The “interiors” exhibition juried by Ann Mitchell, was in the online gallery from January 19 to February 29, 2024. Ann selected fifty five images from forty six artist. Abbey Hepner’s image “The House is Just a Metaphor” received the Juror’s Award. Ron Butler’s image “somebody see you up there” received the Director’s Award.
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Special apology to Dan McCormack. YouTube child protection policy did not like the posting of his image on our video. So…. here is his image “Elizabeth P 02-03-18–10AE”:
Dan also included a statement about his image:
“My image “Elizabeth_P_02-03-18–10AE” was shot with one of my Quaker Oats home made pinhole cameras. The camera holds 8×10” B&W film and requires a two minute exposure. This explains the movement in her fingers and slight blur in her face. That day in February of 2018, we made 15 exposures in different parts of her house. Elizabeth is an established photographer living in the same town as I do. She is also an accomplished harp player. I had asked Elizabeth to pose for me because it was a way for me to work with and get to know another successful photographer. I like this image because of the bright natural light from the window behind her and on the other her other side is her robe on the door.” Dan McCormick, February, 2024
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Juror’s Statement
I am enthralled by interiors – whether they are literal or implied. It’s a word that exists in partnership with its opposite – and that resistance, that separation, is part of what gives it strength and power. We all live interior lives in exterior-facing structures and throughout life we find ourselves sliding somewhere along the space between those two points. These images tell the story of how we live, who we are and what we construct around us.
Concerning Abbey Hepner’s Juror Award image “The House is Just a Metaphor”:
While there were so many powerful images in this group – I was immediately struck by the intentionality, the move from observational into performance, by the artist. I was also struck by the choice of aligned placement along the wall – almost like an echo of Sir John Everett Millais’ Ophelia, floating in this empty suburban room.
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. Walter Plotnick’s image “Limerick“ received the Director’s Award in the “portal” exhibition juried by Crista Dix. Walter’s exhibition “Surprise Inside” is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
As a child I was fascinated by single-serve cereal boxes, you would open the box along the perforated long side, pour in the milk and eat out of the open box. It was the folded mechanics of the box I was interested in. Fast forward many years later to my Surprise Inside Series…
My photographic collages serve as a metaphor for anticipation, those moments when the unknown is being revealed.
The implied act of opening the boxes, releases the occupants, allowing them to take flight. The people and objects confined within, through the simple act of unfolding, are exposed revealing what was previously hidden.
I try to convey excitement, and energy in images that are playful, expressive, and nostalgically bring the viewer back to the joyful moments of anticipation felt in childhood.
The sense of nostalgia evoked in the graphic synthesis of these images is augmented using a wash of warm sepia tones that permeate the images. There is also a visual correlation between inhabitants of the boxes and the boxes themselves. The folds of the boxes having a quality not unlike origami, is reflected in the contortionist-like bending of the human forms within.
The unusual and dissimilar combination of people and cardboard boxes is visually unified through the repetition of angles. Despite pairing such disparate elements, I bring them together harmoniously to form images with visual impact, and are frankly, fun to look at.
Walter Plotnick, 2023
Bio
Mr. Plotnick is a USA photo-based artist who lives and works in the Philadelphia, PA area. He received his MFA from University of the Arts and BFA from Tyler School of Art. Mr. Plotnick is a Senior Lecturer in the Fine Arts Department at Penn State University/Abington.
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. Megan Hatch’s image “A Ladder to the Sky“ received the Juror’s Award in the “common objects” exhibition juried by Doug Beasley. Megan’s exhibition “Here we be” was featured from February 1 to February 29 , 2024 and is discussed in our GalleryTalk with Megan.
Artist Statement
According to the Oxford English dictionary, hope can be defined as “a feeling of trust.” In the past, I’ve described hope as my superpower. It’s a sinewy hope we’re talking about: I grew up rural, queer, and too quiet about what hurt. Now I’m finding that sometimes you have to leave hope behind. For instance, I will never carry a child in my body. I feel betrayed, not by my body, but by hope. How can you give up and carry on at the same time? As I started exploring this question, I found myself working with images that quite unexpectedly reminded me of the months after my mother passed.
