The Steenbock Gallery: Photography in Madison WI

Reception for "Another Look at Southwest Wisconsin" Tonight!

2012-02-10T15:25:00.000-06:00

Opening Reception tonight at the Steenbock, 6-9 PM! Come check out our "Another Look at Southwest Wisconsin" and congratulate photographer Tyler S. Ensrude! Refreshments, friends, and a beautiful new show. Hope to see you there!

The Steenbock Gallery Takes "Another Look At Southwest Wisconsin"!

2012-02-06T09:18:00.001-06:00

Steenbock Gallery to Open Tyler S. Ensrude Exhibit

“Another Look At Southwest Wisconsin” exhibition inspires another look at familiar scenes of Americana.

“Another Look At Southwest Wisconsin,” an exhibit featuring photographs by Tyler S. Ensrude, will be on display February 6, 2012 to March 9, 2012 in the Steenbock Gallery. An artist’s reception will take place on Friday, February 10, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The Steenbock Gallery is located at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 1922 University Ave., and is open Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

“Southwest Wisconsin is my home,” says Ensrude, “Everything I see here reminds me of that. I was born and raised here, but I also had a second home for nearly a decade during the second Bush Administration, in the suburbs of Tokyo, Japan… Around the time I returned to the Midwest is when I started to notice trends and patterns in the landscape that I couldn’t remember seeing while I was growing up here or on my short visits home over the years… The once familiar landscape had assumed a strange veneer, a curious overlay fraught with juxtaposition and contradiction… In my photographs, I try to capture a piece of something unique to inspire another look, and a different way of seeing something familiar.”

To view the artist’s work, please visit http://tylerensrude.com/

Reception for "Decomposing" Tonight!

2012-01-13T12:39:00.000-06:00

Opening Reception tonight at the Steenbock, 6-9 PM! Come check out our first exhibit of 2012, "Decomposing" by Ting-Li Lin! Refreshments, friends, and a beautiful new show. Hope to see you there!

Check out the "Decomposing" event page on Facebook!

New Year, New Steenbock Exhibition! "Decomposing" by Ting-Li Lin

2012-01-05T12:20:00.000-06:00

Steenbock Gallery to Open Ting-Li Lin Exhibit

“Decomposing” exhibition breaks down complex architecture

through black and white photography.

“Decomposing,” an exhibit featuring photographs by Ting-Li Lin, will be on display January 4, 2012 to February 3, 2012 in the Steenbock Gallery. An artist’s reception will take place on Friday, January 13, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The Steenbock Gallery is located at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 1922 University Ave., and is open Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

“The purpose of decomposition, in general, is to break a complex idea into small, easy-understood concepts,” says Ting-Li Lin. Instead of perceiving the world as a whole, I find it fascinating to just look at the elements of it, and thus the creation of the Decomposing series. In this series, I applied the idea of decomposition to architecture photography. Not only do I pay attention to the forms and shapes of the interior of buildings, I also choose the light sources carefully so that the interior is luminous in a certain way.”

To view the artist’s work, please visit http://tinglilin.com

Check Out Our Final Exhibition of 2011! "People of the Big Voice"

2011-11-09T14:57:00.000-06:00

Steenbock Gallery to Open “People of the Big Voice"

“People of the Big Voice” exhibition highlights Charles Van Schaick's photographs of the Ho-Chunk

“People of the Big Voice,” an exhibit featuring photographs by Charles Van Schaick from the Wisconsin State Historical Society collection, will be on display November 7 to December 30 in the Steenbock Gallery. A reception will be held on Saturday, November 12, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The Steenbock Gallery is located at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 1922 University Ave., and is open Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

This unique and rich collection from the Wisconsin State Historical Society highlights Charles Van Schaick's photographs of the Ho-Chunk. Van Schaick was a portrait photographer in Black River Falls, Wisconsin who documented the town and its citizens for over sixty years. The photographs taken by Van Schaick are an invaluable visual legacy of the Ho-Chunk people. These commissioned photographs by the Ho-Chunk were intended for private use for their family, community, and home lives. This exhibition will provide an understanding of how the Ho-Chunk shaped the way they are perceived through the power of self-representation.

This exhibit coincides with the release of "People of the Big Voice: Photographs of Ho-Chunk families by Charles Van Schaick, 1879-1942" by Tom Jones, Michael Schmudlach, Matthew Daniel Mason, Amy Lonetree and George Greendeer published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

The Steenbock Gallery Announces the Opening of "SUMMER ECLIPSED" by Kendall McMinimy

2011-09-29T01:23:00.000-05:00

Steenbock Gallery to Open Kendall McMinimy Exhibit

“Summer Eclipsed” exhibition explores the complex relationship northerners have with Winter,

a struggle that defines the character of the region.

“Summer Eclipsed,” an exhibit featuring photographs by Kendall McMinimy, will be on display September 26 to November 4 in the Steenbock Gallery. An artist’s reception will take place on Friday, September 30, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The Steenbock Gallery is located at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 1922 University Ave., and is open Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

“These images are intended to draw the viewer into the snowy isolation—to feel the effect of a long winter, and to place a high value on what summer will bring,” says McMinimy. “However chilling the landscape, some viewers will see hope in the vestiges of summer. Others may feel the jeer of summer relics left out by insensitive procrastinators, caught off-guard by an early onslaught. Some may see garish summer monuments demanding our unseasonable attention, tainting the pristine landscape… For those of us who live within the upper-Midwest snow belt, winter can be a long struggle: fighting the snow, fighting the inertia, and fighting the hopeless isolation that comes with the frozen overlay… My course through the snow and ice became my passage through inertia, isolation and confinement I had previously succumbed to in winter. In finding this path, I also found a glimpse of the true character of the region: that winter’s fury strengthens resolve and winter’s stillness affords introspection.”

To view the artist’s work, visit www.mcminimy.com

Check out the Newest Show at the Steenbock Gallery - "LOST SCHOOLS" by Samantha VanDeman

2011-08-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

Steenbock Gallery to Open Samantha VanDeman Exhibit

“Lost Schools” exhibition portrays interiors and objects found in abandoned schools.

“Lost Schools,” an exhibit featuring photographs by Samantha VanDeman, will be on display August 15 to September 23 in the Steenbock Gallery. An artist’s reception will take place on Sunday, August 21, from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The Steenbock Gallery is located at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 1922 University Ave., and is open Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

“About a year ago, I started making frequent trips to Gary, Indiana,” says VanDeman. “During that time, I started to photograph the interiors of abandoned structures. I wasn’t sure why I became so fascinated with the buildings: I just knew that I wanted to photograph them before they were gone. Lost Schools is an ongoing photographic series that evolved from my many explorations. I began this project by looking at empty rooms and remnants that remained in the spaces. Looking deeper, I began photographing… [and] examining how these objects provide links to memory, nostalgia and loss. I’m interested in how quickly these schools were forgotten about… as if one day, the teachers walked out and didn’t look back… With the destruction of these schools, any memory of these places will be erased from time. Photographs and artifacts will be all that remain.”

New Exhibit! Tyler Robbins: SUBURBAN

2011-07-04T23:55:00.005-05:00

Stop by the Steenbock Gallery this week to check out our newest exhibit, "Suburban" by Tyler Robbins.

“Suburban is an identity and a state of mind,” says Robbins. “The suburbanite archetype is not revered, nor is it regularly claimed by those who fit the role. My images are an open-ended narrative. They serve as an allegory for suburban existence . . . [But] if my images fail to become symbols for all that is suburban, they can at least represent what really matters: A well-manicured lawn, beer, grilled meat, and the weekend.”

To view the artists work, please visit http://www.tylerrobbins.net/

Please join us for an artist's reception on Friday, July 8, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.

This exhibition will run from July 4 to August 12.

New Exhibit! Lisa Frank: THE PATTERN THAT CONNECTS

2011-05-23T02:29:00.005-05:00

The newest Steenbock Gallery exhibit opens this week! "The Pattern that Connects" features photographs by Lisa Frank.

“My artwork is influenced by my professional background as a textile designer,” says Frank. “The activity of taking pictures almost daily in the woods makes for a visual diary – it illuminates my relationship with the natural world, and documents changing evidence of the ordinary and the astonishing. Season after season I rely on nature’s comforting repetition – the familiarity and security that comes from knowing – seeing! – that soon after the appearance of the jack-in-the-pulpit comes the anticipated morel and the resulting mushroom risotto. This creates the true ‘pattern’ of my work: the inter-relationships between all of nature’s corresponding parts, where one thing begets another, one day becomes a year and then two... This personal, arbitrary, asymmetrical time chart is deeply resonant for me and key to my understanding of what it means to be alive and of this world. My patterns are constructed using Photoshop from these daily snapshots, and from scanographs composed in my studio.”

To view the artist’s work, visit www.lisafrankphotography.com

Join us on Friday, May 27, for an opening reception from 6-9PM.

This exhibition will run until from May 23 until July 1.

Click Into Place: Work from UW-Madison Photo Students

2011-04-08T21:59:00.002-05:00

Tyler Robbins

The UW-Madison photography students return to the Steenbock!!!!

Opening Monday, enjoy new work from photographers studying with Tom Jones in the undergraduate and graduate art programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, some that you've seen in years past, some that are exhibiting in Madison for the first time, and some that are new members of the Steenbock committee!!

OPENING RECEPTION: April 15, 5-9pm

Final thoughts on the National Juried Exhibition

2011-03-01T13:05:00.000-06:00

After full days of accepting works, hanging the show and meeting with Andy to select his awards, we're happy to announce that the first Steenbock National Juried Exhibition is open, and is gorgeous. We could not be prouder of the work presented here, by photographers from near and far, or of the decisions that Andy made in selecting both the overall exhibit and his awards.

And speaking of awards:

FIRST PLACE
($500 and a 2012 solo exhibit at the Steenbock)
Nate Mathews

SECOND PLACE
($250)
Carsten Meier

THIRD PLACE
($100)
Kate Wichlinski

We truly hope to see you at the opening this Friday, March 4 from 6-9pm, and hope you have a chance to spend time with the exhibition outside of the melee of an opening reception. The work is strong and contemporary, and is an incredibly strong showing for our first National foray. Thank you so much for supporting the gallery through your entry and your patronage, and the Center for Photography at Madison, and we hope to see more of your work in the future.

Juror's Statement: Andy Adams

2011-02-28T14:21:00.000-06:00

As expected, the submissions for this inaugural juried exhibition were ripe with complex visual ideas from a wide variety of image-makers working throughout the United States. Narrowing my selections wasn’t easy, and I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to play a small part in exposing the work of this year’s Steenbock Gallery photographers with the Madison public.

The hope in a call-for-entries exhibition like this is that the photo community responds with a diversity of images that present a wide range of photographic perspectives. I’m pleased to report that this show delivers in spades. There are photographs from many regional artists, but also from image-makers based in Florida, Arizona, New York and Tennessee. Despite their differences, these photographers are inspired by a curiosity that transcends subject matter to present an enlightened way of seeing our modern culture.

These eighteen artists explore a diversity of themes, styles and genres in their respective projects and each of them is driven by a passion to explore the world by considering it through their camera’s lens. Not bound by a formal theme, I approached this assemblage with a free-form attitude — each image representative of its maker, a taste of what's available, should the viewer wish to pursue the work further.

If you like what you see here, I hope that you’ll make time to learn about these artists; many of them maintain personal websites where you can follow their ongoing series work. And the Steenbock Gallery team has published a succession of stories about each of these photographers in their gallery blog at SteenbockCPM.blogspot.com that supplements this physical exhibition. I welcome you to consider these images not as an end result, but rather, a starting point for further discovery. Enjoy!

Andy Adams

FlakPhoto.com

February 2011

NJE photographer: Carsten Meier

2011-02-24T19:01:00.000-06:00

Our final photographer is also our photographer with the most pieces (three!!) accepted into the exhibit by Andy Adams. An Assistant Professor of Photography at the University of Miami, German-born photographer Carsten Meier travels the globe in search of the natural and the manmade, the quiet and the stunning. His photography is stark, while his images are lush, and his large prints lure you in close to study and absorb the details.

