Photographers on Photography

Matt Siber | Griffin State of Mind

Posted on March 18, 2023

Matt Siber‘s Collective Consciousness looks at the way we imbue preconceived notions of what the object holds, and how we re-envision that object in a new context. His work was on view as part of My Favorite Things at Lafayette City Center, downtown Boston.

chairs on a a table with bird — © Matt Siber

What in your background do you believe had the biggest impact on your personal style and choices

I grew up in a scientific family that had a strong appreciation for art. My father and grandfather were both serious amateur photographers and they encouraged me as a kid to learn how to use a camera. Photography was my entry point into the art world and I have them to thank for that.

My first several years as a professional photographer were spent in the commercial field. My experiences with commercial photography gave me an inside look into the persuasive and manipulative methods used by PR firms to sell a brand image. When I entered my MFA program I was inclined to use that freedom of expression to examine and criticize the world I had come from in order to better understand it. My time as a commercial photographer is directly related to my main artistic practice as an examination and criticism of advanced capitalism.

My expansion into 3D media and other forms of visual expression were significantly influenced by my teaching position at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Our Photography Department takes a very broad approach to photographic practice where we tend to de-emphasize the singular photograph as art object in place of a more holistic approach that includes a range of media and presentation methods. This is when my use of sculptural and installation approaches became integral to my work.

If you were to describe your exhibit to someone what might you say?

The Collective Consciousness project was my way of adapting the approaches from my main practice to a subject I hadn’t addressed before. I was given this residency in the Chicago Public School system and was given free rein to make work that was distinctly mine. I am interested in complex systems, how they work, and the physical infrastructure that keeps them functioning. This led me to examine the objects within the elementary school without which the school couldn’t function. I arrange them in unexpected and often precarious ways in order to emphasize their presence and ask the viewer for their consideration. Much of the project was done in an empty school during the pandemic, adding another layer of context for the otherwise “idle” objects.

Could you explain your relationship to space in your photography? Additionally how does form inform your work?

When I create 3D work for exhibition I think of the pieces as having dimension and being viewed from all angles and perspectives. Much of my work ends up as a photograph, even if the subject is essentially sculptural. In these cases the camera’s flattening of space is used to my advantage as a way of fixing a gaze and locking in formal relationships within the space. In Collective Consciousness the objects needed to be returned right away, so a photograph was the only way to present the work to an audience. The assemblages were created for the camera with a single point perspective in mind. The form’s relation to the space is determined by the compression of space and the rectangular framing of a photograph. Figure and ground become fixed.

What originally brought you to the Griffin?

I ended up meeting with Crista at the Filter Photo Festival in Chicago. I was looking for venues outside of Chicago to exhibit the Collective Consciousness project so I looked to the portfolio reviews at Filter to get the prints in front of some curators. I’ve known of The Griffin for a long time as a professional in the field and a former Massachusetts kid.

ABOUT MATT SIBER

Matt Siber is a visual artist who uses photography, digital imaging, sculpture, and installation to examine large societal systems. He is Associate Professor, Adjunct in the Photography Department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Collaborations | Caleb Cole & Jesseca Ferguson

Posted on March 13, 2023

Collaborations, our special print program features creative photographic artists partnering to imagine and produce a one of a kind print to support the Griffin Museum of Photography. We started the program last year, bringing artists together, combining their talents and creativity, to create unique prints, with the funds raised from your purchase benefitting the museum, its education, programs and exhibitions.

We are honored to see the next available print in the program from Boston based artists Caleb Cole and Jesseca Ferguson.

man on the moon — Contemplating the Moon, 2023
Caleb Cole and Jesseca Ferguson

Contemplating the Moon, 2023

Caleb Cole and Jesseca Ferguson

Digital collage from found photograph and handmade cyanotype artist book

Archival Pigment Print

7.2×9 inch image on 8.5×11 inch paper

edition of 20 with 2 AP’s $250

Purchase the print here, or contact the museum to reserve your edition.