It turns out that the heart of my question and of this body of work is grieving. In my experience, grieving is the way in which you find yourself anew in a place that is also radically altered. Getting there often involves looking for a way out, looking for the thing you lost, and/or just lying on the floor weeping because the pull of gravity is too much. You come undone, and pass through days like a ghost. In this permeable state, you also start to feel how the world keeps reaching out to you. That reaching? That, to me, is hope. It is the world reminding me that I am a part of it, and it is a part of me.
So this is the answer to my question: hope doesn’t come from within me and it exists independent of any outcome. It is in the letting go and the carrying on. My mother wrote a haiku, only one line of which I can now remember: “Death gives rise to wings.” What I think she was talking about is the way that letting go allows us to rise to meet the present. This is the moment that will see us through, not all the ones that came before or any possibility of one to come. My mom was pretty sinewy too.
Sometimes the present moment is a hard one. As I complete this work, things that we hoped for and even saw manifest are being taken away—bodily autonomy, trans & queer rights, affirmative action. I will continue to hope that we will find our way, not in spite of the grief I feel, but with it.
Megan Hatch, 2023
Bio
Megan Hatch (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and curator living in Portland, Oregon. She is a recent recipient of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers (2023),
and a Critical Mass Finalist (2022). Her work has been exhibited internationally and is in collections both private and corporate.
I’ve loved making art my entire life. As a budding photographer, the tool I had at hand was a disposable camera and I waited with breathless anticipation for the prints to show up in the mail. I
eventually graduated to a film camera, and my hands still remember the satisfying click of the shutter release. Today I work in a digital format and the childhood thrill remains.
Regardless of medium or discipline, the arts are powerful. The joy I experience as an artist is why I’m here today; it’s seen me through. After earning a BA in Studio Art from Carleton College, I
have spent many years creating work, teaching art in communal spaces, and curating exhibitions in sometimes nontraditional environments. My experiences of growing up rural, working class, and queer created a deep desire to help make the arts accessible to a broader range of folks than typically find themselves, or at least comfortably so, in mainstream spaces.
I can’t not make art. I know, deep down, that art is essential to our collective thriving. It’s how we’re going to find our way.
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. Lisa Cassell-Arms’ image “Between Heaven and Earth 2“ received the Director’s Award in the “open/unfiltered” exhibition juried by Kevin Tully. Lisa’s exhibition “Merged Landscapes: New Lands” is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
During the pandemic I rediscovered a collection of antique stereoscope cards that had belonged to my great-grandfather. I had always been fascinated by them. Long and horizontal in format, two images appear side by side, merged in the center. They often depict exotic locations, captured from slightly different angles, suggesting an edit, or slight glitch in time. When viewed through a stereoscope viewer, they appear three dimensional. For me during that time, they provided a momentary escape to a far away place. Inspired by those images, and searching for a way to stay sane and creative, I took a deep dive into my photographic archives. Looking at images that spanned decades gave me a comforting sense of continuity and hope.
In my resulting series, Merged Landscapes: New Lands, I pair and combine two landscapes into a single merged image. The landscapes are distant from one another on the globe, and separated by time. I tone and texture them to recall the aged quality of stereo-cards, hinting at the enigmatic and slightly unreal nature that I’ve loved about those early, mysterious images. Pairs may share some commonality, perhaps in form, topography or mood. Some may be analogs to one another, merged back to back as if in mirror image. Placed together, they enter into a conversation. A visual dialogue between shapes and shadows that suggests a new and hybrid land, an alternate history to be discovered.
Lisa Cassell-Arms, January, 2024
Bio
Lisa Cassell-Arms is a fine art photographer focused on capturing the magic and beauty of the natural world and our changing relationship with it. By combining and merging images that are different, across time and location, she reinterprets landscape and explores our perceptions of natural space. Lisa discovered her love of photography as a young teenager. An early Polaroid camera and the complete Time-Life Library of Photography provided a great early education in the mechanics, principles and history of photography.
