NE OH Gathering: July 27-28-29, 2012

[jp80874]

It's starting to look hopeful for me: the infrastructure cutover was moved to the second weekend of August so I officially have nothing pressing this weekend. When I mentioned to the team that I might be in Bath, just south of the company headquarters in Cleveland, they invited me over for a tour on Friday afternoon. I can make the trip on Friday as company business and save a day of vacation! Now to see whether Sandy wants to go...

Mike

Mike,

It always looks hopeful for you. The big grin helps immensely. Glad the new ownership will mean a day off and a visit to Cleveland. Always happy to have you here. Looking forward to seeing you in MI next week and meeting Sandy if she comes to that or when she comes here.

John

 

[Shawn Dougherty]

Well, it "looks hopeful" for me this time, too. =) Can't wait to hear about the Photostock happenings and of course to see everyone and their new work.

 

[winger]

Depending on how the stars align and whether the air force is on time and the Army does things at their usual speed, I might make this one, too. If only for Saturday. I will likely have Nate with me and we'll have to introduce him to the Country Maid. Hubby will be getting home in late July, but has a class to attend starting that weekend (if he's done with out-processing). So this is all tentative and subject to change. If I make it, I'll try to remember to take my Mordancage prints with me.

 

[jp80874]

Come on over Shawn. We have missed you. Many of our regulars were at Photostock so we should be able to give you a full review. It was great fun and some what educational. Great weather and great shooting. Great prints to see. Many processes to see.

John

 

[jp80874]

Mordancage process: Also known as etch-bleach process, this rare and slightly esoteric process physically manipulates the silver gelatin print through acid bleaching, rubbing, and lifts. Images appear dreamlike, far removed from reality.

That sounds interesting. Tell us how or when you have gotten into this.

Hey Hubby was here more recently than you. Bring him and Nate. All are welcome.

We miss all of you.

John

 

[jp80874]

The Cleveland Museum of Art monthly magazine was in the mail when I got back from MI. The cover picture is the Gloria Swanson picture of a new exhibit that will be playing during our event. I plan to see it. Hope it interests you. For the locals, we can go before or after our gathering.

“Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties

July 1–September 16, 2012 Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall
How did American artists represent the Jazz Age? The exhibition Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties brings together for the first time the work of more than 60 painters, sculptors, and photographers who explored a new mode of modern realism in the years bounded by the aftermath of the Great War and the onset of the Great Depression. Throughout the 1920s, artists created images of liberated modern bodies and the changing urban-industrial environment with an eye toward ideal form and ordered clarity—qualities seemingly at odds with a riotous decade best remembered for its flappers and Fords.

Artists took as their subjects uninhibited nudes and close-up portraits that celebrated sexual freedom and visual intimacy, as if in defiance of the restrictive routines of automated labor and the stresses of modern urban life. Reserving judgment on the ultimate effects of machine culture on the individual, they distilled cities and factories into pristine geometric compositions that appear silent and uninhabited. American artists of the Jazz Age struggled to express the experience of a dramatically remade modern world, demonstrating their faith in the potentiality of youth and in the sustaining value of beauty. Youth and Beauty will present more than 130 works by artists including Ansel Adams, George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Stuart Davis, Aaron Douglas, Walker Evans, Edward Hopper, Isamu Noguchi, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Grant Wood.

Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties is organized by the Brooklyn Museum.”
http://www.clevelandart.org/visit/Exhibitions.aspx
Look at photo #6 in the preview of a very sultry Gloria Swanson 1925

 

[winger]

Mordancage process: Also known as etch-bleach process, this rare and slightly esoteric process physically manipulates the silver gelatin print through acid bleaching, rubbing, and lifts. Images appear dreamlike, far removed from reality.

That sounds interesting. Tell us how or when you have gotten into this.

I took Elizabeth Opalenik's workshop at the f295 symposium a few weeks ago. I first saw the process when she presented at the symposium in '08 and thought it was really cool. I stand by that. I want and need to do more (waiting on getting the chemicals), but a few I did in the workshop are in my gallery here (they're cool, but not quite what I would want for each if I did them again). It's random, yet with some control. Hopefully with doing it more, I'll have a little more control. But it's fun. There are a lot of directions to go with it, I think.