Caleb Cole is a Midwest-born, Boston-based artist whose work addresses the opportunities and difficulties of queer belonging, as well as aims to be a link in the creation of that tradition, no matter how fragile or ephemeral or impossible its connections. They were an inaugural resident at Surf Point Residency and have received an Artadia Finalist Award, Hearst 8×10 Biennial Award, 3 Magenta Flash Forward Foundation Fellowships, and 2 Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50 awards, among other distinctions. Caleb exhibits regularly at a variety of national venues and has held solo shows in Boston, New York, Chicago, and St. Louis, among others. Their work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Newport Art Museum, Davis Art Museum, Brown University Art Museum, and Leslie Lohman Museum of Art. Caleb is represented by Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

Jesseca Ferguson works at the intersection of 19th century handmade photographic processes, collage, and artist books. Her work is held in over twenty public collections in the US and abroad. US collections include the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA; Columbia University Libraries, Rare Books and Manuscripts, New York, NY; and New Mexico History Museum, Pinhole Resource Collection, Santa Fe, NM. International collections include Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, France; Museum of the History of Photography, Kraków, Poland; and The Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock Abbey, England. Her artistic and curatorial projects have been supported by Art Matters, Inc., the Trust for Mutual Understanding (twice), and MacDowell, among others. Her images and photo-objects have been published in numerous books, catalogues, and articles on handmade photography in the US and abroad.
Jesseca lives and works in a co-operative live-work artist building located in the Fort Point area of Boston, MA. She holds undergraduate degrees from Harvard University and Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She received her MFA from Tufts University (in conjunction with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). An artist who has had a career as an educator, she has taught courses/workshops and been a visiting artist at Boston-area art schools including Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Art Institute of Boston, Lesley University, Clark University, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (SMFA@Tufts).

Stephanie Shih | Griffin State of Mind

Posted on March 7, 2023

Stephanie Shih’s Asian American Still Life looks at the way we imbue preconceived notions of what the object holds, and how we re-envision that object in a new context. Her work is on view as part of My Favorite Things at Lafayette City Center, downtown Boston.

Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

I am a visual still life artist, working in the mediums of photo and motion. I’m originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, and currently live and work in Los Angeles, CA.

Tell a little about your exhibition, “Asian American Still Life.”

Asian American Still Life is an on-going series that examines the cultural richness of what’s usually considered the very Eurocentric (and painting-based) art tradition of still life. In the series, I’m pulling from my own cultural background as a Taiwanese-Chinese American as well as collaborating with other creators in the Asian diaspora to make our presences known in this venerated art tradition… and having a bit of subversive fun along the way (hopefully).

What do you find special about still life photography? What led to your decision to use it as a means to explore Asian American identity with this project?

I’ve always been more drawn to food and things and their internal lives than I have been to people! I like to “hear” the stories and histories that objects can tell. And so often in the history of the Eurocentric still life tradition, objects from other cultures get thrown in without context. I felt like it was really time to try to take back some of that narrative space and, in doing so, push the tradition forward.

What is a literary, musical or visual obsession you have at the moment?

I came across ceramicist Fujikasa Satoko’s work recently and am mind-boggled and obsessed. She makes clay come so alive that I’m in disbelief that it’s actually clay. That’s the kind of aliveness I always seek to bring to my still life arrangements!

ABOUT STEPHANIE SHIH

Stephanie Shih is a visual still life artist, known for her painterly use of shadow applied to playful perspectives on food. Shih started making photographs with her dad’s half-frame camera on childhood road trips, but only took up photography seriously later in life while in graduate school. At the time, she moonlighted as a caterer, and translating the experience of food to the visual image has been a driving through line of her work ever since.

As a second generation Taiwanese-Chinese American, Shih explores themes of cultural dynamics—belonging,alienation, appropriation, celebration—through her still life photographs. Shih’s photography has been featured in print outlets including Elle Girl Korea, 7×7, and Gastronomica, and online on Gourmet Live, Saveur, Fine Cooking, and Buzzfeed.

Shih is from the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in Los Angeles. When not in the studio or kitchen creating, she is a professor at University of Southern California.

Bonnie Newman | Griffin State of Mind

Posted on February 18, 2023

Bonnie Newman’s “First Light” still hangs at WinCam, so be sure to see it before it leaves in March! To learn more about her process we asked her questions for Griffin State of Mind!

Tell us a little about your background.

Thirteen years ago, I retired from a career in higher education and nonprofit management. I love travel and have always taken snapshots that captured the beauty and special aspects of the places I visited. And I have always found solace and spirituality in nature. Eight years ago, I upgraded my camera, started taking photography courses, and connected with a community of photographers, all of which helped me to strengthen my skills and have fun experimenting with my photography.

Tell a little about your recent exhibition, “First Light,” and how it was conceived.