After graduating with a degree in Film from New York University, Lisa worked in television advertising production and film rights acquisitions. Lisa segued into culinary arts, cooking and recipe development which led to food photography and the publication of a cookbook, Seasons in a Vermont Vineyard, Arcadia Publishing.
Lisa has studied at the International Center for Photography and participated in the Atelier and education through the Griffin Museum, Maine Media workshops and Santa Fe Workshops. Her fine art and editorial work has been exhibited in galleries, appeared in print and online. Lisa lives in beautiful Vermont with her husband and silver Labrador.
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. Rajan Dosaj’s image “The Last Leaves of Autumn“ received the Juror’s Award in the “animalia” exhibition juried by Henry Horenstein. Rajan’s exhibition “Pound the Pavement” was featured from January 1 to January 31 , 2024 and is discussed in our GalleryTalk with Rajan.
Artist Statement
In preparation for this exhibition, I reviewed many of the street photography images that I have shot over the last 3 or 4 years in and around the Los Angeles area.
Many, but not all of the images that I shot during this period often feature a solitary individual going about their business on the streets, working at their job, walking their dog, jogging or simply at leisure.
Focusing on an individual, whether it is a street scene or street portrait, I‘m looking to capture some of the characteristics of the subject. How the individual walks, where the eyes are focused, do they smoke, their comfort level in public, their familiarity with the surroundings in which they are placed and so on. The hope is to capture an image that tells a story about the subject and setting to understand the subject’s position in life and the world at large.
As I often do, architecture, buildings or vast landscapes, etc. are brought into play as I compose the surroundings around the subject. These are details that often complement the image, add to the story and possibly our understanding of the individual.
What you will see in this exhibition are black and white images of the streets, the environment, the moments in the lives of individuals who walk the streets alone, some with a purpose, some without. Each has a unique story that through my camera, through my eyes, I have hopefully captured a brief and wonderful moment.
Bio
Born and raised in the United States, I spent nearly 20 years in the theater world as a dancer and singer in Broadway musicals such as A Chorus Line, Shenandoah with John Raitt, Hello Dolly with JoAnn Worley just to name a few. Upon my retirement from theater, I settled into the business world but it wouldn’t be long before I was in need of a creative outlet and the Sebastiao Salgado documentary, The Salt of the Earth, rekindled my brief high school interest in photography. Soon, the books of Alec Soth, Nancy Rexroth, Sally Mann, Joshua Jackson, and many more were on my shelves and with a newly purchased camera in hand, I started out on my latest adventure.
Naturally, I started with dance portraits and found it incredibly exciting and fulfilling but soon I ventured into other genres to improve my technique. Whether it was wildlife, street, architecture, portrait, or fine art photography, I was either taking a class or teaching myself about a particular genre in order to become a better photographer.
Today I spend most of my time shooting fine art, portrait and street photography, but whatever genre I choose to shoot, I love those rare moments when my eyes, through a camera, are able to see and hopefully capture an extraordinary moment.
In my short time behind the camera, I have been fortunate enough to have several of my images appear in galleries and competitions across the U.S. and Europe including Photo Place Gallery, A Smith Gallery, Praxis Gallery, Black Box Gallery, SE Center for Photography, PH21 Gallery, Blank Wall Gallery, the Decode Gallery and the Orange County Fair.
The “color” exhibition juried by Fran Forman, was in the online gallery from December 8, 2023 to January 18, 2024. Fran selected fifty five images from forty artist. Aubrey Guthrie’s image “Zocolo Santa Fe 2” received the Juror’s Award. Sharon Royal’s image “Synchronous” received the Director’s Award.
Juror’s Statement
Whether it’s through art, design, or everyday life, color enriches our experiences and adds depth to how we perceive the world.
As the juror for A Smith Gallery’s exhibition, “Color,” it was an honor to witness the myriad interpretations and expressions of this captivating subject. The submissions showcased an exceptional range of creativity, each capturing the essence and significance of color in its unique form.
