My Thoughts

New Work

2011-08-14T09:23:00.002-06:00

I am looking forward to some solid studio time hopefully soon. I have been photographing for the past few weeks, I now need to look at this new project before I make some decisions. I have been photographing the trash in the dumpsters and the alley behind my house. For a time I focused on why we keep our possessions and I am still intrigued by how people make those choices why inanimate objects carry such importance. However, since moving to Denver I have been amazed that particularly the alley behind my block is filled with furniture and mountains of trash every week. A few things play into that, there is a mix of socioeconomic backgrounds in the neighborhood, as well as I believe people come from the next town over and dump illegally into our dumpsters creating more trash than what could possibly come from this small block radius.
I hope to set up a time lapse camera in the next month to capture even more changes. In the meantime I have been photographing everyday till about a week ago. Looking and observing for what as changed from one day to the next.

I was intrigued when I watched the film Waste Land by the artist Vik Muniz, http://www.wastelandmovie.com/ his project documents the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho located outside of Rio de Janeiro. He collaborates with the pickers to recreate photographic images of themselves out of the garbage/recyclable materials they collect. A very powerful film and the images are beautiful. It was interesting to see how another artist who I admire dealt with trash in a completely different way.

Show!

2011-06-22T11:26:00.002-06:00

I got one of my cell phone images in a show that opens in July. Can You See Me Now: Photos Made on Phones, http://www.artspaceatuntitled.org/exhibitions/index.cfm?page=upcoming

The show will be at Artspace at Untitled in Oklahoma City, OK. Pretty excited to be part of this show, as I have been working an experimenting with the iPhone as another tool for my photography, images taken from my phone can be found on my Tumblr blog http://myexposure.tumblr.com/

Looking forward to more photographing this summer and more to come. Above is the image that is in the show.

The Sketchbook Tour continues and more..

2011-06-02T08:41:00.003-06:00

I participated in The Sketchbook Project: 2011 through Art House Co-op. My book is still currently on tour around the country with around 10,000 other sketchbooks check out the dates, http://www.arthousecoop.com/sketchbookproject2011

Meanwhile I continue to think about my own work and how I need to be photographing more. The spring has been busy with other parts of life and I want to be making more time for my photography. The project I embarked on this year documenting the differences between Boston and Denver has been an important part of my transition, however, now I feel it's relevance is not as important. The project was a good leap for me to make new work but it did not have a voice. While I could push the project further to gain that voice I don't feel that the work is there. Instead I need to push myself further. What can I do next that will translate my own voice but still be a meaningful and contemporary project? So I have been considering the enormous question of excites me and what do I want to be photographing?

My MFA focused around the objects we possess and why we keep and attach meaning to them. While I needed take a break from that work, I still find myself intrigued by our possessions what we keep what we throw away. Especially as I made this large move across the country and my fiancee and I made choices about what would not fit in the POD to be moved. Again I considered what we discard from what we keep. Behind my house is a shared alley with large dumpsters, I am continually amazed at the amount of objects, possessions, and trash that fill and overfill the dumpsters each week. I know it's not the same all over the city and yet I can't stop looking at the piles of furniture, TVs and other discarded possessions.

So I am intrigued by our current consumption of everything. I found this website while I researched for my thesis, The Story of Stuff http://www.storyofstuff.com/ upon doing a quick search I found another blog Consumption and Consumerism http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism there will be more research and images to come. I look forward to seeing where this will take me.

In a funk

2011-05-15T16:59:00.002-06:00

As I work on this new body of work exploring the changes and differences between Boston and Denver, I feel as though I have hit a wall. I was feeling so inspired after SPE and I have been doing more research which has helped and frustrated me.

My voice needs to come through more in the work which is something I have heard before. So what is my voice is what I'm working on now. My focus has been around my change in environment and space, naturally I moved to a totally different part of the country than where I had been. But as I read more and consider landscape photography, I have to also acknowledge changes within photography and how much the landscape has already been documented. How do I make the work my own?

I consider changes in our technology, iPhone, Tumblr, Facebook, the list goes on. I considered this more after reading the article On (Digital) Photography: Sontag, 34 Years Later http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/magazine/mag-08Riff-t.html
I recently purchased an iPhone and I find myself documenting with that a lot and posting images to Tumblr, I think about it as another way to be thinking about the space that I occupy. However, it also makes me consider that I need to change the focus of my project? More to consider but the research and reading has been great!

Gallery at Open Press Ltd.

2011-04-17T10:24:00.003-06:00

I had the great opportunity to get into a juried photography show that was part of Denver's Month of Photography in March http://monthofphotography.blogspot.com/. The show was at Open Press http://www.openpressltd.com/ in Denver and was part of the show Weekend in Prints. I was pretty excited because Mark the owner decided to keep the show up for the whole month. My photographs are the two on the far right.

Recently I have been doing research for my new body of work. I need to shoot more for this project. As I mentioned in an earlier post I started a tumblr account and I have been taking photographs with my iPhone and posting an image everyday to my tumblr account. I find it's another way to push myself to be looking constantly. As well as thinking about new areas to photograph in Denver.

SPE and spring break

2011-03-25T20:37:00.002-06:00

Went to the Society for Photographic Education (SPE) national conference in Atlanta this year. It was a great opportunity to see talks, panels, etc. To also get my new body of work reviewed. It was great to meet with people and have a dialogue about my work. Still have shooting to do and some things to tweak with the new project. But I am excited for a new body of work. I have lots of notes I need to spend some time reviewing and think about where I need to make more changes with this new body of work.

This week I have been in Southern California on break. Just decided to take advantage of another blog feature. I'm started an account with tumblr and I hope to post pictures everyday another way to keep me shooting. Now that I have an iPhone I am pushing how I can make images and use technology in another way.

More soon...

New Tumblr site:
www.myexposure.tumblr.com

The AIB MFA alumni show is traveling

2011-03-06T09:38:00.004-07:00

MFAconnects@POSTAIB.edu
March 29 - April 30, 2011
Hargate Gallery at St. Paul's School
Concord, NH
Opening Reception: Friday, April 1, 2011 6-8 pm

The Sketchbook Project 2011 tour

2011-03-06T09:21:00.003-07:00

This year I participated in the Sketchbook Project through Art House co-op. I had the opportunity to choose a theme and then was sent a small moleskin sketchbook. My theme was Down Your Street, I used this as an opportunity to further explore my new home as I photographed new work focusing on the changes in the landscape from Boston to Denver.

Thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums on a tour across the country. After the tour the sketchbooks will enter the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library. The tour began in February, 2011 above are some pictures taken by my Mom.
Check out this link http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject/exhibitions with dates for the following cities:
Brooklyn, NY
Portland, ME
Austin, TX
Atlanta, GA
Washington, DC
Seattle, WA
San Francisco, CA
Chicago, IL
Winter Park, FL

New Work coming together

2011-03-01T09:40:00.003-07:00

So I have two pieces in a show this week. I have been working to edit and get my new body of work ready to bring to SPE. It's still a work in progress but it's exciting to have something new. I am working on updating my website and just getting things together which feels really good.

Sketchbook Project opens soon...

2011-01-30T18:43:00.001-07:00

So I have been busy working on new work, I need to get my portfolio in order to go to SPE. Also I want to update my website lots of studio goals.

I participated in the sketchbook project and that show opens soon in NYC so exciting check out the tour dates http://arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject/exhibitions

Other than that loving Colorado living!

2011 Here we go!

2011-01-10T21:35:00.002-07:00

Exciting things to look forward to this spring! I had a snow day today from work which was fantastic. I was able to finish my sketchbook project which was a ton of fun to work on just wish I hadn't left it till the last minute.
I am so excited I will be able to attend the SPE National Conference this year in Atlanta. It's a good push to work on my portfolio so I have work to be critiqued at the conference! Then I want to spend the spring sending my work to galleries in Denver. Lot's do and meanwhile getting in some time in the mountains. Really loving living in Colorado.

Work, Work, Work

2010-11-29T18:57:00.002-07:00

Teaching has been hectic. However, I have continued to shoot and work on my new project. My sketchbook project is calling my name with the due date right around the corner. I have a piece of my new project in a show in Boston the AIB MFA alum show. See the postcard. Other than that trying to really work on finalizing this body of work and applying for more shows.

Busy time of year

2010-10-31T17:36:00.002-06:00

I have been photographing my surroundings and watching the leaves change. I still miss the fall colors of New England, but I do love the weather here in Denver. I need to start putting my new project together and making prints. I am participating in an AIB alumni show in January which is exciting. I have also sent work to my grad school friends new art space called Art Lab 9 in Mason City, IA http://www.artlab9.com/

Other than that things have been busy with work and I have been enjoying getting outside and loving the mountains.

