Artist Lecture-Dr. Peter J. Schertz

I decided that I didn't just want to sit in on lectures by your "common" artists (photography, film, painting, etc.) The first lecture that I sat in on that was not by a "common artist" was an art history lecture. This one was something that the VMFA put on. The speaker was the curator for the ancient art section at the VMFA. I wasn't sure how or what the lecture was going to be about. I was happily surprised by the lecture. Dr. Schertz talked about his work with displaying the ancient art that the VMFA owns. I never realized how much curating was an art in itself. Dr. Schertz said that when he came to the VMFA he was not able to see how the ancient art section was displayed, the only way he knew somewhat of how the previous curators displayed to objects was through photographs which is not the most common way that curators see what it is they are up against. Dr. Schertz said that he needed to know what the past curators have done so he knows what worked and what needed to be improved upon. Not only was that a challenge but also that the ancient art section was going to be bigger with the expansion. Dr. Schertz said that he looked at the pieces that the VMFA owns before he started with his plan. In the end he decided to go with a theme for displaying and making the entire section move from seamlessly from one area of ancient art to the next. Not only will it move seamlessly but the most prized pieces that the VMFA owns will be displayed properly. I always knew that there was a lot of work being put into curating but never realized how much of an art is really is. I am very excited to see the new ancient art exhibit now.

Artist Lecture-Shimon Attie

Not only was Shimon Attie's Lecture invigorating but intriguing. The works that I was particularly drawn to were the one's that he did in East Berlin and in The Lower East Side of New York. Not only was I drawn to them because they were interactive but because the outcomes were what I want the outcomes to be with my own work. I have thought about taking images and words and using them in the pieces of the houses that I am currently working on. I have never known how to go about incorporating these means and I know that I don't want to go about it the way that Attie has but now know that it is a way that I can take my work in the future. I love that people were able to interact with the work that Attie was doing. In the images from East Berlin the residents of the village were able to see and walk in front of the buildings as he projected them onto the buildings. The residents were also able to talk and comment on the images to Attie since he was there while he was projecting. He was able to see first hand how his work effected the people. In the work that he did on The Lower East Side he again was also able to see the reactions of the people as they would read what their neighbors had wrote about coming to and living there. I want to be able to take photographs of the houses that I am working with from the past, before it the houses became dilapidated and incorporate them somehow with the photographs of the houses that I have taken. I also want to incorporate things that people have told me about the houses or what the owners say about them. I am still not sure how I am going to go about doing this but know that it is possible and not cliche. Anyway it is something for the future. The other works that Attie showed were the works that he did in Wales and for the race track. I found these to be very interesting, the reason being is because they got you to think. For the project in Wales his goal was to portray the villagers in a different way than the way that the rest of the world has looked at them since the avalanche. The entire time I was looking at the people in the video I was wondering who they were, where they lived, and why they chose to the profession that they did. I think that what Attie wanted to accomplish he did. When the rest of the world looks at these people they will not see a tragedy but an inspiration and another normal human being. The project with the race track was really (for lack of a better word) cool. I have been to races and used to take pictures at a go-kart racing track, so I could relate to this piece really well. The owners wanted Attie to capture the essence of the race track. This he did. Not only with the images but with the sound effects you really felt like you were at the race track watching these things unfold. Attie's work of with the light boxes was monumental. I would have loved to see them in person. The way that he portrayed the people and the alternate images that he chose made you feel something, anything. Not only were the images impactful but also was the way that he showed them. Using a light box and putting them into the water. He said that he used the water because water symbolises memory, the memory of these people coming to America. I really want to watch the films in whole but unfortunately have only been able to find one at the library and one on the internet which was too expensive even for my taste. Hopefully some will pop-up in the future.

