BLACK AND WHITE

Ben Larrabee wins award at RAC's "Marine & Coastal Art" exhibition

"Nantucket Ferry, Man at Bow"
© Ben Larrabee
Ben Larrabee's strikingly contemplative black and white photograph titled "Nantucket Ferry, Man at Bow" won first prize for photography at the juried group exhibition "Marine & Coastal Art" at the Rowayton Arts Center. The photograph was printed by Mark Savoia at Still River Editions.

The exhibit features marine-themed works in a diverse range of media and techniques and was juried by Helen Kunzman.

 Read more here in the Darien News.

The exhibit runs until July 29. The Rowayton Arts Center is located at 145 Rowayton Ave., Rowayton, CT.

IMAGES 2012 - Shoreline Arts Alliance - Shona Curtis wins First Honors

Photographer Shona Curtis
and her father
Photographers Shona Curtis, David Blackett and Alegre Poniros were among those juried into IMAGES 2012, 31st Annual Photography Exhibition, Shoreline Arts Alliance at Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St, Guilford, CT. The exhibit runs from April 1 - April 21, 2012. There was an opening reception and awards ceremony on Saturday, March 31, 2012.

Congratulations to Shona Curtis who won a First Honors portfolio award for her three intimate black and white images of her father.

Other First Honors recipients are: Miela Barocas Mayer - Guilford, David Gillich - Milford, Dianne Thouin - Old Saybrook. Honorable Mention Recipients are: Sara Augenbraun - Wilton, Liz Calvi - West Hartford, Peter Cooperman - Avon, Kathryn Frederick - Killingworth, Jill Grossman - Chester, Jerry Reed - Essex, Dana Osborn - Middlebury and David Ottenstein-New Haven. The Ann Christensen Award winner is Jackie Heithchue-Madison.

IMAGES 2012 was juried by Jill Enfield, Lance Keimig and John Stanley. The complete list of selected photographers is available here in a pdf.

At the close of the show some of the images will be reinstalled at CT Hospice in Branford.

An article on the exhibit in The Day

Tony Donovan Featured in "On The Street," Vermont Center for Photography

"Informers Beware"
© Tony Donovan

Tony Donovan of Ivoryton Studio is featured in the Vermont Center for Photography's exhibition of street photography titled "On the Street" from March 2 to March 31, 2012.

Donovan has two photographs in the show, "Informers Beware" and "Commuters," both of which were printed by Still River Editions. Both images are from his Irish series, taken in the early 1970s during a time of great upheaval for Ireland. There is more information in an earlier blog post here about a prior exhibition of some images from the series.

There is an opening reception on Friday, March 2 from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m during Brattleboro's Gallery Walk.  Vermont Center for Photography is located at 49 Flat St., Brattleboro, VT.

Ben Larrabee's "Ships Inn" at Rowayton Arts Center

"Ships Inn, 2011"
© Ben Larrabee
Photographer Ben Larrabee's intimate black and white portrait of his wife and muse Trudie Larrabee was accepted into the juried show "Expressions" at Rowayton Arts Center. The show is on display from February 5 through February 26, 2012 at Rowayton Arts Center, 145 Rowayton Ave., Rowayton, CT.

Ben Larrabee writes about the experience and image:

 "02.06.12 
Ships Inn, 2011

When Trudie and I went to Nantucket last summer for our two weeks of shooting, we spent the first day at Ships Inn before our rental was available.

We discovered that the first day had to be a transition day.

It became a day to shift our energy, tune into each other, allowing time to reorient and connect. We had no agenda, no place to go, nothing to do.

As I looked at Trudie I began to “see” her sitting in the window in a moment of reflection as she wrote down her thoughts about being a muse and our life together. I was inspired to photograph this moment in our lives. A moment that becomes one of the many in the body of work that shows our life together.

I love the layers; foreground, middleground and background, Trudie’s shape, the patterns and textures of the cushion, wallpaper and leaves outside."

