After talking with a number of artists lately struggling with their practice of creating work. The main issue that seemed common amongst them all was the process. How to comfortably and successfully create, with emphasis on a body of work.
Speaking for myself, the single most complicated issue begins with absolutes in mind, i.e. subject, style, materials, and being wed to the outcome. So often when approaching work like this we ignore potentially good detours, happy accidents, and the power of our subconscious to express our personal aesthetic and unique creative vocabulary.
I began thinking about this many years ago as an artist and a cabinetmaker. One day when I was building a complicated piece of furniture I made a mistake, and it ruined my day. There was no way around it – I screwed up. There was only one way to achieve the task at hand and I had flubbed it. I knew the right way to do it. A few days later I was painting, and I made a mistake with composition, and it also ruined my day. I then realized I was flogging myself as I had done because of my carpentry mistake. There was only one way to achieve my carpentry task, but the options were unlimited with the painting. Both endeavors began with a plan, a drawing, but one was etched in stone, the other had no real limits. A light went on in my head – one must be attached to the outcome when building furniture, not so with art, as a matter of fact, in my opinion, it can be damning for our art.
The biggest trap is attachment and defending something that is not working to ourselves and others, during the process and after. This also can deny us the gift of malleability. The ability to let ourselves make mistakes and shift – allowing our subconscious and our personal aesthetic to do their things.
Kevin Tully
October, 2024
image @kevintully
Posted in News on 10/10/2024 | Comments Off on Something I would like to talk about: The Gift of Malleability
ASG’s exhibition “story” was in the online gallery from September 2 to October 13, 2022. We were fortunate enough to have the esteemed writer Franklin Cincinnatus write stories inspired by each of the 27 images selected for the “story” fine art exhibition book. This video is the last os four zoom events being held for the readings of the stories as well as to celebrate the artist and the images they created.
Artist included in reading 4 are Sharon Covert, Eric Edge and Sarah Treanor . Stories were read by Franklin Cincinnatus. Amanda Smith and Kevin Tully, gallery directors, were the moderators. Enjoy!
Posted in News on 10/05/2024 | Comments Off on “story” reading 4
The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. Susan Keiser’s exhibition “Barbaric Glass“ is the second of four performances to be exhibited during Act II 2024. Susan’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
I work with a family of four-inch dolls mass-produced in the 1950s—the embodiment of an idealized middle-class culture. Once models of conformity, years of handling have worn away their veneer of polite reserve and privilege, and the contrast between their formal clothing and scarred bodies is both poignant and symbolic. That dichotomy between perfectly curated public lives and private lives filled with anger, confusion, and despair is central to my image-making, as it is to understanding not only their era, but increasingly, our own. Once the silent keepers of secrets, this doll family reveals the turmoil under carefully constructed facades.
Barbaric Glass is one of my on-going, interlocking series of portfolios comprising complex images that address both individual and cultural, histories and concerns. Working outdoors, following the seasons, water animates my work as it animates all life. When frozen, it serves as both metaphor and lens. Worn remnants of plastic are transformed when fractured through sheets of ice—frozen panes that hide, reveal, and distort scenes and narratives the way our memories do, the way our dreams can rewrite the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.
Intuitive, improvised, my photographs are created in-camera, in available light, using real objects.
Susan Keiser, 2024
Bio
Susan Keiser’s photographic work reflects her long experience in the arts and horticulture. Painter/printmaker, gardener/designer, editor/curator, she has always been concerned with building large structures out of small units, entire worlds out of miniature elements.
Situated at the intersection of dreams and memories, abstract and conceptual ideas, her images have been exhibited in solo and group shows in a wide range of galleries, museums, and art fairs both here and abroad, including solo shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography, Greater Boston Stage Company, Stoneham, MA; Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY; Baum Gallery, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AK; Garage Gallery, Beacon, NY; Anchorlight Gallery, Raleigh, NC, and Catalyst Gallery, Beacon, NY.
