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Griffin State of Mind | Paula Tognarelli

Posted on June 19, 2020

 The Griffin Museum of Photography is launching a new series “Griffin State of Mind.” An interview series giving you a glimpse inside the creative minds of board members, employees, volunteers, and general members discovering inspiration, motivations, and individual passions that make up our global community. 

We are starting at home in Winchester with the heart and soul of the Griffin, Paula Tognarelli, the Executive Director and Curator.

Paula is a humble and passionate woman who fuels the fiery heart of the Griffin with determination and ingenuity.


Paula at her desk.

Paula Tognarelli
Executive Director and Curator
Photo by Katie Swanger

Describe how you first connected with the Griffin. 

I don’t tell many people about this but my first connection with the Griffin Museum was an application I sent for a position as the Executive Director of the Museum.

I took great efforts to prepare for this application.

Still I was the VP of Manufacturing for a large printing  corporation that I worked at for 25 years. I had an art background and ran a 60 million dollar manufacturing company. I managed blue color and white collar employees.

We had a 7% profitability. We cut staff 50% not through layoffs but through cross training, digital processes and attrition.

Together we moved a business from an accident a month to no accidents for 1 year. And I was integral in moving an analog process to a completely digital workflow for the corporation and other printing companies across the United States.

We were one of the first printing companies to install a leaf digital camera and install a photo studio in 1997. So I was pretty disappointed when I received a letter back that said I was not qualified for this position at the Griffin.

Did it stop me? No, obviously.

As a result, I worked out a plan to never have anyone ever say I wasn’t qualified as an arts administrator ever again.


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

I have been surprised that there is so much to do to entertain oneself without turning on the television.

 

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

Photography is a part of my every day. It is in my work life. It’s in my home life. It’s in my down time.

afronaut going up hill

© Cristina de Middel, THE AFRONAUTS_04

I go to photography exhibits on my days off. I’m surrounded by photography on walls at home and office along with photo books.

And I own lots of them. Even if we do not actively seek out photographs we are constantly being influenced by a photograph in every waking moment.

I recently saw Photographer David James on a Zoom online presentation. As a result I bought Taschen’s book on the film by Nicholas Roeg called David Bowie In The Man Who Fell To Earth in which David James’ photo stills and behind the scenes photographs are featured.

It made me think of Cristina de Middel’s The Afronauts. While not one photograph, it was one source that caused my imagination to go wild with possibilities.


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

Right now I am going back and forth between The Overstory by Richard Powers and A Cloud a Day from the Cloud Appreciation Society

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?

I would want to talk to my mother. We both left so much unspoken. She had such a wonderful sense of humor. I would just want to laugh together again.

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

It used to be the woods, but now I am afraid of ticks. Now it is my back yard under my favorite tree.

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

All of the exhibitions we have produced are my children and no mother should ever say they have a favorite child. I am very proud of all of our exhibitions. David Prifti: Drawn by Light, however has a very special place in my heart that becomes apparent when you see the installation.

      install shot from Prifti                         installation from Prifti

Filed Under: Griffin State of Mind, About the Griffin Tagged With: griffin state of mind, meet the staff, griffin team, about us, Executive Director

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Floor Plan

Amy Rindskopf's Terra Novus

At the market, I pick each one up, pulled in by the shapes as they sit together, waiting. I feel its heft in my hand, enjoy the textures of the skin or peel, and begin to look closer and closer. The patterns on each individual surface marks them as distinct. I push further still, discovering territory unseen by the casual observer, a new land. I am like a satellite orbiting a distant planet, taking the first-ever images of this newly envisioned place.

This project started as an homage to Edward Weston’s Pepper No. 30 (I am, ironically, allergic to peppers). As I looked for my subject matter at the market, I found that I wasn’t drawn to just one single fruit or vegetable. There were so many choices, appealing to both hand and eye. I decided to print in black and white to help make the images visually more about the shapes, and not about guessing which fruit is smoothest, which vegetable is greenest.

Artistic Purpose/Intent

Artistic Purpose/Intent

Tricia Gahagan

 

Photography has been paramount in my personal path of healing from disease and

connecting with consciousness. The intention of my work is to overcome the limits of the

mind and engage the spirit. Like a Zen koan, my images are paradoxes hidden in plain

sight. They are intended to be sat with meditatively, eventually revealing greater truths

about the world and about one’s self.

 

John Chervinsky’s photography is a testament to pensive work without simple answers;

it connects by encouraging discovery and altering perspectives. I see this scholarship

as a potential to continue his legacy and evolve the boundaries of how photography can

explore the human condition.

 

Growing my artistic skill and voice as an emerging photographer is critical, I see this as

a rare opportunity to strengthen my foundation and transition towards an established

and influential future. I am thirsty to engage viewers and provide a transformative

experience through my work. I have been honing my current project and building a plan

for its complete execution. The incredible Griffin community of mentors and the

generous funds would be instrumental for its development. I deeply recognize the

hallmark moment this could be for the introduction of the work. Thank you for providing

this incredible opportunity for budding visions and artists that know they have something

greater to share with the world.

Fran Forman RSVP