Sketchbook Project 2011

2010-09-14T19:31:00.003-06:00

I just signed up to participate in the Sketchbook Project 2011. I am excited for another way to push my new project as I investigate my new home and consider changes in my surroundings now that I live in a totally different part of the country.

Updates

2010-08-08T11:34:00.002-06:00

I almost forgot to post I have work in ArtPrize a show in Grand Rapids, MI this fall. The show will run from Sept. 22- Oct. 10, 2010 and my work will be at the Riverview Center. It's pieces from my thesis work and I'm excited to participate in the show.

I do need to photograph more in Denver and start working on my new project. I will be participating in an AIB MFA alumni show, and I want to have new work. Also I want to start entering new work into shows. More to come as well as more updates to my website.

My New Home

2010-08-01T14:46:00.006-06:00

My usual it has been a while since my last post. It was a busy spring full of job searching and looking for apartments in our new home in Denver. I have now arrived in Denver and am pretty much settled after a busy summer of travel and packing. I traveled to Egypt with my family which was an amazing adventure. Then it was packing and saying good bye to a city I've lived in for 7 years. Leaving Boston and the East Coast for the matter is a transition that I believe will take time for me, it comes in waves when I miss it. However, my new landscape is very beautiful. The thing I am most eager to work on is my newest project of landscapes along with sound recordings I have been taking in Boston and will begin taking in Denver.

Now onto a new landscape. We drove out from Boston to Denver stopping to visit friends along the way: New York, Chicago, Des Moines, Kansas City, and then arriving in Denver. I have been busy unpacking and preparing for my new teaching job. New work and updated website to come soon and more posts on my new lifestyle. The sunset image is Sloan's Lake right around the corner and the other is camping in Roosevelt National Forest.

Transition Begins

2010-04-11T14:19:00.004-06:00

Beginning to look at changes. Above a recent visit to Denver, a landscape I am not used to seeing everyday with the Mountains in the distance. Below a visit to New York in an area near Cornwall-on-Hudson. The NY landscape is something that is familiar, comfortable, a landscape I have grown up with bridges, water, forests.

On a side note the other day when I was reading PDN, I noticed that William Eggleston has new work out. Here are two article links about his recent show 21st Century http://www.allartnews.com/victoria-miro-gallery-presents-new-work-by-william-eggleston/ and http://www.thisistomorrow.info/viewArticle.aspx?artId=209&Title=William%20Eggleston:%2021st%20Century

2010-04-08T15:16:00.003-06:00

So it's happening we are moving to Denver this summer while I've known for a while, it's really settling in now. I've been thinking a lot about how my landscape will change among other things. For all of my life I have lived on the east coast and now I am about to embark on an adventure and shift landscapes completely to be close to the mountains. In contemplating my move I continue to think about how I could relate this to a new body of work. I have been documenting my neighborhood and home my plan is to then do the same in Denver and present the work together as one body of work.

As I embark on this project I continue to think about home and objects and why we hold on to things. Especially as I begin purging more of my own belongings from my life to prepare for this big move. I recently heard a series titled The Depreciating American Dream on NPR check out the link to see the 5-part series http://www.wbur.org/specials/depreciating-dream, it is an interesting point of view which looks at people who rent and who buy. Is there a right and wrong anymore? As Curt Nickisch states "Owning a home has long played a significant role in the American story; the notion that buying a house is the stepping stone to wealth and happiness goes back a long time. But the housing bubble has burst, and many local homeowners are living in the shadow of the white picket fence."

The change in the economy has caused everyone, I feel to reassess their lives and look at the way they are spending money. I have only ever rented and as we get ready to move we are planning on renting again at least for the first year we are there. I an intrigued by discussions around home, especially after my thesis. A home is what you make it, whether you own it or rent it you make it a home. Again I am considering what home looks like for me... How does landscape play a role in that? I know the physical landscape will change but what about the neighborhood how different are areas as you move around the country? I am interested in finding out.

2010-02-21T12:13:00.003-07:00

Objects...how do we look at objects, think about them, and consider their meaning? While an inanimate object can't necessarily have meaning, an individual can attach their own meaning to that object/possession. Isn't that how things become important to us? When I visited the NYC MOMA over the holidays I had taken note of a work by Joseph Kosuth, his piece One and Three Chairs I had seen and studied in art history but had overlooked in my research of objects. This image from the MOMA site (http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A3228&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1) provides the viewer with a photograph of a chair, a chair, and the dictionary definition. This work presents different ways to view the object, as I continue to think about objects and question how we perceive our belongings it seemed pertinent. As well as in thinking about how we view the semiotics of objects.

A few weeks ago I saw the work of Sandi Haber Fifield (http://sandihaberfifield.com/) at Gallery Kayafas in Boston. I was intrigued by the way she juxtaposes her images together as well as some of her interior subject matter.

Hoping to soon start making some new audio recordings and photographing in and around my neighborhood.

2010-02-06T09:48:00.002-07:00

I find each time I post it's been a little bit longer since the last one. In this new year I would like to be posting more and using this as a place to work out ideas and really start making new work. A lot has been happening some major changes in my life will be occurring soon. A very sad event happened my wonderful friend Dave Poole passed away before new years. This was sudden, shocking, and very upsetting. I am still saddened by his loss and going through a range of emotions...he left this life too soon. But as his brother said at his memorial "We have to remember the good times with Dave he was an amazing person."

While I have not been making new work I am still applying to shows and going to see new work. The other night I went the 2010 DeCordova Biennial opening, it was packed! The place to be and last night hit up First Friday on Harrison ave with some grad school friends. I'm hoping to see the show Domesticated: Modern Dioramas of Our New Natural History. Photographs by Amy Stein at the Harvard Museum of Natural History this weekend as well.

2009-12-01T19:16:00.004-07:00

I have been continuing to think and ponder new work...I need to just start shooting new work while I think about it! I have been going through files on my computer and organizing myself and clearing things out of my studio. Working on a fresh slate. I still want to continue work on the objects in the home I can't seem to stop thinking about why our possessions are important to us. I also think about the media, economy, and how these could connect to singular images of objects. Which may look like product shots but in turn are possessions that hold personal meaning. How do I continue to tell stories the triptychs may not be the way and what about the sound. How else can we consider a story what are other ways to pass information. How do I place myself as a contemporary artist?

2009-09-05T17:29:00.002-06:00

I have been enjoying domestic bliss as we get the apartment settled. While I have not been shooting I have been thinking a lot about the home as I make adjustments to mine again for the 3rd time in three years. I continue to consider all of my stuff, as well as my boyfriends especially as we edit things in the apartment and decide to donate clothes, books, etc... I question when does a possession lose it's value to an individual? I consider value vs. memory does one make an object more important than the other?

Moving forward I would like to photograph more in the home, perhaps revisit photographing my own space now that things have changed again. Now that I have some distance I want to revisit my thesis work, is there space to make changes? Or do I just need to move on to a new body of work? I would like to spend some more time with it and see where else I can take the interviews and photographs of objects. Does the work need a sound component? Or can I make the photographs stand alone?

2009-08-28T06:41:00.002-06:00

It's been a great summer of relaxing after a very busy two years. I am getting ready to start teaching again. My boyfriend and I just moved in together so I have been converting the spare room into my studio. After giving up my studio space after my residency I have felt a little lost especially with most of my things packed in my basement. Yesterday I spent most of the day unpacking books, my printer, and getting settled into the space, which was a wonderful feeling. There is more organizing to do but I'm so excited to have a dedicated space again!

This week I found out my piece, Paula was accepted into the 2009 Salem Arts Association Photography Exhibit. The juror was Philip Prodger, Curator of Photography - Peabody Essex Museum. I'm very excited and I'm dropping the work off this weekend.
http://www.salemartsassociation.org/

The exhibit is from Friday 9/4 - Sunday 9/27, 2009
Opening reception for the show is Saturday 9/12, 2009 from 4-7pm

2009-07-29T20:54:00.002-06:00

My last residency is complete, I gave my artist talk, had my MFA thesis show, and my defense, and it's all still settling in that it's complete. I have taken this summer off to relax and rejuvenate before I begin teaching again this fall.
At the same time I have been looking at show opportunities and other ways to expand my work. As I question what's next? and where to go next with my photographs. I hope to continue to use this blog as a place to track my work and challenge myself as I continue my studio practice after graduate school.

2009-05-24T09:10:00.002-06:00

Five months since my last post...my thesis semester was challenging which I new it would be. But as of May 15th I turned in my thesis!!! Now I have less than a month to prepare my work for my show and my artist talk. Can't believe this program is almost over. I have been applying to shows and updating my website. Looking forward to a summer of rest and making.

