Griffin Museum of Photography

Griffin Atelier Gallery

Patrick Nagatani: Themes and Variations

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For more than 30 years Patrick Nagatani has been sharing his narratives through the photographs he makes. Nagatani’s images take you on fascinating journeys that explore history, personal philosophy, culture, spirituality, fantasy and reality. Images from seven major bodies of work that Nagatani has completed are presented at the Griffin Museum as well as a literary and photographic novel, “The Race,” that he is currently creating with other artists.

Nagatani’s exhibition, Themes and Variations, is featured in the Main Gallery, Atelier Gallery and Griffin Gallery at the Griffin Museum in Winchester October 8 through November 29, 2015. An opening reception with the artist takes place on October 8, 7-8:30 p.m. Patrick Nagatani will give a gallery talk and tour of Themes and Variations at 5:00 PM. The talk is FREE for members, $10 nonmembers.

“….For Nagatani, a photograph could be more than a document of reality. He made photographs, used mixed media — always trying to stretch photographic conventions,” says Barbara Hitchcock, curator and organizer of the exhibition Patrick Nagatani: Themes and Variations, an independent Curator and former Curator of the Polaroid Collection.

Patrick Nagatani says, “There’s a certain edge to photography that’s really restricting.” He goes on to say, “It’s a controlled medium, especially in the process. And I just want to throw that control out as much as possible.”

Once a graduate student of Robert Heinecken’s at UCLA, Nagatani’s resistance to the constraints of traditional photographic practice is in keeping with his training. Time spent in Hollywood learning from models and sets for movies, among them Blade Runner and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, also influenced his desire to push boundaries. He envisioned a more expansive, plastic kind of photography.

For his creative photography, Nagatani has received numerous awards, among them, the Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer’s Fellowship, The Kraszna-Krausz Award for his book Nuclear Enchantment, the Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color Photography Award, the Eliot Porter Fellowship in New Mexico, the California Distinguished Artist Award from the National Art Education Association, and National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowships in 1984 and 1992.

A professor of Art and Art History at the University of New Mexico where he taught for 20 years, Nagatani retired in 2006. The Society of Photographic Education conferred upon him the Honored Educator Award in 2008, and, in 2003, New Mexico’s then Governor Bill Richardson presented Nagatani with the “Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.” Nagatani has served as a panelist for the Illinois Art Council, Southern Arts Federation, Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, California Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He remains an active member of the Atomic Photographer’s Guild.

Patrick Nagatani: Themes and Variations was partially drawn from Desire for Magic – Patrick Nagatani 1978-2008, the exhibition and monograph, curated by Michele M. Penhall, Curator of Prints and Photographs at the University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque. That exhibition traveled to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and was exhibited at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia.

The Griffin Museum of Photography is pleased to offer a distinctive and expanded version of the initial exhibition.

PHOTOGRAPHY ATELIER 22

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The Photography Atelier 22 and Atelier 2.0 will present an exhibit of student artwork from September 10th to September 28th, 2015. The Atelier is a course for intermediate and advanced photographers offered by the Griffin Museum of Photography. The Atelier 2.0 is a peer and facilitator critique class. You are invited to come view the photographs at the Griffin Museum, 67 Shore Road, Winchester, Massachusetts 01890.

On Thursday, September 10th, the public is invited to attend the artists’ opening night reception from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Griffin Museum.

Photography Atelier Instructor and Photographer Meg Birnbaum shared, “The Photography Atelier has such a long and rich history, I’m honored to be leading this workshop for emerging photographers with Amy Rindskopf assisting. The talent among the 18 members of this group show is varied and inspiring — from our relationship with animals, landscapes, and still life arrangements, to exploding light bulbs and motherhood — the show is very satisfying feast for the eyes and soul.”