Claustra No.4, Okertalsperre, Germany 2010,

archival inkjet print from 8x10 color negative scan, 44" x 53 [$980]

Habitat No. 1, Vorre Ridge 2009,

archival inkjet print from 5x7 color negative stitch, 44" x 87" [$1800]

Claustra No.3, Walters Dam, North Carolina 2010

archival inkjet print from 8x10 color negative scan, 44" x 53 [$980]

Please be sure to visit Carsten's website at CarstenMeier.com and see what his students are creating here.

Carsten gets a late evening post because we've been busy at the gallery today accepting and opening all of the GORGEOUS work. We hope you're as excited as we are about this show, and that seeing the pieces selected and meeting the artists who created them has whetted your appetite for the exhibit. After opening all of the pieces at the Gallery today, we're so proud to have this amazing group of photographers become a part of our history at the Steenbock.

The National Juried Exhibition opens (at long last!!) on Monday, February 28 and will run until April 8. We're having a party on March 4 from 6-9pm, and would love to see you there!

NJE photographer: Elizabeth W. Parker

2011-02-23T11:25:00.000-06:00

While we've met photographers with a variety of other interests and careers, today's profiled photographer Elizabeth W. Parker has got to be one of the most versatile we've met. Currently President of Isla Catalog and IslaOnline.com, Elizabeth has experience in marketing, education and finance. A former vice-chair at the Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Elizabeth now lives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Old Man, digital inkjet print, 12" x 16" [$150]

Connect with Elizabeth on her LinkedIn profile, and come back tomorrow to meet our final photographer. The exhibit opens Monday, February 28 and runs until April 8 with an opening reception scheduled for March 4 from 6-9pm.

NJE photographer: David Schalliol

2011-02-22T12:18:00.000-06:00

Our double feature today is courtesy of Chicago photographer David Schalliol. David is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago and his photographic work seem to revolve tightly around his research in that department. Neighborhoods, buildings, inhabitants and structure are all at the core of David's work, as he studies neighborhoods around Chicago and the rest of the country, and how government agencies are gentrifying areas and how residents of those areas are adapting to the changes that inevitably follow. The two pieces selected for the National Juried Exhibition are not from projects featured on David's website, but his aesthetic stay strong and consistent regardless of whether he's shooting in his city or on a larger national scope.

Residential Building (Camden, New Jersey),
digital chromogenic print, 20" x 30" [$750]

Perlman Place (Baltimore, Maryland),
digital chromogenic print, 20" x 30" [$750]

In addition to school and shooting, David is the Founder and Editor of metroblossom and Managing Editor of Gapers Block. Make some time to visit David's website at www.DavidSchalliol.com - you'll learn a lot and see some stunning research.

See all of the work in person at the Steenbock Gallery; the National Juried Exhibition opens Monday, February 28 and runs until April 8 with an opening reception scheduled for March 4 from 6-9pm. We want to see you there!!

NJE photographer: Samantha VanDeman

2011-02-21T12:34:00.000-06:00

Illinois photographer Samantha VanDeman is a frequent Steenbock contributor. We first met Sam when we accepted her for a solo exhibition of her work FRAGMENTS FROM THE PAST in 2009. Her new work, LOST SCHOOLS, was accepted again for a solo exhibition coming up in August of this year, and was selected by Russell Joslin for the Seven State Exhibition as part of PhotoMidwest last year. Keep in mind, that these are only the CPM exhibits; this work is also making its way around the country! Her work from LOST SCHOOLS is also what Andy Adams selected for the National Juried Exhibition, running from February 28 until April 8.

Music Room, digital c-print, 20" x 26" [$500]

Samantha's newest accomplishment is her new job teaching at the Illinois Institute of Art! Check out her website at www.SamanthaVanDemanPhotography.com, and maybe meet her at the opening March 4 from 6-9pm, and you'll see why.

NJE photographer: Claire Warden

2011-02-18T18:45:00.000-06:00

It can be tricky finding information on the web about photographers, especially when they don't have websites, but Claire Warden is an exception to that rule. A photographer from Phoenix, Arizona, when you Google her name and her city, you find Claire's work all over Arizona. While a student at Arizona State University, Claire won the Tucson 2009 College Scholarship, has work featured on HelloPhoenix.com and the Phoenix New Times art blog, Jackalope Ranch. Claire has curated exhibits with Phoenix photographers, and has been featured in interviews at AZCentral.com. and has donated proceeds from her work to charities in towns she's photographed. A young photographer advocating for change, we're thrilled to exhibit her work in the National Juried Exhibition.

Untitled #7, archival digital print, 44" x 36" [$975]

Join us at the opening reception to celebrate photographers like Claire on March 4 from 6-9pm, and see the exhibit anytime from February 28 until April 8.

NJE photographer: Elizabeth M. Claffey

2011-02-17T14:14:00.000-06:00

Elizabeth M. Claffey is a Texas photographer currently pursuing her MFA in Photography and a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies at Texas Women's University, home of the prestigious Joyce Elaine Grant Annual Juried Exhibition. Elizabeth's work has been featured in PDN Magazine, USA Today, the Kinsey Institute and the Dallas Morning News, among others. The work selected for our National Juried Exhibition is from her current series Blood Work.

Carey's Allowance, archival inkjet print, 20" x 35" [$800]

Blood Work began in December 2010 as the most recent manifestation of an ongoing body of work that explores the relationship between medical science and life experience. In October 2009, Suzan was diagnosed with stage 3B inflammatory breast cancer. Her doctors told her that the tumor, which engorged her left breast and caused her nipple to invert, was growing at a rate of 40%, as opposed to the normal 5% growth rate of breast cancer cells. We met the week after her diagnosis, just before she began chemotherapy. Suzan's desire to record and explore her journey through images reflects one of my primary interests, which developed in 2008 after my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My mother is now living with cancer, but no one prepared her for that possibility. There was no dialogue in place to explore the emotional and physical transitions that became a part of her everyday life, as well as the new shape of her body and its missing pieces. The difficulty of being visibly sick in a society focused on physical perfection furthered feelings of isolation and guilt that accompanied her sickness. The most recent work from this series is a transition, both visually and conceptually, from a documentary project about one woman's experience with cancer, to a deeper investigation of the cyclical nature of illness. The series also investigates the isolation that can be self or society-induced, the difficulty of balancing everyday responsibilities with treatment, and the effects of a medically sterile environment on one's perception of her/his body as a foreign or feared object.
Visit Elizabeth's website at www.ElizabethClaffey.com for a look at her photography, book arts and installation pieces.

Works are arriving for the exhibition from far and wide, and Gallery staff is preparing to install. Join us at an opening reception son March 4 from 6-9pm, and see the work anytime between February 28 through April 8 at the Steenbock Gallery in Madison, Wisconsin.

NJE photographer: Lucy Helton

2011-02-16T12:42:00.001-06:00

British photographer Lucy Helton is based in Brooklyn, New York and began her photographic career in freelance fashion assisting for Elaine Constantine. She worked her way through the industry, and eventually worked as a production manager for Head of Production for Ridley Scott's RSA Films. Moving back to photography, Lucy worked for portrait photographers Greg Miller and Grant Delin, and eventually decided to return to school to study photography. This history is strongly evidenced in Lucy's work about where she came from where she is, and where she's going. Both of her pieces that Andy Adams selected are from her series Where I Was Conceived.

Callahan's Bedroom, inkjet print from b/w 4x5 film, 14" x 11" [$250]

Grace, digital 35 inkjet print, 11" x 14" [$250]

I grew up in London hearing stories of a remote farm my parents lived on before I was born. Where I Was Conceived is a photogrphic journey which took me back in time exploring this starnge and surreal place, Rockne, Bastrop County, Texas.

Standing on the land my father once owned I felt an overwhelming sense of depth as I watched all the surrounding mammals and insects aggressively try to survive the heat and drought, the wild-fires, and poverty they brought, the ever continuing drug and alcohol abusiveness, the reactive religion and finally the flash floods. Within that moment I also witnessed a strange harmony and peacefulness occur, I recognized a strong belief in family and after a time an evidence in the roles men and women perform when living in this climate.

My decision to make this work black & white is based on a return to my family's past. I wanted to be open to all I found and demonstrated this by using all formats. Large format for still-life and landscape as I could spend time examining detail and really enjoy the slow process. Digital for action and low light and medium format for portraits. It's also extremely important for me to try to understand and form a relationship with the people I shoot. I spent lots of time talking, sitting, watching and perhaps living with my subjects - and in time they got used to having me and my camera in their lives.

See more from this series, and Lucy's other work at her website www.LucyHelton.com. The National Juried Exhibition will be at the Steenbock from February 28 until April 8 with an opening reception scheduled for March 4 from 6-9pm.

NJE photographer: Nate Mathews

2011-02-15T12:49:00.000-06:00

Today, we're looking at the work of Nate Mathews, a photographer from Bartlett, Illinois. A finalist in last year's Photolucida's Critical Mass and a part of Catherine Edelman's The Chicago Project, Nate is an adjunct professor of photography at Northeastern Illinois University and Waubonsee Community College.

Sunset, Tree Shadow, and Benches, archival inkjet print, 17" x 21" [$500]

Ten Hexagons, archival inkjet print, 17" x 21" [$500]

All of Mathews work is based on investigating design. In his initial body of work titled Ersatz he was investigating the design of public institutions focusing on how the inhabitants of a space would alter it in an attempt to humanize it. The bench project is a topographic survey of benches with the intention of showing the sheer quantity and variety of one simple thing. In more recent projects he has continued that focus on examining design and started manipulating the design with his own hand through the creation of referential sculptures and by breaking down and simplifying his images.

See more at Nate's website, www.NateMathews.com and click the NEWS link there for his blog. See the National Juried Exhibition, on view at the Steenbock from February 28 until April 8, and make your plans now to attend the opening reception scheduled for March 4 from 6-9pm.

DAY IN DANE: A COMMUNITY PHOTO ALBUM

2011-02-15T10:09:00.000-06:00

Celebrate the 175th Anniversary of Dane County by participating in

Day In Dane: A Community Photo Album.

Residents of Dane County are invited to take photos during four designated 24-hour periods during 2011 and submit one photo from each period. An online Flickr photo album will be created for viewing throughout the year.

How to participate:

Take photos during the designated 24-hour periods identified below. Subject matter is open, but the

purpose is to produce photos that show what makes Dane County a special place to live and work.

Possible subjects might include landscapes, cityscapes, urban life, rural life, and people at work and

play. Inappropriate or offensive images will not be accepted.

Participants may submit one photo per designated 24-hour period. Photos must be taken during this

designated period of time and must be taken in Dane County. Submissions will be accepted for one

week following the close of each 24-hour period.

Photos should be sized at 72 ppi with the longest dimension not to exceed 960 pixels, and emailed to

dc175@hushmail.com. Include the photographer's name, contact information (email and phone

number), photo title and a brief description of where and when the photo was taken. Photos will be

previewed by a group of local professional photographers and uploaded to an online album.

The four photo dates are:

1. Noon, Friday, Feb. 25, to noon, Saturday, Feb. 26 (submit photos through March 6)

2. Noon, Friday, May 13, to noon, Saturday, May 14 (submit photos through May 22)

3. Noon, Saturday, July 2, to noon, Sunday, July 3 (submit photos through July 11)

4. Noon, Friday, Oct. 7, to noon, Saturday, Oct. 8 (submit photos through Oct. 16)

The photographer must retain a high resolution version of the photo (at least 15" by 9" at 300 ppi). All photos will be considered for use on the 2012 art poster produced by the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission and also for inclusion in a photo album to be placed in a time capsule for a future generation. This version SHOULD NOT be emailed with the initial submission. You will be contacted if

your photo is chosen for one of these projects. Copyright remains with the photographer at all times, however Dane County reserves the right to use submitted photos in conjunction with 175th Anniversary Events.