MFA Graduate Exhibition
June 20th - 27th, 2009

Opening Reception
The Main Gallery 700 Beacon
Saturday, June 27, 2009 8-10pm

The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
700 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
617.585.6600
www.aiboston.edu

2008-12-31T09:16:00.002-07:00

It’s hard to believe this semester is almost over and I’m approaching my 4th residency. Exciting that 2008 is almost over it’s been a lot of ups and downs this year and I’m looking forward to a new year. While I am excited about the direction my work has taken I feel a sense of anxiety at the same time. I look forward to having more opinions about the work and seeing where it can go next for the thesis. This week I am immersing myself in the studio and Critical Theory reading. While I was home for the holidays I was able to make two trips into Manhattan to see some shows. Of course I made an extensive list of work to see and didn’t get to everything but there is always after the residency. I was able to visit the International Center for Photography, the Guggenheim, The Whitney, The Museum of Art and Design and the The Frick which I had not been to. I was excited to see the Frick more for the space it’s intriguing to me this space which used to be a home and is now a museum. Similar to the Isabella Stewart Gardner these homes are so ornate. I want to revisit my artist statement and review my thesis outline more.

2008-12-06T18:18:00.004-07:00

Busy since my last post. I saw Sally Mann lecture at the MFA which was great. When I had time off from work I was able to get handle on some other writings and do a ton of interviewing and photographing of more homes and objects. Looking forward to spending more time in the studio printing. Last week I saw Henry Horenstein lecture at the PRC about his new book Animalia. I wasn't able to make it to First Friday this week but I hope to get to those galleries soon. I did however, get to the last day of the William Christenberry show at Massart I had enjoyed his lecture this fall and was very happy to see his work in person. I also went to the DeCordova with some friends the Drawn to Detail show is unbelievable I would not have the patience to create those drawings. Alison had work in the Zea Mays Printmaking show so that was nice to see. Now I just need to work on studio work and critical theory reading to get ready for the residency.

I am excited about my new series of work on home and I am looking forward to the residency and getting some more feedback. The interviews have been so interesting and rewarding I love talking with people about this topic.

2008-11-17T20:39:00.002-07:00

Changed up my flickr links, I have new images now under home series. I find myself going back and forth excited about my new work and yet stressed all at the same time because I feel like I'm finally choosing a more solid direction. My meeting with Shellburne last week was great she feels I'm headed in a solid direction with the series I have been creating. I need to make a few more prints of the bed and table series to see how those will work and if they will be as successful as the lamps. I want to broaden my interviewing to younger, older, different race and backgrounds. I am in the process of talking with people about that and I hope to do some shooting over the thanksgiving break. I'm looking forward to the next residency.

2008-10-21T20:19:00.003-06:00

Work and school continue to be busy. I met with Shellburne again 2 weeks ago and it was a much needed meeting I had been feeling lost in my work and unsure if it was headed in the right direction. I started interviewing people (friends to start) about home. Asking them to define home and then pick 3-4 objects that created home for them. The interviewing alone brought about interesting conversations and brought my thinking around home to another level. I placed the images of objects in a series with a quote from the interview see image above. Shellburne really liked the work as well as the series I have been working on photographing other objects that are in other people's homes such as beds, kitchen tables, and lamps.
Since then I was able to go home to my parents house and interview my parents and photograph my childhood homes again with a new direction in mind. I look forward to getting in the studio to print the work as well as interviewing other people.
I have been to a couple lectures Tara Donovan at the ICA (10/14), William Christenberry (10/20), and tonight I saw David Hilliard (10/21) which I really enjoyed. I have always admired his work and it seems pertinent again as I begin re investigating series in my work.

2008-09-22T21:27:00.002-06:00

I have been shooting and trying to organize more of my thoughts around home. I have been interviewing friends asking them what home means for them and what 4 objects they would pick that represent home for them. Then I have been photographing the objects. Working on how the images can work together does there need to be text from the interviews? or does this exercise just further inform my work and project. I am also still interested in the lamps that I have been shooting in my family homes and mine. Wondering how I can push that idea can there be series of images done of objects that bring about comfort in the home such as tables, beds, couches, etc? It has been interesting talking with friends with specific questions to be answered about home. Gets me thinking more about my own ideas of home which I still struggle with but I feel this exercise gets me out of my head a little. I am excited about where it could go and love that my mentor has been challenging me conceptually as well as with the installation of the work.
Yesterday I went the the Isabella Stewart Gardner to see the Luisa Rabbia show Travels with Isabella, Travel Scrapbooks 1883/2008 I loved the use of photographs turned into a video with drawings and music added to the work. The combination of the two media was beautiful. I am working on putting lectures into my calender and trying to find a weekend for a museum/gallery visit to NYC.
This week I am trying to get my paper organized and written. I also need to make some changes to my critical theory paper but after being at the Gardner I am making a new round of connections between home and the museum. Since that was her home and it is now a museum.

2008-09-08T19:21:00.002-06:00

It's that crazy time of the year however, I feel much better about the balance I have this year than last year. While things are hectic I feel more comfortable balancing grad school with full time teaching. Last week classes started and I was away with middle school students for 3 days and 2 nights. Now it's back to a full week of teaching.
Went to the library last weekend and took out a bunch of books. Shellburne and I met on August 28th. I had made some images of my old and new apartment empty and full, the images aren't really working but are getting me to the next level...I hope. (should be on flickr soon) We also spoke about images of zoomed in lamps from my different homes I'm excited about them and they seem to be more successful. While I still seem to have a lot of questions I'm feeling good about where the work can go. Shellburne and I discussed me interviewing people about what they think of home and choosing objects within their living space that create that sense of home for them. I'm excited about this project. A discussion of installation was helpful to, as I feel the installation of the work is important. Some of the questions I still have milling around in my head are:
Why do I photograph home?
Now where do I go? What is my intention?
Collection, home, place, and space are words that seem to fill my brain.
I need to spend some more time with my thoughts and really work on more thoroughly answering more of my questions.

2008-08-23T19:10:00.003-06:00

Back to reality...I am settling back in after my family vacation to South Africa. The two week trip was amazing and now I find myself readjusting back just before I start work again. Leaving the country was exactly what I needed due to the many changes that have been happening in my personal life in the past month. Now with some perspective I feel somewhat renewed and ready to get back to work. I shot a lot before leaving on my trip and now it's time to get into the studio and do some printing before my mentor meeting this week. I am also working away on my Critical Theory paper. Being in South Africa and seeing townships was an eyeopening experience and also pertinent to my current thoughts around home. While I still feel uncertain about some of my ideas I hope to have clarity soon from printing more of what I have shot. It's going to be a busy week since I will be transitioning back into work but I'm ready for the challenge.

2008-08-04T11:02:00.002-06:00

Gallery sitting today at the Boston Young Contemporaries show. The space is so interesting and it's great to see the work of my contemporaries. I was so excited the other day I sold my piece that is in the show.
Leaving for South Africa in a few days which will be an amazing trip I can't wait to go! I am going back through notes so I can get my Critical Theory III paper completed. Then I need to spend a lot of time printing. I have been shooting a ton and this afternoon I plan to photograph more in my new apartment with all my stuff moved in. I plan on doing a lot of reading on the plane so I can get ahead start on that. I know September will be crazy with the start of school again so I want to get as much done now so I can focus a lot on studio work.

2008-07-31T16:06:00.003-06:00

My personal life continues to feel crazy. My trip to Wyoming was great upon returning I moved 24 hours later. Needless to say some other things have taken my away from writing on my blog. I have continued to shoot a lot in both my apartments now that I have moved in I need to photograph objects and belongings in my new space. I had planned to photograph objects as I unpacked them but that become more challenging than I expected. I still plan to make a sort of catalog but that will come in time. In a week I'm gone again to South Africa which I'm so excited about it will be a trip of a lifetime. Then it's time to get back to work both in the studio and with my teaching job. Today I went to the DeCordova Annual Exhibition I new two of the artists and enjoyed some of the work. Especially what Marguerite White had to say about light, "Light can alter the way we perceive our surroundings, prompting memories and provoking the imagination to see or experience a place differently." I also enjoyed the ideas Vanessa Tropeano and Matt Brackett spoke about in there work. I have yet to see my work in the BYC show I went the other day but sadly the gallery wasn't open.

As I sat in my studio this afternoon looking through work and deciding where to go next I had the following thoughts. Home, what is my home as I try to get a stronger grasp on those concepts I have been photographing my old and new apartment both empty and with belongings in them. What is it that makes home, I am beginning to believe my understanding of home is through my connection to the objects in my life. This has become more apparent as I photograph my spaces empty and see them just as spaces I once occupied or anyone occupied for that matter. They become my home when my belongings are in them. Photographing my spaces throughout my move has proved to be more difficult than I imagined beyond having some other things happening in my personal life moving brings about anxiety. I make a direct correlation to that anxiety from moving back and forth as a child and now in my adult life I continue to move just less frequently. So now the question how do I make my images come together and create a sense of home and place?
Ideas of space keep floating in my mind personal space something we all need and want, and yet feeling comfortable in my own personal space. The space I occupy how I and how I deal with space and belongings. So much of that seems to stem from out culture and need to have material possessions yet those are what make up my personal sense of home and others as I speak to people about what makes home for them.