I have a small cottage with windows on a pond on Cape Cod. Spending time there provided the opportunity to deeply notice my everchanging environment. I was particularly captivated by the morning light on the pond. I started taking photos from my window, my dock, and my kayak. In time, I felt I was simply recording the view, and not capturing the spirit of the area. I discovered the feature on my DSLR camera that allowed me to combine two images in-camera, one over the other, which made it possible to create more imaginative photos. I have since taken hundreds of multiple-exposure images that celebrate the early morning light on the pond.

How has your approach to photography evolved since beginning the project?

My work on this project has pushed me to experiment even more, utilizing intentional camera movement, (ICM) along with multiple exposures, to create “reinvisioned” landscapes, which capture the emotion I feel in the beauty and serenity of nature.

Has there been a Griffin Museum exhibition that has particularly engaged or moved you?

I always enjoy the exhibitions–I love seeing the many ways that photographers use the medium of photography to share their vision and what is important to them, and I gravitate to those who use experimental/out of the box techniques, and new ways of seeing nature and landscape.

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

I’ve had the opportunity to photograph a two-hundred-year-old historic barn that is about to be dismantled and rebuilt. I loved documenting the many discarded, deteriorating items left there for years, and then once the items were cleared out, to notice the elements of the structure of the barn. I particularly like the shapes, textures and shadows, the centuries-old construction techniques, the deteriorating wood, the old birds nests, and even the invasion of ivy through the dusty broken windows.

ABOUT BONNIE NEWMAN

Bonnie Newman is a photographer, outdoor enthusiast and avid traveler. With her camera, she experiences and captures the splendor of nature, compelling moments, and new environments.

Newman finds inspiration in nature, whether an expansive landscape or a detail that catches her eye. She sees abstraction everywhere and is attracted to shapes, transparency, distortion and fragmentation. Her recent landscape work utilizes the techniques of transparency and reflection, double exposure, and intentional camera movement to reveal her singular vision of a scene. The resulting images vacillate between serene and edgy, offering a flight from reality combined with a hint of mystery.

Newman’s photographs have been exhibited in a solo show at the Cary Public Library in Lexington MA. She has also exhibited at the Griffin Museum of Photography and juried in to group exhibitions at the Cambridge Art Association, Arlington Center for the Arts, Plymouth Center for the Arts, and Gallery Twist in Lexington.

She photographs for the Brewster Conservation Trust and the Town of Lexington Conservation Department, and her photos are on display at Brewster (MA) Town Hall, and the Lexington (MA) Visitor’s Center and in private collections.

Newman has taken photography courses with Emily Belz at the Arlington Center for the Arts, Griffin Museum of Photography, and the DeCordova Museum. (2015-2020). She participated in the Atelier 33 at the Griffin, has taken online workshops with Valda Bailey and Doug Chinnery, and workshops on Cape Cod with Steven Koppel and Julia Cumes .

Newman lives in Lexington and Brewster MA.

She can be found at http://bonnienewmanphotography.com/

WinCam is located in Winchester, at 32 Swanton Road, Winchester, MA 01890

Griffin State of Mind – Stefanie Timmermann

Posted on August 16, 2021

In today’s Griffin State of Mind, we feature Stefanie Timmermann. Her creative work, Blue Morphs is on the walls of the Griffin until August 29th, 2021. We wanted to get to know more about Stefanie and her work, so we asked her a few questions.

Tell us how you first connected to the Griffin Museum.

Stefanie Timmermann

My friend Janice Koskey told me about the Griffin, and was incredibly positive about her experience. Naturally, I checked the Griffin out a few days later. Just coming up on it, I loved the house and surroundings. And I felt very welcome inside, too. A funny thing happened right away – I only had a $20 bill to pay admission (I wasn’t a member yet), and there was not enough cash in the till, so the staff graciously let me in for free. It kind of set the tone, and I was glad to become a member soon after.

How do you involve photography in your everyday life? Can you tell us about any images or artists that have caught your attention recently?

Photography is pretty integral to my day-to-day life. Of course, I’m usually the dedicated photographer on any outing or party, but that just scratches the surface. On our walks, my teenage daughter and I collect anything out of the ordinary that could be used as a prop, and we do impromptu photoshoots where she might be wearing a fish head or gluing pufferfish spines to her face. I also use my camera as a license to be curious: A question might come up, and I will investigate and document the answer with photography. My most recent research answered whether chocolate burns or simply melts when you use a focused magnifying glass on it.

