FotoFest, 2016

While in Houston I will try to hit as many of the FotoFest Exhibitions as I can. Yesterday was the Museum of Fine Arts where I saw Vera Lutter's Inverted Worlds made with huge Camera Obscura so of course the prints are also huge. I would guess most of them are at least four by six feet and some are made up of two or three panels of four by six. The exhibition was especially interesting to me because of my connection with Shootapalooza Heather Oelklaus and her Little Miss Sunshine pinhole camera truck.

There was also an exhibition called A History of Photography: Selections from the Museum's Collection. I liked seeing the variety of processes from the very beginning up until today's digital that have been used to make images.

There was a case or two of photography books and I did not realize that the Museum has Manfred Heiting's book collection of 25,000 books on photography.

In addition there is also a very fine exhibition of Lewis Baltz's work of the rapid changes due to construction in the California landscape. The style is stark and minimalist and caustic, influencing photography since the 1970's.

If you go to the Museum I hope you have time to see Sculpted in Steel, Art Deco Automobiles and Motorcycles. 1929-1940. Although it isn't photography, it is a beautiful display of hand-crafted automobiles and motorcycles that are truly sculptures. The link should take you to some pictures of these amazing works of art.

So far I have not been able to get a FotoFest Map and the online guide is a bit difficult to follow but I'll be out everyday and I'll report back on what I see.

Energized and Inspired

I am not sure where to start so if this seems disjointed, forgive me. This past week was an amazing week. It started on Saturday, February 13th, in Houston when I met up with the Shootapaloozas , a most talented group of women, well, there a few men, but we are definitely all photographers. The image you see above is one of the wall installations we did in the 3600 block of Main Street in Houston for Fotofest. I wrote about this project here. I can't begin to tell you how much fun we had doing the installation. It will be a stop on one of the bus tours for Fotofest. I'm really proud to add this to my resume.

On Sunday we headed to Galveston for a week. I'm calling this week a retreat, a creative retreat. We all chipped in for the meeting room and materials and we played with making cyanotype kites, lanterns, artist books, marbled paper, little and huge cyanotype prints on paper and cloth and we made fish prints. We did mind mapping. We learned more about the health benefits of a plant based diet and our nutritionist-photographer made lunch for us everyday. But for me, the best thing that happened was Show and Tell. Each day some of us would present and talk about our work. The work came from a very deep and personal place and there was so much diversity: lumen prints, albumen prints, digital prints, manipulated prints, collages, cyanotypes, 3-D installations and I've probably forgotten some process.

The plan was that we would meet from 9 to about 6 but after the second day we decided to meet at 8 so we would have more time. Actually from the time we saw each other at breakfast until we broke up after dinner we were talking about photography, our projects and the difficulty of making work that means something to us.

Now, I am back home in San Miguel and trying to sort out what this week means for me during this next year. I'm energized, inspired and oh, so thankful for this creative community of photographers.

A Hope, Prayer and a Dream - 2016 Biennial Fotofest International

 

 

 

I am honored that three of my images have been included in the A Hope, Prayer, and a Dream exhibit. Over fifty photographers have joined for a collective photographic exhibit encompassing an entire city block on Main Street and will be on display throughout Houston’s 2016 Biennial Fotofest International.

 

If you are in Houston between March 3 and April 24 I hope you will visit A Hope, Prayer and a Dream.  You can see the show at 3600 Main Street in Houston,Texas. Opening Reception is Thursday March 3, 2016 at 5:00 PM.

 

 Many thanks to Laura Corley Burlton and Marti Corn for curating and organizing this event. Special thanks to Judy Sherrod who is the driving force behind Shootapaplooza.  Thursday March 3, 2016 at 5:00
Many thanks to Laura Corley Burlton and Marti Corn for curating and organizing this event. Special thanks to Judy Sherrod who is the driving force behind Shootapaplooza.