The Virtual Gallery

Artist Statements
My first trip to Southeast Asia in April 2018 found me attracted to the symbiotic life and culture of the rivers, lakes, and ocean bays of Vietnam and Cambodia. I have been rendering these captures  mostly as references or sketches to create dreamy, evocative spaces and places that transform the viewers sense of location and reality. Anonymity and references to painting are important to the mood I am attempting to convey. The alterations and enhancements, the manipulations of color and form add to the emotional response I am seeking from the viewer. There is often no consideration to reveal the content as it was.

This approach has carried over to a body of evolving work “Murder,” a yearly annoying  invasion of crows in the town where I live, into an artistic, whimsical body of work. (A flock of crows is referred to as a “murder.” )

With my discovery of Instagram a year ago,   I have been excited to dig deeper into the art/photo universe and I gratefully receive inspiration on a daily basis from other artists who excite me. My Instagram presence features many of the subjects I love.

Bio
Lawrence Manning’s personal and professional goals and life changed when he served as a Peace Corps English teacher and independent educational media consultant in Africa from 1969 through 1976. Not only did his entire global view and perception shift, but he passionately  fell in love with taking pictures.

In 1976 he returned to the United States and was fortunate to be hired as a staff photographer at a fortune 500 company. He learned a great deal of his craft and knowledge while on the job making technical images as well as working with portraiture and journalistic news within the company.

By 1983 he opened his own freelance business and became intensely involved and  invested in the early days of stock photography while pursuing commercial work.  This business eventually evolved into Hill Street Studios, a full time commercial media production studio.

In 2004, HSS with 21 other major producers of stock imagery formed Blend Images, the first stock agency dedicated to producing ethnic business and lifestyle imagery. His commercial and stock   images have appeared virtually everywhere in the world from small marketing campaigns to large scale advertising campaigns.

By 2016, the photography world had changed. With the evolution of the internet, the ubiquity of everyone being a photographer, and the saturation of stock photography, business declined and  he began to seek projects that would challenge his creative needs, to give himself assignments and challenges,  and  commit his time and passion to creating a new more individualistic artistic style.

In the past two years he has seriously been experimenting, altering, and enhancing his images in post production and the production of art prints. His art often is an enhancement of what might be termed “street photography” to more dreamlike impressions with a painterly look.

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Website

 

The Deconstructed Self

This series was inspired by a decision to move from my lifelong home in Kentucky to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The impetus for the move was unplanned and occurred at a time when I was also dealing with the decision to leave behind my professional identity as a psychotherapist.  The bright light and deep shadows of the Southwest immediately drew me in and I began to explore the urban landscape with my camera.

My photographs are a study of color fields, geometric shapes, negative space and light. My long-time work as a psychotherapist and love of abstract painting has influenced my work; I am using the symbols and spaces of the Southwest to reveal psychological metaphors – closed and open doors, shadows, and swimming pools are some of the subjects that draw me in.  These images are shot in a banal suburban landscape; I am interested in the places that others pass by, and I want to draw attention to the drama that others overlook. My images emphasize what is happening within the frame, yet they also ask the viewer to contemplate what exists just beyond the edges and cannot be known.

For me, these symbols and spaces touch on a part of the self that exists in the unconscious mind – reminding us that there is always something just below the surface of awareness threatening to reveal something new.

Bio

Natalie Christensen is a photographer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is a frequent contributor to online contemporary and fine art photography magazines, has won several regional awards, and shown work in the U.S. and internationally including London, Dusseldorf, New York and Los Angeles. She is one of five invited photographers for the exhibition The National 2018: Best of Contemporary Photography at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and has recently been named one of “Ten Photographers to Watch” by the Los Angeles Center of Digital Art.  In addition to pursuing her interests in art and design, Natalie worked as a psychotherapist for over 25 years and has been particularly influenced by the work of depth psychologist, Carl Jung. This influence is evidenced in her photographs, as shadows and psychological metaphors are favored subjects.

