Griffin Museum of Photography

John Lucas Soviet Restaurant Polaroids

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John Lucas began taking photographs as a young student and continued through his doctoral studies, taking street images of life around him in England and while traveling in Europe, Turkey, and Morocco.

But during the 1970s he gave up serious photography, finding it incompatible with the demands of his scientific career in physics.
Then, on a journey to Russia in 1981, he took a series of Polaroid photographs in a coffeehouse.

" While this project was pursued with characteristic intensity, it took until 2007 to bring it to life through a combination of a strong sense of ‘unfinished business,’ advances in digital processing, and most precious of all, time," Lucas says.

A series of his photographs, Soviet Restaurant Polaroids, is featured at the Griffin Museum at Digital Silver Imaging, 9 Brighton St., Belmont, MA.

The project began when Lucas was in the Russian coffeehouse and used his Polaroid to take a picture of the cake he had been served.

" Within seconds of the camera’s flash I was mobbed with desperate requests for portraits by a clientele steeped in the privations of a Soviet winter," Lucas says. " The demand was clearly insatiable, even with my generous supply of film."

" At this point, I felt I had two choices; to abandon the cake and run, or to impose order on the situation. Without a word of Estonian or Russian, the unique character of Polaroid photography served as my language for convincing an apprehensive waitress to pose for a photograph. This was perceived as our arrangement and the commotion evaporated."

Decades later, Lucas explains, " I set about changing the small images of women and the food they provided into 16-by-20- inch giclee prints, using scale to transform the obsolescent icon of the Polaroid image into a defiant gesture. Rather than restore the original colors I sought dramatic effect through a richer palette."

The Griffin satellite gallery, which had been at 4 Clarendon St. in Boston’s South End, has moved back to its renovated and expanded space in Belmont.
The exhibit is open to the public Mondays through Fridays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Amy Arbus After Images

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Amy Arbus uses photography to evoke the classical paintings of Picasso, Modigliani, Balthus, and Ingres, bringing the subjects to life.

A series of her photographs, After Images, is featured in the Main Gallery of the Griffin Museum April 9 through June 2. An opening reception with the artist is April 11, 7-8:30 p.m.

"I chose portraits that I found emotionally intense and heartbreakingly beautiful," says Arbus.

She then photographed actor friends and other models to reflect those paintings.

"Re-enacting a painting requires a very deliberate kind of scrutiny," Arbus says. "It felt like dissecting and re-assembling. I was always too intimidated to create portraits in the style of another photographer, yet ironically with this series, in taking liberties from the original, I feel I was able to make my most unique body of work yet."

"When people first see them, they aren’t sure if they are looking at paintings or photographs."

Arbus describes her technique. "I learned how to create very soft lighting, imitate the skewed perspectives in the paintings and which colors for skin wouldn’t translate well into photography," she says. "It wasn’t until I was on the set that I felt like I knew exactly what I wanted."

"Occasionally, I would know within minutes that a picture wasn’t going to work, that all the elements wouldn’t come together, so I would move on."

Arbus says she and the actors discussed what might have been happening in the life of the subject of the painting to access a level of empathy.

"To me, they are paintings come to life," she says.

As for continuing the series, Arbus says, "I see this particular body of work as being complete, but inevitability it will inform whatever I do next."

Now Available in the Griffin Bookstore

Now Available in the Griffin Bookstore

Arbus has published four books, including the award winning On the Street and The Inconvenience of Being Born. The New Yorker called her book, The Fourth Wall, her masterpiece. Her advertising clients include Chiat/Day, Foote, Cone and Belding, American Express, Saatchi & Saatchi, SpotCo, New Line Cinema, and Nickelodeon.
Her photographs have appeared in more than 100 hundred periodicals around the world, including New York Magazine, People, Dazed and Confused and The New York Times Magazine.

She teaches portraiture at the International Center of Photography, Maine Media Workshops, and The Fine Arts Work Center.

Arbus is represented by The Schoolhouse Gallery and The Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts. She has had 22 solo exhibitions worldwide and her photographs are a part of the collection of The National Theater in Norway, The New York Public Library, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Digital Silver ImagingThis exhibition is sponsored in part by Digital Silver Imaging

Amy Arbus and Gallerist Mike Carroll of the Schoolhouse Gallery in Conversation and Gallery tour at 7 PM on April 12, 2013 at the Griffin Museum of Photography. $7 Griffin Museum and ASMP Members, $10 Students, $20 Nonmembers. (purchase tickets)

Stephan Sagmiller – The Clouds: Experiments in Perception

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In a project that questions the definition of nature, Stephan Sagmiller juxtaposes photographs of painted skies from dioramas at the Natural History Museum with actual skies photographed throughout the United States.