For further information visit the Dane County website.

Sponsored by Dane County, 210 Martin Luther King Blvd., Madison, WI 53703

NJE photographer: Kate Wichlinski

2011-02-14T10:34:00.001-06:00

Over the last two weeks you've met artists from all over Wisconsin, our remaining two weeks of profiles will introduce us to artists from around the country, who will be shipping their works to the Steenbock from near and from far. Our first non-native artist, from Memphis, Tennessee is Kate Wichlinski.

Self-Portrait, inkjet print on bamboo paper 16" x 20" [$200]

My photographs, using the stylistic conventions of the documentary, work to subvert the format and complicate it with my own vision, my own story. For my work, photography is the ideal medium because of its powerful claim to reality. I create images working in documentary style; I do not usually have preconceived images in my head, but conceptual outlines only.

See more of Kate's stunning work at KateWichlinski.com and check out her photo book Confluence, available at Blurb. The Nation Juried Exhibit is running from February 28 until April 8, with an opening reception scheduled on March 4 from 6-9pm. See you then!!

NJE photographer: James Meldrum

2011-02-11T15:25:00.000-06:00

Today we profile our final Wisconsin photographer selected for the National Juried Exhibition, James Meldrum. James is another photographer absent from the Internet, but busy in exhibits around the state like the CoPA 4th Annual Juried Exhibit, the Monroe Art Center and the Beloit Fine Arts Incubator.

Contours, silver gelatin print, 14" x 11" [NFS]

Come back on Monday to see what photographers from the rest of the nation are up to, and join us at the exhibit opening March 4 from 6-9pm! Happy weekend, everybody!!

NJE photographer: Vicki Reed

2011-02-10T11:38:00.002-06:00

Vicki Reed is an explorer of land, of home and of process. This Wisconsin photographer surveys the land of her birthplace in Maine as well as the Wisconsin landscape to create images with alternative processes that capture a nostalgic tone that is hard to come by in most contemporary photography.

Ghost Marsh, lith silver gelatin print, 12" x12" [$300]

Lith printing is a time intensive, sometimes frustrating but potentially addictive alternative printing process. This technique that involves greatly overexposing a photographic print and then only partially developing it in Lith developer is widely known in Europe and is gaining popularity in the US. It results in prints that often have soft warm highlights adjacent to cool, dark, gritty tones. Photographs can range from soft, smooth, warm-toned images to very cool, textured images. The varied results (color and texture) are determined by the initial exposure, the temperature, dilution and maturity of the chemicals, and the characteristics of the paper used. The process is known for creating images that are very difficult to duplicate. However, with practice and meticulous note taking it is possible to produce similar but not identical prints.

Begin your own exploration at www.VickiReed.com and see the work at the Steenbock Gallery. The National Juried Exhibition runs from February 28 until April 8, with an opening reception scheduled for March 4, from 6-9pm.

NJE photographer: Ted Hamm

2011-02-09T09:04:00.001-06:00

Sheboygan photographer Ted Hamm, though curiously absent from the world wide web, is an active exhibitor in the Coalition of Photographic Arts and Sheboygan Visual Arts events. Most recently a part of the 4th Annual CoPa Juried Show, Ted's calming landscape work belies his work day as Administrator at the 'Etude High School for the Arts and Academics in Sheboygan.

Ferns, James Homestead Trail, silver gelatin print, 17" x 21" [$290]

We are pleased to welcome Ted to the Steenbock!!

Come see Ted's work in person at the exhibit from February 28 until April 8. Who knows, maybe you'll even MEET Ted at the opening reception, scheduled March 4 from 6-9pm. Sheboygan's not that far....

NJE photographer: William F. Lemke

2011-02-08T14:05:00.001-06:00

Andy Adams selected twenty-four pieces for our National Juried Exhibition, from eighteen photographers. Wisconsin landscape photographer Bill Lemke is one of the artists who had multiple pieces chosen for exhibition.

Joshua Tree 2, silver gelatin print, 22" x 28" [$425]

East of Ross Point Ontario, silver gelatin print, 22" x 28" [$425]

I choose to photograph in black and white because it encourages me and the viewer to concentrate on texture, tonality and the emotional qualities of light. My images are created using either a 4"x5" or 8"x10" film camera. This is followed by traditional however tedious photographic darkroom processes, making silver gelatin prints. Each print is individually exposed and hand processed following archival standards set forth by Ansel Adams.

My interest in landscapes began with the many trips I took with my family growing up in the 1960's; typically trips out west. Through these trips, I developed a great appreciation for the beauty offered in unique plants, water and rock formations. While in high school, I took my first graphic arts class which included a unit on photography. This class forever changed my life; I knew my career and my life would be spent making photographs. I went on to study photography first formally, then informally while I gained experience in both fine art and commercial photography.

Learn more about Bill at his website, www.BillLemke.com.

See Bill's work along with the work of seventeen other talented American photographers at the exhibit, opening February 28 and running until April 8. Come to the opening on March 4 from 6-9pm and maybe meet a few too!!

NJE photographer: Paul Thoresen

2011-02-07T10:49:00.001-06:00

Today's photographer is the inimitable Dr. Paul Thoresen. Paul does it all. Paul is a Madison-area psychologist. He is always off to meditation workshops and zen retreats, which help him, as Steenbock Committee chairman, to keep this committee on task and on key. He serves on the board of the Center for Photography at Madison. Paul is also, aside from all of that, a stunning photographer. To say that he creates photographs of cows sorely undermines the work that Paul actually creates, and his work has been part of a variety of group shows at the Steenbock and beyond.

Milk Vessels 2, digital print, pigmented ink on cotton rag, 20" x 26" [$250]

Paul has a website, but it's for his practice.

Please make your plans now to attend the opening reception for this exhibit March 9 from 6-9pm. Can't make it to the reception? The exhibit is up from February 28 until April 8.

NJE photographer: Justin Nolan

2011-02-04T09:52:00.002-06:00

Our final photographer profiled this week is Justin Nolan. Justin is a Wisconsin photographer, who has a list of corporate clients including Lands End, Trek, Motorola and American Girl. The piece selected for our the National Juried Exhibit is from Justin's Environment series, images of the interactions of landscape and manmade forms.

Prison, color photograph, 18" x24" [$500]

See more of Justin's personal and professional portfolios at JustinNolan.com, and be sure to come back next week to meet more artists.

The exhibit opens February 28 and runs until April 8, with an opening reception scheduled for March 4 from 6-9pm. We hope to see you there!!

NJE Photographer: Nick Wilkes

2011-02-03T08:58:00.003-06:00

Nick Wilkes is the third Wisconsin photographer featured this week. Primarily a portrait photographer, Nick often focuses on architecture and landscape, always with the same magnetism. We're proud to feature one of his landscapes in our National Juried Exhibition.

White Dome, digital inkjet print, 12" x 42" [$1250]

I started taking photos when I was a kid. I've stopped a bunch of times over the years due to hopelessness, weariness, and/or lack of funds, but I always seem to get back on the horse. Depressing a shutter button is a visceral feeling for me, maybe like landing an uppercut or slicing a tomato is for somebody else. I think we all have something that makes us feel sharp and vivid and alive; photography is one of those somethings for me.
Some people are experts, but I am not. I am a dabbler, a gerrymanderer, a jack-of-some-trades. Though I have spent years photographing, I have not cut out an area of particular interest and expertise. I do have preferences: I prefer working with passionate, positive people. I prefer strong contrast, less focus on color and more on line, shape, and form. I prefer bright, clear eyes in a photograph than just about anything else... that, or maybe a desolate, abandoned doorway nobody has stepped though in years. When given the choice, I go for naked, traditional, and natural over garnished, modern, or contrived. Simple and raw moments are my favorites to capture.
Visit Nick's website at www.NickWilkesPhotography.com for more stunning work, and come back tomorrow for the final artist profile this week!

The exhibit opens on February 28 and runs until April 8. Join us at the opening reception March 4 from 6-9pm at the Steenbock Gallery, 1922 University Avenue in Madison WI.

NJE photographer: Gregory Parker

2011-02-02T11:54:00.001-06:00

Anyone familiar with the Center for Photography at Madison's Photo Midwest, is already familiar with the design work of Gregory Parker.

The look of Photo Midwest is largely attributed to Greg and when you look at the past PMW website, catalog, or posters, you're looking at Greg. Like a lot of designers, Greg is also a photographer, and his photography exhibits a similar exploration of shape, light and texture that makes his design work instantly recognizable.

Sunday Morning, archival inkjet print, 15" x 14" [NFS]

See more of Greg's work at OneFourNineDesign.com, or more of his photography at his Flickr page.

The exhibit opens on February 28 and runs until April 8. Join us at the opening reception March 4 from 6-9pm at the Steenbock Gallery, 1922 University Avenue in Madison WI.

National Juried Exhibition photographer: Tonya Tubbs

2011-02-01T11:27:00.006-06:00

Today, we're starting our profiles of each photographer selected by our National Juried Exhibition juror, Andy Adams of FlakPhoto. Andy selected twenty-four pieces from eighteen photographers; we received 282 entries from across the country.

Check back every weekday for an introduction to a different artist, links to their other work, and a digital preview of their selected piece(s).

Our first artist is Tonya Tubbs.

Foggy Creek, digital photograph, 22" x 28" [$275]

I was born in Wisconsin and grew up there with a brother and a sister. We had a lot of family times outside, camping, playing sports, fishing, etc. So I have always had an appreciation of Nature. I have always been creative, however, not an artist before this time in my life.
I am married now and have been blessed with five wonderful children that inspire and amaze me everyday. Yes, of course, they also make me crazy sometimes too! I am a normal Mom! I owe this newfound love of photography to my children. After years of staying home with them, I found I needed something creative and challenging for myself, to preserve the "me" in the "Mom". So, seeing that I had five great subjects around me, I decided to ask Santa for a camera one year. From that moment on you can say it was "love at first sight". I was totally hooked and constantly had the camera in my hand.

I then began to study with a fine art photographer, Peter Thompson, whom had studied with many of the great photographers from the past. He patiently, but persistently guided me into learning the technical side of photography. Since that time, my passion has grown right along side my technical experience. The moments right before making a photograph and the actual "click" of the shutter, are incredible and almost like a time machine. I am momentarily transported to another world, a world of color, texture and immense feelings. It is a sensory overload! All other distractions from Life, such as kids yelling, To Do Lists, laundry baskets, dishes, etc. are not existent at the moment of my "click".

The way I find my "subjects" is easy. Whatever catches my eye and stimulates my heart and mind is deserving of a photograph. That is why my "style" is so diverse. I, myself, am very diverse and therefore the things in this world that interest me are diverse. For me, photography has really allowed me to fully "see" what is around me in this beautiful world we live in. Before photography, I didn't really see - I was just looking at things that passed me by.

So please take a moment to "see" and enjoy my photographs.

See more of Tonya's work at TonyaTubbs.com.

The exhibit opens on February 28 and runs until April 8. Join us at the opening reception March 4 from 6-9pm at the Steenbock Gallery, 1922 University Avenue in Madison WI.

Interview with William Zuback, BOOK PASSAGES

2010-12-19T12:43:00.006-06:00

Our 2010 exhibition year is winding down, but going out with a bang. BOOK PASSAGES photographer William Zuback shares with us his thoughts on inspiration, flexibility and Alice Cooper.

1. You write in your artist statement that you want the images to leave the viewer "visually satisfied but emotionally curious" - that's a really striking phrase. Have you ever seen photographic work that had this affect on you? If so, please elaborate. If not, what was your jumping off point for your own work and style?

Thanks. Yes I see work all the time that has that kind of affect on me. I'm not much of an intellectual with my approach to art. All my work has a base idea/emotion behind it but not to the extent discussed by many academics. I say that only because my process is much more visceral for me and although I have a specific goal of what a body of work means to me It's less important to me than the reactions and response it has on others. Current artists who's work I really respond to are photographers Eliza French and Jeff Charbonneau, Maggie Taylor, Robert and Shana Parkeharisson. Painters Mark Ryden, Tabitha Vevers and Alexander Timofeev. Long time Cindy Sherman fan and love the work of Hans Bellmer.