As to which artists have caught my attention recently – they don’t all have to be photographers, right? – I’m very much enjoying Serena Korda’s bizarre sculpture conglomerations right now (@serenakorda). Very recently, I discovered the phantasmagorical drawings of Anna Zemánková – in a way they feel like kin to my Blue Morphs.

For photographers, I’m really digging Suzanne White (@shepherdess1), Anneli Kunosson (@annelikunosson) and Laura de Moxom (@alibraryoflaura). Then there’s the always incredible Cho Gi Seok (@chogiseok), and also Sarah Waiswa (@lafrohemien) for cool fashion photography.

Anna Zemánková, Untitled, undated.

@Alibraryoflaura: “Anthotype of my spirit city Berlin. Made with a beetroot emulsion, the sun and patience.”

Please tell us a little about your exhibition, Blue Morphs and how it was conceived.

Stefanie Timmermann, “Youth”, 2019

Blue Morphs is a series of cyanotypes layered with marks from paints, pens and the heat from a soldering iron. It is a melding of deliberate photography and expressive painterly gestures, and incorporates environmental and social justice messages in some images.

I started working on Blue Morphs during my Artist in Residence in Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia in upstate New York, in 2019. The natural surroundings really inspired me to make a lot of different cyanotypes from the available plants, and to research different ways to make my images multi-layered.

The artist paint manufacturer Golden Artist Colors is located quite close to Cazenovia, and after we artist residents toured the factory, we got a large box of seconds to take home. I started adding acrylics to the cyanotypes and was hooked!

I continued experimenting with overprinting and layering colors on cyanotypes when I came home. At first, I mainly worked intuitively, picking colors and forms subconsciously. During the pandemic, this meditative approach increasingly felt at odds with my escalating worry about social injustices and looming environmental disasters. I read a lot of thought-provoking articles during this time. Soon, I realized that my cyanotypes connected with these theories and constructs, and I developed these ideas further with the help of a paintbrush. My approach therefore shifted to meditating on the forms presented in the cyanotype before picking up the brush. Once I settle on a fitting theme, I interact with the raw cyanotype as if writing an essay.

Has there been a Griffin Museum exhibition that has particularly engaged or moved you?

Oof, there have been so many! Most recently, I’ve been enamored with the sublime and thought-provoking exhibit “Spirit: Focus on Indigenous Art, Artists and Issues”.

‘Balancing cultures’, by Jerry Takigawa, was another standout. Such a beautiful and subtle exhibit on a heart-rending theme (the Japanese-American experience before and during WWII). Having Jerry talk so eloquently about his series in a Zoom presentation really deepened my understanding of his work and his subject matter.

The same can be said for Edie Bresler’s incredible photo/embroidery hybrids (‘Anonymous’). Her talk opened the subject matter to me, and in I engaged much deeper with her show when I visited. In general, being able to zoom into presentation has made it much easier for me to participate in evening talks, and I really hope that this format continues to be offered by the Griffin for quite some time.

Of older shows, Rocio de Alba’s ‘Honor thy mother’ still is very much on my mind. The unabashed campiness of the images hides the rather sordid truth of stereotyped roleplaying that goes on in so many families.

Last but not least, Gary Beeber’s ‘Personalities’ was in turn funny, sad, and poignant and has stayed with me all this time.

I should also mention that the annual member shows, both the juried Summer show and the open Winter solstice shows are also always very engaging. I personally love to see the variety of styles, techniques and thematic approaches that comingle under one roof during these shows.

What is your favorite place to escape to?

The beach in winter, when it’s mostly empty; the woods in summer; and always my own mind whenever I can have a little quiet space.

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

‘Braiding sweetgrass’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer was an eye-opening and hope-inspiring book. I wish books like this would be required reading in high school.

Griffin State of Mind – Vicky Stromee

Posted on July 28, 2021

In today’s Griffin State of Mind, we feature Vicky Stromee. Her creative work, Envisioning Solitude, is on the walls of the Griffin until August 29th, 2021. We wanted to get to know more about Vicky and her work, so we asked her a few questions.

Tell us how you first connected to the Griffin Museum.

