The Awards Collective was created to feature the works of artist who have received a Juror’s Award or Director’s Award in ASG’s Online exhibitions.  Linda Plaisted’s  image “Rose Red“ received the Juror’s Award in the “portraits” exhibition juried by Donna Garcia.  Linda’s exhibition “How The Light Gets In” was featured from January 1 to January 31, 2025 and is discussed in our GalleryTalk with Linda.

Artist Statement

Instead of showing work from only one series, because I am a rather prolific creator, I chose instead to share a selection of work I created in 2024 using Light as a major component that ties all the work together with an unifying thread. I came rushing into 2024 bearing light in my Glimmers series and here I am in my latest work, still carrying a torch, lighting the way forward into 2025.

One of my series called How the Lights Gets In was created in response to a good friend’s terminal cancer diagnosis, which landed like a grenade amid the constant bombardment of dark and disturbing news we have all been subject to this year. Reeling, I was looking for a way to express my own grief and society’s collective despair, so I used my morning art-making as a therapeutic practice; searching for pinpoints of light in a dark time. I heard an old Leonard Cohen song one day and his words rang true-

“Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in”

Ancient peoples once believed that the stars were holes in the sky where ancestors looked down on us from above; eyes shining. I found great comfort in this simple idea. Throughout this past year, I created multiple series of work layering my original photography, vintage found photos and collected paper ephemera, then added places in each piece for light to get in and love to shine out. It’s a multi-step, multi-disciplinary process that synthesizes my studies in photography, fine art, psychology and mythology to alchemize dark materials into light.

Linda Plaisted
January, 2025

Bio

Linda Plaisted was born in Pennsylvania in 1967, educated at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, Temple University and George Mason University, where she earned degrees in Fine Art, Illustration and Literature. A 2002 Magna Cum Laude graduate of GMU, her final portfolio was recognized as the most creative in her graduating class of 25,000. As a pioneer in contemporary photomontage, she founded Many Muses Studio in 2000 as a place to explore the marriage of many media. She has led private workshops and acted as artist-in-residence in public and private schools and universities; teaching photography and art workshops. Having lived in the DC area for over twenty years, she currently lives and works in Frederick, Maryland. After decades of full time motherhood, she is back with a bit of a vengeance and seeking studio space to pursue larger mixed media projects.

website: lindaplaisted
instagram: @themanymuses

link to online exhibiton

Fruition, in conjunction with Leah Macdonald’s Fuse Studio, was created as a residency program to help artist in need studio space and equipment to complete or further a body of work and be supported with guidance, time, and the tools needed to create or complete their project. Jenn Adam’s exhibition “Encaustic Layers of Time: An Autobiographical Journey“ is the first of two projects selected for the program in 2024. Jenn’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk with gallery directors and Leah Macdonald.

Artist Statement

My artistic practice encompasses my photography, collage, and encaustic beeswax to explore personal themes and convey emotions. Drawing inspiration from my lifetime of memories, my work delves into autobiographical narratives, intertwining elements of beauty and anguish through layers of transformation. By relinquishing control and embracing spontaneity, I make my own distinctive mark on each piece, giving rise to one-of-a-kind creations using photography, mixed media, and encaustic.

While residing in a New York City studio apartment, I grappled with shyness when venturing out to capture street photographs. In the process, I discovered a solution for expressing my artistic vision: I became the model myself, portraying various scenarios. This was before the digital photography era, hence my creative process relied on spontaneity and resourcefulness as I often used a broom as a stand-in for myself to achieve focused images. By taking control of my appearance, my self-portraits became a means for me to explore and communicate aspects of my identity that may not be readily apparent to others. It was around this time that I became familiar with the work of Cindy Sherman, whose film stills greatly impacted me, as well as the aesthetics of film noir.

Since I explore themes that are based on my real-life experiences in my art, it was through my discovery of the work of Sophie Calle that I have found additional inspiration. Two of her pieces particularly resonate with me: Douleur Exquise, about the pain of a breakup, and Rachel, Monique, an installation eulogizing the death of her mother. Drawing from my own influences, my artistic exploration ventures into a broad spectrum of personal subject matter. Among these are vanity, performance, female empowerment, bliss, timelessness, and sensuality. Additionally, I examine the intricate complexities of trauma, sexuality, mental illness, and the specter of suicide. While my creations are not exclusively images of myself, they possess a deeply intimate essence that narrates stories closely intertwined with my own experiences. Having battled Fibromyalgia for nearly a decade, I undergo moments of relief and light amongst physical pain, darkness, and isolation which is often reflected in my artwork.    