Work by 2015 Atelier members includes:
Meredith Abenaim: The One Love Project, images exploring mothering an only child; Gregory Albertson: Terra Incognita, alternative landscapes of unexplored worlds; Amy Thompson Avishai: Long Days, Short Years, photographs of her two young daughters that explore time passing and the freedom to be; Vicki Diez-Canseco; Miren Etcheverry: Recollection, revisiting collected objects and recalling the memories they evoke; Roger Galburt: Bulb Spirits, photographs of normal incandescent light bulbs, broken and exposed to air, quickly releasing white smoke; Jess Hauserman: Either, Or, diptychs discussing the public restroom experience through gender ideologies; Tira Khan: What Was/What Is: Remembrance of My Father, photographs layering past memories with present day landscapes; Lee Kilpatrick: Patterns of Prosperity, a panoramic view of consumer choice in the United States; Cheryl Prevost: Abstract Elements, abstracted relationships of natural elements manifested throughout nature; Amy Rindskopf: Left Over, images from a quiet kitchen; Janet Smith: Sticks & Stones, tranquil and whimsical images of these found objects; Joseph Staska: Dream Boats-Abandoned Ships, a photo series of boats representing lost dreams; Donna Tramontozzi: When Animals Meet, images of moments when humans and animals connect; Piet Visser: Eye of the Storm, photographs celebrating solitude and tranquility in a frantic and complicated world; Andrea Waxler: Horses, Top Hats and Old Hollywood, power, elegance, grace, and a touch of Old Hollywood; David Whitney: The Nature of Cities, images capturing interactions between natural and urban environments; Julie Williams-Krishnan: Seven-Eight, laying straight images of childhood objects.

Atelier 2.0 artists include Bob Avakian, Nan Collins, James Hunt, David Feigenbaum , Astrid Reischwitz, Amy Rindskopf and Ellen Slotnick

About the class:
Photography Atelier, in its nineteenth year, is a unique portfolio-making course for emerging to advanced photographers. In addition to guidance and support in the creation of a body of work, the class prepares artists to market, exhibit, and present their work to industry professionals. Each participant in the Atelier presents a final project in the form of a print portfolio, a photographic book or album, a slide show, or a mixed media presentation. In every Atelier, students hang a gallery exhibition and produce work for their own pages on the Atelier website. To see the photography of present and past Atelier students and teachers, please visit www.photographyatelier.org. Instructor Meg Birnbaum will be happy to discuss the Photography Atelier at the reception on September 10th with anyone interested in joining the class.

Photo critique is a critically important element of the Photography Atelier and is the main focus of Atelier 2.0. There are invited guest speakers every other class who discuss their photographic trajectory and creative process.

Noritaka Minami 1972

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Noritaka Minami has been photographing the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo for the past four years.

Minami’s series is featured in the Atelier Gallery at the Griffin Museum of Photography July 9th through August 30th, 2015. An opening reception will take place on July 9th, 2015 from 7-8:30pm.

The architect Kisho Kurokawa completed the tower in 1972. “As a building attached with 140 removable apartment units, the Nakagin Capsule Tower embodies the future of urban living as envisioned by Kurokawa in postwar Japan,” states Minami. He also says that, “the building is a reminder of a future that was never realized in society at large and exists as an architectural anachronism within the city.“

Kurokawa’s plan was to mass-produce the capsules. Despite this, the tower is still one of a kind and will more than likely be demolished to make way for a more modern apartment complex. Each 10 foot square unit within the Nakagin Capsule Tower was built identically. Today the units are in various states depicting the personality and needs of the occupants. Minami photographs the apartments from a consistent frontal perspective that speaks to a passage of time and shows a diverted route from the foreseen path envisioned by the architect.

Noritaka Minami is an artist and educator based in Boston. He currently is a teaching fellow at Harvard University in Photography as well as a visiting faculty member at the Museum School. He received a BA in Art Practice from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004 and a MFA in Studio Art from the University of California, Irvine in 2011. He has exhibited widely in the United States, was a recipient of an artist residency from the Center of Photography at Woodstock and his book “1972” will be published by Kehrer Verlag this year.