Group shows include the Berlin Foto Biennale; Keyhole Art Fair, Murcia Spain; PH21 Gallery, Budapest; The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO; Candela Books + Gallery, Richmond, VA; Beard Gallery, SUNY, Cortland; Fairfield Museum and History Center, Fairfield, CT, New York Center for Photographic Art, New York, NY.
She attended Pomona College and holds a BFA in painting from The Cooper Union and a diploma from The New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture.
Directors’ Statement
Intermundium is a Latin word that represents the world in-between. Susan Keiser’s images exist in the intermundium, the world in-between the childhood space of play and an ice altered, sometimes humorous and sometimes macabre, photographic dream world.
Nothing is as it seems, or is it? Like all art, the viewer is free to interpret the images as we will. Immediately upon viewing the work in Barbaric Glass we are challenged to feel something about the images. If we are a Baby Boomer or older, many of the scenes may seem familiar. We may recognize a setting, the look of a doll in a vignette, a table, a telephone. Others may simply see compelling work more akin to a painting. Others will recognize a frightening clown from a disturbing movie, scenes from a dysfunctional marriage, a haunted dreamscape – nightmares.
The images stand alone and can also form a narrative cycle if we, the viewer, so choose. We are free to compose a personal script for the work. The images can be relatable stills from a home movie or maybe references to our past as a theatergoer.
Whether grinning or shuddering – we can’t look away.
The Awards Collective was created to feature the works of artist who have received either a Juror’s Award or Director’s Award in ASG’s Online exhibitions. Jeff Schewe’s image “Wind Swept Monterey Pine Trees“ received the Director’s Award in the “trees” exhibition juried by Wendi Schneider. Jeff’s exhibition “A Photographic Retrospective: From Commercial to Fine Art” is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
My journey into photography began as a refuge from the frustrations of painting, where my lack of drawing skills became evident. In photography, I discovered a medium that offered spontaneity and a unique freshness that painting couldn’t provide. Despite this shift, I have retained my deep-seated passion for light, color, and composition, originally nurtured through my early experiences with painting. Today, I approach photography with a painterly sensitivity, shaping my vision and perspective through the lens.
I’m drawn to photographing a diverse range of subjects, always striving to capture a distinctive point of view and visual treatment. Whether I’m exploring familiar surroundings or traveling to new places, my camera is a constant companion, ready to seize upon the moments and scenes that inspire me. While my photographic journey began in the traditional darkroom, I now work by using a computer to digitally manipulate my images. The allure of total power and control over my images that digital imaging allows is so seductive that I now no longer maintain a darkroom. Despite the digital manipulation, I strive to work in a totally photo-realistic manner. I don’t use AI to create the pixels in my images.
Jeff Schewe
August, 2024
Bio
Jeff Schewe is a renowned award-winning photographer with over 40 years of experience in both commercial and fine art photography. Transitioning from a background in painting, Schewe has made significant contributions to the field through his expertise in digital imaging and fine art printing.
A pioneer in the development of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, Schewe’s influence extends to both his technical innovations and his painterly approach to photography. has been a long time alpha and beta tester for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom and has been personally responsible for a wide variety of features beneficial to photographers. He’s been listed in the Photoshop credits several times. He was also a founding member of a software company called PixelGenius which created Photoshop plug-ins designed for photographers.
He has been recognized as an Epson Stylus Pro, an Apple Master of the Medium, and an inductee into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2006. He has written two seminal books on digital imaging and printing; The Digital Negative and The Digital Print, published by Peachpit Press.
Although retired from active commercial work, Schewe continues to share his artistic vision through writing, workshops, and exhibitions, with recent acclaim for his “Black and White in Antarctica” series which was featured as a series in Communication Arts Photography Annual, selected as a Critical Mass 2023 Finalist and featured in the Rfotofolio 2023 Selections.