2008-07-11T20:31:00.005-06:00

I had a great first meeting with my new mentor Shellburne Thurber the other day. I will elaborate more later. Lots of information and ideas I need to go back through my notes. I can't believe I'm leaving for another trip in the am I'm off to Wyoming! This week was crazy but I got a lot of shooting done in my new apartment which was great. Now I just need to pack and move and get in the studio before I go to South Africa in August. All this travel seemed like a good idea. Anyway it will get done I need to spend some time with all the thoughts that I have about my work and new shooting I have been doing. I am sad to be missing the opening for the Boston Young Contemporaries Show next Thursday.

2008-07-01T19:45:00.002-06:00

After 2 days out from the residency I still feel tired probably from all the running around I have been doing. I'm headed out of town in the morning to go to my family home in Michigan. I plan to do some shooting there and go through my notes from the residency. I have my first meeting with my new mentor Shellburne Thurber next week which I am looking forward to. Plus a lot of shooting to do before I move and then once that process is over. While I feel a little overwhelmed at my tasks at hand I feel good about where I need to go.

2008-06-19T19:25:00.004-06:00

About to start 3rd residency. This program seems to be going by quickly. It's been a busy month with the end of school and finishing up odds and ends for the residency. I was able to catch a few shows the painting work of Antonio Lopez Garcia at the MFA was wonderful. While his landscapes of Madrid are beautiful I was more interested in his interior drawings and paintings as well as the subtleties in his work. The PRC juried show had some nice work as well as the color camera obscura images by Abe Morell. Now I'm just excited to start the next residency and get some more feedback. I really loved the following quote by Antonio Lopez Garcia

"I'm not attracted to paintings that are born consciously related to past works, but to paint a still life of food inevitably calls to mind Velazquez or Caravaggio...I ask myself, why aren't there more paintings of commonplace subjects, if, for example we all come together around a table, three times each day, to eat."

2008-05-30T05:42:00.002-06:00

Working on getting things done for the residency. My last mentor meeting with Jesseca has been rescheduled for next week. Still working on the small images from my childhood home I'm trying to decided on the right box I have about 5 in my studio now. I'm really happy with the new work I have doing and can't wait to go to the residency. It's that crazy time of the year at my job so things are hectic but I seem to be balancing it. I am excited that I got one of my photographs in the Boston Young Contemporaries Show, I attached it below.

2008-05-18T15:42:00.002-06:00

I am having some more large prints made of my image this week, which I am very excited about. I continue to work with size and think about the format and display of my work. I have also been working with materials and mounting smaller images of my childhood home and placing them in a box. I see those images as something that is movable but is still important to the project and ideas I am discussing about home. My struggle has been what kind of box the images go into as well as what they are mounted onto. I have been using balsa wood which is flexible and thin giving some physical weight to the images and making them almost like old postcards. I just painted clear and white gesso on the back of the wood to see how that changes the feel of the images. I spoke with Jesseca in my last meeting about different mounting possibilities maybe aluminum which I need to further explore or gator board which is like foam core just a little stiffer. There is something however about the thinness of the balsa wood that I really enjoy. I am looking forward to showing this work at the residency as it is a change from last semester. Well lots to do before June and everything seems to be crazy, it will all get done though!

2008-05-03T06:30:00.002-06:00

I have Open Studios this weekend which should be good. It's been a busy past couple of weeks and that's going to continue until the residency just trying to put my head down and go. I met with Jesseca on Monday and had a good conversation with her about where my work has currently gone. I have been further exploring my space and photographed my childhood homes a couple weeks ago while on a visit.
Last night went to First Friday despite the rain seems like every time I go it's rainy but it was good to get to those galleries because it's tough for me to get over there during the week.

2008-04-21T19:13:00.002-06:00

Finally getting some work online. I had a big printing weekend which was great. I am excited about where my new work is going and it's a change from what I had at the last residency. Soon I will have more individual images on my Flickr account. I have been thinking about my next paper I want to incorporate the thoughts I had around going home, to my parents homes a week ago. How photographing my childhood homes felt different than photographing my own home.

2008-04-13T19:31:00.002-06:00

Went to NYC this weekend it feels a little like a blur I need to spend some time processing all the work I saw and some of the shooting I did at home. While in the city I had a marathon day the Whitney, Metropolitan, and the Guggenheim then it was downtown to some Chelsea galleries. There was so much more I wanted to see but I accomplished a lot in one day.
I was able to photograph at home..my childhood homes. It was an interesting experience I may use some of the images not sure yet it didn't feel like home partially because I don't live there anymore and things have changed in the houses. A big one is that my mother doesn't live in my childhood home she now lives in NJ a different state than where I grew up. I focused more on the objects pieces that had been part of my childhood. I am looking forward to doing a ton of printing this weekend I have a lot of material to work with.

2008-04-09T20:12:00.003-06:00

Sometimes I wonder how can all this work be done....? Conferences at work today but all the judging was finished for the art show I'm hosting at work. Denise and Michael were some of the judges so it was nice to talk about work and AIB with them today. Earlier in the week I saw Linc who also did some judging great to see people who have finished the program. Shot more tonight and I'm looking forward to going home and to NYC to see shows. I spoke with Deborah the other night and I need to make some changes to my last paper and focus more of my thoughts. I am really enjoying what I'm photographing and I'm looking forward to getting into the studio to do a lot of printing.

2008-04-07T17:25:00.003-06:00

Above image: Moyra Davey's work

Can't believe my last post was 2 weeks ago work has been so busy since returning from vacation. I am hosting a large art show at my school which has been occupying a lot of time. Anyway still plugging along with grad work.
Met with Jesseca my mentor at the end of my vacation and had a good meeting with her. We discussed my newer work in which I have been hanging multiple images on the wall next to each other. Working with size of the images and dealing with both my interior and exterior space. Using imagery of both has allowed me to make a more personal connection to my sense of place. I have still been working and looking at maps but I feel they are becoming more of just an influence than using them in my work. I went to visit Coe at Fitchburg and was able to make some larger prints which was great they change the layout of the work and I can't wait to make some more with new images I have been shooting. Other than my work I find I have been looking a lot I have a ton of books out from the library. I went to part of a symposium at Harvard on Saturday about the Moyra Davey show at the Fogg. There were some very interesting speakers and I enjoyed getting to see the show a second time. I also visited the landscape show at the PRC.
I'm looking forward to a visit to NYC this weekend for some gallery and museum visits. I will also be visiting both family houses which will give me an opportunity to photograph at both places. With the work I am currently doing I feel I have been focusing more on my current home but it should be helpful to do some shooting in my old homes, the ones my parents still reside in.

2008-03-26T19:55:00.002-06:00

Back from some time off. The SPE conference was fun and I was able to see some good lectures, get some information and books. My week in California was filled with lots of reading and rest. I did some shooting while I was there. Today I spent all day in the studio printing which was great. Getting organized for my meeting with Jesseca. I need to photograph more in my apartment but before vacation there was construction in my bathroom so I haven't really been home. I am trying to focus and write my next thought piece I have read enough just trying to get my ideas focused. I feel very lost in my thoughts right now trying to still move through this awkward phase in my work. It was nice in Colorado to see AIB classmates and talk through some ideas. Rebekah said she would start calling me a nomad after I spoke with her about some of my work. I began thinking about that and there is a part of me that is constantly moving from one place to another, whether it's one home to another or my apartment to my boyfriends apartment. Constantly occupying my space as well as others that are close to me. I keep focusing on what the work is about while trying to move through these ideas. I don't seem to have one idea around place which I think is fine. I just don't know if it's enough... Being in California and spending time with my family reminded my that I have the one who moves. Not in a bad way it just allowed me to feel some steadiness to these ideas that center around me growing up in two different places. I keep focusing on ideas Space and Place.