Throughout the selection process, it became evident that color is more than a visual element; it is a language that artists skillfully employ to convey emotions, stories, and perspectives. The submissions illuminated how colors interact, evoke emotions, and breathe life into the scenes captured by the lens. It is clear that understanding color allows us to express ourselves creatively and communicate in ways that transcend language barriers.
From vibrant, bold palettes that exuded energy to subtle, nuanced hues that whispered tales of serenity, each photograph carried its distinct narrative. The diverse use of color schemes, contrasts, and harmonies demonstrated a profound understanding of the emotional and symbolic power of color.
Beyond the technical aspects, the submissions showcased the artists’ ability to harness color as a tool for storytelling and expression. Some photographs utilized color as the focal point, drawing the viewer’s gaze and stirring profound emotions. Others masterfully played with the absence or restraint of color to convey depth and evoke introspection.
The deliberation process was both inspiring and challenging, as each entry possessed its own merit and spoke volumes about the artist’s connection to color. Ultimately, the selected photographs stood out for their ability to not only capture the visual beauty of color but also to evoke a deeper emotional resonance, leaving a lasting impression on my mind and heart.
Congratulations to all participants for your exceptional contributions, which collectively painted a vivid tapestry of the diverse, emotive, and multifaceted nature of color. Your artistry and creativity have made this competition an enriching journey, reminding us all of the profound impact of color in our lives and the arts.
And many thanks to Amanda Smith and Kevin Tully, directors of A Smith Gallery, for affording me this privilege and for the tireless work you do for the photographic community.
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. Renee Lynn’s image “The Light Within“ received the Juror’s Award in the “imagined” exhibition juried by Susan Burnstine. Renee’s exhibition “Riverbank” was featured from December 1 to December 31, 2023 and is discussed in our GalleryTalk with Renee.
Artist Statement
There is a deep beauty in the remote lands of western Ireland found within neglected places that offer the kind of space and light that respects its true nature. The meandering rivers traverse endless rolling hills and rich green plains which are deeply entwined with the Celtic history of the land.
Using impressionistic photographic techniques, deliberate movements are applied to create a tapestry of colors, shapes, and textures. This series reveals a transient nature of the moment that touches on the infinite. With an ease between representation and abstraction, the unseen materializes in new and unexpected ways born from all that is sacred and revered in this cherished landscape.
Inspiration for the series was drawn from one of Ireland’s treasured poets, John O’Donohue and his poem Fluent.
Fluent
I would love to live
Like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.
~ John O’Donohue
Bio
Renee Lynn is an American photographer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Renee grew up surrounded by artists in the vibrant art scene of Greenwich Village in the 1960’s, an environment that shaped her voice as a visual artist. At 10 years old, with a Brownie camera in hand, she began exploring her world.
In 1980 Renee completed her studies in commercial photography at U.C. Berkeley. She began her career working as a photojournalist before she found her passion as a stock photographer specializing in nature and animal imagery. During this time, Renee was represented by Getty Images, Corbis Images and Photo Researchers. She co-authored the Nature column for Popular Photography and was featured in Photo District News and on the Discovery Channel. Her publication credits include National Geographic, Time, and National Wildlife Federation. Renee received BBC Wildlife Photography of the Year awards in addition to the Addy award for a DDB Volkswagen ad campaign. Her animal imagery was used for advertising by Apple, Exxon, Jaguar and Discovery Channel. Reaching out to others and supporting their professional development, she founded the NPPA Women in Photojournalism Conference and Women in Nature Photography Conference.
In 1996 Renee once again moved to a community with one of the liveliest art scenes in America: Santa Fe, New Mexico. It proved to be a place where she could study and practice the arts surrounded by creative talent and inspiration. Here, she expanded her photographic endeavors to explore the visual language of abstract expressionism. Through imaginative fields of color, line and form she now invites you to experience photography in an unexpected way.
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. Ralph Maratta’s image “Still A Girl“ received the Director’s Award in the “common objects” exhibition juried by Doug Beasley. Ralph’s exhibition “The Fortress Walls Whispered Back” is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
“The Fortress Walls Whispered Back” is a short story of sorts. I created my own story around the Fort and then photographically reacted to it. In this sense, the images are a loose narrative. I feel good about the final photographs, but the most compelling part was the process. As trite as it sounds, I’ve learned to let go when my attempts hit a wall or start to fail. Instead of getting discouraged, I just roll my eyes and think, “Okay, here we go.”