The jumping off point for my work comes almost exclusively from music and not other photographers or fine artists. Concept albums were a huge influence in my development as a visual artist. From the album art to the lyrics and music to the theatrical stage performances, musical performance creates visual vignettes that has always fascinated me. Alice Cooper, “From the Inside”, Pink Floyd's, “The Wall”, The Who's “Tommy” are all good examples of music that left me visually satisfied but emotionally curious.

2. Some of these images are clearly the result of some intense digital manipulation, yet every image in this exhibit is printed at a standard sized black and white. What's the significance for you in having these modern digital pieces look like silver gelatin prints, and to look non- manipulated?

If you notice each image except for “Visual Haiku” and “Details” are full frame images from a DSLR. That just happens to be my equipment of choice right now. I tend to be very precise in my vision and my compositions for this series were all composed in camera starting with a base image. Digital manipulation is just another tool. Before digital I created a lot of manipulated images for commercial clients with film and pin registration. To me it's not meant as a gimmick. I consider myself a story teller and I will use what ever tools I feel best help me communicate that story. I started as a custom black and white printer. I love black and white and often see in black and white. It speaks to me more often than color. The significance to me is that I consider it all photography. I have spent my life since Jr. High School in photography. I pride myself on being a good steward of my craft. I feel to show a manipulated print not as non-manipluated would be a partial failure of my craft. I'm not trying to bring attention to the manipulated aspect of the work I'm using the manipulation to strengthen my message as a story teller. The art part of the process comes from the aesthetics of the conceptual.

3. You build jack-in-the-boxes in the woods, have nude models at the Pick and Save, and have men peering out of dirty windows at children passing by. Please tell us about your process, both regarding the emotional process wherein the piece is translated to visual imagery in your head, and the cerebral part of how you plan, build and direct your shoots.

I wish I had some great process I could impart to others such as it begins with a sketch, etc. It rarely does, for me, it begins in my head and stays in my head. Each concept started by reading the passage over and over. I would have it near me and read it before bed, during a commercial while watching television, while going to the bathroom. Idea's begin to formulate in my mind and I play it over and over in my mind until I know it like a well choreographed dance. It changes and is fine tuned through this mental sketchbook. By the time it gets to the shooting stage I feel I have done it so many times in my mind already that it often times flows like music and feels like a dance. Since this works for me and it changes in little ways right up to the shoot I feel that this process gives me great latitude for improvisation during the shoot because it feels so natural and free flowing. The intellectual part of planning, building and directing a shoot has developed out of many years as a commercial photographer. Many commercial shoots require the same criteria of hiring talent, building sets, choreographing all the elements to function as a whole and then it's show time. Nail the shot! It helps to be a very organized individual.

4. You are making work based on the submission and writing of others. How much of your own aesthetic style has to be flexible in order to create images that illustrate these passages, and how important is it to you to stay true to the feeling of the original written piece? Do you ever make a piece that fits the written word perfectly, but doesn't feel like yours?

The only flexibility that I feel I need to be concious of is my own need to be true to myself as an artist. I don't feel it was important for me, during this project, to stay true to the feeling of the original written piece. First, I only based my visual interpretation on the passage submitted. I was fortunate to have not read any of the books and had little knowledge of the original intent of the words.This gave me free reign as a visual artist to see and interpret the words based solely on my own experiences. It isn't much different than how family members can reflect on the same family experience with completely different perspectives because of their own biases and experiences. Each reflection of that memory is accurate to their own self and that is how I saw and would relate to the passages. In this body of work, no I did not make any visuals that fit the written word but not my own personal style. This was a very selfish project. It was a shared experience simply because the passages were donated and the feedback offered when I would post finished interpretationson my blog. The process of creating the work was done first and foremost to satisfy my own creative curiousity.

5. This work is about relationships. Relationships between the digital process and the traditional aesthetic, between the photographer and the writer, between the viewer and the work, between the image and the text, but primarily between you and the people you collaborate with. Can you talk to us about that process of trust, how you know when to trust your collaborators and their submissions, and how you know when to edit something out and go with your gut? Any submissions that you didn't have a real sense for at first but as you worked through the piece it grew on you?

I think it was the other way around. Each of the collaborators seemed to know me in some capacity. That's just how it turned out. I felt that they had a huge amount of trust in me to send in a passage. That trust could have been in knowing I was up for a challenge, liking my creative process and style and trusting I would do their passage justice or their trust of the complete unknown and excitement of discovery. I don't think I made trust a requirement of the process from my end. I understood the challenge I created for myself and made my own rule that I would take the passages in the order they were submitted so that I faced each as a challenge weather it was easy or difficult. I wouldn't just toss it aside because it stumped me conceptually. That challenge came early in the process when I was presented with the passage from Scott Huler's “Defining the Wind”. The passage was the Beaufort Scale. Not even a passage but the actual scale used to measure wind. I think this one was the third passage I interpreted. I relished those challenges. I did have two passages that became incredibly difficult and I had to move on to keep the process going while I came up with visual interpretations for these others. The passage from William Faulkner's “The Sound and the Fury” and the passage from George Eliot's “Middlemarch” both were incredibly difficult for me but as part of the process I refused to let a passage defeat me and I saw it as a larger challenge. I feel those visual interpretations became some of the strongest images in the series.

The whole process truly tested me as an artist from concept to completion. It was a formative year for me as an artist and shared by the many who followed the entire process.

Come by the closing reception on Saturday, January 8th 2011 from 1-3 to meet Bill and find some inspiration of your own. Thanks, Bill and all of our 2010 artists, for a great year!

William Zuback BOOK PASSAGES

2010-12-10T10:09:00.003-06:00

Book Passages” is William Zuback's latest completed visual journey. He had asked friends, family and fans of his blog to send in brief book excerpts from their favorite or current book. Zuback invited the audience on this visual journey by making it an interactive conversation of idea's through the blog by posting each visual creation as he progressed through the submitted book passages.

Zuback's intent was to create a series that was less of a solo effort and more participatory with the audience/viewers. From an artistic viewpoint this body of work, although thematically different because of the variety of donated book passages, has shown a striking thread of similarity. It has been a great exercise in seeing, exploring and understanding his artistic expression.

A CLOSING RECEPTION will be held Saturday, January 8 from 1-3pm.

2011 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

2010-10-23T16:47:00.005-05:00

January 17- February 25

Amy Mietzel's Cherokee Middle School Students TAKE SOMETHING ORDINARY

February 28-April 8

NATIONAL EXHIBITION, juried by Andy Adams of Flak Photo

April 11-May 20

UW-Madison PHOTO STUDENT SHOW

May 23-July 1

Lisa Frank THE NATURE OF PATTERN

July 4- August 12

Tyler Robbins SUBURBAN

August 15-September 23

Samantha VanDeman LOST SCHOOLS

September 26-November 4

Kendall McMinimy SUMMER ECLIPSED

November 7- December 30
People of the Big Voice: Photographs of Ho-Chunk Families by Charles Van Schaick, 1879-1942
sponsored by the Wisconsin Historical Society

More information about each exhibit is always available at our Facebook page...just click the logo to the right! Be sure to visit the artists' websites, and to come back during exhibits for interviews with the artists and reviews! It's going to be a gorgeous exhibition season!

Interview with photographer Patricia Delker, AND STILL THERE ARE SECRETS

2010-10-08T11:57:00.001-05:00

Our newest exhibit marks the return of a past exhibit curator, Patricia Delker. This time, she's showing her new work, a series of intimate black and white portraits. Always one for a great conversation, this time she's got you thinking that while she's telling you a secret, you may actually end up telling her one.

1. There's currently a memoir revival in literature, and writers like Jeanette Walls and Mary Karr are changing the scope of autobiography by exorcising their family histories in unflinchingly direct language. Do you think all art starts as autobiography, and how do you think a personal series translates to viewers?

I think people...both artists and viewers...would probably be surprised at how much art is autobiographical, if they really delved into it. Well, artists might not be quite as surprised as viewers, but I do think what we select to make art about certainly originates in the intellect, the experiences and personal history of the maker. One photographer is drawn to make landscape photographs, another is not...that decision stems from what makes up the individual. I think it might be sort of an artistic DNA. I feel a bit sad for the "artist" who spends years trying to make work that looks like someone else's that they may admire. Being influenced by others is great, copying what they do is not making art in my opinion. As to whether a personal series translates to a viewer, I think the personal often is the universal. Though we often think we are so different from others, at the core we are probably more similar than different, and it's the core similarities that translate even when the work stems from one's personal life. In the case of "And Still There Are Secrets", I believe everyone carries around their own secrets, whether they are traumatic or humorous or even mundane...everyone has a secret.

2. You photograph the intangible. Can you tell us about that intangible - is it memory, emotion, or something different - and how do you pre-visualize it? What's your process?

The intangible can't be touched, but it's there. Yes, memory and emotion are intangibles, but so is faith/the spiritual...so is history/time...and thought/inspiration. It's like we are brought up to believe the three-dimensional tangible world is dominant and most important, but it really seems to me we are beings dominated by our intangible worlds as much or more than the tangible one. It seems like the tangible world put limits on us and intangible world is limitless. There is certain subject matter and objects that I have been drawn to from the beginning, and I began to see that and delve into why, and that thought process lead to the discovery that it wasn't so much about the subject matter itself, but what the subject matter meant. The subject was a symbol for something far larger...an intangible. I don't want to shortchange that inner journey or thought process because I think it's very important to an artist to understand certain things about themselves and their work, and it did take some time to understand why I was doing what I did when I was making photographs of my subjects. So...my process is thought first, image second. I try to steer away from making other people's pictures and stay in touch with the power of symbolism.

3. Your model Heather Solomon is a virtual chameleon in this series, and she seems to physically change from image to image - as a viewer, I had to remind myself that this was the same woman. Was this a collaborative effort that allowed Heather to bring her own emotion to the image, or was she fully directed? Would you share tips on working with and selecting models?

Heather is a close friend, and as my artist's statement says, I don't think this series would have been made without her collaboration. I appreciate that, and her, immensely. A photo session usually started by my preparing a list of secrets I wanted to explore, finding the objects that suitably represented them and had meaning to me personally or I thought was symbolic of the secret in some way. I then sketched out an idea of my first visions. All these things, plus camera/film, I brought to the session. Two thirds of the time I probably shared the particular secret with Heather, but even when I didn't, as friends we had already covered a lot of personal history which I think served the sessions. The sessions were only about an hour, hour and a half...we covered maybe six or so secrets a session, over a roughly two year period. (There are actually probably close to 40 "secrets" that we photographed, but I edited that work to the 21 that are in the exhibit.) I didn't want to waste Heather's time; after all, she was doing me a favor. Anyway, we started with the sketches, some explanation, and then would see where that might take us. Heather has a great ability to "get it", and also she came to work. Modeling is work. At some point, I often said, "well, what do you feel like doing with this...what works for you?" This was actually my first time to work at length with a model and I suspect I might now be very spoiled. But I think working with any model requires that you know what you want, you don't waste their time, you take what they do seriously with the expectation that they will take what you are doing seriously and you treat them and the process with respect. I think the thing I most value about Heather's involvement with this project is her ability to look at the work, or an individual picture, not as a picture of herself, but to be able to embrace the concept that it was a symbol for something else; it wasn't about her, it was about the project, and then evaluate the results with that perspective.

4. You shoot film and make silver gelatin prints! How do you feel about the future of the wet darkroom, and what do you think your traditional process adds to your work that a digital process might not?

The wet darkroom is just magic to me (Another intangible perhaps?). Shut yourself up in a dark room, listen to the right music, pour magic chemicals, while manipulating/creating the picture you envisioned and then watching it come to life in front of you, slowly appearing in the tray. You feel like an ancient alchemist! I don't feel any magic in front of a computer. But that's just me. The important thing in this day and age is that you have all of photo history, and all the current/past/alternative processes to select from to make the image that you envision. You select the one that works for who you are, and how you can use it to make the image you want. Ultimately, it's not about how you make the picture; it's about the journey in making it and the final product of the journey.