Education
Illinois State University 1973-1974: Art Major
Rochester Institute of Technology 1975-1977:
Associates Degree with Honors in Photographic Arts
Rochester Institute of Technology 1978-1979:
Bachelor of Science with Highest Honors in Professional Photography
—oOOOo—
Print Purchase information
All images in the exhibition are available for purchase. Please email gallery director for more information.
17×22 image $1,200, all open edition images
8×10 image $450, all open edition images
larger prints available upon request
Posted in News on 10/01/2024 | Comments Off on “A Photographic Retrospective: From Commercial to Fine Art” by Jeff Schewe | Awards Collective GalleryTalk
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. Abbey Hepner’s image “The House is Just a Metaphor“ received the Juror’s Award in the “interiors” exhibition juried by Ann Mitchell. Abbey’s exhibition “Monument Plinth” was featured from September 1 to September 30, 2024 and is discussed in our GalleryTalk with Abbey.
Artist Statement
Uranium disposal cells are geometric mounds engineered to isolate radioactive material from the surrounding environment. The mounds sit above the ground and cover surfaces from a few acres to half a mile and consist of an outer shell of riprap rock and a clay soil layer that covers the radioactive material. They are designed to allow for rain runoff and to prevent plant growth from forming on top and penetrating the clay layer. Typically, the cells in the Southwest are made from demolished buildings at uranium mines, and the cells in the Midwest and East are most commonly from uranium metal engineering and processing sites. [1]
Some sites that produced the waste contained in the cells date back to the Manhattan Project and were created to mine and construct nuclear weapons; some of the sites continue to operate today for the nuclear energy industry. The amount of radioactivity in the cells varies, but most radiation comes from Uranium-238 with a half-life as old as the earth or 4.47 billion years. There are over 100 sites like these that exist in the US and the number is growing. [2]
Disposal cells are architecturally fascinating sites. They are often designed to blend in with the landscape, but their shapes form mounds on the earth, and their suture materials seldom remain as invisible as intended. They are otherworldly to see up close, but even more fascinating to see from an aerial view where their odd geometry takes shape. While some sites are constructed away from populated cities, others such as those in Weldon Spring, just outside St. Louis, Missouri, are difficult to ignore and function as recreational destinations.
Monument Plinth features aerial images from forty uranium disposal cells across the US. The images were collected with the assistance of Dr. Mark Finco and acquired by the National Agriculture Imagery Program. I printed and mounted each image on black acrylic and laser engraved the cell detail into the surface, reflecting an internal space or void.
(Uranium Disposal Cells and Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Sites Map created by Dr. Scott White)
[1] “Perpetual Architecture: Uranium Disposal Cells of America,” The Center for Land Use Interpretation, accessed June 5, 2020, http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/perpetual-architecture.
[2] “Perpetual Architecture,” The Center for Land Use Interpretation.
Bio
Abbey Hepner is an artist and educator based outside of St. Louis Missouri. Hepner holds an M.F.A. in Photography from the University of New Mexico. She teaches at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville as an Assistant Professor of Art and Area Head of Photography.
Hepner’s artistic practice examines health, technology, and our relationship with place through photography, performance, video, and installation-based work. She frequently works at the intersection of art and science, investigating biopolitics and the use of health as a currency. Hepner is originally from Utah, where her ancestors were downwinders who suffered in the aftermath of the United State’s nuclear testing. Her work on nuclear issues began shortly after the Fukushima disaster in 2011 when she traveled across Germany documenting the decommissioning of nuclear plants. Shortly thereafter, she lived and volunteered in Japan before attending graduate school in New Mexico. Hepner’s work has been exhibited widely in such venues as the Mt. Rokko International Photography Festival (Kobe, Japan), SITE Santa Fe, the Krannert Art Museum, the University of Buffalo Art Galleries, Noorderlicht Photofestival (Groningen, Netherlands), the University of Notre Dame, and the Lianzhou Foto Festival (Lianzhou, China). She has been an artist in residence at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity in Canada and has presented at numerous Society for Photographic Education conferences. Her monograph, The Light at the End of History, about nuclear issues was published by Daylight Books in 2021.
