Archives for September 2020

We wouldn’t be who we are without an amazing support system. Our Griffin State of Mind series features the community of the Griffin Museum. Today’s focus is on Frank Tadley, a beloved museum volunteer and supporter of our exhibitions and programs. Having been with the museum for almost twenty years, he has had a hand in helping visualize the success of the museum, and is one of our pillars of support.

Frank has been there for the Griffin through thick and thin. He’s filled in for almost every job and effort. He’s greeted miles of  guests as the monitor manager for our rentals. Every exhibition has his mark on it as he’s hung every installation in all of the galleries over the years. His affable manner has come in handy as he’s greeted museum visitors when staff members vacationed. His technical skills saved us on many occasion when software needed install or the network went down or the fire alarm went off. Frank always knew what to do. He’s researched energy costs and repaired equipment. He’s even spent hours on the telephone on behalf of the museum searching out answers from vendors when none of us had time. Frank Tadley is “a Jack of all trades” and master of every one. He is also the truest of friends and his heart is made of gold.

Describe how you first found the Griffin. How long have you been part of the Griffin community?

Frank Tadley at the Griffin Gala

I have been active at the Griffin Museum since 2001. My first connection was a show juried by Arthur himself. What a flamboyant character he was. I got second place in architecture and still life. Arthur was real old school. I still have my award placard which he presented to me at the opening. After that show I began to visit and see the different exhibitions. I would see Arthur at places like the CCA where we were both in a show. In June of 2003 there was a call to help install the Babbette Hines show, Photobooth. This was a tricky show to install as the size of the images were small and there were hundreds to install by hand. I was hooked. I volunteered for just about every show thereafter, at all the galleries, until I injured my neck in a gym incident around 2015.

How do you involve photography in your everyday? Can you describe one photograph that recently caught your eye?

I was a student at NESOP in the mid ‘90s in the workshop program so I have been active in photography for a long time. I actually got my start while serving in Vietnam as a medic with a Pentax camera so I was always active with photography. Since I injured my knee in February (reckless I am) I have not been out and about at all. Just before that I saw the Graciela Iturbide exhibition at the MFA and Mujer Ángel, Desierto de Sonora (Angel Woman, Sonoran Desert), 1979 was most moving. Her show is currently at the Women in the Arts National Museum in DC.

What is one of your favorite exhibitions shown by the Griffin?

Susan May Tell installation at the Griffin

Since I was involved in so many of the installations it would be difficult to pick just one. Some shows that come to mind were the Civil War, which was an intense show to hang due to the content and we were under a lot of pressure to get it up. Guests were coming up the walkway when we finishing the last details. Museum life is not boring! Another show that was also intense was Susan May Tell’s A Requiem: Tribute to the Spiritual Space at Auschwitz. I created a different way of hanging the large images from the movable walls mimicking the structures in the images.

Frank and Frances Jakubek installing a Christmas Tree at the Griffin.

The immense archive of artists and show that the Griffin has shown is so great for the size of the museum. From many of the famous to new and emerging artists. Being the main installer I was at the intersection of art and the organizational end of museum life. An example was Charles “Teenie” Harris who was a black photographer and staff photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier. His nick name was “One Shot.” He was a quite the entrepreneur with a portrait business on the side. But the intersection was the quality of his work and the way it was archived at the Carnegie Museum of Art and delivered to the Griffin. They had custom made metal crates with precise sturdy foam inserts to keep each framed photo well protected and yet easy to remove and lay out. And meeting with many of the photographers was a special part of the experience. Some would insist on being present and help with the installation. Two such were Vincent Cianni (WE SKATE HARDCORE) and Stephen Wilkes (Ellis Island) both wonderful photographers and shows. Other shows that stuck with me were Sebastiăo Saligado (Polio) and Lynn Goldsmith (The Looking Glass.) But they all had something to say and it is impossible to pick just one, or two, or three…

What has been the most eye opening part of our time of physical distancing?

The isolation and not knowing the outcome is the most difficult. The economic devastations is crushing for so many and particularly artists.

What is your favorite place to escape to in nature…mountains? beach? woods? and why?

Well I am both a climber/hiker and a sailor so I am drawn to both the lake/sea and the mountains. For the past several years I have been part of a sailing/boating organization on Spot Pond in Stoneham which sounds so local but once you are out on the water, surrounded by the trees and little islands I could be anywhere. I did two series of images, one from Yosemite and the other on Monhegan Island which follow both these places I love.

What is one book, song, or other visual obsession you have at the moment?

I am obsessed with the Takács Quartet’s record of Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet in F sharp minor Op67. An American composer who has not gotten much recognition but very worth a listen.

If you could be in a room with anyone to have a one on one conversation about anything, who would that person be and what would you talk about?

Today that would be John Lewis but that moment is now gone. But it teaches not to put off reaching out and finding our heroes and acting on your instincts.

We are excited to launch ourselves into fall with a new Photo Chat Chat happening on September 9th at 7pm Eastern time. Each of these artists were part of our 26th Annual Members Juried Exhibition, curated by Alexa Dilworth. 