Going a little crazy

Today I spent the entire time trying to find this house that I photographed three years ago with no luck. I don't know why yet but there is something about this one house that keeps calling me back but since I can't find it I was not able to find out what that was today. So for critique I am going to have to use the photographs that I shot three years ago. The Eugene Richards' book came in today but since I am not in Richmond I am unable to go through it at the moment. I am going to present three different pieces on crit day. One is going to be a photograph of a house but split up so that the pieces don't go together, like a puzzle that is ready to start. The second is going to be a straight shot of the house behind a window. The third is going to be a panoramic of the property and he house. Here are some of the images that I am thinking about using:

Artist Lecture, Ulrich, Anna Tingle

I really enjoyed Brian Ulrich's lecture. Since I am exploring something very close to the content of his newest photography I was very intrigued. Even though the content is very similar the intent behind it is very different. Ulrich concentrates on consumerism where as I want to display the houses that I photograph as something to be explored emotionally. We both want people to ask questions when they look at our work but those questions couldn't be farther apart. I was very interested in his techniques. I think the night photography is something that I should explore, also getting inside the houses is a definite must. I however want to continue to shoot in digital. I think that shooting in digital will show how time has passed along with the fact that the houses are run down. I want to shoot the houses in film but don't think that the effect that I want will be achieved with film. Again with Ulrich as the same with Umbrico they both found something new while they were working on their work. I want my work to do the same for me. While I am working on the houses find something else to branch off into.

Up and coming

I have decided to give up on Cabell Library for the Eugene Richards book The Blue Room. I ordered the book from borders and should receive it by the end of the week. I went to go photograph the house again but came across some trouble finding the house. When I first starting visiting the house I did not have a gps system and there are typically no houses next door to get addresses from. I decided to ask the class what they thought about some photographs that I have taken of parts of the houses and got some interesting responses and made me think. I really like Griffin's idea of framing a photo of a house then hanging it in the house the photograph it. Not sure if that is going to give me the effect I want but I am going to try. I also have been thinking about taking a photo of the house then breaking it up and moving the images around in the different panes of the windows that I got. Again I am still not sure what kind of effect that is going to give but still going to try. Hopefully the critique will give me some more comments and let me know what effects my photos are giving off.

New Idea

I have been thinking a lot about the houses and after the Umbrico lecture came up with an idea. Farris suggested that I digitally impose a window onto the photos of the houses. I liked the idea of the window but not the digital part. Then when I saw Penelope Umbrico's work and how she used different materials to mount and display her work I got thinking. My mom and some of her friends use old windows that are taken out of houses to be replaced with new ones. I am going to print the photos of the houses and then adhere them to the back sides of the windows. I have done some work digitally to see what the final product might look like. Of course the windows will be worn and old looking but this is what I've got so far:

Homework From Tom

Tom asked me to find 9 other images along with the photos of the houses to equal 10 things that say what it is I am trying to say when I look at these houses. When I look at these houses I am instantly intrigued. Questions come to mind: Who lived there? What was life like when they lived there? What happened to the owners that let the house get to the state that it is in? I see history, freight, beauty, and mystery. These are the images that I have come up with:

To me a window is a portal that you look through to the past, present, or future.

The rose symbolises beauty.

This thing is pretty scary.

The grim reaper is a symbol of death and most people are afraid of death

The dinosaur represents the past ergo history

hidden areas of self, often hiding treasures

Butterfly's symbolise life and the transformations that one goes through to become the beautiful end product

A walk way between the conscious and the unconscious. Moving from one perspective or even area of life to another new or undiscovered part of self

I found a website that says that a house symbolises another representation of self, the different rooms signifying different aspects of your life. This could be another reason I am so drawn to these houses, because there are so many different aspects to my life and who I am.

Artist Lecture, Umbrico, Anna Tingle

First let me just say wow! Penelope was very intriguing with her lecture. I have always hated getting junk mail but never looked at the way she does. I will never look at a catalog the same way again. I really liked how when she would start one body of work it would lead her to another. I can only hope that my work will do the same for me. I thought her use of multiples was interesting. I keep thinking about it and I think that her work wouldn't be that same without it. I also keep thinking about would multiples work for my work? The way that Penelope would show and mount her work got me thinking also, so much so I think that I have come up with idea on how to display my work. I liked the way she would engage people in her work. When she posted the tv's on craigslist and her work with the suns on flikr. She really thinks about the way humans operate and uses that in her work. She really got me thinking the entire lecture about her own work and what I need and could possibly do with my own work.

