Griffin Artist Talks

Joe Greene | Concealed Artist Talk/Reception

Posted on November 30, 2020

Join us for a conversation with Joe Greene about his exhibition hanging on the walls of the Griffin, Concealed. Happening Thursday night January 28th at 7pm EST, Joe will discuss his creative path and how this series went from idea to vision.

About the series – Concealed

Webster defines concealed as “to place out of sight, to conceal evidence, carrying a concealed weapon, to prevent disclosure or recognition or conceal the truth”.

At one time or another, everyone has something to conceal, emotionally or materially. When we place an object in our pockets and purses, we conceal it from public view. Just as easliy, we may decide to put a smile on our face even when we disagree with one another.

Joe’s photographs of vintage purses and toy guns act as a metaphor for the secrets we keep from each other and the fear in America right now.

About Joe Greene

Starting out as a painter, Joe was encouraged by his public school teachers to spend class time studying painting at an artist’s studio in Harvard Square, Cambridge. Since the studio specialized in copying classic contemporary works of arts, Joe had to learn how to paint just like the masters; including using a stick to drip paint Pollock style. He says, “Painting the same paintings over and over again helped me understand how light, color and textures work together.”

When he couldn’t get his ideas onto canvas fast enough, Joe picked up a camera. By the time he reached high school, he had a darkroom, two clients and was studying with artist and cinematographer, Ken Brown. Joe also learned the art of the psychedelic light show, by helping out at the Boston Tea Party concert hall. “I had a front row seat ( from the light show booth ) for Cream, Led Zepplin and the J Geils Band,”said Greene.

College was an exercise that broadened Joe’s horizons, it was at Mass College of Art where he became an honor student as a dual major in graphic design and photography, studying with the teaching team of Gus Kayafas and the late Paul Muller.
“I can spend years studying a subject, genre or lifestyle. My recent book, “Bike Week”, covers 5 years of shooting portraits at Laconia Bike Week. Other book titles include “Track”; the last few live race days at Suffolk Downs, Wolf; photographs of legendary rocker Peter Wolf and a new collection of found objects entitiled “Shiny Things,” Greene said.

Ruben Salgado Escudero | Finalist, Arnold Newman Prize

Posted on October 8, 2020

The Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture for 2020 is on the walls of the Griffin. Today we highlight one of the finalists, Ruben Salgado Escudero. We wanted to know more about his beautiful series, Solar Portraits, so we asked him a few questions.

© Ruben Salgado Escudero – Mg Ko, a Shan farmer poses with his cow in Lui Pan Sone Village, Kayah State. Only 26% of Myanmar has access to electricity, at least half of whom live in cities. In rural areas, of the estimated 68,000 villages in the country, just 3,000 or so have any sort of access to power. Solar power is a viable source of energy which can rapidly improve lives overnight.

Tell us about what inspired the body of work? What was the first image in the series?

The people of rural Myanmar who mostly live without access to electricity inspired me to begin this project. When I moved there in 2013 to begin my photography career, I was stunned when traveling outside of the main cities and saw that most people had to light candles and kerosene lamps after the sun fell. The first solar portrait I took was a farmer and his cow in a rural area about 250km from Yangon, where I used to live. He told me his story of how, thanks to his small solar panel, he was able to milk his cow earlier in the day and later at night, giving him more time to spend on the field and with his family. I asked if I could take a photo of him with his favorite cow. He agreed and as it was night time, I used the only source of light that was available- his solar powered led bulb.

© Ruben Salgado Escudero – Cristobal Cespedes Lorenzo (51) sits on his raft while carrying coconuts across the river to his home in Copala, on the coast of Mexico’s state of Guerrero.
Cristobal and Francisco Manzanares Cagua (16) both work picking coconuts which they then sell to a company which makes coconut butter and oil.

Did your ideas about the work change over the course of creating the images? What did you learn from creating the series?

I try to have Ideas for projects flow organically, so in this case, and after working on the project for the last five years, it has become much more than a photography project. Solar Portraits has foundation support with registered non-profit (501(c)3) status for its growing social impact initiative. The series has become an educational tool, bringing workshops and creative programming to the youngest members of communities I visit, which leads to collaboration with reciprocity. Students build a simple solar lamp or solar art project, with a focus on opening the door for bright young minds to learn about themes of solar energy innovation, global citizenship, and personal empowerment.