Joan Fitzsimmons Plant Life

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Joan Fitzsimmons says that she tries to grow plants. “I attempted to grow wheat grass, later basil, but could only document my failures.”

Fitzsimmons’ series, Plant Life, is featured in the Atelier Gallery at the Griffin Museum of Photography June 11th through June 29th, 2015. An opening reception will take place on June 11th, 2015 from 7-8:30pm. Joan Fitzsimmons will lead a gallery talk for members at 6:15. The talk and reception are free and open to the public.

“Ultimately the seeds did germinate,” states Fitzsimmons. “They did grow, and the plants were beautiful; but ultimately I was unable to sustain them. However, I view them as not just a failure, but also perseverance. Whether they thrive or not, the photographs hold their own enigma.”

Joan Fitzsimmons is a fine art photographer and educator based in Connecticut. She has had solo exhibitions across the United States. Her work is held in many museum collections as well as in private collections.

David Welch, Material World

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David Welch constructs totems of waste and the accumulations of materials in our contemporary consumer world. The photographs of these monuments “aim to encourage debate about consumption and the ways in which we feel compelled to consume.”

Welch’s series, Material World, is featured in the Atelier Gallery at the Griffin Museum of Photography April 9th through June 5th, 2015. An opening reception will take place on April 9th, 2015 from 7-8:30pm. Jerry Takigawa will lead an artist talk and gallery tour of the Main Gallery exhibition False Food at 6:00pm before the reception. The talk and reception are free and open to the public. The Griffin Museum will be free to all visitors on April 22nd, 2015 in celebration of Earth Day.

“Material World is my response to our contemporary consumer milieu. By treating artifacts of consumer culture as Duchampian-inspired Assisted Readymades, I photograph assemblages, constructed by my own hand to form monuments and totems that serve as precarious externalizations of culture and social biography,” states Welch.

“These photographs of the totems act as symbolic mirrors and points of reflection for my own, as well as society’s, contemplative and critical gaze.”

David Welch is a fine art and editorial photographer based on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. His fine art photography explores social issues, using large-format photography steeped in conceptual influences from art history and economic theory. His project “Material World” has been widely published and exhibited both nationally and abroad.

David was named one of the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward winners for 2012 and in 2011 he was selected as one of Photolucida’s Critical Mass top 50 photographers. David is a recent graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he earned his MFA in photography. He lives on the island with his wife and children.

Photography Atelier 21

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Photography Atelier 21 will present an exhibit of student artwork from March 5 through March 29, 2015 at the Griffin Museum of Photography, 67 Shore Road, Winchester, Massachusetts, 01890. Photography Atelier is a course for intermediate and advanced photographers offered by the Griffin Museum of Photography and taught by Meg Birnbaum and course assistant, Amy Rindskopf.

On Thursday, March 5, the public is invited to view the artwork and meet the artists at a reception from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Photography Atelier 21 members include:
Emily Belz: Memory Lines, photographic sequences connecting space, time and memory; Richard Cohen: Ambiguity of Cityspace, restructured images of urban windows shot in downtown Boston; Jennifer Coplon: Discovering Blackstone Square, a Boston South End park; Vicki Diez-Canseco: Shape Shift: A Part of the Whole; Estelle Disch: Phototransformations; David Feigenbaum: The Shadow Knows; Nancy Fulton: Woodland Light; Trelawney Goodell: A Celebration of Norway; Law Hamilton: Atlantic Waves: Grace and Movement; James Hunt: Spirituality and a Sense of Place: The Quabbin Wilderness; Lee Kilpatrick: A Case of You, a portrait of his sister’s last years before her death; Bonnie McCormick: Too Much Rum, pinhole multiple exposure images of the Caribbean; Vicki McKenna: A Sheaf of Stories, a selection of portraits from Italy; Judith Monteferrante: Glass: Realism to Abstraction; Skip Montello: Reflections of a Quarry Wall; Amy Rindskopf: Edible Geometry, a celebration of the growing season; Andrea Rosenthal: Fleeting Glimpses; Tiziana Rozzo: The Childhood of a Family; Dianne Schaefer: The Light You Cannot See, explorations in infrared photography; Elliot Schildkrout: Lost Memories, the abandoned Lincoln Amusement Park of Dartmouth, Mass; Ellen Slotnick, Quondam; Christy Stadelmaier: Arches; Joe Staska: Unsleeping, images from sleepless nights and 36-hour days; Maria Verrier: A True Self; Carol Van Loon: Barns, a journey back to the landscape of her youth after the death of her mother; Nadine Wallack: Shadows and Silhouettes: Nothing is Explained; Catherine Wilcox-Titus: Returned to Life, a series of still-life photographs.

