Griffin Museum of Photography

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Gary Briechle Critics Pic

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Artist Statement
Gary Briechle makes portraits of his family and friends in the small towns and rugged terrain that hug the Maine coast. Briechle photographs using large-format cameras and the wet-plate collodion process. He works with a portable darkroom on location –– in the driveways, living rooms and backyards of his subjects, deliberately forgoing the predictability of the studio. When making a photograph he hopes for an image, which is something other than he intended. He says of his work: “the tension between the demands of the process and the demands of the moment make each successful image more a gift given, not a photograph taken.”

Briechle’s portraits span the decades of life from newborns to elderly. Similarly his images cover the gamut from rich darkness to delicate highlights and sharp detail to fading focus. Brenton Hamilton writes, “Gary’s images are caught between two worlds, one that is mortal and wounded and another beautiful and luminous.”

Artists Bio
Having been a sculptor for many years, Gary Briechle has an appreciation for surfaces and materials. His non-photographic work can be found in the Jersey City Museum, The Hunterdon Museum of Art, and the New Jersey State Museum. Briechle has been working with photography for 13 years but continues to be drawn to textures and much of his photographic work, layers the intricacies of skin with the blemishes inherent to wet-plate collodion. Briechle’s photographs are represented by the Catherine Edleman Gallery, http://bit.ly/UG2PnU. The book Gary Briechle Photographs was recently published by Twin Palms Publishers, http://bit.ly/TJSBjq.


Critic Bio
Maggie Blanchard, Director
Twin Palms Publishers, Santa Fe, NM, USA
www.twinpalms.com

Maggie Blanchard is Director of Twin Palms Publishers. For over thirty years Twin Palms has published exceptional photography and art books with an emphasis on monographs. Each beautifully made book honors the original work while creating an object that has a life of its own. Formerly, Maggie was Co-Director of Center, whose aim is to help photographers identify their creative goals and accomplish them through feedback, support and opportunities. Maggie is also a photography teacher, reviewer and juror.

Saul Robbins: Initial Intake

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Saul Robbins examines the empty chairs and office surroundings of psychotherapy professionals based in Manhattan, New York, from the point of view of the clients.

“From this vantage point I wish to reference the perceptions, associations, and responses to this very private environment, and the work that takes place there,” he says.

A series of his photographs, Initial Intake, is featured in the Griffin Museum at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA, January 22 through March 17. It runs parallel to the theater’s concert by The Edwards Twins.

A reception with the artist is January 31, 6-7:30 p.m.

“For many, the role of a psychotherapist holds significant weight and the importance attributed to him or her is one of profound influence in many of our lives, “ Robbins says. “Viewers are encouraged to consider the inherent personality in each of these environments, and the place of power being held across from them on a regular basis.”

Robbins’ family includes psychotherapists and he says, “This series stems from the belief that long-term challenges can be resolved by examining patterns in personal and familial history. It grew directly out of my response to one particular therapeutic relationship, and the necessity of questioning the efficacy and treatment of working with that practitioner.”

Robbins earned a master’s of fine arts degree from Hunter College in New York in 1999 and teaches photography at the International Center of Photography and Pratt Institute in New Work, as well as master workshops in Europe.

Robbins is speaking at the opening reception of Initial Intake.

Mary Beth Meehan: City of Champions

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Mary Beth Meehan grew up in Brockton, MA, the great-granddaughter of Irish immigrants.

“Growing up in the 1970s and 80s, I was surrounded by friends who were, like me, the children or grandchildren of immigrants: Lithuanian, Italian, Lebanese, Greek,” she says. “Our fathers were firemen and gas company men, mechanics, and grocery store clerks.”

She left Brockton for Amherst College in 1985. Over time, her parents and friends who remained behind described a changing city. Factories were closing, people were moving out, and the population was changing from an 80 percent white to mostly minority community.

Racism was rampant.

“In 2006, I began to use my camera to look into these impressions, to push past them, and to meet my hometown anew,” Meehan says.
A series of her photographs, City of Champions, is featured in the Atelier Gallery at the Griffin Museum January 17 through March 3. An opening reception is January 17, 7-8:30 p.m.

“As I worked, I met immigrants from all over the developing world – families, small business people, students, musicians, churchgoers,” Meehan says. “They were this century’s version of the 19th –century European and they were people of color.

“But, these people were arriving on a stressed, tattered landscape and, unlike by great-grandparents, had no jobs to greet them,” Meehan says. “The old timers misunderstood and resented them. And the press, with its selective focus on crime and dysfunction, only deepened the cultural divide between old and new.”

Meehan says her photographs are “meant to push past headline, nostalgia, and stereotype and humanize this changing place….From the Irish politicians desperate to hang on to power, to the Haitian bride on her wedding day, to the young boy at his friend’s grave, these are human beings living in a city – a community – that has been battered by forces out of its control.

“But, they are still human beings and their lives make up the fabric of the United States,” she says. “They deserve to be seen.”

Meehan graduated from Brockton High School and earned a degree in English and fine arts from Amherst College. She has a master of fine arts degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri.

She was a staff photographer for the Providence Journal 1995-2001 and is now a freelance photographer and educator, including being a member of the photography faculty at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She lives in Providence, RI.

A gallery talk for museum members by Patricia Lay-Dorsey – whose exhibit Falling Into Place is featured in the Griffin Gallery – is at 6:15 p.m. January 17, prior to the opening reception for all exhibits.

Meehan presents a gallery talk about City of Champions March 2 at noon. It is free to museum members, $7 for non-members.

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.”

A gallery talk for museum members by Patricia Lay-Dorsey – whose exhibit Falling Into Place is featured in the Griffin Gallery – is at 6:15 p.m. January 17, prior to the opening reception for all exhibits.

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