2008-03-09T20:14:00.004-06:00

Painting by Rackstraw Downes, The East River with Gracie Mansion and the Triborough Bridge, 1981-82

I took a bunch of books out of the library the other day, trying to just look and see as much as possible as I push through the awkwardness I am currently feeling around my work. Looking at many painters currently I was going through a book of Rackstraw Downes work when I cam across the image above. My mind was immediately flooded with childhood memories. That was the view from my parents apartment looking out onto the East River with Gracie Mansion below. I even remembered sledding down that hill and Carl Schurz park is there too. I was attracted to many of his other paintings but this one clearly stuck out because of the immediate personal connection. I enjoyed seeing the way he painted multiple vantage points of an area how can that change the viewers understanding of the place. This view above may not have been the exact one I saw as a child but the elements of the landscape are there.
I have been thinking a lot about place, and I'm don't have a clear sense of mine. I do know that I need to try and answer some of my questions as I make my work. Lots of ideas are running through my head and I'm working on some of them. Later I will be loading some images from work I did over the weekend. I did some self-portraits in an attempt to bring some life into my work however, I don't know if the images of me are really getting any closer to my place.
The other night I watched the Mother Project about Tierney Gearon's work it was a beautiful documentary that Kate Philbrick had recommended. While her work is different than mine I seemed to relate to some of her struggles. Today I went to the Fogg to see the Moyra Davey show Long Life Cool White. I was interested in a sentence from the introduction to her work by Helen Molesworth, "Davey's oeuvre: a close attention to detail, in which the eye is trained on what is conventionally overlooked combined with, the precision that photography can offer and a sensitivity to psychological themes embedded in everyday objects." This caught my attention because I too have been photographing stills of objects in my life as well some of the landscapes I photograph which I see as a representation from my day. I am interested in that sense of meaning to make connections to the landscape, place, and things I see everyday that can be overlooked.
I plan to seek some answers to my questions as I go on vacation in a week. Work has been hectic and it's time for a break. I'm off to the SPE conference on Friday in Colorado and I get to see Liz S. and Rebekah. Then I'm off to California for some sun and relaxation with my family. Then I'll be back in the studio upon my return since I will have one more week of vacation. Until then I have a couple shows to see before I go and few more things to do in the studio.
This weekend I began setting a piece up in the corner of my studio laying images out to create almost a map of my day/life. I also plan to play with some other ways to show my work perhaps that will lead to more of an understanding of where to go with my ideas around place.

2008-03-03T18:32:00.002-07:00

Laura McPhee

Last week I worked on my Critical Theory II paper. I also tried a small project to shoot one roll of film a day of my surroundings. It was tougher than I thought it would be, many of the days I could only get half a roll done it seemed too dark in the am and then not that much light when I got home. I don't know why I just didn't want to take a lot of flash photos. I just picked them up today and I plan to lay them out in my studio tomorrow.
Thursday I went to the Arno Rafael Minkkinen lecture sponsored by the PRC, it was great. I really enjoy his images and the lecture good too. He spoke to the truthfulness of the photographic image which I found interesting in this digital age and also spoke about serendipity in life. My favorite analogy he made about work he was speaking about a Helsinki bus station you leave the station and you find a way maybe you stay on the bus instead of getting off eventually you find your way, this idea of working through the work. Which was great because that's currently how I feel about my work confused and not sure where it's going. I'm just trying to work through it. Saturday I went to the DeCordova to hear Laura McPhee speak about her work in the show there, images from her project River of No Return in Idaho. I enjoyed when she spoke about this place (Idaho) she wanted to enter but wasn't sure how after growing up in Central NJ. I have included an image above I just love the vastness in that work and not just because of the size but also that place...out west everything is just so big.
I have more books from the library to go through and some exhibitions to check out still. While I feel confused I'm trying to keep working and just see a lot and read hoping that it helps. Well I'm tired off to bed....

2008-02-25T19:47:00.004-07:00

My mind seems to ramble lately about place..I continue to question what that means to me. I began to think about my childhood homes but that no longer feels like my place rather more of someplace I visit. So then what becomes my place? Is it where I currently live just because it's my address? Is that ok that my sense is more than one place especially since I grew up knowing more than one place as my home? What is it then I'm trying to say is it about home or place are they interchangeable? How then can I further push my sense of place visually, an idea I had this weekend was to put portraits with places? is that really getting at my own sense of place. I need to further investigate the self-portraits.
I met with my mentor Jesseca Ferguson for the first time last Thursday. It was a good first meeting she gave me some other artist's and books to look at. I have been photographing myself in my surroundings and objects within my apartment and outside and in my neighborhood. Jesseca suggested pushing beyond just straight photography spreading out my ideas on the wall of my studio and make different parts of my home. We discussed some images I had put into two grids on my studio wall. I challenged myself to photograph one roll of film inside my apartment and another one outside in one afternoon. I am currently pushing that further by shooting one roll a day for an entire week. Today I did not get all the way through my 36 exp roll but my plan is to finish it tomorrow. The challenge for me is the light, I photographed this evening a little with flash. This should be an interesting experiment.
This weekend I spent some time outdoors but also watched Edward Burtynsky Manufactured Landscapes, it was a beautiful documentary. I really loved what he said at the end of the film that while his work is making a political statement, he wants the work to be more about the conclusion the viewer makes rather than pushing his work as a political statement.

2008-02-18T08:18:00.002-07:00

Finally feeling like a human again after being sick this past week, thank god for a few more days off from work. Went to the studio yesterday to organize some work and go through some ideas I definitely need to just keep pushing through my ideas. Not really sure where my ideas are taking me right now but I goal for the semester is to be uncomfortable and I am feeling that.
Went to the DeCordova to see the new photography show which was just what I needed. See some other work for inspiration it was a big show with a mix photographers work. I enjoyed the landscape photographs of Elke Morris she photographs in Maine and then creates a sense of place in photoshop. There was a mixed media piece by Peter Sullivan that created a sense of layers and information.
I am still thinking about ideas of place and how can I visually push those ideas. I tried some drawings of maps of home from my mind I'm not really happen with the sketches. I did photograph maps again so I'm planning to work with them in photoshop.

2008-02-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ugh I'm sick, and home from work. Everything finally caught up to me. I have a lot of printing I want to get done, last week I did a bunch of shooting that I was happy with. Lots of self-portraits and some studies of my interior and exterior space which I had printed and I'm looking at in a grid. Lot's of ideas still flowing I'm trying to keep working through the weirdness. I have been reading and watching Art 21 season 3. While resting I'm trying to work on some more reading today.

2008-02-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

Getting back into it...well it's finally happening I am able to balance everything a little better. The first two weeks back at work were rough to say the least. I have been shooting a lot and just finished my residency summary so I have a lot of information floating around in my brain. After writing my paper some of my bigger questions are why am I photographing place? What does place mean to me? I've been thinking a lot about the landscape I photograph, I started doing some self portraits and more interior shots I am interested to see how those will look together with outside landscapes. Yesterday I thought about photographing myself but in my different places, such as my parents house, my apartment, etc and creating a sequence from that. Perhaps photographing in different rooms and making connections. My work feels like it is in an awkward place and I know I need to take a risk so I am just shooting and hoping to both work through it and find that jump I need to make in my work.
On Friday I went to First Friday on Harrison ave, despite the rain it as fun to look around. I enjoyed Lissa Rivera's work of private schools and Greek life. Especially her work of private schools it is interesting to see the spaces empty something she perhaps planned yet on a normal say that wouldn't be the case. I thought about that in connection to my own lonely landscapes, images of the city that seem empty. I have also been looking into lectures and upcoming shows I want to see. I have been in touch with my mentor Jesseca and we will hopefully be meeting next week. I am really looking forward to getting started with that. Now I'm off to more shooting and reading!

2008-01-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

My life has become a real balancing act, I mean I knew it would be going in to this and it continues to be. Finishing this residency and going right back to work has been a challenge. I feel in a much better place than I was in the fall. The past two weeks I have been thinking about my work and all the questions I have what will me next leap be? As I go back over my notes and listen to recordings of critiques (glad I got the voice recorder it has been very helpful) and thinking about ideas and different ways to print. I don't have the answers to my questions yet I do know I need to get into the studio and make and keep reading. I'm in the process of updating new information for the semester onto my blog.
Last Friday I went to the Griffin Museum to see the Stephen Wilkes gallery talk. His image of Ellis Island are beautiful and got me thinking both about his scale and the text he put next to his images, both things I have been thinking about in my own work.

