved for the daughter I never had.
As this work is shown, I discover that my personal odyssey of exploring the items my family and I saved captures the viewers' imaginations, regardless of their age or gender. My joys and sorrows seem shared as I watch people laugh, discuss, question, and even cry as they view my work. I find it humbling and inspiring to touch people with a relatively simple image and a few lines of text.
About the artist
Margaret Lockwood-Lass graduated from the University of Iowa with a BFA and MA in Art and Art History, majoring in Photography and Multimedia, as well as an ED.S. in Instructional Design and Technology. Her writing and media production business, Lockwood-Lass Associates, is celebrating its 20th year in Toledo, Ohio. In addition, Margaret is an adjunct instructor in digital photography and visual communication at Owens Community College.
Margaret's photographs have been exhibited and published both locally and nationally. Her photograph, Sandlot, was featured in the 2007 July/August issue of Camera Arts as part of the Center for Fine Art Photography "Art of Digital Imagery" exhibit. It can also be viewed online at www.c4fap.org. The End of A Line series was recently seen as an installation at Toledo' s Artomatic 419 Lite, as well as part of a three-person exhibit at the Parkwood Gallery in Toledo.
Self Portrait As a Document,
Silver Gelatin Print,
20x24" unframed; 28x34" framed,
2008
JUSTIN LUNA
The Naked Gallery (Installation Art)
"Don't touch the artwork!"
The most reassuring moment for me as an art museum docent occurs when an elementary-aged group, in response to the mention of that rule, nods its collective heads in unison.
Now, I'm far from a strict disciplinarian as a tour guide...in fact, my own past memories of yawn-inspiring lectures and rigid, pre-calculated paths have convinced me to allow my prospective school groups to roam, view, and speak without censorship about the art we encounter. However, I'm still baffled at my own reaction when I see a member of my group touch (soil?) an artwork with a pointed brush of a finger (rebellious or innocent). My reaction is an uneasy mix of outrage, indifference, and sympathy. Where lies the origin for this confusing slew of emotions?
Perhaps the origin is found in several places, or more specifically, amongst the several roles that I play. As an artist, I am appalled by the child's disrespect for the safety of the object in which a fellow artist's "blood, sweat, and tears" are irrevocably absorbed and preserved. As a docent, I gently (and half-heartedly) remind the perpetrator that the "no-touch rule" is in place so-that-future-generations-of-tour-groups-can-gawk-at-the-work- so-everybody-take-two-steps-backwards! As a preparator's assistant, I guiltily revel in the fact that I've handled museum-grade artwork before with bare, unwashed hands!
The Naked Gallery (Installation Art)
The most reassuring moment for me as an art museum docent occurs when an elementary-aged group, in response to the mention of that rule, nods its collective heads in unison.
Now, I'm far from a strict disciplinarian as a tour guide...in fact, my own past memories of yawn-inspiring lectures and rigid, pre-calculated paths have convinced me to allow my prospective school groups to roam, view, and speak without censorship about the art we encounter. However, I'm still baffled at my own reaction when I see a member of my group touch (soil?) an artwork with a pointed brush of a finger (rebellious or innocent). My reaction is an uneasy mix of outrage, indifference, and sympathy. Where lies the origin for this confusing slew of emotions?
Perhaps the origin is found in several places, or more specifically, amongst the several roles that I play. As an artist, I am appalled by the child's disrespect for the safety of the object in which a fellow artist's "blood, sweat, and tears" are irrevocably absorbed and preserved. As a docent, I gently (and half-heartedly) remind the perpetrator that the "no-touch rule" is in place so-that-future-generations-of-tour-groups-can-gawk-at-the-work- so-everybody-take-two-steps-backwards! As a preparator's assistant, I guiltily revel in the fact that I've handled museum-grade artwork before with bare, unwashed hands!
LZ 5-243,
Archival inkjet print,
26x40" unframed; 36x48" framed,
2008
ARDINE NELSON
This new body of work is simply my formal observations of ceilings. The buildings are older structures with layers of paint and generations of changing electric, water, walls, and ceiling finishes. By looking up I have found a new world to explore. The images are both recognition of significant form and exercises in formal design. At first broad form is evident but closer inspection reveals multiple subtle changes in surface texture, color and tone and spatial relationships. Gravity pulls everything toward the viewer.