A series of his images, Clouds: Experiments in Perception, is featured in the Griffin Gallery of the Griffin Museum April 9 through June 2. An opening reception with the artist is April 11, 7-8:30 p.m.

“It is often the case that individuals define nature vis-à-vis photographs, paintings, and simulations over their own independent observation,” Sagmiller says.

He says his juxtaposition of painted and actual skies “unsettles the landscape, opening up space for the viewer to reflect.”

“When I put together the skies in the museum and the skies out in the world, they collapsed into one another,” Sagmiller explains. “I saw no reason to continue to delineate between reality and artifice as I had in my previous bodies of work.

“All the clouds I experienced – whether natural phenomena or painted artifice – became equally important. My images were simply fragments of other fragments. No fragment was more authoritative than any other fragment: together they formed a compelling personal collection.”

Sagmiller adds, “It is not possible to entirely untangle the concept of nature from landscape photography, the history of painting, or the romantic ideals often embedded in these forms of representation. However, even a small rupture opens up the possibility for reflection and questioning: What is nature? What do we know about nature? How do we know what we know?”

Sagmiller is a photographer and educator based in New York City. He has a master of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design.

He gives a gallery talk for museum members at 6:15 p.m. April 11, prior to the opening reception for all exhibits.

For this show, the Griffin created an exhibition catalog. It is available in the museum’s online gift shop. It is one of many upcoming Griffin Museum of Photography publications. All books are being designed by Meg Birnbaum.

Elin Hoyland :The Brothers

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When Norwegian photographer Elin Hoyland heard about two reclusive, elderly brothers living together in rural Norway she knew she wanted to collaborate with them on a project about their lives.

A series of her photographs, The Brothers, is featured in the Atelier Gallery at the Griffin Museum April 9 through June 2. An opening reception is April 11, 7-8:30 p.m.

Harald, then 75, and Mathias Ramen, 80, had always shared a house on the small farm where they were born. Neither married.

In addition to running their own farm, they had worked as loggers and carpenters on other local farms.

Harald spent one night in a hotel in Lillehammer, which he called the worst night of his life. Mathias tried working in Oslo for two months, but didn’t like it.

The brothers’ days on the farm provided a predictable and comforting routine. They cut, carried, and burned wood to heat their house. They fed wild birds in some 20 birdhouses. They listened to the radio and read the newspaper.

Harald died from as asthma attack while shoveling snow in frigid temperatures. Mathias continued to live in the house until moving to a home for the elderly.

Hoyland then went back and photographed the empty house. Mathias died in 2007.

"The brothers’ way of life has now almost entirely disappeared in modern Norway," she says.

A book of Hoyland’s work, The Brothers, was published by Dewi Lewis Publishing in the United Kingdom.

Hoyland has freelanced as a photographer for several major newspapers and her work has been exhibited in the UK, Scandinavia, France, and China.

A gallery talk for museum members by Stephan Sagmiller – whose exhibit The Clouds: Experiments in Perception is featured in the Griffin Gallery – is at 6:15 p.m. April 11, prior to the opening reception for all exhibits.

A book The Brothers by Elin Hoyland, published by www.dewilewispublishing.com with an essay by Gerry Badger will be distributed to each attendee to the exhibition reception courtesy of Statoil.

Lance Keimig Desert Nights

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Lance Keimig, who is known for his night photography, says he is “most at ease after the sun has set, free to explore the solitary wonder of this hidden world.”

A series of his images, Desert Nights, is featured at the Griffin Museum at Digital Silver Imaging, 9 Brighton St., Belmont, MA, March 28 through May 6. A reception and informal talk with the artist is April 25, 6-8 p.m.

"Most people experience the desert as a barren and empty wasteland from the comfort of their air-conditioned cars," Keimig says. "Cruising along at 75, it’s easy to miss the subtlety and beauty of the quiet landscapes between the national parks of the American West.
"I’m drawn to the desert by the fierceness of the landscape, and the unique culture of the people who live there."

He adds that in the desert “the evidence of humanity’s tenuous existence there is slowly absorbed back into the Earth, and I’ve long been compelled to photograph it while it lasts. The night provides cover for my photographic explorations, cover from the blistering heat and the hard light of the midday sun."

Keimig, a Massachusetts-based photographer, is best know for nocturnal images which are often made at the juncture of built and natural environments.

His book, Night Photography – Finding Your Way in the Dark, was published by Focal Press in August 2010 and has been translated into six languages.

Keimig is curator of Darkness, Darkness, a traveling exhibit of night photography that opened in 2008 at Harvard University’s Three Columns Gallery, where he was curator from 2005 to 2010.

He has taught at the New England School of Photography in Boston since 2000, and has also taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Photographic Resource Center at Boston University, The Houston Center for Photography. He leads independent workshops and is a frequent speaker and workshop instructor for photographic events around the country.

