Griffin Museum of Photography

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Jeffrey Aaronson | The President and the Press

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Before social media and the instant upload of images and information, the ability to craft a story, define a narrative was simpler. Time was malleable, able to help and hinder real time reporting. A delay in reporting could be helpful in creating distractions or competing news stories. In 1998, President Bill Clinton was embroiled in scandal and looking to change the story. A trip to China was planned to distract from real time reporting, and show the strength of the Clinton Presidency overseas.

Jeffrey Aaronson was given an assignment by a major publication to follow the press as they covered President Clinton’s 1998 overseas trip to China, tasked with photographing the press as they followed the president. His photo story was not the images we saw of the President meeting with world leaders, taking a trip on the Li River, or meeting with environmentalists. It was Aaronson’s view of the press coverage and the stagecraft of the trip that became the focus of his lens. His photographs from that trip become a tale of how to build a story within a story, working to contain the vision and perception of the strength and power of the presidency, showcase our stature across the world and redefine the past, while reinterpreting the present.

About Jeffrey Aaronson –

Jeffrey Aaronson was born in Hollywood and raised in southern California. He attended the University of California Santa Barbara and upon graduating moved to Aspen, Colorado where he purchased his first camera. Soon after he began photographing, Jeffrey met mentors, Ernst Haas and Franz Berko, both pioneers in the art of color photography, who supported and encouraged his passion.

Jeffrey’s photographic career began in world of magazines where he worked on assignment for numerous publications from Vanity Fair and TIME to Rolling Stone and The New York Times Magazine. In 2001 he chose a new direction, departing from the tradition of documentary work and moving to a more narrative and conceptually based approach. Since that transition, he has devoted all his energy to long-term personal art projects, which allow him to express a more private vision.

Aaronson’s work has been exhibited in the US, Europe and the Middle East and is represented in numerous private and public collections. In January 2011, Aaronson was recognized by the Forward Thinking Museum as Artist of the Year for his series, Borderland. In addition, Borderland was nominated for the Santa Fe Prize in 2008 as well as selected for Critical Mass’s Top 50. This same work was also included in a group exhibition, HomeLessHome, at the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem. In 2011 his series Driving Desire was nominated for the Santa Fe Prize and in 2012, work from Driving Desire was exhibited at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and purchased for their permanent collection.

Brianna Dowd | Mother Pearl

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Mother Pearl

Mother Pearl is an exploration of a connection I feel to a woman who I have never known. While she and I have never met face to face, we are far from strangers. We are connected through lineage and bloodline; she is a part of who I am. She is beautiful, full of grace, and has a smile that lights up a room. Our relationship is unique, as I can engage with her only through photographs, momentos, and dreams. Her life’s story is a mystery to me, as I have little to no information to pull from. I am left with mere imaginations of this woman, who she is, and her impact on my life. This woman is my grandmother, Margaret Dowd… Mother Pearl.

This body of work is a projection of images recording my innermost desires of what my relationship would have been like with my deceased grandmother, had we been afforded the chance to meet.In this series I have taken a variety of constructivist approaches to photography by staging memories I long to have created with her. Found photographs, personal objects belonging to my grandmother, and pearls are used to emphasize the closeness of her presence felt around and within me, as well as handwritten letters addressed to her, outpouring my emotions as I travel on this journey to know her deeper.

About Brianna Dowd

Brianna Dowd is an NC based artist whose background is in fine art photography and graphic design. She is a 2017 graduate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro obtaining a Bachelors of Fine Art degree, and is currently pursuing a Masters of Fine Art at the Savannah College of Art & Design.

Brianna is also the founder and CEO of Butterfly Visuals, LLC, a media company providing quality service to creative and goal oriented individuals in the areas of photography, graphic design, website design, promotional design, branding materials, social media content, and more.