5. When one stands to look closely at this work, her own image as viewer is reflected back from the great black spaces in your prints - as the viewer can't help but insert herself, it suddenly becomes her secret. Is it more important to you that people access this work in their own personal way, or that your experience remains yours? How do you feel if people make up their own stories over your personal history?

Wow, to be honest, I never thought of that specifically. It certainly seems appropriate, given that while the work is based in my secrets, it seeks to acknowledge and address the individual secrets we all carry with us. It's very important to me that people look at the work this way; it's one of the reasons I don't have individual titles for the pieces in the exhibit. I think titles are ideally provided to give the audience a clue to the significant thing about the picture, to assist the viewer into the picture. In this instance, it's really not about guessing the secret being represented, it's about what the image may trigger unconsciously in the viewer about themselves. So, I think it's great when people come up and say, "you know what that says/means to me" and then tell me their story. We sharing a secret...doesn't matter whether it's mine or theirs. What matters is that we recognize the role they play in our lives.

CALL FOR WORK: National Juried Exhibition at the Steenbock Gallery

2010-08-22T19:39:00.002-05:00

February 28 - April 8, 2011

The Center for Photography at Madison.

Entry Deadline: November 15, 2010

The Center for Photography at Madison is pleased to issue the call for our first juried national exhibition at the Steenbock Gallery. As Madison's primary photographic arts organization, we are pleased to partner with Andy Adams of FlakPhoto.com in presenting an exhibition of contemporary photography that will offer chosen photographers an opportunity to exhibit in Madison’s first gallery exclusively dedicated to the photographic arts. Specifically designed to allow participation by all working photographers this exhibit will provide a dialogue between emerging photographers, students, professionals, educators and artists in Madison and across the country. In addition to cash prizes, the winning photographer will be awarded a future solo exhibition at the Steenbock Gallery.

`Juror: Andy Adams of Flak Photo`

Andy Adams is the Editor/Publisher of FlakPhoto.com, a contemporary photography website that celebrates the culture of image-making by promoting the discovery of artists from around the world. An online art space and photography publication, the site provides opportunities for a global community of artists and photo organizations to share new series work, book projects, and gallery exhibitions with a web-based photography audience.

Recent features include 3030 Press' New Photography In China, Humble Arts Foundation's 31 Under 31: Young Women in Art Photography, Hamburger Eyes Photo Magazine's Inside Burgerworld, the Photographic Resource Center’s EXPOSURE: The Annual PRC Juried Exhibition, Big City Press' Hijacked, Volume One: Australia andAmerica, Center's Review Santa Fe 2009, David Wright + Ethan Jones' Pause To Begin, the Center for Fine Art Photography's 2009 International Exhibition, Blurb’s Photography Book Now, and the Magenta Foundation's Flash Forward: Emerging Photographers 2009.

Calendar

Nov. 15, 2010 Entry deadline

Dec. 1, 2010 Review of works

Jan. 7, 2011 Photographers notified

Feb. 24, 2011 All work delivered to gallery

Feb. 28-April 8, 2011 Exhibition Dates

March 4, 2011(6-9pm) Opening reception

April 9, 2011 Pick up of unsold work

April 11, 2011 Shipping pick up*

*Photographer schedules pick up of work with preferred shipper.

PRIZES AND SPONSORS

FIRST PRIZE

$500 cash prize and a solo exhibition at the Steenbock Gallery in 2012.

SECOND PRIZE

$250 cash prize

THIRD PRIZE

$100 cash prize

*Honorable mentions may be awarded at juror's discretion.

All accepted works must be at the Steenbock Gallery (hand delivery or shipped) by 4:30pm on February 24. Any pieces not received by this time will not be exhibited.

All unsold works must be picked up by 12noon on April 9. All unsold works must be picked up by shippers by 4:30pm on April 11. Artists are responsible for paying and arranging their own shipping.

Any additional, detailed shipping instructions will be sent later following notification of acceptance

Upon notification of acceptance, Artist agrees to:

•provide artwork that is ready to be hung:

2D work must be prepared with hanging wire.

3D work must sit sturdily on pedestal or floor.

*arrange pick-up of unsold artwork on either April 9 (for artist or buyer pick-ups) or April 11 (by artist designated shipping company.)

SIZE AND WEIGHT No work may exceed 5 ft. in any direction or be over 50 pounds in weight.

SALES: A 30% commission will be retained by the gallery on all sold works. Work remains the property of the artist until sold. Sold artwork shall remain in the exhibition until the close of the show.

INSURANCE: Artists should self-insure work during transit and while on exhibit.

INVITATION AND WEBSITE One image will be chosen for the invitation cover design. Images of accepted works and profiles of selected artists will be featured at http://www.steenbockcpm.blogspot.com.

ENTRY CHECKLIST

[ ] CD: Up to 5 works submitted on CD. One jpeg per work, titled as name_number.jpg. Must be numbered to correspond with numbers on entry form. Jpegs should be 1000 pixels (minimum) In longest dimension, and at 300 dpi.

[ ] Entry form: Filled out completely and typed or printed clearly. Detach and return with CD and fee

[ ] Entry fee: Non-refundable fee of $25 payable by check, money order or cashier's check. Make payable to The Center for Photography at Madison, include Steenbock Juried Show in memo line.

[ ] SASE: Include a self-addressed stamped envelope for the return of non-accepted material. CDs will not be returned without it.

Please do not include any additional or unrequested material.

AGREEMENT Signature gives artist's consent to all conditions specified in this prospectus. Submission of your entry grants CPM permission to use your artwork or reproduction of likeness in promotional materials for this exhibition.

Signature: ____________________________

Please send form to:

The Center for Photography at Madison

attn: 2011 Steenbock Juried Exhibition

303 South Paterson Street, Suite 2E

Madison Wl 53703

The Steenbock Gallery in the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences Arts & Letters.

1922 University Avenue

Madison Wl 53726

The Steenbock Gallery, sponsored and managed by the Center for Photography at Madison in partnership with the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, is dedicated to the exhibition, exploration and appreciation of the photographic arts. The Steenbock Gallery provides opportunities for photographers and curators, and serves as a forum for dialogue between artists educators, students and the public at large.

ABOUT CPM and THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY

In 2008 The Center for Photography at Madison (CPM) partnered with the Wisconsin Academy for exhibit space. CPM is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1998, and offers a broad range of educational programs, exhibitions, facilities and publications. CPM offers classes, exhibit opportunities, and a wide variety of programs at its Paterson Street location.

The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters is a non-profit organization whose goal Is to connect people and ideas from all areas of knowledge and all walks of life to celebrate thought, culture and nature in our state. The Steenbock is one of two galleries affiliated with the Academy, the other being the James Watrous Gallery.

Administration of the Steenbock Gallery makes CPM relevant and accessible to a wider audience including University of Wisconsin faculty and students. These mutually beneficial liaisons provide exhibition, curatorial, and administrative opportunities, and help make it Madison's first photo gallery devoted to the history, contemporary trends, and future expansion of photographic media and theory. Located in the Wisconsin Academy building, the Steenbock Is readily accessible to the UW campus and affiliated organizations, and the greater Madison area.

GALLERY HOURS: Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm

CONTACT fNFORMATION

Phone(CPM): 608.287.1182

(gallery): 608 263 1692

email steenbockcpm@gmail.com

blog http://www.steenbockcpm.blogspot.org

websites www.cpmad.org and www.wisconsinacademy.org

After the Reign

2010-07-08T11:07:00.012-05:00

Interview by Madison Magazine associate editor Katie Vaughn, posted at Madison Magazine's blog on July 8 2010. When one thinks of a beauty queen, specific images come to mind: glittery gowns, coiffed hair, poise and a sparkling crown. Growing up in Louisiana, Jessie Eisner-Kleyle witnessed these and other mainstays of pageant life.But hearing a story about a queen who both embodied and defied these norms—a girl who not only wore a crown but was also a champion skinner of nutria, a large, semi-aquatic rodent—piqued the photographer’s interest in the women who participate in pageants.

Armed with her camera and an interest in gender roles, Eisner-Kleyle set out to photograph former beauty queens to explore their post-reign lives and the other, perhaps less obvious, ways they express femininity.

The series of photographs became Nutria Queens, an exhibition that’s on display through July 30 at the Steenbock Gallery. Recently, Eisner-Kleyle took some time to explain how the project came about—and what’s it’s meant to her.

How did you get the idea for Nutria Queens?

The Lake Charles American Press published an article in 1996 about a girl who was queen of the Cameron Fur and Wildlife Festival and was also a nutria skinner from a long line of skinners. Right after the parade she was in the skinning contest, and they wrote in the article about how she had to run and change out of her gown into her jeans to make it from the parade to the contest. The men in her family were the skinners, and were so proud of her, and so impressed with her talent. During my graduate studies in Wisconsin, and in my own research into gender and society, I found myself thinking more and more about that woman—wondering what she was doing these days and how she’d balanced such an extreme feminine activity as pageantry with something so decidedly un-feminine as nutria skinning. We see portraits of these queens in the paper when they’re crowned, in festival histories and Mardi Gras museums, and it’s always the same shot—a sparkly gown, huge crown, scepter and satin sash. I became more and more interested in the reality of these women.

What interested you in these former pageant contestants?

Every woman in this series, with the exception of the original queen from the article, was brought to me through friends and family; in fact, some of them are friends and family. The project had been in me for so long that when I started moving forward on it I sent emails to friends and family back home telling them what I was wanting to do and asking if they knew any former queens. I wanted to test the waters and see if there was anything there. As it turns out, everyone knows a queen! My mom worked with several queens, and my husband’s parents were part of a Mardi Gras Krewe and opened up their directory and mailed letters about my project to every queen they knew. One of my bridesmaids had worked with one of the queens at The Gap years before, and still knew how to get in touch with her and passed it on. My sister in-law’s twin is one of the queens, and her daughter is another.

Every queen that participated heard about the project secondhand and contacted me with her interest. The only queen I actively pursued was the queen from the 1996 article. I would have moved ahead with the series without her, but I don’t know how happy I would have been about it. Luckily I didn’t have to find out!

What was it like photographing these women?

In every way this phrase can be turned, it felt like going home. Of course, I got to stay with my family and use my dad’s truck to drive around and meet these queens for sessions. But to walk in to the home of a complete stranger and be welcomed, entertained, sometimes fed (though ALWAYS hugged) is something that I’ve never found outside of southwest Louisiana, and something that I miss. That sense of welcoming familiarity was all encompassing, even in the women who had sort of missed the fact that I was originally from there and would introduce me as “the lady from Wisconsin.”

These were talkative and easygoing photo sessions. Some women met me after work and school with just their kids around, and others had houses full of family and friends curious about the project and about me. Some would sit with me for quite some time, showing me scrapbooks, driving me around their town and talking about their time as queen, before we started. Others would give me a tour of their home and we’d start shooting right away while we talked. Some made a day of it, and those shoots included airboat rides, alligator hatching, driving out to oil rigs or visiting with neighbors at the dock to see what they’d caught that day; I would shoot the entire time. I pushed each sitter to design her own session and allow me to follow behind, documenting what she would have been doing anyway, and I think that’s a big part of making each sitter comfortable and each portrait something more than those sterile queen portraits I’d seen my entire life.

What surprised you most about meeting the pageant queens and seeing what their lives were like?

I guess there’s a fine line between being surprised by something for the first time, and being reminded of something you’ve always known.

How easy these women were in front of a camera, talking to a total stranger about their life and their work, their history and their plans for the future was a constant shock, though that may be something I’ve forgotten by being out of the South. While some were decked out and completely made up for the camera, others wore jeans and T-shirts and just rolled with it. That casual attitude surprised me, especially coming from women who were, essentially, in this project based on their ability to plan and prep.