© Ruben Salgado Escudero – (May 31st, 2015) Denis Okiror (30) began using solar lights at his barbershop in Kayunga in 2013, he says most of his customers prefer to visit him in the evening. Uganda has one of the lowest electrification rates in Africa. In urban areas, 55 percent of Ugandans have access to electricity, however, access drops to 10 percent in rural areas, and is only 19 percent nationwide.

Tell us about what inspired the body of work? What was the first image in the series?

This project isn’t quite finished yet. I have been working on it on and off for the last five years. I’m still excited to tell a few more stories for it and eventually make a book. At the same time, I have a couple of other projects I’m working on simultaneously in Mexico, where I have lived for three years.

© Ruben Salgado Escudero – Faustina Flores Carranza (68) and her husband Juan Astudillo Jesus (65) sit in their solar-lit home in San Luis Acatlan, Guerrero, Mexico. Faustina and Juan have seven children and are together since 50 years. Like many members of the Mextica Indigenous Community, they have never had access to electricity.
When asked how having solar has impacted their lives, Faustina said, ”For the first time, we are able to look at each in the eyes in our moments of intimacy.”

Can you talk a bit about what being a finalist in the Newman Awards means to you?

As an artist, anytime that your work is recognized, it gives a push of motivation. It means that all of the hard work and the risks that one takes when creating a long-term creative project is worth it because it resonates with people and especially with seasoned talented photographers like the jury panel. I’m very excited to continue the growth of the project.

You mention Solar Portraits is a 501c3. How do we find out more information about your Non Profit?

Solar Portraits has 501(c)3 status under Blue Earth Alliance, which has allowed us to receive foundation sponsorship for the educational initiative which we are continually working to expand. It is important to me that this project is more than just the documentation. The work we do with young people empowers them to look towards a better future for themselves, their community and our planet.

To see more of Ruben Salgado Escudero‘s work, log onto his website. You can also find him on Instagram. Follow him @rubensalgadoescudero

Lacus Plasticus | Ryan Zoghlin Artist Talk (Online)

Posted on June 5, 2020

We are thrilled to present an evening with creative artist Ryan Zoghlin. Join us online on June 18th at 7pm Eastern.

This conversation is free to all. Held online on our Zoom platform, for your safety and the safety of others, we will be asking you to register for the event. We will have a waiting list in case of a full house.

In support of his exhibition in our Atelier Gallery, Lacus Plasticus, we invite you to a conversation with Ryan Zoghlin. Known for his use of alternative photographic processes, Zoghlin has created a series blending science, technology and the environment building a fanciful series call Lacus Plasticus.

Many artists look to our surroundings to explore their creativity, and Zoghlin has found that inspiration off the shores of Lake Michigan. Repurposing plastics to create unique underwater environments using the light of the sun with the Photogram process, these one of a kind images tell the story of a natural habitat from unnatural sources.

Statement
For almost 40 years, I’ve been sailing off the beaches of Lake Michigan. As a kid and now a father with children, I’ve always loved the shore. As time has marched on, I’ve noticed the increase in plastics on the beach year after year. A few years ago, I started collecting and disposing of the plastic bits I would find. Now I collect plastic to create photogram photographs. The images depict plastic parts and pieces as underwater creatures. The pieces dramatize, for now, a fictitious state where plastics displace nature. I’ve been calling this series, “Lacus Plasticus”.

About Ryan Zoghlin –
My memory of a love for photography started early on. Using my father’s Pentax Spotmatic during a family road trip to Cape Canaveral, I clearly remember taking photographs of an early rocket sitting on its launch pad. By 14, I had my own darkroom and was very fortunate to have a very good photography department in my high school. This gave me the tools to move on to Rochester Institute of Technology, where I gained a solid technical background in photographic illustration. Wishing to explore photography as fine art and art in general, I moved on to study at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I received a BFA in photography and sculpture in 1991.