This new body of work is simply my formal observations of ceilings. The buildings are older structures with layers of paint and generations of changing electric, water, walls, and ceiling finishes. By looking up I have found a new world to explore. The images are both recognition of significant form and exercises in formal design. At first broad form is evident but closer inspection reveals multiple subtle changes in surface texture, color and tone and spatial relationships. Gravity pulls everything toward the viewer.
Virgin Tiger Moth,
E-Surface Photograph,
10x10" unframed;16x20" framed,
2008
ELIZABETH NIHISER
Moths are typically known to be drab, small and unworthy of the attention impressed upon the more vibrant of the Lepidoptera order, the butterfly. Butterflies are surrounded with positive folklore and symbolism including references to good luck, fertility and rebirth. Moths, however, evoke images of death, temptation and self-destruction. After an intimate encounter with a large, diurnal species of moth, I had to change my own perceptions of the creatures.
Nature teaches us lessons of pleasure, subtlety, beauty and mystery. On a summer day, a lovely moth rested in my hand for several minutes. I was able to observe her empirically while also having a deeply emotional experience. I felt both connected to her and unified with all living things. Compelled to share the experience, I turned to my most comfortable medium of expression, art.
In the creation of the series, I incorporated several digital collage techniques to achieve the look of my prints. I began with sketches made from Lepidoptera guidebooks and layered these images with scanned parcels of photographs. I then added color in Photoshop and applied several filters to produce the soft, textured appearance. Finally, I layered the print with a scanned image of aged paper that I found at an antique market. While not a true photograph, the final result is instead "photographic."
My creation process and my subject matter both focus on characteristics of variation and modification. The series, "Winged Things," portrays moths as I have experienced them in nature. They are vulnerable creatures with soft patterns and delicate colors. They are symbols of change; we may take note of the moth's metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar to pupa to winged adult. They are also representatives of the mystical, the mysterious and the illuminating powers of nature.
Moths are typically known to be drab, small and unworthy of the attention impressed upon the more vibrant of the Lepidoptera order, the butterfly. Butterflies are surrounded with positive folklore and symbolism including references to good luck, fertility and rebirth. Moths, however, evoke images of death, temptation and self-destruction. After an intimate encounter with a large, diurnal species of moth, I had to change my own perceptions of the creatures.
Nature teaches us lessons of pleasure, subtlety, beauty and mystery. On a summer day, a lovely moth rested in my hand for several minutes. I was able to observe her empirically while also having a deeply emotional experience. I felt both connected to her and unified with all living things. Compelled to share the experience, I turned to my most comfortable medium of expression, art.
In the creation of the series, I incorporated several digital collage techniques to achieve the look of my prints. I began with sketches made from Lepidoptera guidebooks and layered these images with scanned parcels of photographs. I then added color in Photoshop and applied several filters to produce the soft, textured appearance. Finally, I layered the print with a scanned image of aged paper that I found at an antique market. While not a true photograph, the final result is instead "photographic."
My creation process and my subject matter both focus on characteristics of variation and modification. The series, "Winged Things," portrays moths as I have experienced them in nature. They are vulnerable creatures with soft patterns and delicate colors. They are symbols of change; we may take note of the moth's metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar to pupa to winged adult. They are also representatives of the mystical, the mysterious and the illuminating powers of nature.
Mexico/Color Works : Wall Series
Cholula. Pink House,
Giclee Print with archival inks
and paper, from Digital original,
12.5x18.5" unframed; 22x28" framed,
2008
KAREN NULF
My images are concerned with place, and the echoes that I find there.
I bring to them the structure of design, the historical presence of typography, the framing and temporal awareness of film, and my distant backgrounds in architecture and painting. My long-time research has been about design and culture, their signs and symbols. My sources for this research and the ensuing images have taken me to places that have been new to my eyes. Mexico / Color Works are images from in and around Cholula, Puebla, Oaxaca and Vera Cruz. Mexico's culture, so ancient and so immediate, is written on her walls. They touch me with an insistent interplay of texture, surface, traces of time, and always color. The unique light and painted surface provoke bold color-field abstractions. Taken this past winter, there are currently 57 giclee prints in Mexico / Color Works, with three sequences: Wall, Place and Market; the selection included is from Wall.
My images are concerned with place, and the echoes that I find there.