In my work, there is a common curve of initial excitement, testing, lots of failures, stubborn persistence, and then, before all seems lost, a small epiphany that carries me to the end. What made the Fortress portfolio exciting to make was that I was very aware of the project phases I was in and was confident that, ultimately, the subject matter would reveal itself. And it did.
Fort Worden State Park lies at the northeast tip of the Olympic Peninsula. Overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Fort was constructed between 1898 and 1920 with the intention of protecting the Puget Sound Region from any would-be seafaring enemies. The dilapidating concrete structure, graffitied, eroding, and molded from the sea air, attracts visitors every day who walk through its many dark and hollow rooms. After testing different formats and films, I settled on my Hasselblad camera with Ektar 100 color negative. I’ll rely on drum scanning those negatives if I need to produce very large-sized prints. As I started to shoot, I knew there was an opportunity for great design and abstraction, but that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to get to the root of what was exciting me, what my story would be.
After a few failed photo sessions and another lackluster day of shooting, I, more or less, waved a white flag in defeat. But I hung out, sat with my dog, looked at the Fort, and enjoyed its presence on the beach cliff. I began to look at the Fort without photographs in mind and personified the Fort as this ancient character that saw so many people, stories, and years pass through its halls. Although the Fort was never attacked, in my story, I imagined it was. I thought of it as a living entity and how it responded in a most unlikely way. Then the words came to me, “the fortress walls whispered back.” I imagined the idea of the Fort under attack, only to gently whisper back and defeat its enemy. From that instant on, I was seeing things I hadn’t seen several times before, and it was just a matter of now collecting images.
“The Fortress Walls Whispered Back” is a mix of my emotions and reaction to the growing tide of nationalism across the globe. From nationalism, ideas and sentiments have risen that adopt the notion that we are all separate from one another versus the connectivity between all living things and the planet. Nationalism promotes winning without consequences and defines success as constantly getting more for oneself despite costs to the greater whole. It pits people, towns, families, states, and countries against one another as it feasts on fear.
The Fort structure simply became the perfect character to tell the parables of turning the other cheek, not going eye for eye, and that love and truth prevail.
Ralph Maratta, December, 2023
Bio
Ralph Maratta, who works under the name 2Worlds, works in film (large, medium, and small format) and digital capture. Reared in the darkroom, he is skilled in printmaking. “In the darkroom, I sort of transform and become laser-focused, slower, methodical, retentive, over-demanding, and a perfectionist – all of the things I’m not in daily life,” he says. He also works in specialized digital workflows and processes that include carbon-based pigment inks.
Music influences his photography most, citing, “It’s all there; tonal scale, contrast, brightness, darkness, rhythm, melody and counterpoint.” The nature of aesthetics intrigues him most as he thinks aesthetic experiences can connect us to something universal, like a collective unconscious. “I can work in different subject matters, styles, and photographic mediums, but running through all my imagery are ideas on the connectivity of all living things, the potential of empty space, differing realities in any given moment, and the merging of very old and new ideas.”
Photography, for Maratta, is a personal responsibility, a labor of love of sorts.
“Everybody has a core purpose or passion to unearth, and photography happens to be mine. There is a Japanese word, “ikigai,” that refers to a passion that gives value and joy to life, and when we pursue and participate in our core passions, it becomes a form of meditation,” says Maratta. “It can be anything: art, golf, basketball, stamp collecting, knitting, business, woodworking, writing, crafting, etc. The trick is finding one’s ikigai and keeping at it despite whatever stuff the world throws at you. It’s a sort of battle sometimes, but the opportunity to work things out is what makes life so precious.
Whether through his photography or what he seeks in others’ creative work, Maratta looks for clues. “I think all the answers we need are all around us, all the time. Sometimes in more literal ways and often in abstract ways that often play out like intuition — a muscle that grows with continued use. As a photographer and viewer of many things, I depend on art for signposts along the way (of life),” he concludes.