The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. John Hesketh’s exhibition “Los Angeles (revisited)“ is the first of four performances to be exhibited during Act II 2024. John’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
In 1992, Los Angeles was aflame with riots and insurrection after the verdicts of Rodney King’s beating. I was among many artists who created a call for healing in the wake of the conflict. In my original project, Los Angeles (1992-2007), I collaborated with 101 members of my community to create angels in a darkened studio. Each subject stood for nearly an hour while I used strobes, flashlights, and filters to mark light across their bodies and onto a stage of bedsheets and cardboard wings. These large angels were ablaze with vibrant colors and forged in the tumult. They stood as guardians, calling for peace and understanding.
It is painful to stand in one position for nearly an hour. This was my subjects’ intimate and spiritual sacrifice. After arranging the personal items and clothing that they brought for their angel, I would say, “Take a comfortable stance, relax and breath normally. Your body will settle and wilt. I’m here to interpret that. And I’ll take care of you.” Many of my subjects recalled the experience as a meditative inward journey at the center of lights flashing, swirling, and beaming into ethereal space. Together in the dark, with their energy and my light, we created their angels.
Los Angeles (revisited), (2024) includes the same angels from the past, reissued in response to the same brutal authority and political violence that is still with us today. I have reinterpreted these guardians as icons, illuminated with gold and silver leafing to reflect their scared status. Luminously floating on collection pins, their likeness seems fragile, but their strength was proven in the original sacrifice. Their spiritual nature is a prayer for hope and peace to prevail, all these years later.
John Hesketh, 2024
Bio
John Hesketh (b.1955) is an artist based in Anaheim, California. Interested in performative narrative, his work explores the psychodrama of identity as well as lost in family and community. John uses multiple and extended exposures, often working in front of the camera to perform with light. Each work is a constructed tableau to explore the unconscious and rummage through the nature of chance.
John has taught photography at Orange Coast College for 25 years and more recently at Santa Monica College. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. His art is found in many public and private collections including Principal Financial (Des Moines, IA), the California Museum of Photography at UC Riverside, Maison Europeenne de la Photographie (Ville de Paris), and the Biblietheque Nationale de France.
Directors’ Statement
We first met John and this body of work as reviewers for The Los Angeles Center For Photography. We are honored and very glad that he chose to enter The Photographic Performance call for entry.
When we first saw the work, the images appeared to me like contemporary, prismatic holy cards or a sanctified tarot. They seemed avenging angels. Seeing them again brought the Los Lobos song “The Tears of God” to mind.
We fight back tears in times of trouble and joy. They can leave us momentarily vulnerable. Experiencing the tears of others can cause us to shed some of our own. Our tears are a recognition, an answer, and a release in response to matters of the heart.
Whether avenging angels or tears, John’s images are a gift. Thank you John.
After many years of owning a photography gallery, hanging hundreds of exhibitions, matting and framing thousands of images and visiting with and watching visitors to the gallery, there is an issue that comes up frequently in reviews – should I have any verbiage*, story, or narrative attached to my images?
There is no definitive answer, but there is one answer that is promulgated across the art world in general, as if it were sacrosanct, a proverb from the art bible – “Let your art speak for itself, Let the viewer come to their own conclusions.” Specifically, can be good advice, generally, is a bunch of baloney, and can be destructive to certain bodies of work.
As an artist I agree that with much of what I have made I want the viewer to be free to interpret what they are seeing without narrative, beyond a title. However, titles can be clandestine narratives. Titles are important if you want them to be. Then, there is other work that demands a narrative, that is not complete, or less without verbiage. Typically, these are images or bodies of work with which the artist is intentionally trying to tell a story, and to achieve the desired effect, narrative is necessary because the imagery alone does not flesh out the entire story or lead the viewer where the artist wants them to go.