Our Photo Chat Chat is a monthly conversation bringing together four members of the Griffin community to share their work, ideas and creativity with a broader audience. We are thrilled to bring together these four artists who have unique perspectives on life and loss, the environment and the simple joys of childhood. 

See you Wednesday night at 7pm Eastern. For tickets log onto our Events page. 

Anne Berry – 

The Garden of Endearment

© Anne Berry – Porcupines Protection

Child’s play, like life itself, is serious. Through play children address both their fears and their dreams. Animals, places, and objects are metaphors to help them make sense of the world as they act out their fantasies. The natural world possesses an invisible but powerful energy. Humans can communicate with animals. Children don’t doubt these facts. They still live in The Garden, close to nature, close to what’s essential. As adults, we know that they can’t stay. One gray night it will happen: a veil will fall, a gate will close, and the marvelous will cease to exist. What if we could help children keep their sense of awe and respect for nature and foster a belief in the value of things not seen but felt? What children learn to appreciate and love is what they will protect in the future.

Benjamin Dimmitt – 

© Benjamin Dimmitt – Palms in Creek

The Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge is a very fragile, spring-fed estuary on Florida’s Gulf Coast, north of Tampa. I was overwhelmed by its lush, primeval beauty on my first visit over 30 years ago and have photographed there extensively since 2004. The dense palm hammocks and hardwood forests were festooned with ferns and orchids and the fresh water creeks were a clear azure. There are other similar estuaries nearby but the Chassahowitzka River and the surrounding wetlands are protected as part of the federal National Wildlife Refuge system and the river itself is designated as an Outstanding Florida Water. Unfortunately, saltwater began creeping up into the spring creeks around 2011. Rising sea levels due to climate change are the primary cause. However, the saltwater intrusion was accelerated when the state water commissioners, appointed by climate change denier and former governor Rick Scott, determined that the wetlands could survive with less fresh water. This new minimum flow policy allows the state to increase the pumping of fresh water for large-scale inland developments and agricultural interests. The drawdown of fresh water for these lobbyists has taken fresh water away from the aquifer that feeds Chassahowitzka’s springs and many others nearby. As the fresh water flow in the estuaries decreased, saltwater advanced upstream and took its place. What had been verdant, semi-tropical forest is now mostly an open plain of grasses relieved by palms and dying hardwood trees. Sabal palms are the most salt tolerant trees in this ecosystem and are the last to expire. This is a widespread phenomenon, occurring all along the Big Bend section of the Gulf coast of Florida. In 2014, I began to photograph in the salt-damaged sawgrass savannas and spring creeks there as a way of reckoning with the ecosystem loss and of understanding what has become of my native Florida. I have narrowed my focus to a small, remote area that I know and love. My intention in bearing witness to this loss has been to portray the ruined landscape with respect, nuance and beauty. There is an elegiac quality in these evolving wetlands and the process of documenting it has been difficult for me. This landscape was imprinted on me as a child and it has been painful to see such verdant wetlands decimated. The submersion of these coastal wetlands is a disturbing bellwether; as they go, so goes the rest of Florida’s shorelines and the world’s.

Neelakantan Sunder – 

Children of ITIPINI

© Neelakantan Sunder – Itipini

Itipini was a slum built on a garbage dump in a corner of Mthatha in South Africa. The name Itipini means dump in Xhosa language. It was one of the poorest slum in the region. There was no electricity , no running water and primitive dwellings for shelter. There was a community center and a clinic run by a dedicated group of volunteers of the African Medical Mission. People there belonged to Xhosa tribe and have their own traditions. My wife and I visited Itipini during our volunteer work in Mthatha. I was struck by the resilience and the energy of the children. Children would ask to be photographed and then run to me and look at the screen to see the image. They were excited to touch the camera and move the image around. There was laughter and amusement in doing that.  Extreme poverty and  difficult living condition did not dampen their enthusiasm. I spent sometime photographing in the community and enjoyed interacting with the people. My challenge  was to photograph the people and not focus on poverty or living conditions. Sadly, a short time after my visit the whole area was bulldozed and the people were relocated moved randomly to different shelters and camps. These are the last photographs of the community and the area. I had made a book of the photographs of Itipini and gifted copies to the African Medical Mission.  These are some of the photographs of the children at the community. 

Dianne Yudelson – 

© Dianne Yudelson – Mary & Vivian

“With each loss of my 11 babies, I kept mementos. They are all kept pristinely stored in a white box in my closet, as are the memories of their short lives kept pristinely stored in my heart.” My series “Lost” is based on my personal experience. It had been ten years since my last loss. I had never shared these mementoes with anyone as they are private and personal and go to the core of my emotions both heartwarming and heart wrenching simultaneously. I have read the assertion that meaningful art occurs when you share yourself and create from the depths of your soul. So I shared. Creating this series has both served to honor these precious lives, as well as bring a voice to my personal plight. I am hopeful that in sharing these images I will touch the lives of numerous women who have experienced or are in the midst of experiencing the painful loss of a baby. They are not alone in their journey. I created my “Lost” images in a humble and pristine fashion in direct correlation to their short and pure lives. There are 10 images in this series.