Bill Chapman: Illuminating the Archive

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Artist Statement

 “A friend once commented about my photographs in that I take the hibrow and the lobrow, put them in a blender and see what comes out. If the “American Dream” still exists at all, it presents itself as a fractured dissonance. This is what I seek. The late Chris Killip once told me that our idea of what Ireland looked like came from the brightly hand colored postcards we saw of it. As a youngster, I occupied myself with accordion postcards of a sprightly hand colored America and a Viewmaster. The Viewmaster was a device that enables the viewer to consider two versions of the same image creating a  3-D effect. Vestiges of my exposure to this type of imagery still manifest themselves in some of my work. A great part of my seventy-two years of flippancy and truancy were accompanied by a camera.

Crista Dix asked me to consider the archives of Arthur Griffin, choose eight images of his work and to then create a “call and response” with eight of my own. I am old enough to remember the downtown Boston he captured and recognize other places that Mr. Griffin committed to film. His photographs of Ted Williams are among the most revered in the iconography of sports. This project engaged me with history, photography and a sense of “then and now,’ all aspects of my work that I cherish.” – Bill Chapman

© Bill Chapman
© Arthur Griffin
© Bill Chapman
© Arthur Griffin

About Bill Chapman

“You’re an American. You know what to do.” -Dr. Ernest Withers

A simple phrase uttered by his mentor describes Bill Chapman’s photography more concisely than the extensive commentary produced over the years about the man and his work. At a very early age, Chapman’s interests in politics, civil rights, baseball and music were tied to a passion for photography. Over the years he has explored each topic — and much more — through both film and digital imagery.

Chapman has traveled throughout America to discover “the cruel radiance of what is,” as Walker Evans phrased it. His photographs have been described as “sardonic but good natured.” America has experienced a daunting number of peaks and valleys in the treatment of its citizenry and the way it represents itself within its own borders. Chapman set out to both befriend and embrace that America through his photographs.

Bill Chapman’s work has been exhibited at The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Gallery Kayafas, Harvard University, The Griffin Museum and many other locations. His images have been published in a wide variety of books, including Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston by Howard Bryant (Beacon Press, 2003), Negro League Baseball by Ernest C. Withers (Harry N. Abrams, 2005), Bluff City by Preston Lauterbach (W.W. Norton & Co., 2019) Rickwood Field: A Century in America’s Oldest Ballpark by Allen Barra (W.W. Norton & Co., 2010). Many publications have also featured Chapman’s images, including: The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Preservation Magazine, University of Budapest, Art New England and ESPN Magazine.

Rohina Hoffman | Embrace

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Our shared and common humanity is assumed but not always evident. Making work inspired from my own personal experiences, I look for ways to further and deepen our thoughts on this connection.

In Embrace, Los Angeles based photographer Rohina Hoffman reflects on the theme of uncertainty while combining two of her photographic projects. In Gratitude, made during the pandemic, is a typology of portraits celebrating food and family and how we find comfort in times of unease. Generation 1.75 is a visual memoir of identity, belonging, and the complexities of acculturation.

About Rohina –

Rohina is a fine art photographer whose practice uses portraiture and the natural world to investigate themes of identity, home, adolescence and the female experience.

Born in India and raised in New Jersey, Rohina grew up in a family of doctors spanning three generations. While an undergraduate at Brown University, Rohina also studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design and she was a staff photographer for the Brown Daily Herald. A graduate of Brown University Medical School and resident at UCLA Medical Center, her training led to a career as a neurologist.

A skilled observer of her patients, Rohina was instilled with a deep and unique appreciation of the human experience. Her ability to forge the sacred trust between doctor and patient has been instrumental in fostering a parallel connection between photographer and subject.

Rohina published her first monograph Hair Stories with Damiani Editore (February 2019) accompanied by a solo exhibition at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School. Her monograph, Hair Stories, is held in many notable public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Getty, Cleveland Institute of Art, and over twenty-five university libraries.

Her second monograph, Embrace, with Schilt Publishing was just released October 2022 (Europe) and January 2023 (U.S.).

In 2021, she was the winner of the Altanta Photography Group’s Purchase Award and several of her prints were acquired by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia.