Maratta has been featured in several one-person shows and published in a variety of online publications.
The “portal” exhibition juried by Crista Dix, was in the online gallery from October 27 to December 7, 2023. Crista selected fifty five images from forty two artist. Sophie Pimpinella’s image “Brust” received the Juror’s Award. Walter Plotnick’s image “Limerick” received the Director’s Award.
Juror’s Statement
What lies beyond is often mysterious, exciting and daunting all at the same time. For me the unknown is always approached head first, not wanting to miss a minute of what is ahead. The mystic quality of what lies beyond wherever we are has a cosmic pull and infinite curiosity.
This exhibition, Portals, transported me to envisioning new worlds, far away stars and hidden stories that engaged me endlessly. So many wonderful images to work with, so many roads to travel, doors to walk through and pathways to wander, and narrowing the field down to the final exhibition was difficult. Thank you to everyone who submitted images, making my work so difficult.
Each image in the exhibition is a story, unknown and incomplete. For all the images, nothing is certain, nothing is clearly defined and everything is up for debate. Using light, reflection, softness and catching an unforeseen moment, these images all engage us, make us curious, raise the hairs on the back of our neck. Sophie Pimpinella’s image, Burst, is optimistic, mystical and filled with layered meaning. The prism of light overlaying the dark sky gives us hope all is not lost, that light can come out of the darkness. Matthew Hayner’s image Evan leaps into the unknown, and for those who take risks, we know exactly what that moment of release feels like. In The Search, Sigdal, Norway, Robin Boger gives us a view of the present and the past, and includes the future as we peer through the door to what is on the other side. Russell BanksDoor, Water, Clouds launches us into the water and the vast unknown while keeping us locked in behind glass doors. Leah Oates image Transitory Space, Nova Scotia, Canada, McNabs Island #19, is filled with the magic of place, exposure and altered vision. We expect cameras to record accurately and honestly, and with that truth comes multiple exposures, light leaks, and distortion. In a stark contrast of two ways to move forward, Ancestors, by Christina McFaul helps us follow the transition from physical to memorial, and Skip Smith’s Border Fence physically blocks us from moving forward.
Each image in this exhibition takes us on a journey, piques our interest, and has us asking what is happening in the image. Telling visual stories, each of these talented artists are storytellers and visionaries. My favorite images are filled with the unknown, and each one of these images has me returning again and again to tell new stories, find new ways to live within the image, and transit new throughways to the unknown. Thank you for sharing your stories with me, with us.
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. Jo Fields’ image “Teneramente“ received the Juror’s Award in the “botanical” exhibition juried by Wendi Schneider. Jo’s exhibition “Notes from the Universe” was featured from October 1 to October 31, 2023 and is discussed in our GalleryTalk with Jo.
Artist Statement
“My childhood was filled with lessons about nature delivered aptly by my parents. The natural world became a foundational source of discovery, connection and solace. When my mother passed away suddenly, followed by the decline and death of my father, walks in nature became a way to process the long-term grief of their loss. The grief was renewed by the massive loss of life during the pandemic and these walks became a refuge to re-connect with nature in an intimate and mindful way. I feel that preordained scenes present themselves as a means to shed light on greater teachings of life, much like my original lessons in nature. These visual ‘Notes from the Universe’ represent how the fragility of life is both connected and ephemeral.” … Jo Fields, October, 2023
Bio
Jo Fields is a fine art photographer based in Nashville, Tennessee. Although her career was in healthcare information systems, Jo’s first love was the expressive interpretation of music as a flutist. Photography has gradually taken over as the primary passion with the colors, shapes and details in the ‘music’ of nature. Photography became a cathartic and therapeutic personal journey that is a fusion of emotional, technical, and creative processes. Her work revolves around themes of finding beauty in the ordinary, and highlighting the conflicts and interdependence of humanity and nature. This series has received honorable mentions in the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards and was selected as a Photolucida Critical Mass 2023 Finalist.