Working with encaustic and photography has most recently become my preferred medium as it brings an element of unpredictability and spontaneity to my work, and I find great pleasure in embracing serendipity. By utilizing melted wax, I create unique patterns and textures that add depth and complexity to my photographs. Collage and the use of various techniques, such as scraping, carving, incising, and embedding items turn my encaustic photographs into one-of-a-kind mixed media objects with longevity and resistance to deterioration.

The emotions and experiences captured in my artwork primarily resonate with women. Whether exploring personal struggles or those related to femininity, my work aims to connect with those who face similar challenges. In my compositions, there is often a dichotomy that emerges as my personal trials coexist with the presence of flowers, symbolizing the transformative power to turn pain into something beautiful. Through artistic expression, I aim to empower and inspire others to embrace their unique stories and discover beauty amidst adversity.

Jenn Adams
April, 2024

Bio

Jenn Adams was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and earned her Bachelor of Arts from New York University with a double major in Art History and Classical Civilization. Continuing her education, she pursued a Master of Arts degree in Studio Art through a collaborative program offered by New York University and the esteemed International Center of Photography in New York City including a semester spent abroad in Paris.

Throughout her artistic journey, Jenn has passionately explored book arts, printmaking, and mixed media art while integrating her knowledge of photography. Since completing her Master’s, she has showcased and sold her artwork in conventional and unconventional venues across the United States. Jenn has earned honorable mentions for her notable accomplishments in photography through two juried online shows: Virtual • Visual by Women in Photography International in 2004, and Art of the Flower by the Medford Arts Center in Medford, NJ in 2021. She is a featured artist in Julie Chen’s publication, 500 Handmade Books Volume 2, and her artist’s books have been acquired by distinguished institutions, including McCabe Library at Swarthmore College, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library at The University of Alabama, and Butler Library at Columbia University. In addition, she has taught continuing education classes in mixed media at the JCC Manhattan and Manhattan Graphics Center, both located in New York City.

After living in the New York metro area for over 30 years, Jenn relocated to central North Carolina in 2017 where she was juried into the respected Orange County Artist Guild in 2020 upon her first submission. Amidst the global pandemic, she seized the opportunity to participate in Zoom classes and delve into the world of encaustic art, incorporating photography and mixed media techniques. Her intrigue and dedication to this art form endure to the present.

website: www.jennadamsartist.com
instagram: @jenn_adams_artist

link to online exhibition

The “she” exhibition, juried by Polly Gaillard, was in the online gallery from December 20, 2024 to January 30, 2025.  Polly selected forty seven images from thirty eight artists for the exhibition. Laura J Bennett’s image “Path for Pain” received the Juror’s Award. Bill Polkinhorn’s image “il pensatore” received the Director’s Award.

Juror’s Statement

She celebrates the multifaceted nature of women and complexity of women across diverse cultures, identities, and experiences. The images in this collection delve into the intimate and universal, presenting a visual narrative of what it means to navigate the world as a woman. From quiet moments of introspection to bold acts of defiance, the exhibition aims to challenge stereotypes and provide a platform for authentic voices that redefine femininity on their own terms. Each photograph offers a window into deeply personal stories, revealing the beauty and power inherent in vulnerability and self-expression.

This exhibition also seeks to explore the intersections of identity, inviting viewers to reflect on how race, age, socioeconomic status, and cultural heritage shape women’s experiences. Through a wide range of photographic styles—documentary, portraiture, conceptual, and experimental—the featured artists push the boundaries of representation, presenting subjects who resist being confined by societal expectations. She is both a celebration and a call to action: to honor the women who have shaped our histories, to listen to the stories that often go unheard, and to imagine a world where every woman’s truth is valued and celebrated.

