The Founder's Gallery

We all remember that suspenseful moment. The one right before you jump, when your feet are still on the ground, and time slows down as you contemplate leaping into the unknown water below. For some, the experience is one of play and excitement. For others the recollection may incite different feelings, possibly of anxiety and fear or of wonder at what lies beneath in the water below. These images, culled from Arthur Griffin’s archives, are frozen transitory moments depicting divers suspended in air and swimmers floating in water. Now frozen in time, Arthur Griffin has captured these brief moments in between take off and landing and just before they sliced the water. The images are reminiscent of childhood, of places hidden in the woods reserved for summer vacations, or of public city pools, where children gather to keep cool. Arthur’s photographs are reflections of a familiar experience; one that many can recollect.

“The Black woman is the most unprotected, unloved woman on earth…
She is the only flower on earth…that grows unwatered.” — Kola Boof

“Oh, How She Blooms! III” is rooted in her interest in the quote by Kola Boof. The symbolism of dried floral, epoxy resin, and portraits is a physical manifestation of her glorification of Black women. These handmade sculptures are a visual representation of her desire to preserve and protect Black women; to keep them blooming infinitely.

“Oh, How She Blooms! III” is featured in the Hall Gallery at the Griffin Museum April 7 through May 1, 2016. An opening reception takes place on May 1, 2016, 4-7:00 PM.

Symone is a California native, residing in Georgia. She currently attends Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, GA seeking her BFA in Photography. “I consider myself an image-maker,” says Walker. My work ranges from effervescent to nostalgic. I enjoy all aspects of documentary and fine art photography and I explore other fine art mediums including sculpture, installation art, and printmaking.”

PHOTOBOOK 2014 is an annual competition open to photographers in the United States and abroad who have self-published a photobook. This competition was offered by Davis Orton Gallery in Hudson NY for the fifth year. The competition results were exhibited at Davis Orton Gallery and forty-two books are now traveling to the Griffin Museum of Photography. Karen Davis, co-director of the Davis Orton Gallery in Hudson, NY and Paula Tognarelli, executive director and curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography were the jurors for Photobook 2014.

Photobook 2014, is featured in the Hall 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.

Best of Show photobooks were awarded to Miki Hasegawa, The Path of Million Pens; Michael Hunold, SHOOT; Linda Morrow, Calla; and Rebecca Sittler. All the Presidents’ Men. Exhibitors include: Raymond Adams, America Witnessed; Thomas Alleman, The American Apparel; Jim Baab, Instagram Photography 2011-2014; Rosie Barnes, Understanding Stanley; Karen Bell, Color Field; Karin Borghouts, The House of My Childhood Burned Down & I Took Pictures; Lilian Caruana, Rebels: Punks & Skinheads of the East Village 1984-1987; Sebastian Collett, Vanishing Point; Melissa Eder, Bushes and Balls; Andrew Fedynak, In the Light of a Fading Sun; Deena Feinberg, Morning Meditations; Paola Ferrario, 19 Pictures, 22 Recipes; Andrew Frost, The Northeast Kingdom; Preston Gannaway, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea; Richard Gaston, Lancaster City; Cathryn Griffith, Weaving Hopes & Prayers; Anne Howard, All that Remains; Jos Jansen, Seeds: On the Origin of Food Crops; Robbie Kaye, Beauty and Wisdom; Kay Kenny, Into the Night In the Middle of Nowhere; Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman, Processed Views: Surveying the Industrial Landscape; Robert Lipgar, Returning; Tom Lowe, Mojave Moonlight: A Series of Nightscapes; Bruce Morton, Forgottonia; Alex Nichols, Proof That Nothing Matters; Franc Palaia, NightLife: Shadow Paintings of Richard Hambleton; Mark Parascandola, Carabanchel; Nathan Pearce, Midwest Dirt; Jaye R. Phillips, Pulse; Don Russell, Caught on Wire; Dianne Jaquith Schaefer, Crummett Mountain Farm; Liz Steketee, Family Chronic – Samuel The Fox; Kris Vervaeke, AD Infinitum; Ira Wagner, Superior Apartments; Nicholas Whitman, Sea Shore Sky & Ice; Angilee Wilkerson, Happenings: The Wondrous Prairie; Heidi Woodman, Gold Fever; and Sebastian Zimmermann, Fifty Shrinks.

