11.29.2011

Postcards By My Desk: An Artist Feature

I have been trying to think of a creative way to promote the artist I like. Like is such a good, simple word even if Facebook has usurped its meaning. I feel a connection and a warm feeling when looking at the work whatever the subject matter-- comforting or disturbing. I finally just started looking around my desk. At work, I hang up family pictures, phone lists, drawings but also postcards with images or projects that I do not want to forget. Despite the fact that I recycle almost every item I can, I still love the consumption of paper products for images, and of course books. I confess I love letters and postcards, and as many of my personal friends and family will note, I do not send them enough. I love to get them in the mail. It might harken back to my brief time in college in England when I would run down every day to see if there was a card or package on the table for me. If a box arrived, I was delighted to get my next shipment of grits from South Carolina. Most of all, I looked from cards that said love Mama, Dad and Mama Jo. There is something comforting about holding that paper in your hands and reading the words that a special person chose to write to you. Thus my love for paper, images and written word continues. 

Postcard, Nadine Boughton
Back side postcard, Nadine Boughton (complete with Scotch tape)

I meet many artists at portfolio reviews and I attempt to contain all the faces, personalities and images in my head. It is an overwhelming task especially for a feeble brain with horrible memory retention. Although many cards that I get at the event and as a follow up do not contain special notes or the signing off with a closing such as "Love, reviewee", I still want to keep them because of an image contained on the front. At Photolucida 2010, I met Nadine Boughton. Boughton's work incorporates images that she appropriated from men's adventure magazines from mid-century. The women are shown in as bosom bearing, sexy seductresses often in need of rescue and the men are often fighting off other men or some sort of wild beast, but most of the action is set in a domestic setting like you would see on the set of The Brady Bunch. Although Nadine and I may be of a different generation, the work makes me think of the days playing with our Barbie and Ken dolls calling them names like Samantha and Todd and dreaming up scenarios where we are often the damsel in need of rescue from distress. I just look at Boughton's photo and say "fight that jaguar, honey". You can do it. Boughton creatively uses images from suburban cultural history to bring to attention to how these male/female roles have or have not changed today. 


11.28.2011

Fraction Magazine Holiday Print (and Book) Sale 2011

For a few years now, Fraction Magazine has been hosting a Holiday Print Sale to benefit the artists whose work has been show on Fraction. Many artists also choose to donate back to Fraction to keep this online magazine up and running as a valuable contribution to the online photography community. This year there are also a few book/book and print choices including the ones by Susan Burnstine and Paula McCartney shown below. Scroll through the many prints at Fraction Magazine and find many gifts for under $100 and a new Paypal option this year makes it even easier to purchase the print or book of your choice.

Paula McCartney's On Thin Ice, In a Blizzard offset printed artist book $25

Geoffrey Ellis, Luggage Cart, Jakarta, print edition of 9, 8x12 in / 9x13 paper Fuji Crystal Archive C-Print, $100

Lex Thompson, Breaking Wave, print edition of 100, 8x10 in C-print,  $25



Susan Burnstine, Within Shadows, Susan Burnstine. Book & Print set (select from 3 prints, edition 50 each: Threshold, Circuitous and ...When?), $150.00

11.23.2011

Jennifer Schwartz Gallery and Crusade for Collecting



Atlanta-based gallerist and photographer Jennifer Schwartz is leaving on a crusade, a Crusade for Collecting. Much lighter in mission and less dangerous than the crusades of long ago, Schwartz is on a mission to encourage people of broad income levels to collect art, art that makes your life richer, and she is so dedicated to this mission that she is taking the message on the road. With the launch of The Ten, Schwartz is using some proven, yet expanded, methods to promote her artists and to put these artists' works in the hands of collectors for as little as $250 per print. The images from The Ten can not be collected anywhere else. Schwartz also promotes many women in her mission including the work of Kathleen Robbins, Lori Vrba, Elizabeth Fleming, Jennifer Shaw and Heidi Lender. The Kickstarter crowdfunding project is set to expire on December 1st and Schwartz needs all of the goal of $15,000 to start the project.

Find out more about Crusade for Collecting or to donate, visit the Kickstarter crowdfunding page, The Ten's website or for a bit more entertainment, visit Schwartz's blog.

There are still some great benefits still remaining as of today with your pledge of a certain dollar amount including a book and print by Jennifer Shaw (one left for $100 or more) and two one-of-a-kind 4x5 inch tintypes by Fritz Liedtke (one shown below).

copyright Fritz Liedtke