I bring to them the structure of design, the historical presence of typography, the framing and temporal awareness of film, and my distant backgrounds in architecture and painting. My long-time research has been about design and culture, their signs and symbols. My sources for this research and the ensuing images have taken me to places that have been new to my eyes. Mexico / Color Works are images from in and around Cholula, Puebla, Oaxaca and Vera Cruz. Mexico's culture, so ancient and so immediate, is written on her walls. They touch me with an insistent interplay of texture, surface, traces of time, and always color. The unique light and painted surface provoke bold color-field abstractions. Taken this past winter, there are currently 57 giclee prints in Mexico / Color Works, with three sequences: Wall, Place and Market; the selection included is from Wall.
Holzwege #5,
2006,
12x18" unframed; 22x28" framed,
Chromogenic Print (Limited edition of 15)
DEBORAH ORLOFF
Holzwege, the German word for woodpath, refers to paths in the forest that lead nowhere. These paths meander through the woods and end abruptly. Holzwege is also translated to refer to the timber tracks that lead to a clearing in the forest where lumber is cut. These paths can either open up to such a clearing or, if abandoned, become overgrown and impassable. For Heidegger, they represent conduits to inquiry and philosophical contemplation-a means for discovery-as you never know where one of these paths will take you. For me, the concept of a woodpath can also be seen as a metaphor for life's uncertainty.
There are points in our lives when we are focused; it is as if we are on a clear path toward our goals. Other times, we feel unsure of where we are heading, or a chosen course ends unexpectedly and we must suddenly reevaluate our direction. I am exploring these ideas in a new body of work in which I create ambiguous landscapes through the layering of multiple photographs I have made with a digital camera. The landscapes of paths, roads, and woods are combined in Photoshop to create surreal, new spaces. The composites are meant to be dreamlike and painterly, not photographic trickery. One space disappears into the next but they are also transparent. The overlapping spaces are disorienting as in life when you're not sure where you're going.
These invented landscapes symbolize junctures in life when our clarity of purpose is compromised and we must reexamine our aspirations as well as how to pursue them. They function as metaphors for the universal experience we all have inevitably, when our lives suddenly change; Just when you think you know where you're going, unexpected circumstances dictate a change of plans.
In spite of the visual confusion that exists, ultimately the images are meant to be ethereal and optimistic, conveying the sense of wonder that exists when we open ourselves up to new possibilities and realize that change is often fortuitous. As in Heidegger's use of the word holzwege, while a dead-end is suggested, the connotation is not necessarily negative. Rather, the inability to move forward presents opportunities for exploration, transformation, and previously unimagined destinies.
Holzwege, the German word for woodpath, refers to paths in the forest that lead nowhere. These paths meander through the woods and end abruptly. Holzwege is also translated to refer to the timber tracks that lead to a clearing in the forest where lumber is cut. These paths can either open up to such a clearing or, if abandoned, become overgrown and impassable. For Heidegger, they represent conduits to inquiry and philosophical contemplation-a means for discovery-as you never know where one of these paths will take you. For me, the concept of a woodpath can also be seen as a metaphor for life's uncertainty.
There are points in our lives when we are focused; it is as if we are on a clear path toward our goals. Other times, we feel unsure of where we are heading, or a chosen course ends unexpectedly and we must suddenly reevaluate our direction. I am exploring these ideas in a new body of work in which I create ambiguous landscapes through the layering of multiple photographs I have made with a digital camera. The landscapes of paths, roads, and woods are combined in Photoshop to create surreal, new spaces. The composites are meant to be dreamlike and painterly, not photographic trickery. One space disappears into the next but they are also transparent. The overlapping spaces are disorienting as in life when you're not sure where you're going.
These invented landscapes symbolize junctures in life when our clarity of purpose is compromised and we must reexamine our aspirations as well as how to pursue them. They function as metaphors for the universal experience we all have inevitably, when our lives suddenly change; Just when you think you know where you're going, unexpected circumstances dictate a change of plans.
In spite of the visual confusion that exists, ultimately the images are meant to be ethereal and optimistic, conveying the sense of wonder that exists when we open ourselves up to new possibilities and realize that change is often fortuitous. As in Heidegger's use of the word holzwege, while a dead-end is suggested, the connotation is not necessarily negative. Rather, the inability to move forward presents opportunities for exploration, transformation, and previously unimagined destinies.
Burger Flip,
Digital print,
5x7" unframed; 11x14" framed,
2007
BRITNEY RANSOM
Journalist or bystander, I always find myself drawn to photographing events that are seemingly mundane. Most of my photographs have been taken in my hometown of Lima, Ohio. By presenting these images I hope to question the idea of what we percieve as being an ordinary part of everyday life.