The funniest thing was that when I picked up a camera, regardless of if she’d reigned one or twenty years before, these women still knew how to turn it on for a camera. It was a constant struggle to get them to ignore me!

Did being involved in pageants still have an impact on the women?

There were some who knew each other, not personally, but from being in the pageant world. Several were curious about the other queens and wanted to know what I did for the shoots with other subjects. Sometimes they were a little critical about what I’d done with other queens; is that quickness to rate and judge left over from pageants? I don’t know.

One woman, when she spoke to me about her time as queen, consistently said “bride” instead of “queen.” She’d gotten married decades before in a suit at City Hall, so her dress for the Krewe was the most formal dress she’d ever owned and was, in fact, a redesigned and dyed wedding dress. Her portrait from her 1980s crowning still hung above the mantel in her living room, so I’d say she was impacted daily by her time as queen. Keep in mind, though, that for each queen who kept her regalia at arm’s length, there was another who had delivered 10,000 babies in her career, had a hospital wing named after her and couldn’t have cared less about her time as queen.

The one trait that each queen shared with the next was her gracious manner, her ability to talk about her life and open herself up to a stranger and, like I mentioned earlier, to be completely at ease in front of a camera, or at least look like she was. I have to think that grace under pressure is a great side effect of pageant life.

How significant is it that these women are from Louisiana? In what ways does the setting shape this project?

In the trajectory that the project has taken, it’s vital. This project would never have been seeded had I not read that article. Louisiana is a strange and fascinating place, and the rules that govern our behavior are bizarre, so without that upbringing would I have been so attuned to the oddities of societal norms once I left? Seven years after leaving, I still qualify some of my behaviors by telling a story about how we do it down home.

Once the project was going, would I have found a population so quick to spread the project by word of mouth, so eager to let me back in, and so proud of their lives that they could stand unflinchingly in front of a camera and tell that story? I can’t say no definitely, but I doubt it. My Midwestern portrait projects often found me trying to calm wary and anxious women who were suspicious of what I was doing with these portraits, and I encourage that—I would never let a stranger photograph my children or me without subjecting them to extensive interviews and background checks!! But every one of these queens opened their doors to me and shrugged me off as I told them about my release forms. They trusted me from the get go and that encouraged the project every step of the way.

Every background tells a story. The coastal landscape is identifiable to anyone who’s ever walked a shoreline made of broken concrete. The sky during that rainy week was perfect, not only for lighting photographs but for setting a scene, and the color of grass or water or sky in Louisiana is a huge part of what visually defines that place. That color and density is something that I’ve missed in my years in the Midwestern prairie. Even the interior shots tell stories, and every woman gave me a tour of her new rooms that had been rebuilt after [Hurricane] Rita.

How did your interest in fairy tales come into play in working on this series of photographs? My interest in fairy tales came from the stories I was told in Louisiana. That eventually formed my interest in gender roles as taught through childhood literature. While I didn’t start this series to be based equally on portraits and interviews, like I have in some of my other portrait series, I definitely interviewed these women during the process. Our fairy tales were passed down orally by women who knew that those stories would teach values to the next generations and were eventually collected and written down by men who knew that their culture would be fortified by these tales. Those stories of the people were entrusted with the continuation of a culture. When you have to rebuild so often, your stories and your culture become your home, and the place you can return to. When your heirlooms are carried away by wind, you replace those objects with stories. When the home you grew up in washes away, you hold your history tighter. As we all migrate from home and start our own families, we find ourselves grounded and refreshed by our personal mythologies. The culture of Louisiana is rooted in migration, rebuilding and finding home wherever you can. I’ve learned that in this series, the viewer appreciates the imagery, but WANTS the stories. Though I didn’t at the time of the shoots, I absolutely see a correlation between reinforcing the values of your past while protecting your future in the stories you pass down, and I see it in both current day Louisiana and seventeenth-century Germany.

What questions do you hope this exhibition raises in viewers’ minds? What do you hope they get from seeing your work?

Of course, I want there to be a constant concern for the Gulf Coast and its residents as we become increasingly careless with our planet. I want you to look at these images, at the people that thrive there and connect your own life with those in Louisiana. Then write to your politicians, and protect what’s precious.

But this wasn’t intended to be a public service announcement, nor was it intended to raise pity for the people of my home. This work was made in celebration, not of the beauty of these women or of how lovely they look in an evening gown, but of their strength, and of how smart and resilient they are. Every single one of them is an expert at something that may surprise you. Each of these women is, yes, a former beauty queen, but that was one year of her life. Every day in and outside of that year she is a mother, a daughter, a sister, a doctor, a teacher, an advocate, a rodeo champion, a builder, a hunter, an entrepreneur and, of course, an extremely fast nutria skinner. Her time as queen was a major life event, but it didn’t define her life.

I want people, from seeing any of my work, to question the way society has taught them to react to gender. Is there something you do just because it’s expected of your gender? Some way that you behave? Some value you place on yourself based on nothing more than your gender? What about in how you look at the people around you?

Coincidentally, one of the queens moved to France last week. She had emailed, during a prior visit, that she loved France because she didn’t have to wear makeup every day. I reminded her that there was no American law that required a woman to wear makeup and she should absolutely do what made her happy, especially with her face! We’re limited by ourselves and by what we think we’re supposed to do, but I do think we’d be a lot happier if we more often did what felt right, and not always what society and our gender tell us we have to.

Nutria Queens runs through July 30 at Steenbock Gallery, 1922 University Ave. For more information, visit wisconsinacademy.org.

Photos courtesy of Jessie Eisner-Kleyle.

An associate editor at Madison Magazine, I'm also an unabashed arts enthusiast. Paintings, plays, music, movies—I'm intrigued by all forms of creative expression. I enjoy talking with artists and sharing their insights, challenges and inspirations.

CALL FOR 2011 EXHIBITION PROPOSALS Deadline: August 1

2010-07-05T14:21:00.001-05:00

Are you ready for your solo exhibition at the Steenbock?

Have you curated a photographic exhibition that the world needs to see?

Then we have your application...

Our exhibit guidelines, a map of the gallery, and the application form are all available below

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NUTRIA QUEENS Review by William Zuback

2010-06-29T15:44:00.001-05:00

Jessie Eisner-Kleyle is a Madison based fine art photographer and educator who's current exhibit Nutria Queens is showing at the Steenbock Gallery in Madison until July 30^th. Jessie began her journey back home to Louisiana to photograph these past pageant queens in the summer of 2008. She was first drawn to this subject matter as a series when she recalled reading an article about a Nutria Skinner Champion who was also the Fur and Wildlife Queen in Louisiana when Jessie was growing up. Remembering this article Jessie wondered what this woman and other official pageant queens like her were doing today? The subject matter also raised other questions for Jessie as she describes it in her artist statement on her website; “This project explores the off stage lives of former queens and the particular regional femininity in which I was raised.” Jessie was able to locate and connect with the Nutria skinner champion and many other past queens from a variety of pageant titles. Her exhibit captures these women in their current surroundings.

First of all you may be asking yourself what the heck is a Nutria? Embarrassingly the only reason I know what a Nutria is comes from watching the program Billy the Exterminator on A/E. A Nutria is a large rodent/beaver like animal that lives in and around water in the southern states. The article that sparked this series was of interest to Jessie because she was curious how this woman, “balanced such an extreme feminine activity as pageantry with something so decidedly un-feminine as Nutria skinning.” The exhibition consists of 26 photographs of eleven different queens in a variety of sizes from 13”x8.65” to 22”x32”. The exhibit has a nice flow to it with photographs that candidly capture the past beauty queens in their environments as well as portraits that appear to be more organized and posed. The collection of photographs are displayed in a way that fills the intimate space of the Steenbock Gallery with a visual rhythm moving in and out of the selective larger images and the more numerous smaller photographs.

What you find as you follow these woman through the selected captures Jessie has chosen to display are eleven women who live pretty ordinary lives like the rest of us. A few of the queens show their old flair by how they posed for the camera but the majority seem to have left their pageantry days behind them and although they still retain all of or signs of their past beauty days they seem more interested in raising a family or having a career. What I like about this series is that the photographs allow the viewer a glimpse into the current lives of these past queens. I see this series having some similarities to the Wounded in America series by Robert Drea and Stephanie Arena which shows portraits of gun violence survivors but offers a deeper look into their psyche by offering a brief written narrative of each survivor. Dawoud Bey comes to mind as well with his portraits of high school kids and the added dimension that the narratives written by each student photographed offers the viewer. Not that an artist should provide a photographic narrative or series in a nicely wrapped package for the viewer to digest but with the stereotypes of pageants and the complex lives of individuals I do yearn for a little more information than the photo's create.

Jessie has captured the confidence, strength, compassion and independence of these beauty queens. I can only imagine that participating in such an event once in a life time or numerous times is not for the timid. The portrait of Adrienne sitting on the back of a Jeep with a gator by her side is a beautiful color portrait of a queen that is still close to nature. Her long blonde hair blowing in the wind along with her confident smile displays some of the beauty the judges probably recognized many years ago when they crowned her Louisiana Fur and Wildlife Festival Queen. For what it's worth as a male I can't help but notice she isn't wearing a wedding ring? What is her life story?

This is my favorite of Jessie's portraits. Kate, 1990 Water Festival Queen. This is not a posed photograph. It's so perfect it looks staged. The one son standing in the sink gazing at the camera. The younger son holding onto his sisters toe while dad is carrying the daughter piggyback. Kate stands both proud and in seemingly control of a chaotic and somewhat surreal environment. You have to wonder if the frantic pace and experience of being on and in control of your emotions and actions in a pageant setting didn't help prepare her for moments like these.

Bronwyn, 2000 Patterson Cypress Sawmill Festival Queen caringly comforts her daughter. You don't know what has upset her young daughter but you do wonder if this is only one of many times mom will use her pageantry experience to console the hurt feelings of her daughter if she too becomes a contestant and possible future queen?

Nissa, 1991 Job's Daughters Miss Congeniality. This photograph and the other one in the show of Nissa makes me laugh. In this photograph Nissa appears to be anything but congenial. Is she bored with her current life? Was winning Miss Congeniality the highlight of her life so far?

These photographs and many more of the twenty six images in this exhibit invite you into the world and a little bit the minds of these former queens. Jessie has done a marvelous job capturing the strength of these women. You can see this exhibit through July 30, Monday through Friday 8:30am – 4:30pm at the Steenbock Gallery in Madison, Wisconsin.

original post from Milwaukee photographer William Zuback's blog, June 29 2010

HOW CAN MADISON BECOME A STRONGER CENTER FOR INNOVATION?

2010-06-16T19:15:00.013-05:00

That's the question being explored in the City of Madison's first cultural planning process. Explore the Madison Cultural plan website to learn what the plan is all about, which creative efforts are included in the idea of culture at the heart of the plan, when and where planning activities will take place, why the the plan is important to Madison's residents, businesses and visitors, and how any resident can get involved.

WHAT IS A CULTURAL ARTS PLAN?

A cultural plan is a community decision-making process that seeks ways to better support and utilize creative work. Cultural plans explore resident’s preferences, the adequacy of public and private structures that support creativity and innovation, and identify specific action steps that can make the community’s creative portfolio stronger, more accessible, more sustainable and more diverse.
WHOSE CREATIVE WORK IS INCLUDED IN MADISON’S CULTURAL PLAN?
The Madison Cultural Plan will explore the arts, history, and the sciences and will include exploration of the work of individual artists and creative workers as well as institutions in both the commercial and nonprofit sectors. The plan intentionally defines culture broadly. It includes, for example, individuals and organizations who are students, amateurs, and professionals working in such varied fields as artisan food production; digital production; architecture; history and heritage; traditional, experimental; and fine arts; scientific research; software and hardware development; advertising; publishing; gardening; entertainment, environmental programming; and so forth. If creative content drives the work an individual or organization does, it is included in this plan.
WHY IS THE CULTURAL PLAN IMPORTANT TO MADISON?
Creativity and innovation have long been major drivers of Madison’s unique character and its economic base. They are woven into our sense of place. Just as it is important to plan the ways in which the city supports neighborhoods, it is important to plan the ways in which it’s policies and resources support creativity and innovation.