Her photographs have been exhibited in juried group shows both nationally and internationally in venues such as The Center for Fine Art Photography, Griffin Museum, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Los Angeles Center for Photography, Photo LA,  and A. Smith Gallery. She has received numerous awards and has been published in Marie Claire Italia, F-Stop Magazine, The Daily Beast, Lenscratch, Shots Magazine, and Edge of Humanity among others. She lives with her husband, three children and two golden retrievers in Los Angeles.

Jason Reblando | Field Notes

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In an 1895 photograph from the University of Michigan Philippine archives, a smiling Filipina faces the camera, posing in front of lush tropical trees with a hand on her hip. The bottom half of her body is wrapped in an intricate tapestry, and the top half of her body is naked, except for beaded necklaces. Written into the photograph is the title “Young Ifugao Belle, 382.” This image is just one of thousands of photographs
taken by American colonizers who were eager to create a narrative of white saviorism and thus shape the way Americans perceived the Philippines throughout the twentieth century.

I am a Filipino-American photographer and artist, and I have been creating mixed-media photocollages based upon archival images from the American colonial period in the Philippines for my project titled Field Notes. By physically cutting, pasting, and rearranging various elements of images upon images, I aim to deconstruct and critique the colonial gaze, while attempting to reclaim the photographic narrative. In some collages, the cut patterns reference textile-makers across the Philippine archipelago, while in other collages, shapes and silhouettes allude to a problematic colonial past.

Field Notes is a meditation upon the long, complex relationships between the Philippines and the United States, anthropology and photography, and mass media and society. By weaving historical photographs into my own contemporary art practice, I recontextualize archives that codified colonial power dynamics between the United States and the Philippines. Ultimately, I hope that my project will contribute to a growing conversation by contemporary artists who are eager to interrogate the colonizing power of the archive, not only for Filipinos, but for all members of the Global South.

About Jason Reblando –

Jason Reblando is an artist and photographer based in Normal, Illinois. He received his MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago, and a BA in Sociology from Boston College. He is the recipient of a U.S. Fulbright Fellowship to the Philippines, an Artist Fellowship Award from the Illinois Arts Council, and a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. His work has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times, Politico, Camera Austria, Slate, Bloomberg Businessweek, Marketplace, MAS Context, Real Simple, Places Journal, Chicago Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Reader. His photographs are collected in the Library of Congress, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Pennsylvania State University Special Collections, the Midwest Photographers Project of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is currently serving on the Society for Photographic Education Board of Directors (2022-2026) and is an Assistant Professor of Photography in the Wonsook Kim School of Art at Illinois State University.

Liz Hickok | Cycles of Regeneration

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“I began my Regeneration series in the spring of 2020 as a way to bring myself and others color and joy during intense and stressful times. Photographing the native wildflowers in my backyard has provided respite, grounding, and peace. I am inspired by the resilience of the iconic California poppies, which can survive in the harshest conditions and are some of the first flowers to return after wildfires.
I use procedural manipulations through the use of the Perlin noise algorithm to alter and distort my photographs, evoking the movements of fire and air. I collaborate with creative technology artist Phil Spitler, who adds a layer of interactivity and sound to the imagery which further brings the artwork to life. The augmented reality experience invites you, the viewer, to walk through the artwork as the flowers flow and move around you. The fluid forms conjure the instability of our current reality, while communicating the power of nature to heal and inspire.” -Liz Hickok

About the Artists –

San Francisco-based artist, Liz Hickok, works in an innovative creative style, mixing low and high tech to create immersive artworks that bring viewers into a whimsical and wondrous space. Using playful materials and intersecting photography, sculpture, video, and installation, Hickok makes art that intermingles science and nature. Her most recent projects use augmented reality and other interactive technologies, inviting her spectators to take a more personal approach to her art, and closing the gap between artist and viewer.

Hickok exhibits nationally and internationally; her work is included in such collections as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Blue Shield of California, and Mills College Art Museum. Hickok’s series, Fugitive Topography: Cityscapes in Jell-O, attracted widespread media attention, receiving coverage in The New York Times, a feature on CBS’s The Early Show, and NPR.