The “Tree Talk On-Line Exhibition” features photographs by 47 photographers on view in our Virtual Gallery located on the Griffin’s website. The photographers are: Jan Arrigo, Zia Ayub, Gary Beeber, Sheri Lynn Behr, Theo Carol, Richard Alan Cohen, Lisa Cohen, Dawn Colsia, Sandi Daniel, Adrienne Defendi, Melissa Eder, Deena Feinberg, Michele Fletcher, Nancy Fulton, Erik Gehring, Lauren Grabelle, Arthur Griffin, Emily Hamilton Laux, David Hebden, Tracy Hoffman, Timothy Hyde, Cathy Immordino, Lee Kilpatrick, Barbara Kyne, Scott Lerman, Erica Martin, Alysia Macaulay, Yvette Meltzer, Larry Merrill, Robert Moran, Jan Nagle, Eleanor Owen Kerr, Roseanna Prevost, Becky Ramontowski, Robin Repp, Suzanne Révy, Albert Rodrigo, Susan Rosenberg Jones, Don Russell, Joshua Sarinana, Sara Silks, JP Terlizzi, Stephen Tomasko, Donna Tramontozzi, Julie Williams-Krishnan, Yelena Zhavoronkova, Mike Zeis, and Charlyn Zlotnik

Statement
Leslie Sheryll: Pick Your Poison

These images were created from 19th century tintypes that I scan and alter. I name each woman so that she has her own identity. Women during that era were restricted to defined social norms and their identity was that of their husbands or fathers. In this series the women are enclosed in spheres. This refers to Darwin’s work in biological determination and the belief that women were the weaker sex. At the time it was believed that men and women inhabit separate spheres. A woman’s sphere was at home as wife and mother. If a woman desired to go beyond her sphere she found her choices limited. Botanical illustration was permitted, as long as it was to confirm the existence of God. Once the study progressed from illustration to science men took over. This also occurred in other fields, for example medicine. Originally women, some known as healers and midwives were dependent upon for healing the sick. Eventually, as women gained too much knowledge men made the practice of medicine their own. My use of plants combines both botany and medicine. Here I use poisonous plants. Sometimes plants heal and sometimes they kill. Though beautiful, these plants try holding these women “in place”. Luckily, women are strong and were not held in place.

Archival Digital Prints Edition of 10

Resumé Leslie Sheryll

Exhibitions/ Awards/ Web /Publications

2017 Griffin Museum of Photography, Online exhibition participant in “Gray Matters.”

2017 Gallery Vivid Foto in Barcelona (Oct. 2017)

10th Edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers

2017 The Gala Awards 10th Pollux Award winner for Children category Series: Sugar and Spice

2017 Arts Council of Princeton, Group Show (Oct. 2017) Princeton, New Jersey

2017 Float Photo Magazine, Female Gaze, Series: Botanicals

2017 Bent But Unbroken, Group Exhibition, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, Michigan

2017 10th Edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, winner alternative process

2017 L’Oeil de la Photographie Series:Pick Your Poison http://www.loeildelaphotographie.com/en/2017/04/22/article/159947873/leslie-sheryll-pick-your-poison/

2017 Riverview, article/interview by Sally Deering “Superwoman Soars at 107 Bowers

2017 Untitled Space, She Inspires, Group Show New York, New York

2017 A Stitch in Time, Finalist Art Scene Today online competition http://artscenetoday.com/juried-exhibitions/stitch-time/

2017 107 Bowers Gallery & ArtSpace, Group Show, SUPERWOMAN, Jersey City, N.J.

2017 Nasty Women Group Show/Fundraiser, Knockdown Center, Queens, New York

2016 Impressa Magazine, On Line Publication http://www.impressaphoto.com/voided-leslie-sheryll/

2016 Berlin Foto Biennale, Berlin, Germany

2016 Underexposed Magazine, Series: Botanicals

2016 L’Oeil de la Photographie Series Mother Nature http://www.loeildelaphotographie.com/en/?s=leslie+sheryll

2016 Houston Center for Photography, 34th Annual Juried Membership Exhibition, Houston, Texas

2016 Der Greif Magazine, Series: Mother Nature, 9th Edition

2016 Magna The Working Large Show, Group Show, Tivoli Artists Gallery, Tivoli, New York

2016 Heaven Art and Antiques, Group Show, Asbury Park, New Jersey

2016 Picturing The Garden State (Now), Gallery Bergen, Group Show, Paramus, New Jersey

2016 Finalist Focus, Photo l.a. exhibition, Los Angeles, California

2015 L’Oeil de la Photographie Series The Cult of Womanhood http://www.loeildelaphotographie.com/en/?s=leslie+sheryll

2015 The 8th Edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards For Women Photographer – Cult of Womanhood Series Finalist