I met Paula in Portland at Photolucida. This was my first portfolio review and I really had no idea what to expect or how it worked. She was so kind in conversation. She was supportive of my work and encouraged me to stay in touch. Several years later she contacted me about doing an exhibition at one of the Griffin’s satellite sites where they had an unexpected cancellation. I had a show I had just taken down so I jumped at the chance to send off a crate of framed botanicals. My partner and I traveled to Boston for the opening and got such a warm welcome from Paula and the staff. I remember seeing Jane Fulton Alt’s Burn series in one of the gallery spaces at the Griffin and falling in love with her work. I’ve been a fan of the Griffin ever since.

How do you involve photography in your everyday life? Can you tell us about any images or artists that have caught your attention recently?

Vicky Stromee in her studio

I walk every morning with a good friend and our dogs and I carry my camera everywhere. I try to take pictures everyday – plants, animals, insects, patterns, and shadows – whatever catches my attention. I’m pretty much in my studio every day where I build light experiments that I shoot for source images. I’m fortunate to have many rich connections with photographers – mostly through virtual connections on Facebook and Instagram, through my local ASMP chapter and an international group that I belong to – Shootapalooza. I have to say lately I’ve been following the work of Alanna Airitam – not only are her images beautifully executed (portraits and still lifes), but she is an impassioned and eloquent writer about her own journey as an artist and a person of color. I’m fascinated with the surreal qualities of Fran Forman’s work and the emotional explorations of Sandra Klein. I’m always inspired by Melanie Walker’s out of the box constructions and immersive installations. Annu Palakunnathu Mathew’s exploration of cross-cultural experience and invisibility also comes to mind.

Please tell us a little about your exhibition, Envisioning Solitude, and how it was conceived.

Vicky Stromee, “Capturing the Moon”, 2019.

Pattern and texture, light and shadow, movement and transformation –these are undercurrents that have dominated my explorations throughout my life. From an early interest in math and science, an education in literary criticism, my chosen profession in mental health and my interest in photography beginning at age 8, I have been fascinated with the continual processes of deconstruction and reconstruction, looking for what is eternal amidst the transitory.

I am interested in edges and intersections of transformation where one thing moves inexorably to become something else. When is the moment when love fades into anger and resentment; when disillusionment erupts into a violent uprising; when order descends into chaos? And when is the moment when war turns towards peace; unbearable grief shifts towards acceptance; or when pain gives way to relief?

In this series: “Envisioning Solitude,” I seek out close-up views of known objects to reveal patterns of color, texture and form, then capture these images and layer them together to create objects of meditation on that transformative process. Central to this series is the image of the moon – a solitary celestial body reflecting the light of the sun. In mythology the moon is alternately a symbol of love, desire, change, passion, fertility, insanity, and violence. Often associated with the feminine, the nighttime illumination provided by the moon offers us a different perspective and cause for reflection.

Hear Vicky discuss Envisioning Solitude on the Griffin Museum YouTube channel In Their Own Words

Has there been a Griffin Museum exhibition that has particularly engaged or moved you?

Wow, that’s a tough question. I was moved by Jane Fulton Alt’s Burn work when I first saw it. Living at a distance, the experience of seeing images online is not the same as being in the room with the work. That said, of recent note was Jerry Takigawa’s Balancing Cultures. My best friend in high school was second generation Japanese-American and I remember her frequently crying in front of the mirror because “she didn’t look like everyone else.” Both her parents had survived the internment camps. I’m also so fond of Patricia Bender’s work and loved Euclidian Dreams. I am amazed with the variety of exhibitions that the Griffin offers – often showcasing artists I am unfamiliar with. Paula and the Griffin are real treasures for the photographic community.

Jane Fulton Alt, “The Burn”, undated.

Jerry Takigawa, “Like Goes With Like”, undated.

What is your favorite place to escape to?

We have a 100+ yr old log cabin in the Pecos Wilderness of New Mexico – if I’m looking to just be – that’s the place. I lose track of time and can sit for hours listening to the river and watching the weather and the wildlife from the front porch. It is a place that brings me great peace. Beyond that, I love to travel and mostly to places that are so unfamiliar to me that it wakes up all my senses. India comes to mind as a favorite destination.

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

Most of the reading I do is of an academic nature. I do, however, listen to music when I’m working on images on the computer. I like a mix of jazz, blues, pop, world music – my current favorites are anything Taylor Swift, Adele, and Dua Lipa. My current visual obsession is watching the refracted early morning light that comes through the beveled glass window this time of year and fills the walls with rainbows.

If you could be in a room with anyone to have a conversation, who would it be and what would you talk about?