"At the Edge of Things: Twenty-Four Photographers" at West Cove Gallery

"Buy Land"
© Mark Savoia
Mark Savoia of Still River Editions is included in "At the Edge of Things: Twenty-Four Photographers", a group photography show at West Cove Studio and Gallery, that runs from August 25 - September 17, 2011.

There will be an opening reception on Sunday, September 4, 2011 (this is new date, postponed last week due to Irene) from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. West Cove Studio and Gallery is located at 30 Elm St., West Haven, CT.

The show, curated by Stephen Vincent Kobasa, features James Ayers, Christopher Beauchamp, Marion Belanger, Paul Bloom, Joy Bush, Phyllis Crowley, Paul Duda, Ashley Estep, Joan Fitzsimmons, Andrew Hogan, Aniko Horvath, Keith Johnson, Clare Kobasa, Linda Lindroth, Eric Litke, Meredith Miller, Roy Money, Hank Paper, Thomas Peterson, Mark Savoia, Jess Smith, Maria Tupper, Marjorie Wolfe and Stefan Znosko.

Tony Donovan's Saw Mill Photographs at the Essex Art Association

© Tony Donovan
Photographer and client Tony Donovan's black and white photographs from his saw mill series are featured at the Essex Art Association's Exit Gallery, located at 10 North Main St., Essex, Connecticut from July 29 until August 20, 2011. There will be an artist's reception on Friday, July 29, 2011 from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Tony Donovan's photographs are an intimate look at the way of life centered around the family-run sawmill at which he worked in preparation for making a film around 1973.  The images are both lyrical and graphic, and have one foot rooted in journalism and the other in fine art. There is more information about the origin of the images here.

His prints combine the artistry of film photography with the new technology of archival fine art digital (giclee) printmaking.



Art opening at Still River Editions this Thursday: Keith Johnson and Mark Savoia

The Gallery at Still River Editions is having a reception for Photographs by Keith Johnson and Mark Savoia on Thursday, June 23, 2011 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The Gallery at Still River Editions is located at 128 East Liberty St., Danbury, CT. Directions are on our website.

You may know Mark Savoia as co-owner and master printmaker at Still River Editions. Keith Johnson is a fine artist and art educator from Hamden, CT. Both Savoia and Johnson were 2010 winners of fellowships from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

Both artists have in common a keen observation of art hiding in plain sight in the everyday world, and a sense of humor.

The Facebook events page is here.

Andrew Buck: "Rockface" at Real Art Ways in Hartford

© Rockface XXV Andrew Buck
Photographer and client Andrew Buck's show Rockface opens Thursday April 21, 2011 at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St., Hartford, CT. The show runs until June 10, 2011. From the press release: "Rockface is the result of the artist's three-year examination of the exposed and blasted rock created by mining and road development" which Buck photographed in Connecticut and Maine

From Buck's artist's statement: "This series links the two themes in my work: landscape and abstraction. All of the rock faces I have photographed were created by blasting through hills for construction or for granite and trap rock quarrying. The images are abstract, but they are also concerned with how our impact on the natural landscape creates an entirely new landscape."

The black and white archival carbon pigment prints are velvety and three-dimensional looking.

Also opening there is Zbigniew Grzyb: New Works: Branch/Sky Series


The opening is running during Real Art Ways' third-Thursday Creative Cocktail Hour, Thurs., Apr. 21, 6—8 p.m., $10/$5 Real Art Ways members.

Simpson Kalisher: The Alienated Photographer

© Two Penny Press
Two Penny Press in New York City is publishing a book of photographs by Simpson Kalisher titled The Alienated Photographer. His black and white street photographs captured 20th century life in east coast cities, particularly New York in the 60s. In them, you see the urban landscapes populated with all kinds of characters caught in the act of being human.