Having been an artist most of my life and spent almost fifty years arguing with other artists, one thing is pretty clear – artists are terrible businesspeople. This is natural and most of us are guilty. Artists have a tendency to think that somehow what they do transcends most business principles. Maybe so, but one is inescapable – marketing. And, what is not generally recognized is that the use of titles, narrative, verbiage, story are all aspects of marketing. You don’t go to the hardware store and buy the newest, most cutting-edge toilet plunger without the manufacturer telling you what it is. Most potential customers are not toilet plunger experts. Most purchasers of art are not artists.
Again, I am not suggesting all art requires a story. But, if your body of work has a strong narrative and you want the viewer to get it – consider verbiage, just enough to lead them where you want them to go. This can be achieved with an artist statement, as a handout or part of the exhibition as verbiage on the initial wall of the installation, inclusion of verbiage in the art, a bit of verbiage included in the title block, etc.
Over the years I have watched visitors to the gallery come in, make a brief, cursory pass through the exhibition, find the artist’s statement, etc., then go back and take time looking at each image. Remember – you have control, you are the author of your work.
*Verbiage can have negative connotations, but I like it as another word for words.
Kevin Tully
August, 2024
Posted in News on 08/30/2024 | Comments Off on Something I would like to talk about: Verbiage, Story and Narrative in Photography
The “portraits” exhibition, juried by Donna Garcia, was in the online gallery from August 16 to September 26, 2024. Donna selected forty seven images from forty artist for the exhibition. Linda Plaisted’s image “Rose Red” received the Juror’s Award. Seveta Butko’s image “Alona” received the Director’s Award.
Juror’s Statement
There аre many different types of portraits: studio portraits, environmental portraits, conceptual portraits, self-portraits, personless portraits, and more. The one commonality they share is that they should say something about the person being photographed, or the persona that you are creating/reflecting via the camera – the images in this exhibition truly reveal that deep and diverse richness of narrative that has the ability to connect with the viewer, in a way that can help them to know something that they didn’t know before.
Being a juror for this call for portraits allowed me to gauge the temperature of the “field” and witness thematic and formal trends that emerged across these submissions, which was incredibly insightful. Without a doubt, the conceptual threads always surprise me. Perusing hundreds of pictures in a concentrated period of time gives me a glimpse into the questions artists are posing to address and what is relevant for them right now.
I believe that the work here allows us to see how portraiture artists (traditional and non-traditional) see the world through the lens of human representation, whether it is the face of a joyful father, or the complicated relationship of two grandparents whose generational trauma still lingers. It also shows us how we, as artists, can push the boundaries of the definition of portraiture. Can we utilize portraiture to connect with residual memory through a shadowy space once occupied by a loved on? Can we deconstruct then reconstruct the past through photographic portraiture archives to expose new truths? Can we find joy and common purpose in the faces of those around us? Can we understand the connection between us, as humans, and all living things through expressions of empathy? These artists have shown us that the answer to these questions is “YES”!
Photography’s relationship with time and memory, grief, family, identity, compassion and community are among the various themes that flow through these tremendous submissions for portraiture. Some artists represent these ideas conspicuously while others touch on a number of them indirectly. Most importantly with each submission, what is invariably palpable is a genuine love of exploration through the medium of photography– its endless possibilities and rich potential to inspire and shape new perspectives of the world.
Donna Garcia
Director of Education and Programs – Griffin Museum
August, 2024
Directors’ Statement
The emotive, symbolic, or revealing aspect of portraits can run in opposite directions, from both the subject of the portrait and the photographer. We, the viewer, can see, simultaneously, something phycological and or philosophical of the subject and the photographer. This can all be done with a look, a color, and or the position of the subject. Sometimes a smile removes all questions.
In Robin Reich’s image, Olive and a Presence of Departed Acts, we see a woman apparently in a wheelchair, possibly a relative, showing us an image of herself when she was a child. There is a somewhat blank expression on her face. We aren’t sure if she is sad or happy or without emotion in the moment. And we wonder, is the woman a relative of the photographer, does the photographer have an emotional connection to the subject? What is the photographer trying to show us?