Journalist or bystander, I always find myself drawn to photographing events that are seemingly mundane. Most of my photographs have been taken in my hometown of Lima, Ohio. By presenting these images I hope to question the idea of what we percieve as being an ordinary part of everyday life.
Closed,
Silver Gelatin print,
6x6" unframed; 11x14" framed,
2007
JESSICA REED
As a child I lost my home to a fire. I lost not only my material possessions but also my sense of security. Experiencing this immediate loss has drawn me to photograph and explore homes and places that have also experienced this loss, the loss of its inhabitants. I search for the abandoned and forgotten, places that are still standing but no longer living. I view these places as a remnant, a surviving trace of history.
As a child I lost my home to a fire. I lost not only my material possessions but also my sense of security. Experiencing this immediate loss has drawn me to photograph and explore homes and places that have also experienced this loss, the loss of its inhabitants. I search for the abandoned and forgotten, places that are still standing but no longer living. I view these places as a remnant, a surviving trace of history.
Windowsill,
Metallic C-print,
10x14" unframed; 16x20" framed,
2008
DEBBIE ROSENFELD
Havana, Cuba
These images are from a humanitarian mission to Havana, Cuba and are part of a large body of the work that I produced as a result of this trip.
I had the opportunity to visit with some of the elderly residents of the Jewish community in their homes and documented the lamentable conditions that these individuals live in.
These photos are from the home of a profoundly retarded woman Rebeca, who lives with her older sister, Shirley.
Havana, Cuba
These images are from a humanitarian mission to Havana, Cuba and are part of a large body of the work that I produced as a result of this trip.
I had the opportunity to visit with some of the elderly residents of the Jewish community in their homes and documented the lamentable conditions that these individuals live in.
These photos are from the home of a profoundly retarded woman Rebeca, who lives with her older sister, Shirley.
"C" You Later,
20x13.75" unframed; 25x15.75" framed,
2003
MICHAEL SALRIN
The emphasis of my photography consists of three different subjects with one underlining theme; (1) architecture, (2) mechanized contraption, and (3) signage, while in various states of decomposition. Albeit a trolley car, the interior of a prison hall, or the exterior wall of a restaurant, will all possess a common set of characteristics (visually and cognitively) that I find appealing. The distinctiveness of rusted metal, peeling paint, or just the grime of an empty warehouse floor takes on a personality of its own in certain light. Too often this is viewed negatively by misrepresentation and ultimately misunderstood. However I see and feel the exact opposite, I see uniqueness, I see character, I see composition, I see texture, I see color, I see beauty, I see life. Ultimately, it is my ambition to convey these aesthetics visually into an intriguing photograph.
I use a digital camera that is not typically used in the professional field. I use a large format digital camera (non-SLR) with a fixed lens, but not for the same typical reasons that hold true for most digital photographers. While most users of digital camera prefer the instant image processing and quick results, I rely more on its "backend" technology to produce large size prints that are no smaller than 20" x 30". I find my camera yields many benefits that compliment my work, with regards to its technology, various color modes, and shutter speeds. Utilizing the available technology to produce large format photography is my only preferred avenue of conveying my imagery.
The emphasis of my photography consists of three different subjects with one underlining theme; (1) architecture, (2) mechanized contraption, and (3) signage, while in various states of decomposition. Albeit a trolley car, the interior of a prison hall, or the exterior wall of a restaurant, will all possess a common set of characteristics (visually and cognitively) that I find appealing. The distinctiveness of rusted metal, peeling paint, or just the grime of an empty warehouse floor takes on a personality of its own in certain light. Too often this is viewed negatively by misrepresentation and ultimately misunderstood. However I see and feel the exact opposite, I see uniqueness, I see character, I see composition, I see texture, I see color, I see beauty, I see life. Ultimately, it is my ambition to convey these aesthetics visually into an intriguing photograph.
I use a digital camera that is not typically used in the professional field. I use a large format digital camera (non-SLR) with a fixed lens, but not for the same typical reasons that hold true for most digital photographers. While most users of digital camera prefer the instant image processing and quick results, I rely more on its "backend" technology to produce large size prints that are no smaller than 20" x 30". I find my camera yields many benefits that compliment my work, with regards to its technology, various color modes, and shutter speeds. Utilizing the available technology to produce large format photography is my only preferred avenue of conveying my imagery.