About the class:
Photography Atelier, in its twentieth year, is a unique portfolio-making course for emerging to advanced photographers. In addition to guidance and support in the creation of a body of work, the class prepares artists to market, exhibit and present their work to industry professionals.

Each participant in the Atelier presents a final project in the form of a print portfolio, a photographic book or album, a slide show, or a mixed media presentation. In every Atelier students hang a gallery exhibition and produce work for their own pages on the Atelier website. To see the photography of present and past Atelier students and teachers, please visit:www.photographyatelier.org. Spring 2015 Instructor Meg Birnbaum, will be happy to discuss the Photography Atelier at the reception on March 5th with anyone interested in joining the class.

Bryan David Griffith, The Last Bookstores: Americas Resurgent Independents

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Bryan David Griffith explores America’s remaining independent bookstores. In this age when on-line retailers dominate the book ordering terrain, Griffith examines the remaining independents to see what marks their resilience and questions our future should they go away.

Griffith’s series, The Last Bookstores, is featured in the Atelier Gallery at the Griffin Museum January 8 through March 1, 2015. An opening reception with the artists takes place on January 10, 7-8:30 p.m. Magdalena Solé has a gallery talk and tour of Mississippi Delta at 4:00 PM. Brandon Thibodeaux has a gallery talk and tour of When Morning Comes at 5 PM. Bryan David Griffith has a members’ talk on his exhibition The Last Bookstores at 6:15 PM. The talks are FREE.

“The booksellers I met are passionately committed to sustaining their local communities and keeping the flame of literary culture alive’” says Griffith. “Far from giving up, they’re fighting back,” he says.

“The American Bookseller’s Association, which represents most independents, grew from 1,410 member stores in 2010 to 1,632 in 2013—a fraction of the 5,200 stores in 1991,” says Griffith. “This is the first steady increase in 20 years. Is this the dawn of a remarkable comeback, or a heroic last stand for independent bookstores?” asks Griffith.

Bryan David Griffith lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. He studied engineering at the University of Michigan and followed a career in consulting. Feeling unfulfilled in his job he has pursued a nomadic life and the life of a photographer. He has exhibited world wide including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Phoenix Art Museum. His work is held in public and private collections such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.

Like the book industry, the last decade has been a time of turmoil for photographers. In keeping with the theme of books—an elegant, functional, and affordable technology threatened by an ever-changing parade of electronic gadgetry—Griffith photographed this project using cameras without electronics on large and medium-format film, a slow but superlative craft in jeopardy. Two of the films he used to create these images have since been discontinued.

PHOTOGRAPHING PEOPLE Photographs from the Harvey Stein workshop

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This exhibition is a direct result of a workshop for the Griffin Museum led by photographer and educator Harvey Stein. The 3-day workshop took place in June 2014 on the streets of Boston. It focused on providing each student knowledge of and experience in photographing people in a variety of ways, including on the street, indoor locations, and in the subject’s environment. The workshop also focused on creating inventive portraits that are personally based and meaningful. Stein juried the images for this exhibition from photographs submitted by workshop participants.