Hickok has developed photomurals for Facebook and Google’s San Francisco offices, as well as for UCSF and Sutter Hospitals. In 2019, she created a site-specific installation for the Surreal Sublime exhibition at the San Jose ICA, and had a large solo exhibition at the Longview Museum of Fine Arts in Longview, TX. In 2020, she was part of the Center of Photographic Art in Carmel’s 8×10 Fundraising Exhibition. She currently has an outdoor photomural on display in Palo Alto, CA which integrates three-dimensional layers of augmented reality video and sound. Liz’s most recent project was an interactive large-scale video projection for Palo Alto’s Code:ART2 festival in October 2021. In 2022, she will have a solo show at Chung Namont Gallery in Noe Valley, San Francisco.

Phil Spitler is a creative technology artist based in San Francisco. He has gained a reputation for his ability to create innovative and unique light-based art, as well as augmented reality and other creative technology installations. Originally from the UK, Phil has always been fascinated by the interplay between art and technology, and has spent much of his career exploring this intersection. He has a keen eye for using light and color to create immersive environments, often incorporating cutting-edge technology to create truly transformative installations.

James Lustenader | Point / Counterpoint

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When I was invited to browse the digital archives of Arthur Griffin’s work at the Boston Public Library and juxtapose any six of his shots with six photos of my own in a “then and now” scenario, I didn’t anticipate how enjoyable, educational and creative the experience would be.
Arthur was a prolific chronicler of New England life (8,000+ photos have been digitized, with more to come); many of the scenes he recorded in the first half of the last century were almost unchanged when I encountered the region as a student in the 1960’s—and some remain so today. His subjects were a mix of the prosaic (churches in snow), bizarre (underwear-clad men playing cards on a beach in the dead of winter) and curious (actor Bette Davis at her birthday party in Littleton, NH), so editing was a challenge.
I started in a general way with over 300 screen grabs of photos judged to be compelling in terms of graphics and subject matter, and that might align with my own work. I sorted these into 30 categories: parades, markets, fishing boats, fairs, farmers, politicians, streets, etc. Then I revisited each category with an eye to pairing my photos with Arthur’s. Since I have a rather “casual” filing system, this required recalling specific photos by title, then reviewing dozens of contact sheets (I shoot black and white film) to make sure I didn’t miss anything that could be a good fit. An added benefit: I rediscovered several shots that I disregarded years ago and that now looked pretty good.
In culling the pairs down to six as requested, I found I could align my work with Arthur’s in one of two ways: as identical subjects (e.g., both of us capturing kissing lovers) or as similar subjects with an ironic, humorous twist (e.g., Arthur’s photo of kissing lovers versus my shot of a young couple exuding extreme boredom). I chose the latter, hence the theme “Point / Counterpoint.”
I discovered the Griffin Museum years ago when I attended an exhibition of Arthur’s energetic photos of kids swimming and diving at a quarry. As a street photographer, I came away wishing I had taken those shots; his eye for composition and ability to capture the moment in a humanistic way were impressive. I have long admired Arthur’s work and it was an honor to participate in illuminating his archive.

About James Lustenader –

In French, a flâneur is an observer, someone who ambles through a city seemingly without purpose yet attuned to the place and in search of personal experience. And a flâneur with a camera and an inquisitive eye can become a street photographer, as I have been for decades, seeking to capture some of the subtle, unguarded bits of theater that make up people’s daily lives. Street photography refers as much to a style as to a place: the photos are candid, unplanned and, ideally, reflective of stories that can be found in the everyday. I focus on moments that evoke the humor, beauty, irony or absurdity of being human; people’s expressions, dress, body language and relationships to surroundings,  plus the contrast between darkness and brightness, are some of what I look for to create narratives that appeal to the viewer’s imagination. Having an element of drama in a shot adds interest, so I also seek a measure of visual tension that will stimulate engagement with the subject.