Hackberry Leaf with Nipple Gall,
Van Dyke Brown Print,
on Kozu Unryu paper,
14.75x7" unframed; 20x16" framed,
2008
FRANCIS SCHANBERGER
When conditions warrant I like many others begin a month of misery lasting most of April. Curious as to the source of my incessant sneezing, I began to collect parts of trees such as flowers, pollen, seeds and leaves by taking cuttings or gathering pieces that had fallen near the base of trees. These samples are scanned into a computer, made into transparencies and printed in the Van Dyke Brown process on [a Japanese] Kozu Unryu paper. The resulting images are botanical studies of small pieces of trees some of which in the spring can be a humbling force of nature.
When conditions warrant I like many others begin a month of misery lasting most of April. Curious as to the source of my incessant sneezing, I began to collect parts of trees such as flowers, pollen, seeds and leaves by taking cuttings or gathering pieces that had fallen near the base of trees. These samples are scanned into a computer, made into transparencies and printed in the Van Dyke Brown process on [a Japanese] Kozu Unryu paper. The resulting images are botanical studies of small pieces of trees some of which in the spring can be a humbling force of nature.
Cloud of Lavender,
Digital photography (macro),
5x7" unframed; 11x14"framed,
2008, July
SYDNEY SCHARDT
Sydney Schardt began photographing ten years ago when inspired during a workshop with Jim Friedman, an internationally-renown photographer residing in Columbus. She was immediately drawn to macro photography, botanicals and reflections. Adopting a hyper-macro approach to photographing flowers in her perennial garden, she keeps a small segment of the subject in focus, letting the background become a blur (bokeh) of color. Through the macro lens a spectrum of emotions serenity, energy, reflection, action, mystery-may be offered to the viewer with the resulting images often described as "delicate abstract realism". The viewer is invited to observe from a different vantage point, to wonder what's underneath, what's beyond, what's inside. Sydney Schardt was awarded First Place in Photography in The Ohio Show, Zanesville Art Center, 2008. Her work was also featured in pre-exhibit publicity in The Columbus Dispatch. She has exhibited in both group and solo exhibits in greater Columbus. Converting to digital a year ago, Sydney photographs with a Nikon D80 using a Tamron 90mm lens. None of the images is digitally-enhanced. All images are photographed in natural light.
Sydney Schardt began photographing ten years ago when inspired during a workshop with Jim Friedman, an internationally-renown photographer residing in Columbus. She was immediately drawn to macro photography, botanicals and reflections. Adopting a hyper-macro approach to photographing flowers in her perennial garden, she keeps a small segment of the subject in focus, letting the background become a blur (bokeh) of color. Through the macro lens a spectrum of emotions serenity, energy, reflection, action, mystery-may be offered to the viewer with the resulting images often described as "delicate abstract realism". The viewer is invited to observe from a different vantage point, to wonder what's underneath, what's beyond, what's inside. Sydney Schardt was awarded First Place in Photography in The Ohio Show, Zanesville Art Center, 2008. Her work was also featured in pre-exhibit publicity in The Columbus Dispatch. She has exhibited in both group and solo exhibits in greater Columbus. Converting to digital a year ago, Sydney photographs with a Nikon D80 using a Tamron 90mm lens. None of the images is digitally-enhanced. All images are photographed in natural light.
"^v^v^vVv^^v^v^v^vV^^",
Digital Video,
00:01:41,
2008
STACIE SELLS
In life there are paths that we choose to take and explore. Some we take so often it becomes routine and normal that we do not even realize where we are or where we are going. This video work questions the path of social norms of gender in society and how we are lead by our culture to abide by those norms. What is the normal path that each person should take and is there an actual normality to a person? These questions have been brought to my attention throughout my life, always feeling a bit out of place and wondering why it is looked down upon to be different because in reality none of us are exactly alike and fit those social norms. The sidewalk represents this straightened, heteronormatvie path we think is "normal" but as the video advances you are presented with forms/lines on the sidewalk that are disjointed, colorful, and become vaginal. This image, along with the sound, is presented to you to question this straightened "normal" path and to, in turn, question the word "normal" itself. Using vaginal and phallic imagery illustrates my interest in feminism and queer theory arguing and expressing the thought of moving away from this normalcy and realizing that we are different. The layering presented might contradict that statement because its presence is to show the equality among one another. Though, there is a struggle of accepting ones differences and equalities there is a moment of awareness of how we should accept both of these mind sets and know that we are neither right nor wrong in this situation and that we are neither the same nor different and it will be an much easier world. It's this realization of the inequalities that are presented to us on a daily basis that becomes prevalent in this work and to recognize that it's alright to break away from the repetitive nature of society and be different because, like the layers, we are equal and one.