As an archive below is my book list that I read and artists from Semester 1:
Else/Where: Mapping. Janet Abrams
Camera Lucida Reflections on Photography. Roland Barthes
“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Illuminations. Walter Benjamin
Ways of Seeing. John Berger
The Future of Nostalgia. Svetlana Boym
The Art of Light + Space. Jan Butterfield
You Are Here. Katherine Harmon
Photography: A Critical Introduction. Liz Wells
“Sweet it is to Scan…’: Personal Photographs and Popular Photography.” Patricia Holland
Illuminations Women Writing on Photography from the 1850s to the Present. Liz Heron and Val Williams. “Remembrance” Annette Kuhn and “What Becomes a Legend Most: The Short, Sad Career of Diane Arbus.” Catherine Lord.
On Photography. Susan Sontag
Everything That Rises A Book of Convergences. Lawerence Weschler
Artists:
David Salle, Gary Duehr, Cindy Sherman, Abelardo Morell, William Eggleston, Nikki S. Lee, Bruce Gilden, Azra Aksamija, Lewis Baltz, Light and Space artists of Southern California, Jerry Eisenberg, Gerhard Richter, Georges Braque, James Valerio, Karen Kitchel, John Virtue, John Walker, Anne Appleby, Robert Smithson, Starn twins, Gordon Matta-Clark, Rosemary Laing, Justine Kurland, and Lauren Greenfield.
Aaron Siskind, Dan Eldon, Robert Frank, William Wegman, and Irene Shwachman.

2008-01-24T20:45:00.001-07:00

It's been a week and half since the residency ended and it seems like it was a long time ago. Work has been insane since coming back from the residency. I plan on spending this weekend going through all my notes and compiling my thoughts for my first paper. I have been working on processing all the ideas from critiques there was a lot of great information floating in my head! Thinking a lot about my last critique of the residency with Oscar Palacio he had great recommendations and questions for my to tackle. I know I just need to start making work again to push through where I am currently, what am I trying to say about my sense of place? I am looking forward to taking more risks this semester in my work I'm just not sure what those are yet. Lot's of things to think about....

2008-01-03T22:15:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's 2008 and I'm about to start my second residency. It's been a busy year and I'm excited about where my work is headed. I have been starting to think about questions I have about my work for the residency. How can I further incorporate maps into my work? Is a visual narrative coming through in my imagery?
I want to begin further exploring drawing my own maps. When I drove home for the holidays I thought a lot about the space around me and what I was seeing as I was driving. Ways I could translate what I saw into a drawn map of my own. I'm sure I will have more questions and answers over the next 10 days.

2007-12-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

I had my last meeting with my mentor last week which was great. This past Saturday my advisor Deb came to my studio, and we were able to discuss my work and I handed in my last papers which was a relief. We further discussed maps and the idea of creating my own maps, and moving away from the set symbols used in maps we see everyday. What makes my map personal? I'm looking forward to spending time next semester experimenting with drawing my own maps, something which makes me a little hesitant but I want the challenge. Pushing my mediums of choice further and allowing myself to explore these current ideas more. Now just the critical theory reading and some more printing before the residency. After speaking with both my mentor and my advisor I am excited about where this new work can go and I can't wait for more feedback from the residency. I spoke with Deb about starting to make my own maps so I plan to try and sketch some before the residency. Since I'm going home for the holidays I plan to photograph at my childhood homes. Lately I've just been thinking about ideas discussed with Deb and Laura around my work and where I want this work to go. How maps fit into my process and project.

2007-12-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's December already where has the time gone. As I continue to think about maps in connection to my work I fine my self looking at the details closer and closer. Last night I spent more time tracing over maps onto transparency paper with sharpies. Taking out all the other information that while I love I'm still challenged with how it will fit with or next to my images. I'm working on where these transparencies can take my work by using just the lines of the maps information to make connections to my imagery. It was interesting as I spent more time analyzing the maps of places where I have lived I began to see small things I may not have realized or noticed before. Things that were different when I was a child like the space and time between towns and cities. I also began to think of tracing the lines as another way to think about travel and the roads/lines I travel to get to family and one place to the next.
How different the roads look when all the other information is removed. There is so much information in maps it's interesting how there is still some sort of information left by the line a crossing or way of making the path I have travelled. How then do these lines look when layered a jumbling of color and line makes me also think about my life currently going in a million different directions. Yet still with some sort of focus or endpoint. As I trace the maps I focused on highways in one color and water on most of the tracings. Just breaking down where the highways interact is so interesting. The other piece was how close I have been to water my whole life perhaps a silly fact but one I think I have taken for granted. Above are two examples I have scanned in with nothing done to them yet.
I found this quote in Real Simple magazine the other night.
"When I speak of home, I speak of the place where–in default of a better–those I love are gathered together; and if that place were a gypsy's tent, or a barn, I should cal it by the same good name notwithstanding." -Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
The quote makes me think of home with my family...then I wonder which home? Regardless it comes back to ideas I currently think of that home is where you make it, where the people you love are around you. Thinking about different places especially as I come into the holidays with lots of travel on my plate before the residency begins.

2007-11-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

I've been busy the past couple weeks I had Open Studios on 11/17 & 11/18 which went well I had my newer work out and some old work, it was nice to get different feedback. I went to the Andrea Robbins and Max Becher lecture sponsored by the PRC on 11/15, I had not seen there work before and it as interesting to see there take on the landscape and how they work together as a couple. Last night I went to a lecture at BU of Magdalena Campos Pons work another artist who I did not know that much about. However, I was intrigued by her work. She makes connections to home and memory in her work which is something I'm tackling in my new work.
It was nice to have a break from teaching for Thanksgiving and I was able to spend some time in the studio which was much needed. Still working with maps and thinking about ways I can use them differently in my work. I just scanned some negatives in which I photographed multiple exposures of maps in my studio with my Holga. Last night I thought again about making my own map, and possibly tracing on top of maps the way I travel to work, home, etc and then scanning those lines to create a linear map of my travels then juxtaposing that onto my images. I'm excited about where this work can take me and all the possibilities.
There is a part of me that can't believe it's almost December and my next residency is fast approaching but I'm excited to show the new work I have. I still have reading for Critical Theory to work on but it's all getting there one day at a time I try to keep telling myself.

2007-11-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I can't believe where time goes..or my time for that matter I try to plan everything out so well. I had open studios this past weekend which went well and I was able to sell some work. I have a bunch of maps hung up in my studio and it was interesting to see the way people were drawn to them. I'm still thinking about maps a lot and trying to push how to further incorporate them into my work and make it not so obvious. Looking forward to picking up some new negatives this week and I need to shoot more! I'm not going home for thanksgiving so I will have more time to spend in the studio which will be great.
Got some new books and spent time going through some other books I had last week from the library. Aaron Siskind's images on Place where interesting for me to see his close up work again something I touch on in my own work and did more of before. I'm continuing to work on series of images from my travel, path, home. I also want to photograph myself more I am excited about where these pairings can go. I just keep plugging away. Got an email from Laura today with some images which was exciting, one of them from Dan Eldon's book which I have so I'm going to look through that tonight.

2007-11-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

William Wegman

I had a great meeting with Laura on Wednesday about my new work. It was great to talk about what was working and not working. I have been exploring more about how to incorporate maps into my work and try and create my own map to visually show my place, home, travel, and life. Looking forward to going through books I have from the library this weekend. Some other artists I have been inspired by lately: Maya Lin and William Wegman's paintings with prints I have put two with this entry. I am so excited about where this work can go and where I'm headed with it. Being in an awkward stage with some of the prints but trying to push through that into the next level. Starting to see parts of my life coming into my work more. I spoke with Laura about my traveling as a child and how that has changed my concept of home. Being in a family with divorced parents and traveling to a different home on the weekend. I just wrote about that in my last thought piece.
Looking to the next residency I need to work more on my technique with photoshop and experiment with papers which was one of my goals for this semester.

2007-11-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

It was a busy weekend in NYC of art visits and time with family. I was able to go to the MOMA and see the Seurat drawing show and a few pieces from the Martin Puryear sculpture show, there are a few other shows I would like to see to, hoping to get back in December. I enjoyed a quote on the wall at MOMA:
I value the referential quality of art, the fact that a work can be quite diffuse, so I would describe my usual working process as a kind of distillation - trying to make coherence out of things that can seem contradictory. But coherence is not the same as resolution. The most
interesting art for me retains a flickering quality, where opposed ideas can be held in tense
coexistence.
Puryear 2007

Next it was on to the photography. I enjoyed the show Present Tense with the work of JoAnn Verburg in which she explores the spacing of her images in multi panel landscapes of trees. Just walking through the photography collection there gets me excited to come back to my own work. Other artists I enjoyed seeing: Berni Searle, Scott McFarland, Roni Horn, Lee Friedlander, and a portrait series by Joseph Albers.
Then it was on to Chelsea it's been a while since I've spent time exploring the galleries there so I found a pamphlet with all the galleries listed and just started moving around the blocks. I saw a lot of work some I liked, and some I didn't, I would have liked to have seen more photography but it might just have been the galleries I went to. I went to the Chelsea Art Museum, went to a few more galleries and decided I could walk no further and I'd taken in all I could for the day. I did some shooting while I was in NYC but I found myself not that inspired, and began thinking about how do images that represent my childhood/growing up fit into my current search for place and narrative?
Today I have been able to work on some of my grad stuff while at school, scanned some negatives and printed some more contact sheets. Getting work in order for my meeting with Laura on Wednesday.