First, I think James Hillman, a Jungian analyst. The conversation would be wide ranging and of a spiritual nature – about the soul’s progression, the meaning of existence, and where creativity comes from. If I could have a second option it would be to sit in on a gathering of the Bloomsbury Group (Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strachey), of whom Dorothy Parker famously said: “they lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles.” I would be content to just listen in to their conversations about life and art.

How do the people in your life influence your art?

Wow this could be a very long essay! Growing up our home was filled with gatherings of artists and scientists, rabbis and priests, and concerts with string quartets. I was surrounded by dancers, painters, musicians, photographers, actors, and philosophers. Art has always been a part of who I am. I’ve explored a variety of mediums with many great teachers who have taught me so much about “seeing.”

When I was getting started as a fine art photographer many people told me I should go see Mary Virginia Swanson (who, lucky me, lives in Tucson). I guess I heard it enough that I set up a session with her. I brought my favorite prints and set them down on the table. I still remember the humbling moment as she rifled through my stack, sliding them quickly off the pile with “seen it, seen it, seen it,” and then a pause: “I haven’t seen this.” I began to take an interest in looking at my work as others might see it.

I have a tendency to fall in love with my most recent work and count on my wife and close friends to offer honest feedback and ask insightful questions. Through this process I have increasingly learned to step away from my work and view it as an outsider. I value their perspectives and hold that alongside my own resonance with a particular piece. These conversations and participating in critiques with mentors have helped me to cultivate my ability to see and reflect on my work.

Five years ago, we realized a dream with our best friends and created an artist compound with two houses and four studios. We are all artists in different mediums (author, painter, musician and photographer). We often share long conversations about our latest projects, our hopes, and our challenges. Our home is filled with an eclectic mix of art that I draw inspiration from every day.

Atelier 33 | Amy Eilertsen

Posted on March 22, 2021

In today’s highlight of the Atelier 33 exhibition, we interviewed Amy Eilertsen about her series Memento Vivere: A Study of Life. Amy’s collection of images puts an interesting spin on seventeenth century masters paintings. Scenes of her domestic fowl have become sweet memories, and reminders to live.

Why did Dutch masters’ paintings become such a great inspiration to you? How has this project helped you preserve the memories of your beloved animals?

I studied art history for a few years in college and fell in love with the Dutch masters because of the depth of color and shadow, the rendering of complex and the exotic still life. Historically, during the time the still lifes were rendered, Europe was recovering from the decimation of the Black Plague, and the upper middle class became infatuated with the exotic foods that they were now able to purchase. It was a time of plenty- and a celebration of beauty. Several of the animal actors featured in this series have passed away and I love the memories that I have captured in these images.

What do you hope we as viewers take away from viewing your work?

I hope that viewers will be taken in by the painterly tones and classic composition of the works, and be intrigued by the appearance of the fowl. The meta message of this project is “remember that you are alive” and I hope that the viewers sense the secondary message regarding animal cruelty.

duck in basket on table with flowers and fruit

Tell us what is next for you creatively.

I am in the cusp of deciding among a few projects- and will continue collaborating with my feathered friends.

To see the full collection of Memento Vivere: A Study of Life, visit the Atelier website.

Atelier 33 | Terry Bleser

Posted on March 20, 2021

Terry Bleser‘s collection Searching for a Sense of Home, part of the Atelier 33 exhibition, is on display in the Griffin Main Gallery until March 26, 2021. Terry’s series explores the idea of trying to find comfort in a new place through understanding one’s relationship with the land. We asked the artist some questions to hear more about her collection.

Which of these images was the impetus for this series? How did it inform how you completed the series?

The image called Fairyland was one of the initial photographs in the series. The marshes often present as thorny bristly places that resist exploration, but this small circle of green grasses surrounded by trees was an invitation to conjure up the fairies to play. It made me think about our age old conflicting feelings about nature.

How has your photography changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic? Has the Atelier been a motivator to persevere through these trying times?

After 25 years of living outside of Boston I relocated farther south in
Maryland. This was a month before COVID-19 began its spread around the country. It made seeking out new friends and finding all the usual
essentials of daily life difficult. Landscape photography gave me the joy of exploring the area and getting to experience at least one aspect of this
new place. The Atelier was a wonderful opportunity to connect with other photographers and continue to grow in my art.

Has photographing your new home in this context changed your perception of what “home” can mean?