In life there are paths that we choose to take and explore. Some we take so often it becomes routine and normal that we do not even realize where we are or where we are going. This video work questions the path of social norms of gender in society and how we are lead by our culture to abide by those norms. What is the normal path that each person should take and is there an actual normality to a person? These questions have been brought to my attention throughout my life, always feeling a bit out of place and wondering why it is looked down upon to be different because in reality none of us are exactly alike and fit those social norms. The sidewalk represents this straightened, heteronormatvie path we think is "normal" but as the video advances you are presented with forms/lines on the sidewalk that are disjointed, colorful, and become vaginal. This image, along with the sound, is presented to you to question this straightened "normal" path and to, in turn, question the word "normal" itself. Using vaginal and phallic imagery illustrates my interest in feminism and queer theory arguing and expressing the thought of moving away from this normalcy and realizing that we are different. The layering presented might contradict that statement because its presence is to show the equality among one another. Though, there is a struggle of accepting ones differences and equalities there is a moment of awareness of how we should accept both of these mind sets and know that we are neither right nor wrong in this situation and that we are neither the same nor different and it will be an much easier world. It's this realization of the inequalities that are presented to us on a daily basis that becomes prevalent in this work and to recognize that it's alright to break away from the repetitive nature of society and be different because, like the layers, we are equal and one.
From series .and on.,
Silver Gelatin Print,
16X20",
2008
CAMERON SHARP
We are a people continually moving, changing, and communicating in mind, in body and environment continually journeying. I am, as are most, best equipped to analyze these changes that occur in and around my own person. It is this journey that attracts me.
For this work, I have been working from my beginning, my first environment, my developing ground I have started with my family. This is what has created the foundation for what is and will become the rest of my life.
This work is a testament to my family and our spaces, individual and shared, our lives independent and together, our relationships past and present, and my understanding of what this all means, my response to it, and my own personal journey as I have come to understand it.
The diptych and triptych format represents, to me, the fractured understanding of space and time through a photograph. How one single image is framed and captured can offer a truth-value inherent in the basic understanding of photography that can fall short of a needed personal reading of said image. Through the diptych and triptych I intend to remark visually on the reality that a photograph is merely a manipulation of time and space through a photographer's sensitivity to a scene and that it is important to be aware of this knowledge in the reading of a photograph.
The image viewed on a wall is not the same as the scene and situation seen before the camera's lens at the moment the shutter is released, it is a mere depiction of an experience with no periphery. I feel that to own a true personal understanding of a photograph is to be able to live within the photograph as an experience, not just through it.
We are a people continually moving, changing, and communicating in mind, in body and environment continually journeying. I am, as are most, best equipped to analyze these changes that occur in and around my own person. It is this journey that attracts me.
For this work, I have been working from my beginning, my first environment, my developing ground I have started with my family. This is what has created the foundation for what is and will become the rest of my life.
This work is a testament to my family and our spaces, individual and shared, our lives independent and together, our relationships past and present, and my understanding of what this all means, my response to it, and my own personal journey as I have come to understand it.
The diptych and triptych format represents, to me, the fractured understanding of space and time through a photograph. How one single image is framed and captured can offer a truth-value inherent in the basic understanding of photography that can fall short of a needed personal reading of said image. Through the diptych and triptych I intend to remark visually on the reality that a photograph is merely a manipulation of time and space through a photographer's sensitivity to a scene and that it is important to be aware of this knowledge in the reading of a photograph.
The image viewed on a wall is not the same as the scene and situation seen before the camera's lens at the moment the shutter is released, it is a mere depiction of an experience with no periphery. I feel that to own a true personal understanding of a photograph is to be able to live within the photograph as an experience, not just through it.
The Depth of Frozen Water
Photography
20x30" unframed; 25x35" framed
1996-97
JIM SHIREY
I live near a small lake and enjoy capturing reflected images. In this case, the sunset-lighted forest reflected on a fresh sheet of ice. Every reflection is different and tells its own story. My job as a photographer is to notice them, record them, and bring them into our world.
I live near a small lake and enjoy capturing reflected images. In this case, the sunset-lighted forest reflected on a fresh sheet of ice. Every reflection is different and tells its own story. My job as a photographer is to notice them, record them, and bring them into our world.