2007-11-01T15:12:00.000-06:00

It's been a long week finding out one of my good friends has inoperable mesothelioma cancer which just sucks. Busy and tired I push through and I'm almost done with my 3rd thought piece. I have tons of books to finish going through from the library which I am really looking forward to, and I have most of the critical theory readings for the next residency printed out. Oh the balance it's been a busy week with grades due at school and working on my papers. I have been shooting and enjoying playing with series of my new images. I just picked up some more maps to begin cutting them up and seeing where that can go or fit into my current ideas. Still thinking about other ways to map more of my home than just photographing it, maybe layers of other maps can be that way?
Off to NYC this weekend for the big meeting of my boyfriend's parents and his and my parents!!! Saturday though visits to galleries and hopefully MOMA so I'm excited about that.

2007-10-25T21:26:00.000-06:00

Getting it all together. I went to an opening at Mass Art yesterday In Situ where I saw Deb's work and some other interesting pieces. The room by Nick Dong was beautiful covered in tiles and getting to sit in the space and experience by myself was wonderful. Before that I saw Martin Creed's work at the Mills Gallery. The work definitely challenged my thinking; walking into a gallery space with blank walls and the lights going on and off just as the title suggests.
Working on my papers and getting through some books so lots of ideas flooding through my mind. Still shooting and printing experimenting with combinations and sequences. Finally got some work loaded onto flickr so there is now a link to that on my blog.

2007-10-20T13:17:00.000-06:00

Experimenting with pairs and series today in the studio. I have been using a large plastic white board to attach my cut up contact sheets to have a space to view images together off my table. This seems to be working and gives me a place to look and come back to about the work I want to separate or put together. While I continue to think and look at maps in my studio and then to this white board of images it gives me a sense of navigation through my work. Going back to navigating through my life and also ideas of exploration as I visually document what I see daily.
Today I was again questioning how some pieces are coming together, I am working to push beyond simply the aesthetic and make connections to myself and place. Also thinking about the contrast in images from city to nature. This idea of visiting nature was something Oliver brought up in one of my critiques during the residency. On the weekends it could be considered this idea of visiting nature to hike and rock climb.... Is it still visiting when it's part of life?

2007-10-18T06:38:00.001-06:00

I have been thinking a lot about maps and exploration and looking at maps. I just received some large maps from USGS which I plan on photographing up close. I am still working with visually mapping my life and printing individual images as well as series of images. I want to experiment with putting pieces of the maps next to my imagery. They are images from where I live now and grew up in CT. I have been scanning other maps from an old atlas and manipulating those in photoshop. I feeling in a better place about my work and that it has some sort of direction now. Just got some more new books from the library and a book with an essay Laura recommended reading.

2007-10-14T19:37:00.000-06:00

Got out this weekend and did more shooting which was great. Went rock climbing today which was some much needed exercise and break from everything. It's nice to do some travelling around the Boston and MA area while I continue to think about mapping and mapping my life visually. I have continued to photograph parts of my day and travels on the weekend I'm excited about where this work is going and look forward to more exploration.
Thinking about other ways to show this project/work maybe in a book or fold it like a map. That might be to literal right now so instead I'm concentrating more on just the prints and what images may go together or be printed separately.
I have been working on scanning new work and playing with my contact sheets to make connections between my images. I have also scanned in multiple maps I am working with manipulating them and how they will work with images of my own.

2007-10-10T21:18:00.001-06:00

I'm excited about new work and the ideas I'm working with around mapping. Spent the evening watching more of Art 21 Season 2, I had watched Season 1 a couple weeks ago. I have enjoyed both listening and watching other artists create and discuss their work. Seeing them thinking and questioning is helpful in my own work and questioning of myself. Headed to the library tomorrow to get some new books for research, then more shooting.
While driving home tonight I kept thinking about this mapping project I am working on and the differences I can push with this work. An everyday sense of place and travel and what is my own personal place. This space that I now call home. I plan to cut up the contact sheets I printed today of last weeks shooting to begin exploring how this new work will come together and translate. Excitement around this new flow of energy and where mapping can possibly take my work. Exploring different types of maps can those fit in with the visual images?
While I photograph the landscape I am also photographing myself within my own space and spaces I travel in.
I had taken some books out by Seamus Heaney as a suggestion from Deb, to find words to help influence my imagery. I may revisit his work I am interested on still considering how phrases and words can influence the space or memory of what I am photographing.

lots of shooting

2007-10-08T16:52:00.000-06:00

After another late night at work on Thursday I am finally done with late night work events and can focus in on some much needed work in the studio. I have had some new thoughts running through my head while working a lot more on much needed shooting. Thinking about the idea of mapping and how that pertains to my own life and sense of place. I hope to push some of my current ideas further by photographing not only myself but imagery I come in contact with on a daily basis almost a mapping of life. Beginning this Saturday with my apartment and starting to photograph my space and myself within my own personal space. I then moved out of my apartment and rode my bike through part of the route I drive to school, slowing down both my looking and ability to photograph. I am excited about this new shooting and where ideas of mapping can take my work and thoughts. Looking forward to spend some more time shooting in my apartment and exploring other ways to map that space. I have been thinking about a visual document of my life and how mapping where I am and where I go is important to me. While still thinking about landscape and the ordinary I have been photographing before I started on this project of mapping. I am excited about researching more ideas of maps after viewing the show To Fly: Contemporary Aerial Photography at BUAG this weekend which showed a selection of artists work dealing with imagery of landscapes scene aerially. This was exciting to view the images were beautiful and got me thinking more about my own mapping and how will it work? Looking forward to exploring these ideas literal and visual how do maps influence my sense of place and map of my own life? This week I plan to order some topographic maps of Boston and research more on mapping the MA area where I currently find my sense of place. After growing up in two homes this feeling I continue to have to find my own place in this world.
I was able to get out of Boston up to NH for part of the long weekend which was a much needed break from all the stresses, and good to get outdoors and do some hiking and climbing. While I continued to photograph more and think about ideas of mapping and photographing myself within the landscape.
Working on reading tonight and into the studio tomorrow. Looking forward to finishing the book from Laura and tracking down an essay recommendation from her. I need to get through some books I've had from the library and make another research trip this week to AIB library.

work

2007-10-03T17:11:00.000-06:00

Well I need to be working more in the studio and shooting. I met with Laura today and spoke with Deb last week both were helpful. I have been in a limbo asking a lot of questions and not finding answers, it's time to get back to the work. I continue to think about place and my sense of place where am I in this world. I plan to put myself more into my imagery work on exercises and explore maps or mapping in. Where do I travel what are the images I see on my way to work how can I further push the images I have been creating?
My life and the changes that have occurred over the past year and half keep coming into my thoughts and they are starting to translate into my work. I struggle with too much of a literal representation but I need to explore some of these ideas before I know if they will work.
A balance is necessary and I need to be putting even more emphasis to my shooting and work right now. I finally feel like the balance I need between teaching and grad school are happening. I'm excited for the challenges and well as this unknown that I am currently in this state of questioning in my work is exciting to me.

a good day

2007-09-23T13:42:00.000-06:00

It's starting to come together I spent a long day in the studio printing yesterday which was wonderful. I am finally feeling as though things are coming together. Of course I still have lots of questions about my work but it's getting there. It's been a balancing act for the past 2 weeks with teaching starting up, I now feel as though I am able to get a good balance. Today I have been going through a bunch of the books I took out from the library. Looking for more inspiration! I have some ideas floating around about my second thought piece but I want to touch base with Deb before I do that. I would also like to be making more consistent entries on my blog.

movie

2007-09-15T14:59:00.001-06:00

I went to see Shadow of the House on Thursday night at the MFA and the director and Abe Morell were there speaking about the movie. It was a wonderful film and really inspired me. This week has been a tough transition with beginning teaching and having graduate school. I think it was also the stress of the start of that, feeling better this weekend that I have accomplished some work. I know it will balance out and I can do it, I need to have confidence in my abilities.
Looking forward to printing more this week. I have a meeting with my mentor Laura in two weeks and I want to have some more ideas formulated.

stressed

2007-09-10T16:04:00.001-06:00

Definitely feeling stressed with the start of my teaching job in full swing this week. Wanting to be in the studio printing right now but need to get lessons organized. Looking forward to this weekend for some printing. I know it will all balance it's self out soon enough, or least I will keep telling myself that!
I need to shoot some more new work and make more prints from what I already have. I'm excited for new stuff!