When I arrived here I focussed on moving in and arranging a comfortable nest. Not able to socialize with people, I started exploring the front porches and lawns of the neighborhood to glean a sense of the community from the way they presented themselves through their houses and landscaping. But I longed for a different kind of connection. I realized that in my old home place there were natural areas that I frequented and became familiar with. That gave me a broader sense of home that extended beyond the house and city to the natural world. It was a larger sense of place on the planet that I missed. So I began to explore with my camera, looking for a place.

What do you hope we as viewers take away from viewing your work?

I would hope that we as a species could be more mindful in our treatment of the land. Wetlands have often in the past been considered pest ridden, mucky, thorny, impenetrable places that need to be drained and filled in. But the marshes are more complicated than that. They protect us and provide resources for industries.

Tell us what is next for you creatively.

I have found two places that I want to get to know well, to spend time developing an awareness of the lives that transpire there. I will carry my camera there and spend some time watching and learning.

Visit Terry Bleser’s website to see more of her work.

Atelier 33 | Judith Montminy

Posted on March 19, 2021

Judith Montminy‘s collection Dancing Alone is on the walls of the Griffin Main Gallery until March 26, 2021, as a part of the Atelier 33 exhibition. Her work represents a departure from her usual subject matter due to COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown. For more insight into the Dancing Alone series, we asked Judith a few questions.

How has your photography changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic? Has the Atelier been a motivator to persevere through these trying times?

Worlds apart from my typical street photography, the abstract water-centric images of “Dancing Alone” grew out of a quest for sweet visual lemonade diametrically opposed to the bitter and lonely emotional landscape of COVID-19.

In March 2020, the pandemic cut me off from the creative urban energy that had powered my art during regular visits with family and friends in Dublin and cities along the East Coast. Then the virus infected my 94-year-old mother; in early April she died.

As I ached from the rawness of those profound losses, photography offered little solace.

Yet in the spring, abstract patterns partially hidden outdoors near my home unexpectedly caught my attention. By fall, constructive critiques and encouragement from [instructor] Meg Birnbaum and fellow Atelier 33ers helped nudge my photography in a new direction – one where non-figurative imagery takes center stage and close-up filters help heighten the playful interaction between water and a variety of elements, including air, glass, acrylic ink, food coloring, and oil.

How delightful to discover these unchoreographed dances while traveling a new photographic path forward, even within the confines of a still uncertain future.

What do you hope we as viewers take away from viewing your work?

My hope is that viewers connect with the uninhibited joy and dynamic movement that’s fundamental to the work in “Dancing Alone.”

Tell us what is next for you creatively.

My immediate next creative adventure is Griffin Museum’s “Deepening Your Photographic Practice” course taught this spring by Emily Belz.

To see more of Judith Montminy’s work, visit her website and her Facebook, @Judith.Montminy.

Atelier 33 | Anne Smith Duncan

Posted on March 18, 2021

Anne Smith Duncan‘s collection Illusions (Landscape) is on display in the Griffin Main Gallery until March 26, 2021, as a part of the Atelier 33 exhibition. Interested to know more about her inspiration and process for capturing these abstract landscapes, we asked Anne a few questions.

What can be said about finding inspiration in unconventional places?

I was sitting at my table eating lunch one day and looking out the window. I noticed my neighbor’s concrete foundation with the stains from the soil, water, weather and the colors brought out by the light, and it reminded me of a landscape. Lunch uneaten, I went to make images. This series evolved from that singular day, and subsequently, I made many images of the foundations of my neighbors’ homes and my own. Inspiration comes from looking and being open to possibilities — and then picking up the camera and not waiting until “later.”

How has your photography changed since the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic?

I have been more creative than ever with the restrictions of the pandemic. With all my other activities eliminated, I feel very productive with my photography, having much more focused time. The absence of travel, however, has been a loss.

What do you hope we as viewers take away from viewing your work?

I hope the viewer brings their own experience and expectations to make meaning of each image. In discussions with others, I have found that what I see is not the same “landscape” or idea that they see, so I intentionally have not titled any of the images, allowing each person to find their own meaning.

Tell us what is next for you creatively.

I have been reviewing my image archives and editing projects into little books, primarily for myself as a way to complete those projects. I am also exploring family photo archives going back to the 1920s and thinking about possibilities there. I don’t yet know where that might be going.

To see Anne Smith Duncan’s Illusions (Landscape) collection, visit the Atelier website.

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