My personal pursuits in photography have not waned through the years. Though my subject matter is varied, the intensity and thought put into each project is the same. While some work has been produced as digital prints from both color negatives and digital files, most of my work is done traditionally in a personal darkroom that I’ve maintained for the last 35 years. In the same time, I’ve used many alternative processes such as kallitypes, ambrotypes, cyanotypes, and orotones in my art. My work in orotones has been included in the Getty Conservation Institute’s Research on the Conservation of Photographs project.

My work has been a part of the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s Midwest Photographers Project in Chicago and is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Art in Houston, TX. A recipient of an Illinois Art Council Fellowship and a Buhl Foundation Grant, I have also been featured in publications including Black & White Magazine, Photography Quarterly, Diffusion Magazine, Camera Arts Magazine and Photo District News, as well as many others. I am currently represented by Etherton Gallery in Tucson, AZ and Obscura Gallery in Santa Fe, NM

June Photo Chat Chat (Online)

Posted on May 13, 2020

It’s the June installment of our series of photographers on photography, Photo Chat Chat.

Join our moderator Julie Williams-Krishnan and our photographers discuss their creativity across a broad spectrum of photographic styles and ideas.

We are thrilled to present the following four artists this month. We are showcasing the talents of Sean Du, Greg Jundanian, Eric Kunsman and Minny Lee.

In the case of a sell out, please contact us at crista (at) griffin museum (dot) org to be placed on the waiting list. We will send a link the night of the event in the case of any openings.

Sean Du is a landscape photographer whose work aims to reconnect us with nature. His on-going project “Above the Treeline” records, by way of hiking and climbing, the normally unseen views of North America’s mountain wildernesses. Since earning his BFA in photography from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, his work had been exhibited in institutes such as the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California, Los Angeles Center of Photography, the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado, Sangre de Cristo Arts Center in Pueblo, Colorado, and Photographic Center Northwest, in Seattle, Washington. He currently lives in Pasadena, California.

Gregory Jundanian is an emerging artist focused on portraiture with a concentration on communities. His current project, In Their Footsteps, is about his connection to Armenia, and the connection between Armenia and Armenian break-away republic of Artsakh. Other ongoing projects include a series of work on male identity focusing on local area barbershops, and different landscape projects that keep him busy until he can photograph people once again. In the meantime he is finally fully utilizing his Netflix account.

Jundanian was a 2017 Critical Mass Top 200 finalist with Spoken Word, his work on the poetry slam community in Boston. He also had a solo show with that work at the South Boston Public Library, and has shown both nationally and internationally in group shows. He recently completed his post-bac degree at MassArt, and will be entering an MFA program at the University of Hartford this summer.

Eric Kunsman (b. 1975) was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. While in high school, he was heavily influenced by the death of the steel industry and its place in American history. The exposure to the work of Walker Evans during this time hooked Eric onto photography.

Eric holds his MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and holds an MS in Electronic Publishing/Graphic Arts Media, BS in Biomedical Photography, BFA in Fine Art photography all from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

Currently, he is a photographer and book artist based out of Rochester, New York. Eric works at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as a Lecturer for the Visual Communications Studies Department at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and is an adjunct professor for the School of Photographic Arts & Sciences. He has owned Booksmart Studio since 2005, which is a fine art digital printing studio, specializing in numerous techniques and services for photographers and book artists on a collaborative basis.

Minny Lee is a lens- based artist who is currently focusing on making artist’s books. Her work contemplates the concepts around time and space and the coexistence of duality. Lee was born and raised in South Korea and obtained an MA in Art History from City College of New York and an MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from ICP-Bard. Lee was awarded a fellowship from the Reflexions Masterclass in Europe and participated in an artist-in-residence program at Halsnøy Kloster (Norway) and Vermont Studio Center. Her work has been exhibited at the Center for Fine Art Photography, Camera Club of New York, Datz Museum of Art (S. Korea), Espacio el Dorado (Colombia), Les Rencontres d’Arles (France), Lishui Photo Festival (China) among other venues. Lee’s artist’s books are in the collection of the International Center of Photography Library, New York Public Library, Special Collections at the University of Arizona, Special Collections at Stanford University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Amon Carter Museum Library, and many other private collections. Lee was based in the greater New York area for more than twenty years and recently relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii.

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