What is Madison’s vision for its arts and cultural future?
What arts and cultural opportunities do residents want for themselves and for their children?
How can broad access to opportunities in creative play, learning, and work be promoted?
Are we making the best use of our public and private facilities?
What structures and resources are necessary to strengthen and sustain our creative community?

The planning process will include research; GIS mapping; surveying; conducting interviews, focus groups, roundtables, and public hearings; and working with a local Steering Committee in the formulation of recommendations for action.

GETTING INVOLVED

Learn more about how you can get involved. Your voice is important. There are opportunities to complete surveys, participate in public meetings, and even conduct your own discussion groups with peers, friends, or co-workers. The strength of the plan relies on the willingness of residents, artists and creative workers, and creative institutions, commercial and nonprofit, to participate. Check the Get Involved page; it’s fun!

WHO IS CONDUCTING THE CULTURAL PLANNING PROCESS?

The City of Madison has retained Mary Berryman Agard & Associates and partners Vandewalle & Associates, and Robert Bush to conduct the cultural plan.
The City of Madison staff person leading this effort is
Karin Wolf, Arts Program Administrator
Madison Arts Commission
Department of Planning, Community & Economic Development
Madison Municipal Building
215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Madison WI 53701-2985
608.261.9134
KWolf@cityofmadison.com

Interview with photographer Ellen Pizer, DRIVEN TO ABSTRACTION

2010-05-27T18:43:00.003-05:00

Our new exhibit features fascinating, playful, colorful and surprising abstract photographs by Milwaukee photographer Ellen Pizer, who, as it turns out, is as surprised as the rest of us, but will let you in on the secret if you ask nicely...

1. The work in this exhibit just runs away with peoples' imaginations, and there's great and constant conversation about of what the image is, of what it reminds someone, and how it makes the viewer feel. Conversely, I saw a lot of different people throw their hands up at you and say "what IS it?" With such emotional images, that are so personal to each person who views them, how do you feel when people ask you for the answer - do you like to let them in on the secret of the abstraction, or do you worry it may change how they interact with the piece?

The first time I exhibited my abstract photographs I was actually surprised that people were so curious about them. If I’m asked, I have no problem telling people what they’re looking at, although there have been a few times where I’ve had to go back to try to figure it out for myself. I’ve learned to take at least one wide angle shot of the area before I leave to give myself some point of reference.

I guess there are different ways of viewing my photos. First is the immediate impact; the design, colors or whatever causes a viewer to stop and take a look. But I think there is something within us that needs to know what we are looking at. When it’s a painting, we feel free to see what we want whether or not it’s what the artist was trying to convey. But when we know it’s a photograph, I think we want to understand what it is or where it was taken. We need to place the image in some context of its surroundings.

I actually enjoy listening to people try to figure out what they're looking at, and I think they have fun with this process as well. Years ago I actually had a contest offering an 11"x14" print to anyone who could correctly figure out what "Looks Like Something Growing" was a picture of. No answer even came close.

I usually do not worry about people changing the way they interact with my work. I just want them to enjoy it. It doesn't matter if they like it upside down or sideways. The fact that they're curious enough about it to ask is quite a complement in itself. I hope my work reflects the fun I’m having. Sharing my photos with others feels kind of like a little kid excitedly saying, “Look what I found!”

The only time I have ever hesitated about revealing a photo’s origin was when the shape on a maroon dumpster consisted of bird poop. I'm not sure that information would have had a positive impact - although the shape was actually very sensual and the piece was titled "Come on Over and See Me Sometime."

2. You have work in this exhibit that is printed and framed in a straightforward manner, as well as some pieces printed on canvas and stretched, and others printed on satin and hung. Would you talk about the different substrates you're working on, and about how you pair imagery with surface?

I started printing on canvas several years ago at the request of a gallery owner who is also a painter. She felt that some of my photos inspired some of her paintings and wanted to see what my work would look like printed on canvas for a show at her gallery. I have over time learned that there are some images that lend themselves more to canvas than others – usually it is the more abstract and heavily textured images that I think can be enhanced by the texture of the canvas. I am not a painter, however, and try not to pretend that I am.

Trying out satin began when an artist wanted to know if we could print on material that he could use to refurbish an old decorative screen he had found. He still hasn’t finished creating his image for that screen, but since the satin was lying around I thought I’d try it out. Because one side of the satin is coated so that the inks will adhere to the material, the shiny side is actually the back. At first I was disappointed because it wasn’t what I had anticipated.

I printed one image on matte paper, semi-matte paper and satin. I laid them next to each other on a table. At first glance the satin print appeared more muted than the other two. I left the images there for several weeks and for some reason the satin image kept drawing me back. I finally realized that the image printed on satin was more “fluid”. That’s the only word I can use to describe it – it has movement and when light shines through it from behind, it actually glows. I therefore look for an image that is simple and can be enhanced by movement or something where colors blend into each other without hard edges or textures.

3. I heard, through the chattering crowd, something great at the opening. You were talking to a guest and you said that when you're out exploring to make these images, you approach that "hunt" with more intensity than you do anything else in your life. Would you elaborate on your process for shooting this work, and maybe even talk about how that's different from the rest of your life?

I tend to be pretty intense about everything in my life. When I first started back into photography my mother was in her nineties and both of my sons were teenagers. I had a lot on my mind to say the least. But when I was out with my camera, even for just a short time, I noticed that my mind was so completely absorbed in the “treasure hunt” that I didn’t think about anything else. I did not worry, I didn’t think about what time I had to be somewhere, or whether my kids had finished their homework. I did not think about anything else except what existed within the viewfinder of my camera. It brought me such peace, a reprieve from the stresses of everyday life.

Sometimes it takes me awhile to get into that zone, to find something that excites me. Usually I will force myself to keep looking, to keep walking, to turn around until something catches my eye. When I find a colorful rusted dumpster or a graffiti covered railroad car, I feel like a kid at an amusement park. There is an excitement that is hard to describe. What is funny is that I may have passed that site many times without ever paying attention, but at that moment I am seeing it as if for the first time.

4. Stylistically, you've got some amazing different abstractions going on. A piece like "Towering Facade" has a very crisp and geometric feel of color blocks, line and shape and calls to mind the work of Mondrian, while a piece like "Hearts and Flowers" has an extremely Pollock-y expressive feel to it. These styles can be considered to be fairly diametric, so what is it about each of these styles that calls to you so strongly?

I think it’s the magic of the viewfinder. A building is a building is a building; some beautiful, others not; some unique, others commonplace. But the viewfinder forces me to look at the parts of the whole. Shapes appear, shadows define, angles are enhanced and I just begin shooting, getting closer, backing up, moving around. Each piece becomes a whole. Some juxtaposition of shadows and light, color or textures, just begins to jump out at me. I really don’t think about composition. It just feels right or it doesn’t, although it often takes time and a number of shots until I get there. Although I kind of went kicking and screaming into the digital age, I’m thankful that I can shoot as much as I want without thinking about the cost of film or processing.

When it comes to the more painterly abstractions, it once again begins with the power of the viewfinder. When I find a colorful dumpster with lots of spills and splatters and scrapes it feels as though I am entering a fine art gallery but without any definitive framed pieces. It’s all just a haphazard jumble of color and texture. But when I put the camera up to my eye, the viewfinder begins to frame the chaos. And as I move around and close in or move back, any number of possible images begin to appear.

In a way both the graphic and the painterly images are discovered through a similar process…closing out the visual chaos and zeroing in on what I find are the essential elements.

5. Are you ever surprised at how the image comes together or when you shoot it do you know how one image will stretch on canvas and look like a painting, while another will flutter in the breeze on satin and look like a tapestry? Are you ever surprised by your own work?

I am sometimes disappointed to find that what I found so exciting while I was out shooting, just doesn’t translate into a photograph, but I would not trade the experience of finding that image for anything. Even when an outing yields nothing worth printing, the experience itself is rewarding. I’ll often see little pieces in what I’ve photographed that look interesting and go back to the site to get a different view. Then there are the times when I didn’t think I got anything good and there amongst the boring will be an unexpected gem or two.

I don't really think of how an image may be printed when I'm out shooting. Actually I don't "think" at all when I'm shooting. I don't really previsualize very well so printing is often just experimentation. Sometimes I’ll proof on canvas, satin and several papers and then look at them over a period of time before deciding which I like best.

What has been most surprising even to me, is how small an area I’ve actually photographed. Because I get so lost in the viewfinder I often have no idea how close I am or what a small piece of the whole I am looking at. The image “Beauty Comes with Age” is a perfect example of that. The first print I made for a show was 40"x60". It was sitting in my studio waiting for the gallery to pick it up. A friend asked what it was and I took him out to the metal dumpster behind the studio and pointed to an area on this huge dumpster which was maybe 6" in diameter. I was as shocked as anyone.

TREASURE HUNTING

2010-05-19T18:34:00.002-05:00

Madison Magazine associate editor Katie Vaughn wrote a review of our current exhibition, Ellen Pizer: Driven to Abstraction on their blog. Read it over there, or right down here!!

In the opening lines of her artist’s statement, Milwaukee photographer Ellen Pizer describes the first time she looked through the viewfinder of a 35mm camera.

“Everything else seemed to fade into the background except what existed within that rectangle frame,” she writes. “I began to see lines and shapes I had never noticed before.”

Pizer focuses on architecture, structures, materials and objects that many people would consider blight. But through her framing, these elements become abstracted and beautiful.

Roughly thirty of Pizer’s works are on display at the Steenbock Gallery in Driven to Abstraction, an exhibition that opened May 10 and runs through June 18.

The show, presented by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters and the Center for Photography at Madison, illustrates Pizer’s breadth: large and small works, series and individual pieces, and images presented in frames, on canvas and on pieces of cloth share wall space in the University Avenue gallery.

What ties the works together are their bold colors, incredible textures and the patterns formed through distilling scenes and objects down to abstractions.

The viewer can’t always tell exactly what he or she is looking at in an image. Sometimes it’s sleek architecture photographed in black and white or close-ups of bright red building structures. Other times, it’s an expanse of rusted and weathered metal revealed in vibrant blues, reds, whites and golds. Often the most stunning works are the nearly impossible to identify, given the degree to which they’re abstracted.

A fun touch to the exhibition is a collection of five framed magnetic boards. In these “Graffiti Creations” stations, visitors can choose colorful magnet squares to mix and match (or purchase for $5) on the boards to create their own compositions. All of the squares are photos of graffiti-embellished railroad cars that sit abandoned on tracks near Pizer’s studio.

At a later point in her artist’s statement, Pizer explains the “joy of discovery” in finding an image to capture with her camera. “I call this process a visual treasure hunt,” she states.

Fortunately, through seeing and having hands-on experiences with Pizer’s work at this exhibition, it’s a hunt visitors can happily join her on.

Driven to Abstraction runs through June 18 at the Steenbock Gallery, 1922 University Ave. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, visit wisconsinacademy.org.

Photos courtesy of the Steenbock Gallery.

Check in weekly for details on events, informal previews and reviews, artist interviews and more!

(And visit http://www.madisonmagazine.com/Blogs/Liberal-Arts/ for past posts.)

SFMOMA Symposium: IS PHOTOGRAPHY OVER?

2010-04-07T10:36:00.007-05:00

SFMOMA has been collecting and exhibiting photographs since the museum's founding in 1935 and is dedicated to the examination of the medium in all its forms. This major symposium on the current state of the field is the first in a series of public programs on photography. The texts below reflect the initial responses of 13 invited participants to the symposium's central question: Is photography over? The discussion begun here will continue on April 22 and 23, when the participants will convene at SFMOMA for a series of public and private conversations on the current state of the medium.
Phyllis Wattis Theater

Thursday, April 22, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, April 23, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Photography has almost always been in crisis. In the beginning, the terms of this crisis were cast as dichotomies: is photography science or art? Nature or technology? Representation or truth? This questioning has intensified and become more complicated over the intervening years. At times, the issues have required a profound rethinking of what photography is, does, and means. This is one of those times. Given the nature of contemporary art practice, the condition of visual culture, the advent of new technologies, and many other factors, what is at stake today in seeing something as a photograph? What is the value of continuing to speak of photography as a specific practice or discipline? Is photography over?