I almost made the last gathering (and I really wished I was there at the farm with you all), but I had a cold (which turned out to be pneumonia). So I'm really hoping for this one.

 

[jp80874]

Bethe,

I really like the Mordancage prints. Please bring them and tell us all about the workshop and the process. Dale is going to do a Lith demo. Since there are so many styles of Lith I asked others to bring what they have done to show. I see you have some very nice ones in your gallery. Please bring those too. Jeff & Eva Bannow, Robert Bender, Dorothy Kloss and Mat Marrash have all shown interesting Lith work, here and Photostock. Hope I didn't miss anyone. Please all bring your work to help show the variety attainable.

Above all Bethe, please no pneumonia. I think you have enough to do without that. Hope you can make it here.

John

 

[jp80874]

There is no shortage of exhibits for you to see while in town. This one opens Saturday, July 28th at the Akron Art Museum.


Robert Stivers: Veiled Image
July 28, 2012 - January 20, 2013
A face emits a silent scream, bodies emerge from mist, a landscape zooms by swiftly. Faces recede into darkness while fragments of memory float forward. Such haunting dream imagery are featured in the photographs of Robert Stivers. The Akron Art Museum is once again pleased to organize a new photography exhibition of works drawn from our impressive collection. Comprised of nearly a dozen years’ worth of photographs, the gallery will be filled with images emanating emotion from Stivers’s shadowy world.
A back injury in the early 1980s ended the artist’s dance career, which was followed by a short stint as a stockbroker and insurance agent. He found renewed creative inspiration with photography in 1988. Self-taught in the art of photography, Stivers prides himself on his printing skills. His photographs are carefully printed on matte papers and often hand-toned or manipulated in the darkroom. His evocative combination of technique and imagery results in entrancing, disjointed narratives that push the imagination to fill in the details of the story.

http://www.akronartmuseum.org/exhibitions/details.php?unid=2885

John

 

[daleeman]

Getting excited. Looks like 3 weeks or so till we gather again. Looking forward to see you all. Stay cool, its looking like summer out there.
Lee

 

[jp80874]

If it stays this hot we have the two museums and our AC in the house as an alternative.

On the other hand there is always early. Peter and I were down in the Falts Sunday AM.
Our early is nothing like Evan's and Frank's, but it was cool enough and quite deserted.

John

 

[jp80874]

Thankfully, it has cooled down a bit. It will be 61 degrees F tonight. That is pretty good camping weather for anyone who brings a tent. The next ten days look to be 80-85 with a couple of 87, 88 exceptions. I think we will find the gathering do-able.

I’m going to talk with Jim Fry in a couple of days to confirm our welcome for another shoot. He said there were 17 of us there in May. Who will be bringing pictures for him? It is a small tribute to pay for so many photo opportunities. I have already given him 43 this year and a few less last year.

The event is getting close. Dale (ic-racer) sent an email to Charlie and me organizing his Lith printing demo. We will probably have it in two sessions, Saturday and Sunday so everyone can still shoot and see the demo? Who will be bringing samples of their Lith work?

The event is just a little over two weeks away. Who is coming? Is there some enthusiasm out there? How about a little BUZZ.

John

 

[Jeff Bannow]

The event is just a little over two weeks away. Who is coming? Is there some enthusiasm out there? How about a little BUZZ.

John

We're excited! We will be there and camping, and it looks like Daniel and Silke will be joining us as well. Very interested in the demo, and in the group shoot at the "museum."

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon, and eating some more yummy ice cream.

 

[silke s]

John,
Daniel and I are coming (finally, we are both in the country and have time)
I was playing around with some lith printing lately, I have some prints I can bring and share.
I am looking forward to a fun, (hopefully not so extremely hot) weekend

 

[jp80874]

Jeff,

Thanks for the enthusiasm. So glad you and Eva will be coming. Its great that Daniel and Silke will also be here. If they are reading this, I have your address. Could you please PM me an emergency contact in case you do what you do so well. Do you need directions or will you be traveling with Jeff & Eva or Charlie?