There are growing options available for self-publishing a book such as on-demand (blurb, lulu, viovio, iphoto, etc.); small run offset or web printing/publishing firms, binderies. For the competition if photobooks submitted had been hand-made/bound, they had to be available in multiples of at least 25. Entrants could submit up to three different titles that are self-published photography books of any size, format, or style: hard cover, soft cover, case-wraps, landscape, portrait, square, color, black and white.

Submissions were judged on the basis of: cover design, strength of the photography, subject matter of the book, page layouts, editing and sequencing and emotional impact of the overall book. All Submissions had to be original works of authorship created by the photographer who submitted the Submission.

“A photobook relies on the image to form visual sentences,” says Paula Tognarelli, executive director and curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography. “A photobook that is produced well can transport us in time and place just as any book produced with the written word.”

Erwin G. Markowitz has been shooting photographs since he was gifted a Kodak Bullet at age thirteen.

Markowitz was the president and cofounder of Red Knit Mills where he worked with textile manufacturing and oversaw all aspects of design, production and marketing of high quality knitted fabrics for the majority of his career. The influence of textile design is evident in his hand-made prints. “When a print slowly comes to life in a tray of developer, it is magic! It is still always a thrill for me when that image once seen in the viewfinder comes to life in the darkroom,” says Markowitz.

A series of Markowitz’s photographs, Selections from the Archive will be featured in the Hall Gallery of the Griffin Museum December 11, 2014 through December 30, 2014. An opening reception with the artist is also scheduled for December 11, 2014 from 6-8pm.

In my early days of making photographs, Erwin states, “All of my film was processed in a dish or soup bowl in the family linen closet in our New York apartment using the “see-saw” method. Film those days cost about a quarter a roll and the developer that came in a tube with a cork at either end plus one in the middle to separate the two types of chemicals was all of a nickel.”

Erwin G. Markowitz, 91, is an accomplished photographer who has been taking pictures for over 75 years. He’s captured compelling images across North America, Europe and Africa, focusing primarily in black and white photography, particularly shooting and printing nature, landscape, wildlife and scenic prints. “Like most people,” says Markowitz, “my photography often revolves around my other interests and hobbies-primarily those that take me closest to nature. Informal portraits of people in their natural habitat have become an additional focus for me.”

Markowitz has exhibited his work at the Griffin Museum of Photography, The Ward Museum in Maryland and the Fitchburg Art Museum in addition to galleries in Amherst and the Worcester area. He has also won various awards throughout his photography career.

Lear Levin has been shooting photographs since he bought is first camera – a Speed Graphic – with money from his paper route as a child.
After graduating from The University of Southern California’s Cinema and Drama Schools, he became a director of award winning documentaries, short films and (literally) thousands of TV commercials, one of which, for Prince Spaghetti, is the longest running in the history of the medium. His motion picture film work is preserved in the permanent collection of such institutions as The Museum of Modern Art in New York and The George Eastman House.
A series of Levin’s photographs, Burlesque and Cabaret, is featured in the Hall Gallery of the Griffin Museum October 14, 2014 through December 4, 2014. An opening reception with the artist is October 18, 2014, 7-8:30 p.m.

“I used to be a regular visitor to The Old Howard Theater in Boston’s Scully Square in the 1950’s and I snuck into the Globe Theater in Atlantic City New Jersey prior that time when I was only 13 years old,” says Lear Levin. “During my college days I frequented The New Follies Theater on Main Street in Los Angeles, where as an aspiring filmmaker, I often hung out backstage with the cast in the hope of some day making a film on Burlesque. I never did make that film. However, when I retired from motion pictures and took up still photography, Platinum and 3-Color Gum Printing, it seemed natural for me to finally explore what the colorful backstage life might have looked like during the old days of Burlesque.”