Eugene Richards

Well I went to the library to get Richards' book The Blue Room, the book is at the library but is still in processing. I have requested the book so as soon as it is ready to be shelved I will post more about it. I am going to talk now about the book review that James Kaufmann did in Photographer's Forum. "The rich color photographs that fill every other page of The Blue Room depict places so totally worn down that it would be easy to call them trashed, but the photographs have such rare beauty that this sort of landfill thinking feels entirely wrong. To call them ruins, maybe, and then think of them as an archeologist might gets closer to the feeling." This is the kind of response that I am looking for from my photographs of houses. I am still trying to figure out how to get it though. "If you look at the photographs that make up The Blue Room long enough, you will see what is left after lives go wrong, bad, down, over and all the way out." I want people to see this with my photographs but also see what was there or could have been there before. I want to get people asking questions about the past and the future. "This image, like so many in The Blue Room, tells us more about loss and pain than the proverbial 1,000 words ever could." The image is not important, since I have let you know that, need I say more.

Lecture: Dr. Fredrika Jacobs, Burning the Devil and Dusting the Madonna: Images Efficacy in the Renaissance

When saw the post for this lecture I though it was something completely different. Efficacy: the power to produce and effect. I took this to mean something a little different than what the lecture produced. Although this was not what I expected it was interesting. Dr. Jacobs talked about how people through the years people have worshiped the Madonna and how they believe the way that you talk, look, or interact with the different Madonnas will effect your outcome. Although this is exactly what efficacy means I took it to mean how the Madonnas would effect on an intellectual, spiritual, emotional way, not that they believe that events will happen. In a way I would like people to look at my work and feel a similar way. I don't want people to think that something "supernatural" will happen but that my work has effected them in the same "deep" way.

Quotes from: Glacial Proportions, James Balog's Extreme Ice Survey, By: Claire Sykes, Photographer's Forum Summer 2009

Balog: "I believe photography is one of the most powerful mediums of communication ever invented. Too much of the time, it's squandered on trivialities. I'd like to see us aspire to the angels of our higher nature. If we can pull our minds and hearts together to use the medium to its full power, we can make an important impact on the world."

- WOW! Couldn't have said it better. When I read this it makes me want to be the (not to be cliche) best I can be. This is what I want my photography to do "make an important impact on the world" as little or big as it may be.

Balog: "This is what it looks like. See how beautiful this is. This is worth your time and attention - because we might lose it. I feel their life, their presence, but I also feel the past and the future in these landscapes when I look at them. I see where we are right now in terms of what we have less of, and I project myself forward, in time and see a place without these 'creatures' before me."

- Here Balog is talking about glaciers, however this is quite similar to how I feel when I look at old abandoned houses.

I have decided to re-work this whole blog thing (as long as Tom let's me). I realized that I am stressing way too much over finding artists that reflect in their work a way that I want to go with my work. I have decided that I am going to read as much as possible on the subject matter of the work that I want to do, photography in general, as well as photographers whose work reflects where I want to go with my work. I decided to go this route because I was so busy "googling" for photographers that I missed a great one right in front of me. Eugene Richards' book The Blue Room was reviewed in a Photographer's Forum. I have had this magazine for weeks and never even opened it. I also have found a lot of quotes from photographers and critics that I think if I am able to read over and over will keep my mind on the right track and keep inspiring me. So from now on I will post just about anything that I find that is important and will help me achieve what it is that I want to achieve with my work. Tomorrow I am going to go pick-up Richards' book so will surely have more from that later.

9/20/09

I have been doing a lot of thinking and reading, so much so that my head hurts. I have been reading books on photography. One book that I really like is Why People Photograph by Robert Adams. Here are some quotes that really made me think:

"Your own photography is never enough. Every photographer who has lasted has depended on other people's pictures too - photographs that may be public or private, serious or funny, but that carry with them a reminder of community."(13)

"When photographers get beyond copying the achievements of others, or just repeating their own accidental first successes, they learn that they do no know where in the world they will find pictures. Nobody does. Each photograph that works is a revelation to its supposed creator."(15)

"Artists sometimes claim that they work without thought of an audience - that they make pictures just for themselves. We are not deceived. The only reward worth that much effort is a response, and if no one pays attention, or if the artist cannot live on hope, then he or she is lost."(29)

