TREASURE HUNTING

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.

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.

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?

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

Wisconsin State Journal article on Bill Pielsticker

On Monday, the Wisconsin State Journal ran an article about our current exhibiting artist at the Steenbock, Bill Pielsticker! Our own interview with Bill will be posted soon, but, in the meantime, enjoy Lindsay Christians' report here.   

The Future of Photobooks

Our friend Andy Adams, of FlakPhoto, has recently turned us on to a project that he's involved in with Miki Johnson at Resolve, a collaborative online community that brings together photographers and creative professionals of every kind to find ways to keep photography relevant, respected, and profitable. I've copied the first post from the discussion below, but click here so that you can follow along on your own - AND GET INVOLVED!  


It’s hard to deny there are seismic shifts happening in the publishing industry right now. Between digital readers like the Kindle, print-on-demand publishers likeBlurb, and the rumored Apple tablet computer, there are a lot of questions right now about what exactly a book will be in the future — especially photobooks.

Photo by Miki Johnson

Spurred by a feature on FlakPhoto highlighting the winners of Blurb’s Photography.Book.Now contest, RESOLVE has teamed up with Andy Adams, creator of the online photography showcase, to build a month-long cross-blog discussion around the Future of Photobooks.

In order to include as many viewpoints as possible, we asked bloggers to contribute posts, shared some of their best ideas, then brought it all back to a central point where readers could grasp the larger issues more easily. You can see the results in these three discussion posts, each moderated by a contributing blogger.

How should photobook CREATION evolve in next decade?
Mediated by Marc Feustel, creator of eyecurious

How should photobook CONSUMPTION evolve in next decade?
Mediated by Todd Walker, creator of Gallery Hopper and Ocular Octopus

How should photobook FUNDING evolve in next decade?
Mediated by Bryan Formhals, creator of La Pura Vida Gallery and blog

How did we get here?

We are always eager to experiment with the blog format — we believe it has the power to answer questions collectively that are too big for any one person to tackle. First we asked bloggers to tell us what they thought photobooks would look like in 2019 in posts on their own blogs that linked back to our initial post. We were overwhelmed by the response, with more than 45 bloggers contributing and just as many comments on the post. All the links, plus additional related posts, here:

Want to be part of our new crowd-sourced blog post? Tell us what you think about the future of photobooks!

Taking advantage of the flexibility the blog format affords, we also added two more posts that were suggested in the comments and by collaborating bloggers. The first gathered suggestions for good printers to work with when self-publishing a photobook.

What are the best printers if you want to self-publish a photo book?

The second called for participants in the inaugural #photoartchat Twitter Chat,also addressing the question of what photobooks would look like in 10 years. The discussion, led by photographer-writers Harlan Erskine and Todd Walker continues every Tuesday. Enter “#photoartchat” at TweetChat.com for an easy way to participate.

Join today’s Twitter Chat on the Future of Photobooks

As we hoped, a flood of fascinating links poured in from bloggers and commenters. We collected many of our favorites in two posts that provide an exciting glimpse into new modes of production, distribution, and funding for photobooks.

• 12 Hot Thoughts on the Future of Photobooks
• Publication Innovations: Physical, digital, undefinable

More links and resources will be added here, with the ultimate goal of creating a living, lasting resource that can help photographers and other creatives understand the shifting photobook landscape and their options for producing them. We hope the next revolutionary idea in photobooks might grow from a seed that was planted here!

CHECK OUT MORE POSTS LIKE THIS ONE

• The Future of Photobooks is whatever we make it
• Future of Photobooks Discussion: How should photobook CONSUMPTION evolve in this decade?
• Want to be part of our new crowd-sourced blog post? Tell us what you think about the future of photobooks!