While directing from the Bayous to Bangladesh for film and television, Levin also continued his personal vision of fine art photography. His series, “Burlesque and Cabaret” is an evocation of Weimar Berlin and Backstage at ‘Minsky’s,” New York City, circa 1930’s. Levin’s regard for past as well as the his feel for archival, textural printing techniques continues in his darkroom where he finishes his work using methods such as Gum Dichromate and Platinum/Palladium to create the hand-made images reminiscent of late nineteenth and early twentieth century photography. His three and four-color gum dichromate and platinum/palladium prints will be featured at the Griffin Museum.

Levin has exhibited his work at Iris Gallery in Boston, Moss & Moss Gallery in San Francisco, Davis Orton Gallery and in a group show at CCCA gallery, Hudson NY.

Meg Birnbaum will give a members’ talk at 6:15 PM before the exhibit opening on October 18, 2014 at 7 PM.

Kate Jordahl photographs places where spirit of the earth and the human spirit come together. The black and white landscapes she creates are reflections on the crooked, unmapped roads of our lives.

A series of Jordahl’s photographs, Crystal Day, is featured in the Hall Gallery of the Griffin Museum April 10, 2014 through June 8, 2014. An opening reception is April 10, 2014, 7-8:30 p.m.

"I plan my journey for "destinations" like national parks and World Heritage sites and then celebrate as the places between are also full of visual wonder. For all the spaces, both recognized and by the way, I strive to recognize and capture the spirit and power of place in my photographs," says Kate Jordahl.

All of Jordahl’s photographs in the exhibition are Silver Gelatin Prints, printed in editions of 50. Her work is included in various collections including Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ohio University Library, Rare Book Collection, Athens, Ohio, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, University of Texas, Dallas and Yosemite Museum, Yosemite, California. She is represented by Modernbook Gallery in San Francisco, CA.

Ms. Jordahl has produced three books of photography: The Song Within, Afternoons with Ruth and Walking with Kandinsky. Her fourth book Crystal Day is in production.

Ms. Jordahl is a resident of Hayward, CA. She earned her MFA in photography at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She is a professor and chair of the photography department at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills in California. She is also the Director of PhotoCentral, a community organization dedicated to photography, located in Hayward, CA.

Brian Alterio will give a members’ talk at 6:15 PM before the exhibit opening on April 10, 2014 at 7 PM.

Barbara Ford Doyle was inspired by her husband’s attempt to save his garden crops from freezing. Out of cutting peppers in half to make relish came the idea for “Peaches and Penumbras.”

"For my photographs in this series, I interpret the word penumbras to insinuate the secrets that nature hides within," says Barbara Ford Doyle..

All of Doyle’s photographs are photo transfers onto DASS Stone Paper, a heavy limestone and resin, waterproof substrate. Doyle applies gel solution directly to inked DASS film, similar to Polaroid emulsion transfers. The "skin" can be stretched and pushed while it is still fluid.

"Just as each of my subjects is unique by nature, each of my transfers has a peculiar characteristic," Doyle says.

Ms. Doyle is a resident of Chatham, MA. She attended the University of Massachusetts and Southern Connecticut University majoring in Art Education. A former art teacher in the Massachusetts public schools, Doyle gives workshops on contemporary photographic imaging processes. She is a member of ArtSynergies, Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, Provincetown Arts Association and Museum, Printmakers of Cape Cod, and Cotuit Center for the Arts.

Barbara Ford Doyle will be giving a workshop and talk at the Griffin Museum in February 2014.

Denyse Murphy will give a members’ talk at 6:15 PM before the exhibit opening on January 23, 2014 at 7 PM.