first mentor meeting

2007-08-29T06:22:00.000-06:00

On Monday I met with Laura Blacklow for the first time. The meeting was great it was nice to connect with her and have both my work from the residency and new contact sheets from the work I have been shooting over the summer to look and talk about. We looked through my new contact sheets talked about ideas and questions I have about my own work.
She spoke to the ideas of cropping, disorientation, scale, loss of horizon line, a visual memory, folding time, sequence. I talked about light and shadow in my work, and she asked "What does light and shadow say to me in the 21st century?"
Another question was "Why is this working for me?" The new work I have been shooting, imagery that for me also questions why am I photographing this?
Laura recommended looking at Alice Wells work and to read the first chapter of John Berger's Ways of Seeing before I read Walter Benjamin Illuminations. We looked at Robert Frank's Lines of My Hand and a Lee Friedlander book while I was at her house.
I felt good about the meeting and challenged at the same time. I'm looking forward to printing this new work. I'm struggling a little with the first thought piece but I know I will get there. Meetings at my teaching job start this week so I'm feeling a little stress from all around.

getting there

2007-08-19T15:21:00.000-06:00

I'm back from Michigan it was a great trip, lots of photographing and relaxing. My family had a service for my grandfather and it was wonderful to have some closure after he passed away in January. While I was there I was thinking more about my work for this semester and my idea of place. What is my sense of place? and how do I photograph that? Even if I do photograph my personal sense of place how does the viewer determine that? How does the viewer know that it has to do about my ideas of place? Does that matter? I feel that's an important idea to keep in mind. Something that was discussed in critiques during my first residency that the work should be able to speak for itself.
Perhaps what I need to consider more is my story. What am I trying to say I seem to be using the landscape so far. I'm hoping to start making some prints. I just ordered a new lap top and an Epson printer for my space.

Completed

2007-08-07T06:01:00.000-06:00

I finished my task to see all the shows that are ending soon, before I leave this morning for my trip. Yesterday I saw the Edward Hopper show at the MFA. His paintings are beautiful, however, I have not seen that much of his work besides some of his most famous pieces such as Nighthawks. I had never seen his etchings and was intrigued by his understanding of light which is evident as well in his paintings. One etching in particular A Corner 1919, an image of a street corner with strong sense of light in the small print. I was really attracted to the warm light in the painting Sun in an Empty Room 1963 which was towards the end of the show. . Something I try to translate into my color photographs a strong sense of light and color. The show Jewelry by Artists: The Daphne Farago Collection was a striking show of such different types of jewelry. The last show I viewed was a Contemporary Outlook on German Photography. I enjoyed looking at Thomas Struth's image, Galleria dell'Academia 1 Venice. The show was a mix of German photographers I would expect to see in a show of that nature the Becher's, Ruff, and Gursky to name a few.
It was a good trip and I'm glad I saw all the shows before heading out of town. I'm looking forward to some more vacation before teaching starts. As well as some time to photograph and work on more reading.

one more to go

2007-08-04T19:50:00.001-06:00

Well the past week has been busy but I've almost completed my goal one more museum to go. Thursday I met Alison and Melissa and saw a few galleries on Newbury street, many are closed for August good to know. Some interesting work and some not that interesting. That evening I went to the ICA to see the Philip-Lorca diCorcia show which was larger than I expected. I enjoyed seeing all that work especially the portraits capturing people on the street; where the background disappears allowing you to focus right in on the person. I was also interested in his experimental narrative sequence a Storybook Life.
Continuing on my journey to visit shows that will end soon or while I'm away. I visited the DeCordova Museum to see there Annual Exhibition coming into the space and seeing Sandra Allen's enormous drawing of a tree was incredible, the detail it was so beautiful. I was attracted to the large prints by Sarah Amos and I look forward to doing more research on her work. The kinetic sculptures by Anne Lilly were very impressive just watching the smooth movement of each piece was amazing. I decided I had some more time so I was off to Winchester to the Griffin Museum. I wanted to spend a little more time looking at Joyce Tenneson's photographs since I didn't see all of them after the lecture.
This morning I went up to the Peabody Essex Museum which is a wonderful space, I had never been to that museum. The Joseph Cornell show was amazing and worth the visit. I spent the majority of my time there at that show looking through all his images and boxes.
Monday I'm off to the MFA to see the Hopper exhibit the last on my list before I leave on Tuesday.

shows

2007-07-31T10:53:00.000-06:00

Well for the past couple of days I have been resting from having my wisdom teeth out and working on my reading. I spent some time scanning negatives in the other day and printed out some contact sheets. I like some of the images, I need to start making some larger prints. Yesterday I liked the light in my apartment so I set up my medium format camera to take some pictures. Here is a new image from the shooting I have been doing.
Last Friday I went to the Mills Gallery which I had not been to before and saw photographs by Oscar Palacio it was a small exhibit but I enjoyed his large landscape images. There was another show (un)building which had a mix of work I was most interested in the photographs and small scale sculptures by Sally Moore. This week I plan to see a lot of shows that are ending in August. The MFA, ICA, The Joseph Cornell show, The DeCordova and The Griffin Museum, it's going to be a busy week. Then I'm headed to northern Michigan for 10 days where I plan to do a lot of shooting and reading. I'm excited about my new work I think things will be even better when I make some prints. I'm working on getting a new printer for my studio space at the moment.

Joyce Tenneson Lecture 7/12

2007-07-19T13:17:00.000-06:00

I went to the Joyce Tenneson lecture at the Griffin Museum last Thursday. I was a little late so I missed the very beginning of her talk or so I thought I had just missed some of the earlier slides to music of her work. The rest of the talk consisted of a PowerPoint to music and then a long and interesting question and answer period. I have always found her work to be interesting and looked at it in undergraduate when I was photographing the female form. This was the first time I have heard her talk and she spoke a lot about herself and what she had been through which was interesting. However, it made me think back to discussions in the residency about thesis and talking about "when I was 5...." Overall it was interesting I would like to go back to look at the work more thoroughly as some things had been moved for the lecture.

I am looking forward to visiting some more shows in the next week. I am currently working on my first paper and thinking a lot about my work. I have been photographing a lot and I look forward to printing some work out and beginning to make connections. Last night I had a dream about my work and it was very different, I was setting small scale images up in my studio. Interesting since I have thought about that but I'm not sure that's where my work is headed right now.

back to work

2007-07-12T14:20:00.000-06:00

I'm back from Colorado it was a nice break did some rock climbing. Saw Patrick and went the the Cherry Creek Arts Festival and checked out the outside of the Denver Art museum, got there a little to late to get in.
Just trying to photograph now, I have some new film to be developed. Get through my first book and I need to start writing my first paper. My mind is still filled with so many ideas and questions, still searching for answers. Headed to the Joyce Tenneson lecture this evening.
I'm trying to get my new studio space organized, it's all coming together.

next on the check list

2007-07-05T12:38:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited I just sent in my mentor paperwork today so there is one thing that is complete. I am working on compiling my thoughts and all the great information I got at the residency so I can type my first paper. I leave tonight for Colorado and I'm so excited to do some shooting out there. Now I'm moving on to starting some reading and looking for lectures and more shows to see. My advisor told me to see a show of Oscar Palacio's work at the BCA so I'm planning to do that when I return. I saw Coe had put a link to the Joyce Tenneson lecture at the Griffin museum on July 12th so I am also planning to attend that.
It's exciting to start getting things organized and making new work! I have so many thoughts filling my head about why I want to photograph people. I think I've decided to try photographing myself for now and continuing to photograph the landscape while I explore and answers questions for myself. I also want to explore my printing process papers and the type of prints I will be making this semester.
Why photograph people or myself?
Why the landscape and texture?
What am I trying to say with my series/diptychs?
Is there a narrative in my work? How can I explore and push that further through my work?
What is my sense of place/location?
I plan on trying to answer these questions this semester through my work.

Shows seen in June

2007-07-04T08:27:00.000-06:00

Before the June Residency:
Richard Serra, Museum of Modern Art, New York

During the Residency:
Boston Young Contemporaries, 808 Gallery
William Wegman, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Art on the Harbor Islands, Teri Rueb, Institute of Contemporary Art
Exposure: The 12th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition

Just getting started

2007-07-04T08:08:00.000-06:00

Well after a few days of much needed sleep I finally feel ready to go back through everything I got out of this first residency. The experience was amazing and I'm so excited to begin reading and making new work. I also need to go through my ideas, answer questions for myself about my making and practice.
I want to continue photographing the landscape and thinking about texture and light. While incorporating a narrative or series. I would like to photograph people again or myself and I keep asking myself why the past couple of days. I haven't gotten to that answer but I hope some shooting will help sort that out.
I have been working on finding an artist mentor I emailed three artists on Saturday and heard back from Laura Blacklow first, she is interested in being my mentor. Which I'm very excited about!
I leave for Colorado on Thursday and I can't wait to photograph out there I just bought more film for my Holga camera. I will hopefully touch base with Patrick.