2015 Finalist Charles Dodgson Black & White Award

2015 The 7th Edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, Portrait finalist, Berlin Germany

2015 Focus l.a. Finalist

2014 Viridian Gallery, Juried Show, New York, New York

2012 Mana Fine Art, Group Show, Jersey City, New Jersey

2010 Newark Museum, Juried Show, Make Something Beautiful, Newark, New Jersey

2009 Viridian Artists Gallery, Juried Show, First Place Winner, New York, New York

2009 Vermont Photo Workplace, Group Show, Middlebury, Vermont

2009 Causey Contemporary, Group Show, Brooklyn, New York

2008 Jersey City Museum, SPRAWL, Group Show, Jersey City, New Jersey

2007 Hoxie Gallery, Group Show, Westerly, Rhode Island

2007 About Photography, Group Show, Victory Hall, Jersey City, New Jersey

2007 Crossroads Gallery, Group Show, Kansas City, Missouri.

2007 Ch’i Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Group Show, Brooklyn, New York

2006 Jersey City Artist’s Tour, Public Library, Group Show, Jersey City, New Jersey

2005 Jersey City Artist’s Tour, Victory Hall, Group Show, Jersey City, New Jersey

1985 Charlotte Crosby Kemper Gallery, Group Show, Kansas City, Missouri.

1978 WomanArt Gallery, Group Show, NY, New York

1975 University of Kansas, Group Show, Topeka, Kansas

 

Artist: Susan Lapides

Title: Crustaceans

Artist Statement

In 2006, I began photographing my daughters and nieces with lobsters before we ate them for dinner. Lobsters are quite abundant in St. George, a small fishing town on the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, Canada, where we spend our summers, so lobster became just another meal and an adventure for my girls. They would always sit on the deck caressing the lobsters’ shells, trying to make them go to “sleep.”

What struck me was how differently each girl responded to the lobster. Some cradled it, some squirmed with their shoulders held tight, some raised it over their head as if to say: “this is just how one holds a lobster”.

Historically, there is a genre of photographic portraits of fishermen poising with their “Big Catch”, which symbolizes their masculinity. In my portraits the lobsters hold a metaphorical weight that shows how the girls engage with this weird alien creature in a way that reflects their personality.

There are many hidden layers and emotions in this improbable juxtaposition of a young girl and a lobster. There is nothing dainty or girly about holding a lobster, yet some of the girls make it so. My photographs show how these young women both defy and meet the expectations placed on them. The images also reveal the power dynamics between the girls and these creatures, which, although seemingly dangerous, will become dinner.

Bio

The photographs of Susan Lapides focus on people, culture, and place. The rugged landscape of the Bay of Fundy has inspired her three current bodies of work. They are St. George, Crustaceans, and “turq,” A Meditation.

A fine art photographer with a strong background in editorial photography, Lapides has exhibited her work widely, including solo exhibitions at Fidelity Investments (Boston), the Griffin Museum of Photography and the Saint John Art Centre in New Brunswick, Canada. Her fine art work is held in corporations and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, and France. Her editorial images have appeared in Life, Smithsonian, and many other national periodicals. Lapides graduated from Tufts University and the Museum of Fine Arts School. She resides in Boston and visits New Brunswick, Canada as often as she can.

http://susanlapides.com
susan at susanlapides dot com

Lost and Found
I feel that pain is one of our greatest guides in life. It shows us where we should and should not be and what we are truly made of.
Lost and Found is an ongoing project that began in 2014. It is a document of my journey of self-discovery and enlightenment through loss. Parts of it document the loss of a beloved dog, the experience of living with a grieving grandparent, and the gain and loss of my first romantic relationship.

About

Marijane Ceruti studied Fine Art Photography at the University of Connecticut. Her work has been exhibited in the 2016 Portrait: Photography exhibition at the Black Box Gallery, the 2015 State of Being Human exhibition at the University of Central Oklahoma, the Kerri Gallery in Willimantic, Connecticut as well as the Fairfield Museum 2014 IMAGES exhibition. Her awards include the 2014 Dean’s Award from the University of Connecticut and the 2013 Charles and Pasqua Alaimo Scholarship. She currently resides in her home state of Connecticut.

