Intimacy and Voyeurism: The Public/Private Divide in Photography

I will be part of the Society of Photographic Educators(SPE) Women’s Caucus show at the California Institute of Integral Studies on Mission Street in San Francisco. The show is organized in conjunction with the 2012 National Conference, Intimacy and Voyeurism:  The Public/Private Divide in Photography.  The exhibition will be on view March 18 - 31, 2012.  Deirdre Visser, Curator of the ARTS at CIIS, is facilitating the exhibition. The show may  travel to other galleries over the year. The exhibition is part of the SPE conference self guided gallery tour on Friday, March 23. 

Three of my pieces were selected by the jurors Joyce Neimanas and Patrick Nagatani, both SPE Honored Educators. Thirty-six artists were  selected for the exhibition and all selected images are being uploaded here: https://www.spenational.org/members/liz-allen

Joyce Neimanas currently teaches in the photography department at the University of New Mexico.  She taught at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago for 35 years and has received numerous grants and awards including 3 National Endowment for the Arts Awards.  You can view her work at http://joyceneimanasartist.com.

Patrick Nagatani was born in Chicago in 1945, just days after the Enola Gay bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Born to Japanese-American parents that cataclysmic event has resonated throughout Nagatani's life and work, culminating in his series Nuclear Enchantment. Nagatani taught at the University of New Mexico retiring in 2007.  You can view his work athttp://umfa.utah.edu/PatrickNagatani.

Jellies

Went to Shedd Aquarium to see the jellies (with Wyatt, Jessie, Claire, Claire's friends, Nani and Jack). Not a big exhibit but I got some nice images. Might use them as sources pictures for some drawings. I love the lines. The constant movement created a nice exercise in composition. The exhibit was very dark and posed many low light challenges. I shot at a really high ISO. It it hard to tell if I have noise in the images or if it is just the floatie stuff in the water. These are straight from the camera, no manipulation of color. I love the colors they choose for the back of the tanks. It really made the jellies stand out. I tried to get a nice images of a sea horse but that was a total failure. They are really twitchy.

Inkteraction print exchange 100

Five confirmed shows for a print exchange I'm in... see images here...
http://inkteraction.ning.com/photo/albums/navigating-the-currents-100-inkteraction-reactions
100 prints in the show.

January 19 - February 21, 2012
Cedar Valley College, Lancaster, TX

January 17 - February 19, 2012
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

March 2 - April 30, 2012
Ned McWherter West TN Cultural Arts Center, Jackson, TN

October - November 2012
McNeese State University
Lake Charles, Louisiana

January 11 to March 17, 2013
Union College, Schenectady, NY

Donated Seeds

One of my robot prints was chosen to be included as part of the exhibition titled: Donated Seeds: Highlights from the Wheat Farm Press Archive. The show will take place at the University of New Hampshire School of Law from August 29-October 28, 2011. 

biggest screen

So I decided I needed to take advantage of the the few really big screens they have here at Kala.Wyatt thinks the best art is the biggest art. He is always encouraging me to make bigger stuff. So I went to blick and bought 3 sheets of the biggest printmaking paper they had in stock. Riding around on the bus at 5pm with this paper was not calculated into the plan.  It measures about 50 by 38 inches.

I then had to figure out what the largest image/screen combo really was possible.  The largest squeegee and scoop coater is 28 inches so that limits the image in one direction. I had to use the counter-weighted arm to print with this size of tool. I have never used an arm to print with so that was pretty cool. Then I had to find a screen and check for holes and see if it fit onto the washing booth. This one has a hole in one end and just barely fit into the booth. I also had to see if it fit into the exposure unit and and if there was plexi big enough to cover the image. So I am about 5 inches taller than this screen and my arms hurt today from all the lifting. An assistant would have been ideal for this print. It took about 4-5 hours to draw the stencil. The paper is twice a big as the image so I printed it from either end. I want to print several more layers as soon as my body recovers. I monoprinted the image painting the ink directly on the screen and then filling with another color. This was labor intensive but I like the results. Forgot to take a picture of the print.

screen in washout booth

the setup screen

excavated print

first a few layers of transparent base are screened over the paper. then details are printed and then blocks of color over that. I printed birds in a random pattern and them monotyped flat colors over that.

Then I screened a black over the entire image

then you "excavate" the print. I just used water and a rag. Trying to be nontoxic. It is still wet here so it was a little hard to photograph. I really like the worn look of it. I want to do more of these.

Lucent Dossier

Some pictures from the  Lucent Dossier Experience at the Crucible last night. The Crucible is a really cool educational foundry. They put on various fire events as fundraisers. If I lived here I would take the class where you build and modify your own bike! I saw a fire circus last night. Lucent Dossier was the main event which was split into three acts. Not sure what the story line was but it was fun to watch. In between we walked around and looked at the sideshow acts which included demonstrations and games. The flaming putt putt was a little scary. Also watched glass blowing and lamp work. Many people attending were dressed really crazy. There were fire cannons that shot big flames into the air and made big boom sounds that went off all night long. I felt like I might not have any eyelashes left. I was not allowed to use a flash so the images are a little soft. There were several things I just could not get a picture of because of the dark.