Polly Gaillard
December, 2024

link to online exhibition

link to exhibition catalogue

I recently posted the piece below on social media. It got quite a bit of attention. I am wondering if there is interest out there in participating in an “Art For Photographers” workshop? If interested or just to comment, email me at kevin@asmithgallery.com.

“Had a conversation with a photographer/visual artist last night. The subject of photographers as artists came up. We were talking about workshops and the success or failure of photography-based workshops. This brought to mind a conversation I had a few years ago with an artist, painter, and sculptor, that was also an accomplished photographer. He asserted that without somewhat of a background in drawing, painting and or the plastic arts which require a level of competence in color theory, understanding of the principles of art, a knowledge of art history, and a background in the manual, hands on aspect of creating art — workshops that, to really get the most from the experience, it would help to have a background in the above, the experience can be less than truly satisfactory.

Wondering what others think about this? Is there a need for workshops for photographers that focus on the foundations of art?”

Kevin Tully
December, 2024

The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. John Woodruff’s exhibition “Culturelux“ is the final of four performances to be exhibited during Act II 2024. John’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk.

Artist Statement

When I was a kid in the fifties and early sixties, our babysitter was the TV and we became the “pictures generation”.

Life around the world was brought to us in bits and pieces – a sort of splintered vicarious reality that Marshall McLuhan termed a “global village”. My series entitled “Culturelux” explores this phenomenon by shining a spotlight on modern life/popular culture by creating fragmented image photographs with implied narratives that pine for what may have been lost but also provide a glimpse of what may lie ahead.

John Woodruff, 2024

Bio

John Woodruff was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1954.

He received a BS in biology and a minor in photography from the Hartford Art School in 1979.

Upon graduation he worked for several years at a commercial photography studio photographing products for advertising and industry using 8×10 and 4×5 large format cameras exclusively, In the med eighties he formed an architectural photography studio in which he traveled around the country shooting projects for well known architectural firms.

Throughout his commercial career he also actively created lens based art showing extensively in Hartford, CT, New Haven, CT Western MA, NYC and Portland, ME.

John currently resides in Blue Hill, Maine with his wife Diane and pharaoh hound Lacey.

website: johnhwoodruff.com
instagram:  @junowoodruff

link to online exhibition

exhibition catalogue

The “story” exhibition, juried by Kevin Tully, was in the online gallery from November 8 to December 19, 2024.  Kevin selected forty seven images from thirty four artists for the exhibition. Dub Weathersby’s image “Road Trip” received the Juror’s Award. Eduardo Fujii’s image “The Weight of My Sins” received the Director’s Award.

link to online exhibition

link to exhibition catalogue

The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. Justus Wayne Thomas’ book and exhibition “The River Will Be A Part of Us“ was part of the 2023 Photographic Performance. Wayne’s exhibition and book is discussed in this GalleryTalk.

to order the book

Artist Statement

It would be the summer of Princess Diana’s wedding. The Space Shuttle had just completed its first mission, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was running in theaters. Hand-held mobile phones were years away, and no one had ever heard of the internet. In late June of 1981, a crew of young people from the United States and Europe gathered at a small park on the banks of the Missouri River just outside Kansas City.

The month before, I had been at home in Nashville when I got a call from Tom Bates. We had become friends a few years before as American exchange students at the University of Regensburg in West Germany. Tom asked if I was interested in joining him and some other friends at a campsite near Kansas City, where they planned to build a raft and float down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans.

Tom said he wanted an “expedition photographer.”.

A commitment like this would require money that I did not have, so I asked my parents. My mom was hesitant, but my dad said:

“He’s going. If I have to carry him up to Kansas City on my back, he’s going.”

I took a plane instead and brought my Nikon FE SLR and a supply of Kodak Ektachrome color slide film with me.

In ten days, we built a 16 x 24-foot raft from cottonwood, assorted lumber, and thirty-two 55-gallon oil drums. The “Eulenspiegel” was motorless, moving downriver with the current, maneuvered only by four 10-foot-long deck-mounted oars. In two months, we floated 1,420 miles down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans.

This Fall, Daylight Books is publishing “The River Will Be a Part of Us,” my documentary photobook featuring photographs I captured during the Eulenspiegel’s journey downriver 43 years ago. “The River Will Be a Part of Us” was featured in the 2024 “ICP Photobook Fest” at the International Center of Photography in New York City and at this year’s “SlowExposures” Photobook Fair in Zebulon, Georgia.