His photographs are held in numerous collections including The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA, The Boston Athenaeum, The Boston Public Library, The Grace Museum in Abilene, TX, State Street Bank, Fidelity Investments, Paramount Partners, Hitachi, Rayovac, and 3 Com.

Robert Moran Vertigo

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Robert Moran says the photographs in this series explore his reaction to heights and “the fear, fascination, and curiosity they engender in me and the perverse thoughts they inspire.”

The series, Vertigo, is featured in the Griffin Museum at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA, March 18 through May 19. It runs parallel to the theater’s productions “The Rat Pack Returns” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”


Closing reception May 2, 2013, 6 – 7:30 has been cancelled to circumstances beyond our control

“On a personal level, these photographs are an examination of my lifelong experience of vertigo,” Moran says. “They explore the connection between my most disturbing thoughts and the structures that inspire those thoughts.”

And, he says, “On a more universal level, they are an attempt to celebrate life’s everyday sights and often unnoticed scenery – the quotidian world that contains life’s wonder and speaks to its mysterious uncertainty.”

The images of towers, billboards, and tall buildings have been cut apart and rearranged into collages that juxtapose the structures’ shapes, sizes, and purposes. In the final step, color and texture have been added.

Moran, a fine art photographer, lives on Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine. His interest in photography began at age 12. After studying art at the University of Maine, he ran several businesses over the course of 20 years.

During that time, he pursued personal photography projects on trips to Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific. His recent undertakings have taken him to Cuba and Antarctica.

Moran’s work has been shown in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. His photographs are included in private collections in the U.S., as well as in Australia and Europe. His award-winning photographs have recently been published in The Photo Review, Shots Magazine, and B&W + Color Magazine.

Sean Gold Horn Pond at Aberjona

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Horn Pond in Woburn, MA. has been influential in Sean Gold’s life and evolution as a photographer.

After moving from the city to the suburbs in third grade, Horn Pond became his refuge. More than a decade later, he would roam the woods near the pond taking pictures. After he became a professional photographer, he returned to the pond to measure his photographic achievements.

A series of his photographs, Horn Pond, is featured at the Griffin Museum at Aberjona River Gallery in Winchester, MA, February 26 through April 22. A reception with the artist is March 19, 6-7:30 p.m.

“Horn Pond was my training ground, from novice to professional,” says Gold. “It is the place I went when I felt inspired to create, or to just do anything other than what I was doing. It was there that I learned first hand that you need a higher shutter speed if you are going to catch that Great Blue Heron going for a fish, or a small aperture to make sure that whole scene, from one end of the pond to the other, is in focus.

“These images tell, or rather show, that story,” he adds. “This is part of my evolution, from my compositions, to my subject matter, to my processing. And as they say in science, for it to be a viable experiment there must be only one variable and that was my knowledge and passion.”

Gold is a professional photographer from Boston. He began with photographing landscapes, and shortly after added wildlife. He recently has started photographing people.

Together with photographer David Gartner, he shot the images for an architectural book celebrating the 15th anniversary of Sunny Isles, FLA, A Source of Community Pride –The Architecture of Sunny Isles Beach.

Senior/Family Sunday with Sean Gold
At the Griffin Museum
March 10, 3 PM

Admission is FREE and open to all. Please RSVP to the Griffin, 781-729-1158. Senior/Family Sunday is sponsored in part by Salter Healthcare, New Horizons, EnKa Society, and the Mount Vernon House.

Ellen Feldman A Dancer in Her Studio 1986-2011

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Ellen Feldman is a fine arts photographer whose on-going emphasis is spontaneity. This is reflected in her street photography and her long-term project photographing a dancer.

A series of her images, A Dancer in Her Studio 1986 – 2011, is featured at The Griffin Museum at the Cambridge Homes, 360 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA, March 5 through May 20. An opening reception with the artist is March 12, 6-7 p.m.

“Nicole Pierce, modern dancer and choreographer extraordinaire, has been a favorite subject of mine for over 10 years,” says Feldman. “I photograph her on Sunday mornings every few months – sometimes more frequently.

“I’m free to shoot while Nicole puts together her weekly dance class at Greene Street Studios in Cambridge. She doesn’t stop to pose for me, so in a sense my process is the same as when I am photographing in city streets, “ Feldman adds. “I like the spontaneity of the ever-changing present, never quite sure what the next instant will bring.”

All the photos in the exhibit are black and white digital prints, originally from negatives, slides, or a digital source.

Feldman, of Cambridge, MA, has studied photography at the Maine Photographic Workshops, Fine Arts Work Center of Provincetown, and the Photography Atelier, Lesley University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Barnard College and a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University.

Feldman is the photography editor of the Women’s Review of Books, a monthly journal published by Wellesley College, and a member of the Cambridge Art Association, and ‘soupgroup,’ an ongoing collaboration and critique group.