Parker Thompson | Intimacies, Long Lost: Selections from the Always Been Collection

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Intimacies: Selections from the Always Been Collection celebrates Black selfhood and joy as seen through the lens of found photography. Presenting found photographic artifacts lost from their original families, Intimacies puts forth an often overlooked form of Black visual representation. Offered in the anonymous album pages, snapshots, and photobooth images of the Always Been collection is a unique form of visual agency–freed from the prevalent, dominating white gaze. Situated primarily in the first half of the 20th century, Intimacies shows the collective action of Black families to visually cement their kinship, achievements, and being in a state of constant political persecution and separation. 

Parker Thompson is a photographic researcher, collector, and student based between Charleston, South Carolina, and Waltham, Massachusetts. He is the curator behind Always Been, an archival project focused on the humanity, dignity, and joy of Black life as seen through the lens of found photographs. He is currently studying history at Brandeis University.

13th Annual Photobook Exhibition

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The Griffin Museum is pleased to partner with Davis Orton Gallery to showcase the 13th Annual Photobook Exhibition, featuring the works of 27 talented book artists.

EXHIBITING ARTISTS AND PHOTOBOOKS
Leah Abrahams…Do You See What I See?
Steve Anderson…Surruralism Retrospective Part Two
Nancy Baron…Riders on the 10
Peter Baumgartner…Foliage
Robin Boger…Summer: A Season in Farlow Park
Shannon Davis…Controlled Burn
Jane Ebaugh & John Verner…Care Through Touch
Beth Galton…Covid Diary
Joe Greene…Ashtray
Lynn Harrison…At Peace in Nature
Jane Hopkins…Cemetery Reflections
Judi Iranyi…Arg-e-Bam
Doug Johnson…Places Faces
Laura June Kirsch…Romantic Lowlife Fantasies
Sal Taylor Kydd & Dawn Surratt…A Passing Song
Julia Kuskin…Phone Book
Flynn Larsen…Cosmic Dance
Tony Loreti…Garden in the Fens
Margaret McCarthy…Sentient
Linda Morrow…Learning to Swim
Laila Nahar…Color of Life: Old Delhi  
Dale Niles…What Lies Within
Ann Rosen…Ascending Towards Normalcy
Elliot Schildkrout…Standing in the Mirror
Jon-Marc Seimon…#kaddish
Robindeep Singh…Anywhere but Nowhere & Saddapind

David Sokosh…Things That Look Like the Moon (but are not the moon)

Thomas Whitworth…More Constructed Scenarios
Sharon Wickham…Seeing Paint with Joan

To see a full prospectus about the exhibition with extended book information and links to the artist website see the Online Catalog on the Davis Orton website.

About Karen Davis and Davis Orton Gallery

The Davis Orton Gallery, established in August, 2009, is located on historic Warren Street in Hudson, NY – an architecturally rich street famous for its antique shops, galleries and restaurants.

The Davis Orton Gallery exhibits photography, mixed media and trade and artist-published photobooks. The goal of the gallery is to present a wide range of contemporary artists – from emerging to mid-career to established.

Karen is a teacher, gallerist and photographer. For over 15 years she taught Photography Atelier, a portfolio development course and Marketing for Fine Art Photographers in the Boston area at Radcliffe Institute, Lesley University and, most recently at the Griffin Museum of Photography.

Karen is co-owner and curator of the Davis Orton Gallery. She has been an invited reviewer of portfolios at the Griffin/CAA Portfolio Reviews, Photolucida in Portland OR, FotoFest in Houston TX and Critical Mass (online/Photolucida) and Magenta Foundation’s Fence project.

Her photographs are in the collections of the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, the Lishui Museum of Photography (China) and the Houghton Rare Books Library, Harvard University and can be seen at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA).

Winter Solstice 2022

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At the end of the year, we count our blessings.
We are grateful for our patrons and members, a collection of artists, creatives and lovers of photography. You are the reason we do what we do everyday.
Thank you for sharing your creativity with us, for spending your evenings on Zoom, afternoons seeing our exhibitions, and growing with us through our educational programs.

Our Winter Solstice exhibition celebrates the works of our photo community in all of its splendor. Mixing style, genre, technique and idea we host a vibrant mix of the talents of our members. We love sharing your vision with the world, and look forward to our annual gathering of images, ideas and vision.