"Art is by nature self-explanatory. We call it art precisely because of its sufficiency. Its vivid detail and overall cohesion give it a clarity not ordinarily apparent in the rest of life."(31)

"Art depends on there being affection in its creator's life, and an artist must find ways, like everyone else, to nourish it. A photographer down on his or her knees picturing a dog has found pleasure enough to make many things possible."(51)

I have narrowed down my ideas for subjects down to two, vampires and old run down houses. I am going to re-read Bram Stoker's Dracula and plan on photographing scenes from the book as I envision them. I am also going to re-work the old houses so that people will understand how I feel about them.

I have picked-up more books from the library. I got another book on orchids and several on vampires. I have always been interested in vampires and vampire stories. To this day I think Bram Stoker's Dracula is the best vampire story of all time. I think the reason that I am so drawn to vampires is the mystery and the fact that they could never be. I am really excited to learn more about vampires, orchids and ruins, but am still very unsure where to go when I am done researching. Hopefully my next meeting with Tom will help with that. I also read another book that has nothing to do with the things that I have mentioned. I read The Mind's Eye. I found some things in there that I can relate to or things that if I think about more will hopefully help me in my own photography. Here are some quotes:

"In order to 'give a meaning' to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry."

"It is putting one's head, one's eye, and one's heart on the same axis."

"He is never able to wind the scene backward in order to photograph it all over again."

"Composition must be one of our constant preoccupations, but at the moment of shooting it can stem only from our intuition, for we are out to capture the fugitive moment, and all the interrelationships involved are on the move."

"Technique is important only insofar as you must master it in order to communicate what you see. Your own personal technique has to be created and adapted solely in order to make your vision effective on film."

"The world's lesson in photography might have happy or disastrous results, depending on the little fact of whether it is shown to be isolated, detached or not, from its contexts of time, place, humanity."

I am going to pick-up some more books on photography and hopefully learn something about myself and what I want to do with my work. I also plan to try some meditation to try to get into myself.

9/13/09 House Photos

9/13/09

I went to the library and picked up a couple books, one on orchids and one on ruins. A few years ago I had started taking photographs of old run down houses in my home town. These houses have always intrigued me. I think that they are beautiful aesthetically and mentally when you look at them. Whenever I see a house that has been left to the elements several questions go through my mind. How did it get this way? Who lived there? What was life like growing up in this house? Along with many more. I have not gotten into the book on ruins yet. I started with the book on orchids. Here are a couple of the photographs that I came up with a few years ago on the houses. I seem to be having trouble uploading the images of the houses so I will keep at it and load them when it decides to work. The orchids I am drawn to because they are so beautiful and there are no other flowers out there like them. I have recently had an orchid rebloom which I didn't think that I was going to be able to do. The book on orchids that I started reading is very interesting. I have learned that people came up with sexual innuendos because of the way the flowers looked as well as the fact that early on scientists could not figure out how the flowers were pollinated. I am going to keep researching but am not sure where things are going to go from here.

Belinda Eaton

As a response to my meeting with Tom I googled contemporary painters.  I found several that when I saw their work a wave of emotions came over me.  When I first saw Belinda Eaton's paintings there were so many emotions I couldn't even pin-point which one's were there.  I really like her paintings of close-up faces.  She has somehow captured the emotions of the faces as well as a photograph would, which is probably where the emotions I felt when I saw the paintings came from.  I am posting a few of my favorite of her paintings.

I have always wanted to know how to paint but never really wanted to learn how to paint. In my alternative processes class Tracie Taylor came to talk about hand coloring photographs. I thought that this would be the perfect outlet for my painting desire. I have hand colored a few photographs and know that with a little more practice this could be something that I would be very good at.

Allen Teger:

Sally Mann

I have always admired Sally Mann's work with old cameras and processes. I think that her work with these cameras and processes is admirable. For a photographer who has access to the latest and greatest photography equipment she uses equipment of the past and produces great photographs. Not only does she use older equipment, the equipment is also damaged. These defects Mann embraces and uses to her advantage. I have started to collect old cameras to try to see what kind of photographs they will produce.