She is also a film scholar. Her paper, The Conversation: A Study in Surveillance, was awarded third place in the 2006 National Paper Prize Competition sponsored by the University Film and Video Association

Feldman’s recent work includes photographing toy characters in urban settings. She also has three self-published books, Les Mysteres de Paris/Paris Mysteries, A Week in Prague: Wall People /Street People; and The Dancer as the Invisible Girl.

The public is welcome to view the exhibit Monday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please check in with the receptionist.

Photography Atelier 17

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The Photography Atelier 17 will present an exhibit of student and faculty artwork from March 7th to March 30th, 2013. The Atelier is a course for intermediate and advanced photographers offered by the Griffin Museum of Photography. You are invited to come view the photographs at the Griffin gallery, 67 Shore Road, Winchester, Massachusetts 01890.

On Thursday, March 28th, the public is invited to attend the artists’ reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Work by other 2013 Atelier members includes: Bob Avakian’s Landscape, Night and Dawn long exposure photographs; Betsy Constantine’s Sculptural Portraits of a Woman in the Autumn of Life; Jorge Galvez’ Self Portraits; Jane Paradise’s Portraits of Dune Shacks of the Peaked Hill Bars Historic district of Provincetown; Amy Rindskopf’s Elementary Vision, The Instant of Recognition – Photographs of Children; Judith Robinson-Cox constructed pictures using cut out shapes, objects and mirrors;; Linda Rogers’ collages of legacy objects, their original owners to present descendants; Gail Samuelson’s Self Portraits: Deconstructing Herself Turning Sixty; Dianne Schaefer’s Metamorphosis of Aging Structures; Alice Shafer’s The Beauty of Barns in Champlain County, Vermont; Dick Simon’s photographs Inside North Korea; Ellen Slotnick’s Ethereal Mood Landscapes; Christy Stadelmaier’s Ancient Colors, Shapes and Patterns from China’s Silk Road; Vicki McKenna chronicles the role of gardens, both formal or wild, large or small, as transitions between the natural and human built landscape, Trelawney Goodell’s multi-frame images of children at play, Assistant Instructor Meg Birnbaum’s portraits of “Sister Frieda Fabulous” of the Boston Order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence getting ready for a Red Cross fundraiser; Instructor Karen Davis’ Life’s Little Procedures.

About the class:
Photography Atelier, in its seventeenth 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 Karen Davis, will be happy to discuss the Photography Atelier at the reception on March 7th with anyone interested in joining the class.

David Pace Burkina Faso: Night and Day

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After more than 25 years as a photographer, David Pace says a 2007 visit to Burkina Faso – a small, rural, and poor country in West Africa – changed his life.

"A week in the remote village of Bereba opened my eyes to a whole new world of photographic possibilities and projects,” he says. “The people were warm and welcoming. The landscape was stark but compelling. The culture was a complex mixture of tradition and modernity. Despite the logistical problems and the personal discomfort, I was determined to return to the village and explore it more in depth."

And he has, every year since.

A series of his photographs, Burkina Faso: Night and Day, is featured in the Main Gallery of the Griffin Museum January 17 through March 3. An opening reception is January 17, 7-8:30 p.m.

"Everything began to change after I started photographing in Burkina Faso,” Pace says. “I soon switched from shooting film to using a digital camera. I began working in color instead of black & white. I started to feel at home in the village and comfortable with this lifestyle."

He helped create a study abroad program through Santa Clara University in California that allows him to spend part of each year in the region.

"I have earned the trust of my friends and neighbors in the village and been allowed to photograph freely as a member of the community," Pace says. "I have become a participant in the life of the village rather than an observer."

He began attending weekly dances at a small outdoor club in Bereba, where he ventured on to the dance floor and began taking photographs. The series, called Friday Night, “has become a central component of my exploration of village life,” Pace says.

Paula Tognarelli, executive director and curator of the Griffin Museum, observes, "David Pace’s very kinetic Friday Night images triggered a corporeal response in me as I viewed them for the first time. I could imagine the heat and sounds of bodies dancing in the dark on the small dance floor of Le Cotonnier against the rhythmic beat of music."

The exhibit also includes photos of the Karaba brick quarries and the Tabtenga brick basin.

Tognarelli says the images "hover between performance art and land art as workers carve a bounty from the land…The workers and brick cubes move indiscriminately across the landscape forming temporary installations against a backdrop of rich earthen hues."

Pace says his goal is to be a "witness for the community of Bereba, to document the changes that are occurring at an ever faster pace and to create a visual record of the time we have shared."

"Life in Bereba never ceases to be challenging,” he adds. “The constant heat, the insects, the poor roads, the lack of electricity and running water – all of these things require patience and firm resolve. But the vitality of the people, the austere beauty of the landscape and the sheer intensity of every moment keep me engaged day and night."

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