Justus Wayne Thomas

Bio

Justus Wayne Thomas is a resident of Nashville and a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee College of Law.

His experience as a photographer began in earnest as an exchange student at the University of Regensburg in West Germany, participating in Vanderbilt’s “Junior Year Abroad” program in 1978-79. Thomas brought his parents’ Minolta SR-T 201 SLR with him and, upon arrival in Regensburg, found a fully equipped, closet-sized darkroom in his dormitory’s basement.

During his Senior Year at Vanderbilt, The Gallery at The Parthenon in Nashville hosted a solo exhibition of photographs Thomas had made in Regensburg. The exhibition was titled “A Nashvillian’s Perspective on Regensburg.” Later that year, The Sarratt Gallery at Vanderbilt University hosted a solo exhibition of photographs Thomas had taken in and around Nashville. That exhibition was titled “Some Relatively Minor Features.”

Thomas’ informal photographic education began as a lab technician at Image Custom Lab in Nashville, a black-and-white custom film and print lab owned and run by Jimmy Ellis, a photojournalist, then recently retired from The Nashville Tennessean.

Thomas’ work has hung in galleries around the country, including The SE Center for Photography, PhotoPlace Gallery, A Smith Gallery, Si Gallery (Dab Art Co., Austin, Texas), Yeiser Art Center (Paducah, Kentucky), Center for Contemporary Art (Abilene, Texas), University of Texas, San Antonio (Fotoseptiembre Festival), and Clara M. Eagle Gallery (Murray State University).

website: ambientshadow.net
instagram: wayne4845

link to online exhibition

The Awards Collective was created to feature the works of artist who have received a Juror’s Award or Director’s Award in ASG’s Online exhibitions.  Myrtie Cope’s  image “Sunlight on Bare Branches“ received the Juror’s Award in the “trees” exhibition juried by Wendi Schneider.  Myrtie’s exhibition “Nature Embroidered” was featured from November 1 to November 30, 2024 and is discussed in our GalleryTalk with Myrtie.

Artist Statement

As a quilter and photographer, I have found ways to incorporate my photography into my quilting with printing on fabric and with cyanotypes on fabric. When I began to incorporate my sewing skills into my photography with embroidery on photos, it has opened up a new way of expressing my art.

The embroidery adds texture and interest to landscapes and nature photos and, on some photos, creates an abstract image. The stitches create focus on different areas of the photos; colors are added which are not in the original photo but can be imagined. Embroidering on photos requires me to look closely at the photo to decide on the type of stitches, the colors and type of thread, and any other embellishment to be incorporated into the work.  It also requires me to make sure the photo I start with is the best it can be. I continue to enlarge on the photos I select and the stitches which I use to enhance the look and feel of this project.

Bio

Myrtie Cope has been focusing on nature, landscape, and architectural photography since graduating from the photography program at Rocky Mountain School of Photography in 2008. She is honored to have photos in several private and public collections around Atlanta including the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport and Emory University Hospital Tower. She has won numerous awards for her work which has been widely exhibited throughout the United States and internationally. Her winning images will be exhibited in the 20^th, 21^st and 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers at Fotonostrum Gallery in Barcelona, Spain in 2024 and 2025. Her newest body of work, “Nature Embroidered”, was one of the projects featured in All About Photo Magazine’s Nature issue in September 2023.

She received the Denis Diderot Artist-in-Residence grant at Chateau Orquevaux, France, in 2021 and participated in a second residency at Atelier AIR in Dangeau, France in 2023. The residencies have contributed to her love of travel and have allowed her take extended trips through France which she documents in photo books and zines.

website: myrtiecopephoto
instagram: @mcopephoto

link to online exhibiton

The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. Jim Hill’s exhibition “Small Places“ is the third of four performances to be exhibited during Act II 2024. Jim’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk.