In 1977, I Could Talk to God,
Video,
16:9 Widescreen,
2008
STEVEN K. SMITH
The main source of inspiration of my work is my vested interest in tribal cultures interpreted by an Western consciousness. The dehumanization of Western culture through varying means of development, technology, and homogeneous assimilation have inspired me to look at the basis of European identity. Our cultural identity may have already been lost but I find a solace in trying to construct a new identity. This new identity needs to transcend cultural and religious constraints. The images and symbols are non cultural specific. They are some sort of prehistory unconsciousness permeating into our current age.
The main source of inspiration of my work is my vested interest in tribal cultures interpreted by an Western consciousness. The dehumanization of Western culture through varying means of development, technology, and homogeneous assimilation have inspired me to look at the basis of European identity. Our cultural identity may have already been lost but I find a solace in trying to construct a new identity. This new identity needs to transcend cultural and religious constraints. The images and symbols are non cultural specific. They are some sort of prehistory unconsciousness permeating into our current age.
Midwestern Landscape,
digital photo collage,
40x10"
2003
NATHANIEL SMYTH
Using images from a shared environment and culture as a form of cumulative experience, I layer the images to arrive at a single combination of the whole, mimicking the way our brains process sensory information. This accumulation of perception and memory challenges the viewer to decide whether it clarifies or clouds understanding and questions the ramifications of that decision.
Using images from a shared environment and culture as a form of cumulative experience, I layer the images to arrive at a single combination of the whole, mimicking the way our brains process sensory information. This accumulation of perception and memory challenges the viewer to decide whether it clarifies or clouds understanding and questions the ramifications of that decision.
YVETTE VAN DER VELDE
Being Edith
Chromogenic print
11x14" unframed;14x17" framed
2008
HALLE TATE
I have experienced quite a bit of misunderstanding with people who are close to me: family and lovers. In turn I have developed a multitude of complex feelings in regards to these trying relationships. I use photography as an outlet to release these feelings.
I am interested in the idea of the non-place and my relation to certain useless areas. I seek out found spaces, usually abandoned houses, fields and forests and then make images that reflect how I feel in the space. The act of making my photographs is very performance based, however it is important for me to go alone on these shoots. Self-portraiture for me has become a study of my internal emotions and how I am able to extract them, making them tangible and visual.
I have experienced quite a bit of misunderstanding with people who are close to me: family and lovers. In turn I have developed a multitude of complex feelings in regards to these trying relationships. I use photography as an outlet to release these feelings.
I am interested in the idea of the non-place and my relation to certain useless areas. I seek out found spaces, usually abandoned houses, fields and forests and then make images that reflect how I feel in the space. The act of making my photographs is very performance based, however it is important for me to go alone on these shoots. Self-portraiture for me has become a study of my internal emotions and how I am able to extract them, making them tangible and visual.
Counting the days
Video
Video Duration: 07:36'
MARGARITA VASQUEZ CARDENAS
Close your eyes and think of all the experiences that a day holds. Life truly exists while you're yawning as you are walking down the street and in the moment you say good-bye to a friend after meeting with him or her for coffee. A life that is savored is able to recognize not only the obvious but also all the little things that make it what it is.
"If you will cling to Nature, to the simple in Nature, to the little things that hardly anyone sees, and that can so unexpectedly become big and beyond measuring; if you have this love of inconsiderable things and seek quite simply, as one who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything becomes easier, more coherent and somehow more conciliatory for you not in your intellect, perhaps, which lags marveling behind, but in your inmost consciousness, waking and cognizance."
- Rainer Maria Rilke
My work observes the multiple ways in which human beings acknowledge or disregard the world azround them. I believe that most of our lives we are numb and choose this state willingly. We fail to see that life cannot be qualified or quantified, that it can only be lived through the heightened awareness of the everyday; such as what or whom we surround ourselves with or what we discard, how we relate to others, the objects that we hold dear, how we walk or dance, or the way we choose to represent our lives.
It is through the minutia that connection or rather the lack of connection between ourselves and with others can be explored and made conscious. Awareness of the self is a transformative process based on everyday interactions. This process brings to light certain ideas and notions about the individual and allows him/her to recognize certain internal and possibly hidden characteristics. These unique traits are fundamental in understanding who we are as humans and how we are all connected.