Website: www.marijaneceruti.com

Bio
Born in 1954 in Haiti, Mr. Jean-Bart relocated at the age of 13 to New York in 1967. Eight years later Leslie received a BA in American History in 1976 as well as a Master degree in Journalism in 1977 from Columbia University. Introduced to photography at Columbia University during a trip to Africa, Leslie was immediately intrigued and a 25 year career in photography as a freelance, commercial photographer followed. In addition to developing a successful business, Leslie received many awards for book and cover art he had contributed to. It was while working at Sotheby’s and then Christie’s that Leslie says his formal education in the arts began. Citing the full access to different media of arts, and surrounded by masterpieces from the greatest artists of our times he took complete advantage of the exposure to learn.

Leslie has had a solo exhibition at Xavier University of Louisiana in 2016 and has been invited to exhibit in group exhibitions, notably, at the Brooklyn Museum in 2000, Atlanta Photography Group (Atlanta) in 2016 & 2015, The Center for Fine Art Photography (Colorado) in 2015, Wilmer Jennings Gallery (NYC) in 2015, Monique Goldstrom Gallery in Soho in 2000 and 2001 and at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles in 2001.  Leslie’s work can be found in collections locally, and he lives in New York City

Reality & Imagination

In this series, I photograph the tide as visual metaphor to explore the dynamic interaction takes place between cultures when one lives permanently in a foreign land.

The cultures automatically interact in a motion that is instantly fluid and turbulent, just as the sand and tide. It’s a constant movement in unison where each always retains its distinctive characteristics. This creates a duality that is always present. Each of the sections of ‘Reality & Imagination’ explores this cultural duality. Part of the section ‘Silhouette & Shadow’ presented here gives an actual shape to the two cultures as silhouette & shadow, which are both entities that cannot exist without the presence of another. The series has provided me with the understanding that at every point I have the opportunity to act by choosing from within the structures of one of the two cultures what would serve best at the moment.

The current climate towards immigrants in the US and the present migrant situation in Europe shows that the turbulent interaction between the duality created by the mix of the two cultures does not only manifest itself within the foreign individual but also within that foreign society. The constant intermingling of that duality is ever there

My interest in photography began and quickly turned into life long passion some thirty years ago. I got my first camera while stay-at-home-mom. I loved roaming the streets, camera in hand, while the kids were in school. I was fortunate to be able to build a small dark room in a basement of my house – my sanctuary – where I spent countless hours working in b/w.
I whole-heartily embraced the digital age, which not only added color to my work, but offered limitless creative possibilities.

I’m mostly a self-taught photographer.

In recent years my main focus has been on travels to distant corners of the world in an attempt to experience, learn and – of course – photograph. Every click of my camera’s shutter turns fleeting moments into permanent records, images impervious to fading, images of diverse cultures, their people, their customs, ceremonies, celebrations and daily lives – images I love to share.

My portfolio “The Eyes Are Windows To The Soul” is a selection of casual, intimate portraits taken while roaming through many remote villages, crowded markets of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar. I have found, that for most part a friendly smile, a friendly gesture, the camera and most of all respectful curiosity – a universal human condition – is sufficient to establish a welcoming and friendly atmosphere.

Artist’s Statement

Celtic land, and landscape, holds a strong gravitational pull for me. A kind of genetic coding, if you will, that elicits a strong feeling of belonging, the feeling that I am where I should be.

My parents emigrated from Ireland to America in the 1950s. We started going back to Ireland in the 1960s to visit our family there, as we were and are the only members of our extended family here in the States. I was 8 years old when I first went to Ireland and have been traveling there ever since. Consequently the landscapes of both Ireland and Scotland naturally feel like home to me.

This work is an ongoing study of place and belonging; my hope is that through these images the viewer will sense my deep connection to the land.

Bio:

Tricia O’Neill has been making photographs since the 1970’s. She formalized her love of photography by completing a fine arts degree at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University in 2007. Tricia studied film photography and digital photography at the SMFA, rendering her a versatile photographer with knowledge of both analog and digital photography. Tricia also studied the art of hand lettering at Butera School of Art and founded the company Signs Unique in 1986. Photography and the completion of a fine art degree are fitting extensions of Tricia’s creative endeavors. Tricia’s years behind the brush–painting signs and murals–informs her photography.

Tricia works in a documentary style. Her work has been exhibited throughout the Northeast, in solo shows, juried shows, group shows and is in private collections.

www.triciaoneill.com