John

PS: Silke, it looks like we posted at the same time. Thank you. Yes, please bring the lith prints and yourselves. Will you be camping here or moteling. You are most welcome here.

Don’t tell Jeff, but Dolly and I did some reconnaissance at the Country Maid yesterday. In addition to ice cream, which, we thoroughly tested, they had fresh blueberries. They expect to have blueberries off and on for three weeks. Fresh peaches should come in just about our weekend.

John

 

[Peter Spangenberg]

Hi Guys-
Looking forward to seeing everyone and some new work. As John mentioned, we made a trip to the "flats". I've been down a couple of times, and plan on continuing to work down there with the 8x10. As a Cleveland area resident, I'm a little embarrassed to admit I haven't really explored this part of the city. There's lots of change/construction going on down there, and I'm personally challenging myself to find some visual calm in a sensory overload of subjects. Here's a link for those with facebook to a few of my first efforts (work prints). I'd be happy to accompany anyone who wants to work there.
Peter
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...6636590.138361.100000156402186&type=3&theater

 

[eclarke]

Frank and I went to the flats and I made at least four good photographs in a half hour. the views of the bridges are amazing, tons of stuff there...Evan

Hi Guys-
Looking forward to seeing everyone and some new work. As John mentioned, we made a trip to the "flats". I've been down a couple of times, and plan on continuing to work down there with the 8x10. As a Cleveland area resident, I'm a little embarrassed to admit I haven't really explored this part of the city. There's lots of change/construction going on down there, and I'm personally challenging myself to find some visual calm in a sensory overload of subjects. Here's a link for those with facebook to a few of my first efforts (work prints). I'd be happy to accompany anyone who wants to work there.
Peter
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...6636590.138361.100000156402186&type=3&theater

 

[jp80874]

Frank and I went to the flats and I made at least four good photographs in a half hour. the views of the bridges are amazing, tons of stuff there...Evan

Does that mean you are coming back?

John

 

[jp80874]

Peter,

Those are great. Our day together there was fantastic. Many great pictures to be made. My negatives are up. Prints to follow. Don’t know if I can agree with calm. Explosive pandemonium seems closer.

John

 

[djkloss]

I may have to go to my boyfriend's art opening in Pittsburgh at the Silver Eye. They're having a competition for the Assoc Artists of Pittsburgh area. If not, I'll see what I can do.

Thanks John for the heads up

 

[jp80874]

Dorothy,

Congratulations to your boyfriend.
I hope it is a different date so you will be able to join us.
Keep in touch.

John & Dolly

 

[eclarke]

Does that mean you are coming back?

John

I will, but not for this one. We are traveling the very next week and I must work to get things done around the shop.

 

[jp80874]

Sorry.
We will miss you Evan.

John

 

[htimsdj]

I am excited as well. We will be there!

I have been busy taking photos with the handheld cameras, just trying to get better at capturing people at parties, ..

Also went to the Aperture photo walk last weekend - it was fun, met a lot of younger film shooters, which is good. Very few had heard of APUG. Also helped my friends at Labwork obtain a bit more Internet presence. In addition to making a facebook page for them, I helped them become an advertiser on APUG.

I know this upcoming gathering is busy, but I am always up for going to the flats at other times.

See you soon.

Jeff

 

[jp80874]

Jeff,

We just missed an opportunity to go together to the flats and shoot. Dolly and I went this morning (Thursday). A place to avoid on weekdays is the base of the new bridge paralleling the Rt. 71 bridge, out of down town, crossing the river toward the airport. We were escorted away from the base by a lady in yellow vest and hard hat who is the “public relations person” for the project or construction site. She wanted to protect us from the inherent dangers. Fortunately she does not do that on weekends. We went on from there to spots where no one present seemed to care.

Dolly sketches about as fast as I take 7x17 pictures. It is a slow but happy process.

John