Close your eyes and think of all the experiences that a day holds. Life truly exists while you're yawning as you are walking down the street and in the moment you say good-bye to a friend after meeting with him or her for coffee. A life that is savored is able to recognize not only the obvious but also all the little things that make it what it is.
"If you will cling to Nature, to the simple in Nature, to the little things that hardly anyone sees, and that can so unexpectedly become big and beyond measuring; if you have this love of inconsiderable things and seek quite simply, as one who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything becomes easier, more coherent and somehow more conciliatory for you not in your intellect, perhaps, which lags marveling behind, but in your inmost consciousness, waking and cognizance."
- Rainer Maria Rilke
My work observes the multiple ways in which human beings acknowledge or disregard the world azround them. I believe that most of our lives we are numb and choose this state willingly. We fail to see that life cannot be qualified or quantified, that it can only be lived through the heightened awareness of the everyday; such as what or whom we surround ourselves with or what we discard, how we relate to others, the objects that we hold dear, how we walk or dance, or the way we choose to represent our lives.
It is through the minutia that connection or rather the lack of connection between ourselves and with others can be explored and made conscious. Awareness of the self is a transformative process based on everyday interactions. This process brings to light certain ideas and notions about the individual and allows him/her to recognize certain internal and possibly hidden characteristics. These unique traits are fundamental in understanding who we are as humans and how we are all connected.
Referent #0204
Archival Inkjet on
Cranes Museo Silver Rag
I3.2 x19.25" unframed; 20x24" framed
2007
JOEL WHITAKER
I am interested in the family snapshot as a physical and metaphorical thing, a piece of paper that transcends all other pieces of paper a reliquary of memory, hope, and utopian dreams. Specifically, it is the discarded family snapshot, a photograph that has been tossed aside because it does not meet expectations or cultural demands for legibility that intrigues me. In our desire to understand our failed attempt at making a record we often overlook the resultant poetry. We miss what lies beyond our intended subject the clarity and scale of the subject, the age and deterioration of the paper, etc., which depending on degree and the passing of time, will cause the photograph to be deemed acceptable or unacceptable or another way to think of it is, our initial mistakes and the mistakes of age.
I look to redefine and reinvent the performative space of the family snapshot and draw attention to its greater mysteries by interacting with the image and the physical piece of paper on which the image is printed. I do this through a method of mark making that interjects my personal flaws into both the paper and the image. I look at the content and then work into the photograph stressing the physicality of the medium. I scratch, bend, and mark the original photograph, and then rephotograph a small section of the manipulated image area stressing the breakdown of the physical surface and my interaction. I continue to alter the image in digital form manipulating color, density, and format. In short, the found photograph gives me an excuse to draw and allows me an opportunity to play with the interaction of drawing and photography, reality and remembrance, original intent and the realization that time is taking its toll.
I am interested in the family snapshot as a physical and metaphorical thing, a piece of paper that transcends all other pieces of paper a reliquary of memory, hope, and utopian dreams. Specifically, it is the discarded family snapshot, a photograph that has been tossed aside because it does not meet expectations or cultural demands for legibility that intrigues me. In our desire to understand our failed attempt at making a record we often overlook the resultant poetry. We miss what lies beyond our intended subject the clarity and scale of the subject, the age and deterioration of the paper, etc., which depending on degree and the passing of time, will cause the photograph to be deemed acceptable or unacceptable or another way to think of it is, our initial mistakes and the mistakes of age.
I look to redefine and reinvent the performative space of the family snapshot and draw attention to its greater mysteries by interacting with the image and the physical piece of paper on which the image is printed. I do this through a method of mark making that interjects my personal flaws into both the paper and the image. I look at the content and then work into the photograph stressing the physicality of the medium. I scratch, bend, and mark the original photograph, and then rephotograph a small section of the manipulated image area stressing the breakdown of the physical surface and my interaction. I continue to alter the image in digital form manipulating color, density, and format. In short, the found photograph gives me an excuse to draw and allows me an opportunity to play with the interaction of drawing and photography, reality and remembrance, original intent and the realization that time is taking its toll.
Transformation
Photography
8x10" unframed; 11x14" framed
KEVIN D. WILLIS
I have created strong images of architectural structures. Most of my work represents specific styles and architectural structures. My work also included cityscapes, landscapes and junkscapes. My later works includes candid portraits and posed images.
I have created strong images of architectural structures. Most of my work represents specific styles and architectural structures. My work also included cityscapes, landscapes and junkscapes. My later works includes candid portraits and posed images.
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