Prints from the exhibition are available for sale through the museum. You purchase supports the craftsman artist and the Griffin Museum. See our Solstice Shop online here.

The artists of the 2022 Winter Solstice exhibition are

Guy Needham, Cynthia A Clark, Joni Lohr, Marc Goldring, Dale Niles, Jenny Pivor, Mark Indig, Dennis Roth, Tom Brownold, Maureen Haldeman, Vicky Stromee, Harold Olejarz, Janet Milhomme, Amy Sue Greenleaf, Chip Standifer, Dennis Stein, Ralph Mercer, Tony Attardo, Grace Hopkins, Elizabeth Mead, Natalie McGuire, Lisa Ryan, Donna Rocco, Susan Lirakis, Joe Greene, Lilian Caruana, Mark Levinson, Marcia Lloyd, Thomas Hardjono, Tony Schwartz, Laura Migliorino, Lyn Swett Miller, William Mark Sommer, Maura Conron, Marky Kauffmann, Jim Lustenader, John Thomas Grant, Ellen Royalty, Leanne Trivett, Laurie Peek, James Collins, Gabriella Imperatori-Penn, Judi Iranyi, Hanna Latham, Cheryl Clegg, Jen Bilodeau, Robert Morin, Meg Birnbaum, Michael Burka, Jake Benzinger, Matt Temple, Peg O’Connell, Gary Beeber, Martha Wakefield, Judith Montminy, Pip Shepley, Sally Bousquet, Susan Lapides, Pat Kennedy-Corlin, Gail Fischer, Steve Levin, Al Hiltz, Bridget Conn, Robin Radin, Jamie Hankin, Frank Armstrong, Caren Winnall, Yorgos Efthymiadis, Mary Gillis, Sangram Kachwaha, Bryon Clemence, Richard Alan Cohen, Stefanie Klavens, Jaimie Ladysh, Donna Tramontozzi, Ellen Feldman, Gretchen Graham, Gail Albert, Simone Brogini, Maureen Mulhern-White, Sharon Schindler, Mary Plouf, Stefanie Klavens, Elizabeth Wiese, Faith Ninivaggi, Vaune Trachtman, Stefanie Timmermann, Sean Sullivan, Janet Smith, Ronald Butler, Anastasia Sierra, Patricia Scialo, Gail Samuelson, Bob Greene, Michael Rodriguez Torrent, R. Lee Post, Ann Peters, Anne DiNoto, Edmund Dondero, Sally Naish, Brian Mooney, Sue D’Arcy Fuller, Karin Rosenthal, Jürgen Lobert, Collette LaRue, Kerry Sharkey-Miller, Judy Unger-Clark, James Mahoney, Evy Huppert, Elizabeth Hopkins, Susan Higgings, Marjorie Wolfe, Erik Gehring, Dawn Watson, Robin Boger, Bonnie Newman, Kev Filmore, Charles Maniaci, Steve Dunwell, Donna Moore, Betty Stone, William Betcher, Ric Pontes, Joy Bush, Sally Chapman, Audrey Gottlieb, Adrien Bisson, Sheri Behr, Bill Clark, Anna Litvak-Hinenzon, Libby Ellis, Steve Edson, Frank Siteman, Jenn Wood, Jesse Kieffer, Roselle McConnell, Amy Durocher, Frank Tadley, Laura Ferraguto, Janice Koskey, Charles Karch, Marcy Juran, Andrew Harris, Edie Bresler, Angela Rowlings, Law Hamilton, Diane Bennett, Ken Rothman, William Mrachek, Ann Prochilo, Lynne Breitfeller, Linda Bryan, Barry Berman, Karen Matthews, Teri Figliuzzi, Susan Irene Correia, Donna Dangott, Rob Lorino, Fruma Markowitz, Ania Moussawel, Gordon Saperia, Jennifer Erbe, Babette Wheelden, Lidia Russell, and Kiyomi Yatsuhashi, Diana Cheren Nygren, Leland Smith, Heather Walsh, Marjorie Wolfe and Cyndee Howard

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