Schedule for Monday, April 21

Hey all,

Monday the 21st of April will be an open lab day. Please bring work to do.

The Polaroid shipper didn't get our film out on schedule, so we will use the time
to work on final projects and meet one on one to discuss the next steps in folks'
work.

The readings are still due on Wednesday - bring digital cameras as well if you
have one.

Enjoy your Sunday,
Deirdre

Frank Gohlke responds to our project

Wow! I was excited to find this email in my inbox. We will most certainly send him a copy of our project! Read on:

Dear Ms. Visser,

One of my computers is down, so I don't know if I responded to your message of Feb. 11. As you can imagine, it's very gratifying to learn that something one has done has found its way to
people to whom it is useful. Thank you for letting me know. It's a reminder to me of what the whole enterprise is about, of what makes an artist's absorption in his or her personal obsessions more than just self-indulgence. It really matters to any of us when we encounter thoughts that echo or clarify intimations we ourselves have had about our common experience; it reassures us that we're not as alone as we sometimes feel.

Please feel free to use the essay in your publication in whatever way is best for your purposes. I'm quite curious to see the results of the project. I hope you will consider sending me a copy of the book when it is finished. My address is: 3041 N. Gaia Pl., Tucson, AZ 85745.

Thanks again,

Frank Gohlke

Tangled in the Web

Ok, we all know how easy it is to get off course while hunting something down on the web.... one interesting image, and I'm chasing down one rabbit hole after another. Anyway, I was looking up stuff by Lygia Clark and found this blog... I don't know how long this post will be there, but you might enjoy it.... I suggest skimming the essay...

http://anziche.blogspot.com/2007/01/functional-fake-objects-concept.html

Thanks for all the wishes of support for installing the show.

k

SF MOMA

At the SF MOMA I found several images to be compelling. However, I came away with questions regarding how imagery, (since we were looking at photography) becomes MOMA worthy art. I greatly enjoyed looking at the "small wars" which was visually compelling. We, here at home, do not know what it is like on the ground in a war zone. This show helped bring the of loneliness and abstraction of war home. However, the more I am exposed to "high" or critically acclaimed art I leave feeling like I missed the point. I don't understand what makes an image MOMA worthy, rather than IKEA worthy? 

~Kate

Project Proposal:

I am interested in the notion of presence through absence, history, and the relationship between place and experience. For this project I will be using my house as a way to begin considering environmental space/structure in relation to psychological space/structure. This will initially involve photographing primarily the structure of interior spaces. Through thinking about perceptual fragmentation, I would consider converting these spaces to various installations. Other sites, domestic and otherwise, may become more relevant to the project. I will present the images as a linear sequence in print form and will use the 4x5 camera and both color and black and white film. I anticipate that the result of the project will challenge it’s initial logic and the production of images will successively encourage more nuanced questions.

Kate's Revised Proposal

After much thinking, I have boiled it down to working on an environmental portrait of my self through my family. I am going to present the project in a book. My plan is to create a portrait of my family, and myself, that is a reflection on family and identity. I don't want to make a "family album" I want the project to be a deeper exploration into family/identity utilizing my family for images. I would like the viewer to be able to feel a connection to the work through reflection. I want to explore the connection with the past, and how it has helped shape the future. The first few images of the book will be of objects and images of past family members, the later part of the book will be image of me. Accompanying the images will be text, probably in the form of poetry. These are the only three objects of my Grandmother's (my namesake) that I own, she died before I was born. However, through my mother I feel a strong connection to her.  ~P. Kate

Revised Proposal

After learning about the waist view-finder medium format cameras, I have decided to take my photos using the Bronica. I am still going to present the finalized photos in a grid format along with short texts that will be type-written on the same sized paper as the photo prints. I will be taking photos that deal purely with the compositional elements, specifically that of the grid, and surreptitiously taken spy photos of people that exude a sense of loneliness, longing, vulnerability, and defense mechanisms.