Artist Statement

small places explores
the American heartland
rural nights haunt me

the nights are lonely
darkness is isolation
shadows hide the past

the silos of grain
dominate rural night skies
the abundance looms

small midwestern towns
producing the food we eat
struggle to survive

businesses fail
farms are consolidating
kids leave forever

not many people
everyone knows everyone
but loneliness lurks

miles to anywhere
silence echoes in my head
a sea of corn waves

the feelings come back
I think I do understand
I used to live here

I meet the locals
we talk and boundaries ease
later I bring prints

Jim Hill, 2024

Bio

Jim Hill is a Chicago based photographer who is focused on photographing the world at night. Jim Hill was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area  and graduated from the University of Wisconsin- Madison with a degree in geology. After living in a small town in Wisconsin dairy country for eight years Jim moved to the Chicago area and has lived there for over 30 years.

Following an international career as a groundwater geologist, Jim is now focusing his time and energy on photography. Jim participated in the 2021 Chico Review. Jim’s work has been in 17 juried gallery shows or photo festivals. Jim’s ongoing series “Small Places” was featured in Lenscratch and was also a 2023 Critical Mass finalist and top 50 in Critical Mass 2024.

Directors’ Statement

With his camera, Jim Hill, has taken small town presence and architecture, asking the assistance of night, and elevated it to beautiful documentary art. His images are both instructive and evocative. They remind or inform us of a rural, small-town way of life that is slowly disappearing, yet simultaneously still alive.

The citizens of the towns are not visible in his images — it’s late night or early morning. This allows the viewer to connect more directly with the built environment without the distraction of pondering on the patron entering the bar or parishioners in conversation in front of the church. There is a certainty to this. We, the viewers, instinctively, subconsciously know they are asleep in bed or watching late night television or sitting at the kitchen table doing their taxes. If the images were taken during the day we would worry — where is everyone, what has happened?

Jim has a very good eye for the importance of the subtleties of color and light in the creation of this work — avoiding the alluring gregariousness of bright reds and blues, choosing subtlety instead — with accents, small pops of bright color that are natural to the night.

We want to congratulate and thank Jim for submitting this beautiful work.

Amanda Smith and Kevin Tully
November, 2024

website: jimhill.com
instagram:  @jahill3photo

link to online exhibition

exhibition catalogue

The “open theme | unmoored” exhibition, juried by Debra Klomp Ching, was in the online gallery from September 27  to November 7, 2024.  Debra selected forty seven images from forty one artist for the exhibition. Stephanie Duprie Routh’s image “Phoenix #33: Gaga Floating in the Metaverse” received the Juror’s Award. Laurent Delhaye’s image “The Last Supper” received the Director’s Award.

Juror’s Statement

The premise of a call for art’s theme being open is wonderfully refreshing. That said, a theme or curatorial premise, also provides the benefit of parameters, and the possibility of more easily locating a thread, to pull selections together into a cohesive exhibition or showcase. For A Smith Gallery, the open call was coupled with the word unmoored—delightfully imaginative, if not taken literally.

To be unmoored is to be unattached, to be loosened and freed from something—set free. Within the context of a call for contemporary photographs, this one word reminded me of key moments in photography’s histories, when expectations of the medium were challenged with new visions; and when individual artists achieved something so remarkable with it (the photograph), that their photographic creations altered the course of our appreciation and understanding of photography as a whole.

The photographs were selected within this context—a visual and narrative representation of breaking free, and challenges to the status quo in the treatment and use of the photographic medium.

The Juror’s Award was bestowed upon Phoenix #33: Gaga Floating in the Metaverse, by Stephanie Duprie Routh. Narratively, it’s a curious photograph, that isn’t a quick read.

It depicts a figure contained within a net-like shroud, looking toward something—to what, the viewer doesn’t know. A hand is lifting this shroud away, or perhaps positioning it in place. One might question, is this a type of birth, a sign of death, or something in-between and undefined, as alluded to in the title? The physicality of space hovers between our understanding of the real world and something else. It’s a portrait, but it’s not so much about the person depicted or mentioned in the title. I read the image, not as a reference to popular culture, but pointing to an undefined place in time and space.

This slippage in meaning, is what makes it such a curious and interesting photograph. Perhaps in a month or two I’ll read it very differently …

Debra Klomp Ching
Co-owner, Director of Klompching Gallery
New York, New York
October, 2024

link to online exhibition