The introduction by Luc Sante suggests that the role of the photographer is to be an observer in the middle of, but separated from the action by the camera, which is why Kalisher considers himself "the alienated photographer".

Simpson Kalisher is perhaps best known for his book, Railroad Men: Photographs and Collected Stories from 1961. He is represented by Keith de Lellis Gallery in New York.

~Lys

Robert Hanna, cinematographer of "Circus", six-hour PBS series airing Nov. 3

© Robert Hanna
We know Robert Hanna because of printing his black and white still photographs of circus life. It turns out Hanna is actually a specialist in moving images--and he is one of two principal cinematographers on the documentary series "Circus", a multi-part documentary series premiering November 3, 2010, 9:00pm-11:00pm on PBS.

A gallery of Hanna's intimate stills from the series is on PBS's website here. His photography gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what happens to the performers beyond the performances.

From the PBS website: "[T]he documentary follows the legendary Big Apple Circus on an unforgettable journey from the big top to the “back lot,” where nail-biting drama unfolds both high in the air and down on the ground and the real heart of the circus beats. CIRCUS goes behind the scenes to explore a distinctive world with its own rules and lingo and no fixed address."

~Lys

Jim Rohan featured on Holga Jen









"Vernal Pool"
©Jim Rohan


Jim Rohan's beautiful black-and-white Holga images were profiled on the blog, Holga Jen, earlier this week.

Rohan uses the Holga to balance out his work of painstaking exactitude as a digital printmaker. His technical and professional experience in photography and printmaking inform his artistic choices, but he has found the Holga is particularly well-suited to capture a certain type of visual magic occuring constantly in front of our eyes, that sometimes goes unnoticed. Now Rohan carries at least one of his plastic cameras wherever he goes.

The recent surge in the popularity of film and lower-tech cameras like the Holga are proof that art is in the eye of the creator; it doesn't take a lot of fancy, new digital gear to create beautiful images. Someone with a great eye, like Rohan, could use anything at his disposal.

More images from Jim can be found on his Flickr stream.

~Lys

Andrew Buck in "Photography: Three Worlds" at Flinn Gallery, Greenwich




"Tobacco 96"
© Andrew Buck

Photographer Andrew Buck is featured in a new exhibit at the Flinn Gallery with Phil Stein and Lacey Terrell. "Photography: Three Worlds" runs from February 4-March 7, 2010. Flinn Gallery is located at the Greenwich Library, Second Floor, 101 West Putnam Ave., Greenwich, Connecticut.

Images are from Buck's series "Tobacco", "Tobacco Panoramas", and "Ohio Horizon".

Buck says something interesting about the idea of landscape on his website, "My use of the word 'landscape' is based in the writings of John Brinkerhoff Jackson. He went back to the source word, the German landschaften, which referred to that which results when 'man' reconfigures or uses the land, in essence creating his own landscape on the natural landscape. I’ve always found this landscape of much more interest than purely natural landscapes."

Buck's "Tobacco" images made me think of the rural South, but when he said they were from Windsor, Connecticut, he reminded me of Connecticut's role in the cigar industry. The gauzy forms of covered tobacco rows are well-suited to Buck's eye, and his panoramic treatment.

The opening reception is Thursday February 4, from 6-8 PM.

~Lys

Lys Guillorn on HolgaJen's blog









"Arm's Length"
©Lys Guillorn


Today one of Lys Guillorn's photos was featured on HolgaJen's site in a roundup of Etsy items related to the Holga. If you haven't been on Etsy before, it's a way for users to sell and buy fine art and handcrafted items, as well as vintage goods, and supplies. The Holga is a plastic 120 film camera with a plastic lens known for its quirky ability to lend a dreamlike quality to an image. Though there's a bit of a toy camera craze right now, Lys has been using the same Holga for the last 11 years, covered in electrical tape.