SFMOMA has invited a range of major thinkers and practitioners to write brief responses to this question and then to convene for a two-day summit on the state of the medium. Participants include Vince Aletti, George Baker, Walead Beshty, Jennifer Blessing, Charlotte Cotton, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Geoff Dyer, Peter Galassi, Corey Keller, Douglas Nickel, Trevor Paglen, Blake Stimson, and Joel Snyder.

Their texts will be used to kick off a panel discussion Thursday night. The 13 participants will continue the conversation Friday morning in closed-door sessions and will report back in a public session Friday afternoon.

Please note that here are several ways to engage with this event apart from attending the public panel discussions. In addition to reading the panelists' answer to the question "Is photography over?" here, additonal responses to this question, as well as a lively discussion during and after the symposium, will be posted on SFMOMA's blog.

The Museum also hopes to make a recording of the event available on their website, and a print-on-demand publication sampling some of the symposium's findings will be forthcoming.

PICTURED ABOVE: Unknown Untitled [Man reflected in mirrors], n.d.; photograph; gelatin silver print; Collection SFMOMA, Gift of Gordon L. Bennett

THINK NEGATIVE: UW-Madison Photo Student Exhibit

2010-03-22T18:08:00.007-05:00

The UW-Madison Photography Student Show has been a yearly event since 2006, and we are thrilled to welcome this year's show to the Steenbock! Opening next week is the 2010 exhibit, with new work from photographers studying with Tom Jones and Jim Escalante in the undergraduate and graduate art programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

THINK NEGATIVE features fresh and contemporary photography by Sarah Ripp, Jake Naughton, Alexander Devoe, Youn-Jae Ok, Kristen Juve, Jackie Matelski, Brittany Peterson, Ana Taylor, Linda Friend, Laurel Iber, Lisa Frank, Julie Insun Youn, Jordan Anderson, Patricia LaPointe, Niki Johnson, Andrea Brdek, Mayra Linares and Jena Schleis.

Get a sneak peek on our Facebook page, and join us for the OPENING RECEPTION on Friday, April 9 from 7-9pm. Don't miss it!!!

Interview with photographer Claire Ruzicka, FACES OF OAXACA

2010-03-15T11:50:00.007-05:00

We were lucky to catch the lovely Claire Ruzicka at home, and chatted with her about Mary Ellen Mark, hanging the same image two ways, and leaving room for the mystery...
¡Gracias, Claire!

1. These portraits were made during a trip you took to Oaxaca in July 2009, and you say that you went there specifically with the idea of making these environmental portraits. Can you tell us about that community and what drew you to it - in short, why Oaxaca?
I was drawn to Oaxaca to attend a workshop taught by Mary Ellen Mark. I have admired Mark’s talent for photographing people and wanted to study with her in developing my own documentary style. She has held workshops in Oaxaca for 15 years so I viewed this as a fantastic opportunity to learn from a master in a place that had a rich culture including the arts. In addition, I was excited to visit Mexico for the first time and use my Spanish language skills in connecting with the people there.

2. If you went to Oaxaca not knowing anyone, how did you introduce yourself into this society? If you did know someone, how did you gain access to strangers’ homes and lives for these photographs? Do you currently have any plans to revisit and reshoot in the future? If not Oaxaca, then somewhere else?
The workshop setting provided the access and motivation to meet people in their homes as well as in the villages. Mary Ellen Mark and her assistants in Oaxaca were instrumental in introducing me to the people who I photographed in their homes. Other images were taken spontaneously, without introductions, in the villages. I traveled to both the homes and villages on my own, sometimes making conversation in Spanish and other times communicating through body language; smiles, gestures and the camera. All of the people I met and photographed were gracious and warm in allowing me to work with them. I do hope to return to Oaxaca or to another region of Mexico sometime in the future. This is really the start of a new direction in photography for me and I’m considering how I can build on this and use it as a foundation for creating a long term project in my own community.

3. You have one image in particular in the exhibit that is printed in both color and black and white, and it takes some work to realize it’s the same image. Would you talk about that curatorial decision to hang the same image twice, but printed differently?

This was a surprise and fun decision I made midway through the printing of the 20 images chosen for the exhibit. My intention while I was shooting the images in Oaxaca was to work in black and white, I like the abstraction that is inherent in b&w. I made the photos with a digital camera and had the files in both color and b&w. When I saw this specific image in color, I had the idea to print it larger than the others and use it as the centerpiece on the title wall of the exhibit. The color version emphasize the beauty of the textiles made in the weaving village of Teotitlan del Valle. It is effective in recreating the sense of being in Oaxaca that I wanted people to experience upon entering the exhibition space.

4. Your portraits of horses have the feeling of relaxation and the compositional beauty that your portraits of human subjects have. Can you talk about your process, as a photographer and an equestrian, making portraits of people and animals? Consequently, can you talk about your transition between landscape/nature and portrait photographer?

There is a bit of a mystery to this since a lot happens on a conscious and subconscious level when I’m making images as well as when I’m riding horses. Photography and dressage are passions of mine, both have a technical component combined with an artistry, a creative component that relates to the dynamic between me and the person or me and the horse. There is an unpredictability to the interaction and a necessity to establish a collaborative connection with the other in order to succeed. When I photograph I am “moved” by the beauty in expressions and responses…it’s very spontaneous and intuitive. I take liberty in shooting multiple frames in working with a 35mm digital format. This allows for a certain amount of “warming up” and “getting in the groove” which allows both me and the subject to connect. Another important part of the process is moving around to shoot from different perspectives and paying close attention to what’s in the frame, eliminating the clutter that may impose on the graphic integrity of an image. I think that’s the best I can do in explaining and still leave room for the mystery.
In regards to the landscape/nature and portrait question….. my first significant photograph is one I made in 1989. It’s of people on a beach in a small fishing village in Jamaica early in the morning. It is both a landscape and social documentary photograph of the people in their environment. I think all of my work since has been influenced by this photograph. When I photograph landscapes or nature it is a quiet, reflective process, more inward focused. As a portrait photographer my interactions are more dynamic and interactive, I feel much more of a collaborative nature in this type of work and enjoy the energy that is generated between me and the subject.

New exhibit! Claire Ruzicka: FACES OF OAXACA

2010-02-21T12:01:00.002-06:00

The new exhibit, portraits by Claire Ruzicka, opened this week!! In Claire's own words:

This exhibition highlights photographs of the the people of Oaxaca, Mexico that were made in July 2009. I traveled with the intention of making environmental portraits of people in their natural surroundings. While there, I was provided the opportunity to connect with and photograph people in their homes as well as to make street photographs in the small pueblos of Oaxaca. The printed images serve as remembrance, an artifact, of my intuitive response to what I witnessed and experienced in the moment I made the photograph.

Join us today, Sunday, February 21, for the opening reception from 2-5PM, and check back for the interview with Claire about this work and her travels!

This exhibition will run until March 26.

NUMEN LUMEN REDUX closing reception TONIGHT!

2010-02-10T10:42:00.000-06:00

Bill Pielsticker will be having a small closing reception for Numen Lumen Redux TONIGHT from 4:30 to 7 PM.

Hope to see you there!

Interview with photographer Bill Pielsticker, NUMEN LUMEN REDUX

2010-01-25T11:43:00.004-06:00

The creator of our current exhibition NUMEN LUMEN REDUX, Bill Pielsticker, spent some time inside this weekend, answering questions about his process, the nature of Wisconsin's frozen lakes, and what the day after Christmas might hold for a professional photographer...

1. How did this project get started, how did you discover this? How did you know what you’d find in the ice, or did you?

Actually, each new opportunity to shoot on the ice brings new surprises. My first effort took me onto the frozen lake looking to make interesting images of plates of ice that formed in windy conditions as the lake froze. The plates were packed together and on end, and didn't look nearly as interesting in the camera as I expected. Discouraged, I meandered around for a while and came across a small patch of black ice, an underwater log, and frozen bubbles. This became my first Black Ice photograph, later rechristened Inner Space #1. Foreshadowing the eventual trajectory of the project, I also came upon what I first called "Ice Geometry" which I recently re-titled Patterns #1. These changed my whole concept of winter photography.

2. You became a professional photographer in 1998, but this exhibit hints at a past life that contained science, fractals, meteorology or even ophthalmology! So, Bill, what’d you do for a living before you became a professional photographer, and how did it mold the Inner Space and Patterns series?

Ahmm. I think my life would have been easier had I recognized my inner artist earlier. I have a BA in English, then returned to scool for a BS in Agriculture. After two years of losing money farming, I had a job as a cost accountant and a stint with a corporate training firm. I returned to school and completed an MA in American Politics. I quit work on my PhD. dissertation to follow my muse. All this time, my wife cultivated a career in natural resource conservation...thank goodness!

Much of what I know about ice and patterns I've learned after the fact. When I make landscape photographs, I research the area to provide information for the commentary I supply with each. The same happened with the ice images - my natural curiosity about what I was seeing in the ice drove me to learn about ice, crystals, etc..

3. You say in your bio that you’ve been a “serious” photographer since 1984. Would you tell us about your photographic history prior to 1984?

As a child I had a Brownie box camera, took a lot of photos and mailed them to a lab, which returned the snapshots with a new roll of film. In high school I had a Polaroid Swinger, allowing me the instant gratification we now have with digital cameras. After my Swinger was stolen, I retained little interest in photography.

About when I was 30, I purchased a Canon AE-1 and began tyring to make photographs. That is, I began to try to capture a scene in a way that would convey the feelings I had when viewing it. We would vacation in Colorado every summer, and I would go through 4 to 6 rolls of film a day, pick them up, and quickly sort between the good and the not so good. Reviewing what worked and what didn't, and why, is something I continue to practice.

4. There are some of the works in this exhibition that look like a negative print, with a dark mass on a white background. Specifically, in Pattern10a and Pattern10b, is this a negative print, or is that the way the light and ice behaved that day?

Ha! That's a fun one. I didn't have time to combine the two iterations in a single frame for the exhibit, but I've attached the diptych here.

I spent a few days following Christmas converting several of my Patterns images to black and white, which was relatively straightforward and, to me, strengthened their presentation. On Dec. 30, five days before hanging the exhibit, I returned to an image I rather like, but wasn't compelling to others. What I liked about Patterns #17 was the pattern, so I converted it to black and white, and liked what I saw. I then inverted the image and, after a bit of review, decided the straight black and white worked. Clearly for Patterns #10 I preferred the inverted/negative image paired with a rotated and flipped image.I spent the next five days reviewing "failed" Inner Space images and converting them to black and white, with or without inverting the result. With Patterns #10, I liked the result, but couldn't decide which orientation to use. Tracy Madison suggested using both, so I did. The question now is, just what is it you see?

5. You shoot a lot of quickly fleeting moments like ice and light, wildlife, and the reflections and ripples in running water. How does the ephemeral nature of what you seek and shoot inspire your own photographic practice?

The short-lived or fleeting nature of my subjects inspires me to put aside whatever I planned to do and pursue an opportunity that may not last, or that I may not get again. As a full-time photographer I have the ability to drop what I was doing to take advantage of weather conditions and lighting.

This has meant enduring single digit temperatures and biting wind the day after Christmas on the ice. It also has meant getting that one day when conditions are right to capture some new images, just before they are obscured by snow. Finally, it means I spend less time evaluating and more time shooting - serious previsioning is a luxury I can't afford in these conditions. Even so, I do take the time to consider framing alternatives, angle of light, etc.. Finally, it means that not every image works. And I learn from that.