The Griffin Museum will be offering Harvey Stein’s 3-day Photographing People workshop again in June 2015. Watch for details on our website.

Exhibitors include: Meredith Abenaim, Anne Brooks, Marion Cohen, Cynthia Cole, Anna Gemelli, Cathy Higby, Yair Melamed, Barbara Trachtenberg, Minglun Wang and Maria Zugartechea.

Asia Kepka, Bridget and I

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Asia Kepka is a creative in all senses of the word. Whether on assignment for Time Magazine or photographing a personal project, Kepka approaches all efforts with exuberance and out of the box thinking. She brings humor and light-heartedness to most everything she touches.

Kepka’s series, Bridget and I, is featured in the Atelier Gallery at the Griffin Museum October 14 through December 4, 2014. An opening reception with the artist is October 18, 7-8:30 p.m.

“This series of large format self portraits is my visual journal,” says Asia Kepka. “Little did I know, when I first set up my 4×5 camera, that this project would become a place where I would note and record the stories of my life. These stories are of life, death, love, loss, my family, my past, present and future,” she said.

“I grew up in Poland and while there as a child I wanted to be a nun,” says Kepka. “Thirty -something years later I am now an immigrant, an artist, and a gay woman. Through Bridget and I I am trying to tell my story and the story of my mother and grandmother, whose lives had a strong influence on me. Also by putting myself into the images, the roles of Narrator, Observer and Subjects are blurred. This allows me to explore many issues in a slow and cathartic process, quite often unexpectedly.”

“Asia has been shooting herself with Bridget for ten years since she found her on craigslist and bought her for $100. Recently Kepka decided that the project would come to an end,” says Paula Tognarelli, executive director of the Griffin Museum of Photography. “During our exhibit, Asia Kepka reveals the last image shot for this series. The image is called The Last Supper. It is a bittersweet moment for the audience as we have enjoyed the Bridget series tremendously. Nothing lasts forever as we all know so well. Kepka has changed and with that comes the desire to tell some different stories”

A gallery talk for museum members by Meg Birnbaum will take place at 6:15 p.m. October 18, 2014, prior to the opening reception for all exhibits.

Photography Atelier 20

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Photography Atelier 20 will present an exhibit of student artwork from September 11 through October 5, 2014 at the Griffin Museum of Photography, 67 Shore Road, Winchester, Massachusetts 01890. Photography Atelier is a course for intermediate and advanced photographers offered by the Griffin Museum of Photography and taught by Karen Davis and course assistant, Meg Birnbuam.

On Thursday, September 11, the public is invited to view the artwork and meet the artists at a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Photography Atelier 20 members include:
Lora Brody, Bill Davison, Mary Eaton, Miren Etcheverry, Ellen Feldman, Cassandra Goldwater, Ed Grossman, Sunny Gupta, Claudia Gustafson, Ileana Hernandez, David Hiley, Tira Khan, Carol Krauss, Helena Long, Tricia O’Neill, Vivian Pratt, Astrid Reischwitz, Andrea Rosenthal, Glenn Ruga, Joyce Saler, Stephen Shapiro, Pip Shepley, Ellen Slotnick, Joe Turner , Maria Verrier, Cindy Weisbert

About the class:
Photography Atelier, in its twentieth year, is a unique portfolio-making course for emerging to advanced photographers. In addition to guidance and support in the creation of a body of work, the class prepares artists to market, exhibit and present their work to industry professionals.

Each participant in the Atelier presents a final project in the form of a print portfolio, a photographic book or album, a slide show, or a mixed media presentation. In every Atelier students hang a gallery exhibition and produce work for their own pages on the Atelier website. To see the photography of present and past Atelier students and teachers, please visit: www.photographyatelier.org. Fall, 2014 Instructor Meg Birnbaum, will be happy to discuss the Photography Atelier at the reception on September 11 with anyone interested in joining the class.

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