Mark

Ben Larrabee at Nantucket Looms during Christmas Stroll this weekend






"Nantucket Ferry #1, 2009"
©Ben Larrabee

Photographer Ben Larrabee will be exhibiting at Nantucket Looms through the Christmas Stroll this weekend December 4-6, 2009 at 35 Main St., Nantucket, MA. A sample of his fine art collection is viewable here. Larrabee's fine art black and white photography is included in the permanent collections of MoMA, MFA Boston, and the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY.

~Lys

Catherine Vanaria Featured in Faculty Exhibition at WCSU, Danbury, CT

"Stacy" © C.A. Vanaria

Catherine Vanaria will be exhibiting two black and white photographs from her series of portraits taken with her 8x10 film camera at the Western Connecticut State University Faculty Art Show. The exhibition takes place at Higgins Hall Gallery, 181 White St., Danbury, CT from November 17 to December 10. The reception will be on the 17th of November from 5-7 pm.

Cathy's use of the 8x10 camera is a counterbalance to the digital approach, which often tempts us to overshoot and underthink. The images themselves are formal and yet extremely intimate; little space stands between the camera's lens (therefore the viewer) and the subject. The narrow area of focus is usually around one eye, and the most arresting visual element is the subject's gaze. The two prints included in the faculty show are of former photography students.

Lys

Catherine Vanaria at the opening party

Archive of Photojournalist Eddie Adams Donated to Briscoe Center, University of Texas at Austin







© Eddie Adams

The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin has received the complete photographic archive of photojournalist Eddie Adams. An exhibition of some of the many photographs will be held at the Sid Richardson Hall location. The exhibit will run through January 16, 2010 Still River Editions printed all the photographs in cooperation with Mr. Adams estate and his widow. Press release info, online gallery of images. NPPA story.

Mark

Ben Larrabee in New Canaan, CT






"Nantucket Lighthouse"
© Ben Larrabee


Cobble Court Interiors and New Canaan Chamber of Commerce are showcasing a selection of Ben Larrabee's fine art photographs at a reception this evening from 5-8 pm. Cobble Court is located at 13 South Ave., New Canaan, CT. The photographs will be on display until December. I hear there will be martinis...

This is the perfect time of year to be going to art openings. Take a drive on the Parkway, see that the leaves have started turning already... bittersweet autumnal beginnings...

Have fun seeing new things,
Lys

Vasilios Sfinarolakis at Soho Photo, NYC






"Pennamacoor"
©Vasilios Sfinarolakis

Client Vasilios Sfinarolakis is one of the winners of the 2009 Soho Photo National Photography Competition, juried by Susan Kismaric of MoMA. Soho Photo is located at 15 White St., New York, NY. The reception is Tuesday, July 7 from 6-8 pm.

Sfinarolakis is a Brooklyn-based artist with a background in film as well as still imagery. The image the jurors chose is a mysterious, traditional black and white gelatin silver print, seen above. It leaves the viewer with some interesting unanswered questions...

~Lys

Michele Muir's "Every 71 Seconds - Memories of Alzheimer's"







© Michele Muir


"Every 71 Seconds - Memories of Alzheimer's" is a black and white photo essay by Michele Muir about the lives of those affected by Alzheimer's disease. It will be exhibited at Mill Street Loft, 25 Pershing Ave. Poughkeepsie, NY from June 20 to July 31. There will be an artists' reception Saturday, June 20, 3 to 7 pm with a gallery talk, music and readings.

Muir's photographs follow the lives of people with Alzheimer's over the course of a period time--whether an afternoon, a day, a few months, or a couple of years. The images show the confusing and sometimes subtle changes that occur from moment to moment, from day to day in those coping with the disease. The relationships between those with the disease and their caregivers show both tenderness and frustration. Some of the images are metaphorical or symbolic. All of the images are infused with compassion, as Michele works for an Alzheimer's organization, and in addition, her father has Alzheimer's.

More information about the exhibit may be found here.

I printed much of the exhibit, and found it an emotional experience.

~Lys