Peggy Reynolds’ image, Under the Influence, causes us to question – whose sense of humor is on display here, the subjects or the photographers?
Jill Finney’s image, Ricky, shows us an animal in a cage. We can’t tell if the animal is resting, or sad. The attitude of its body suggests sadness. What is the photographer trying to show us? Is she also showing us something about herself, her feelings about the moment?
In Linda Plaisted’s image, Rose Red, which received the Juror’s Award, we are confronted with the color red. It goes from a scarlet red to blood red rimmed with black around the head of the subject. There is no apparent menace. The subject is looking down as if calmly posing. Yet, what does the red say about the subject. What emotions are we to take away from the image? What is the photographer telling us? What is the emotional state of the photographer? Why red?
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. Lev L Spiro’s image “The Secret“ received the Juror’s Award in the “sanctuary” exhibition juried by Kevin Tully. Lev’s exhibition “Thin Places” was featured from August 1 to August 31, 2024 and is discussed in our GalleryTalk with Lev.
Artist Statement
Thin Places are what the ancient Celts named rare locales where the separation between our earthly world and another, spiritual world becomes hazy and indistinct. They’re places where one feels touched by the otherworldly, a feeling not necessarily transmitted by our known senses.
This series grew out of conversations with my father, a religious man despite his breaking a 16-generation chain of rabbis to become a psychiatrist. Before he passed in 2023, I’d confided in him that for me, deep feelings of spirituality never occurred in the practice of religious observance but rather in the embrace of the natural world – in these Thin Places, where time seems to slow, something resonates in me, and I experience an unexpected sense of connection to a world beyond my consciousness.
Thin Places are elusive – they may only reveal themselves when the light dances with them to a very specific rhythm. They speak to us through vibration more than sight or sound. Where the veil between this world and the other becomes porous, these are Thin Places.
Lev L Spiro
August, 2024
Bio
Lev L. Spiro is a fine art photographer and filmmaker, whose work tries to convey the sense of mystery and wonder he finds in the natural world.
Work from his series “Fugitive Light”, “Night Creatures” and “Thin Places” has been juried into more than 55 exhibitions, including A. Smith Gallery, Davis Orton Gallery, Southeast Center for Photography, Ph21 Gallery, Midwest Center for Photography, and Praxis Gallery, as well as featured in publications including What Will You Remember?, Dodho Magazine, Art Ascent Magazine (Gold Artist, June 2021; Silver Artist, July 2023) Shadow & Light Magazine, All About Photo, and Black + White UK.
Lev currently teaches the fine art photography course “The Artful Garden” for Santa Fe Workshops. He’s also well known for his tv and film directing work, having helmed more than 160 episodes, pilots and features for tv including multiple Emmy-award winning series such as Orange is the New Black, Ugly Betty, Modern Family, Weeds and Arrested Development. He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, and their two dogs T.Beau and Luna.
The “light” exhibition, juried by Laurie Klein, was in the online gallery from July 5 to August 15, 2024. Laurie selected fifty five images from forty three artist for the exhibition. Bob Tully’s image “The Bu” received the Juror’s Award. Linda Caldwell’s image “The Potter” received the Director’s Award.
Juror’s Statement
Light is one of the most fundamental elements in our creations, shaping our narratives and bringing our visions to life. When we blend light with our subjects, our stories grow magically, imbued with depth and emotion. We see light or we don’t, we feel light, or we won’t. It’s an ever-present force that guides our eyes and our hearts. Without light there would be no photography.
Congratulations to the many photographers who submitted work to LIGHT. The range of incredible stories and artistic expressions was truly inspiring. Henceforth, let us continue to celebrate the beauty of light. It isn’t everyday that light and objects take on feelings and gestures. Truly it was difficult jurying this exhibit, it was so open ended, metaphorically and profoundly. That is what happened with Bob Tully, not only were they urinals but they represented a rigidity of a march, light to the quick, and so many conversations being told, silently.
